Not really. European NATO countries are currently strong enough to repel a Russian attack if we so wish. Taking into account how strong the Russia is at the moment. It will be stronger in the future, but we are easily able to increase our strength more than the Russia can.

And if USA withdraws from NATO, then the rest of EU, not only Finland, Baltics, Sweden, and Poland will be forced to take defence seriously. This will make NATO more like it was supposed to be, and it will no longer be used for offensive wars.

But… USA withdrawing from NATO would of course have negative sides:

• a war with the Russia would not end in two days with a decisive victory for us as it would with USA in, but would drag on for weeks at least, likely years. And thousands or tens of thousands would die.
• USA’s allies in Asia would not dare to trust USA anymore and would turn towards China for coöperation, regardless of China’s imperialism. This would make China stronger, which would be bad for Europe.

But still: The EU is the biggest economy on this planet. We are absolutely able to win a war against a country with an economy only as big as one of our 27 member states. We just need to bother to do so. Which means we’ll need to change our mindset. Heh.

So, the war in Ukraine is a proxy war between North Korea and USA?

Breaking anti-bribery laws of a country is illegal, no matter whether they are enforced in some other country or not. Of course Microsoft can break the law and then keep paying large fines until they decide to no longer break the law.

They are the locals. They are indigenous New Zealanders and they are doing something that is customary in their culture in the kind of situation they were in during that session.

The New Zealand lawmakers were trying to pass a bill that would have severely reduced the rights of the locals, and this reaction is part of how the local culture demands people to act.

Tabasco’s owners have been supporting the Russia in its war of genocide.

A company doing that is no way “good dudes”.

Mathematics and languages have different rules.

In languages it is possible for one century to be a yewa shorter than all the others. Other centuries begin on a year divisible by hundred, but centuries 1–99 and -1–-99 don’t. They are both missing a year, and outside mathematics that’s just fine.

If almost all native speakers of a language say that a century begins in a year divisible by hundred then that’s how it goes in that language.

Diplomatic immunity is in effect only for people invited to the country as diplomats. The ambassador of USA to Finland does not have immunity when he travels to Sweden.

What I wonder: what are the laws regarding a person coming to Greenland in order to work there as a worker of a foreign company/organization? Did Vance enter Greenland as a tourist? Since he was working from Greenland’s soil without a work visa, was he an illegal immigrant?

Three weeks with lights constantly on, amirite?

No visas are needed between Europe and USA. EU will very soon begin an ESTA-like scheme, but that’s not in effect yet. And, since Greenland is not in EU, probably it won’t come into effect either.

Vance could therefore simply appear at the border and the one individual border guard is then alone responsible for deciding whether to allow or refuse entry for USA’s vice president.

I spent two months in 2015 in Ukraine, then hitchhiked some weeks in the Russia. Almost all drivers kept telling me how Ukraine is a failing state, how their roads are full of bandits, how Ukrainians hate speakers of Russian language and torture them or how Ukraine “has been bombing Donetsk”. And when I told them I had spent that long in Ukraine because I found love there and that my Ukrainian girlfriend’s mother tongue was Russian and our sole language of communication both between each other and with the society around was Russian they kept saying the same:

" The Ukrainians only showed you what they wanted you to see". To me telling that I had been spending plenty of time alone doing shopping or whatever, and hitchhiked all around the western third of Ukraine, they tended to say “clearly they still didn’t show you their true self”.

It’s not something they were saying against their real knowledge. It was very clearly what they “knew” to be true.

They do a seriously big effort to actively maintain an illusion in their head that their country is in the right, and they are truly supportive of its actions. It’s not all of Russians, but it is 90 % of them. Or at least 70 % even according to the research most good-looking for them. It is a nation gone mad. If you read their study books for mathematics or Russian language and see how full they are of propaganda about Russian history, it’s clear where that comes from.

If they went to Russian school, their brain is rotten for good. Unless they are an exceptional personality. In which case they have already emigrated.

Well, the word “automatically” is an exaggeration. For example, if it was a close call and it seems you were in the court fairly, then the losing side might not have to pay up, at least not in full. But often they do. Better settle if you think you’ll lose. It’s a lot cheaper that way.

When it is cleae it will otherwise come to that, the companies tend to just comply. The thing is, tge value of the seized property is considered to be hiw much it can be sold for, not how useful it is for the company or how much they paid for it.

When Tesla is threatened by seizing a machine used for car manufacturing that they bought for 250 000 €, but there is no other car factory that has a need for another one one of those devices unless its dirt cheap, then it might be the machine will be seized, its valued to have a resale value of 15 000 €, and after the altogether 4000 € of missing salaries to various workers are paid, the remaining 11 000 will be paid back to the company. Which can then buy another machine like that for 250 000 €. Or, if they are lucky maybe buy their noe dismantled machine back?

In any case, that’s such a horribly bad deal for the company that they definitely choose the 90 % cheaper option of just paying their debt to the workers. So, it doesn’t really ever come to actual seizing. Either they can pay the original debt or they can’t because they are bankrupt. Either way, no seizing. But it is absolutely possible to carry it through, should some company really want to be that stupid.

They were people who either were in support of the genocide of Ukrainians or angry that the attempt to conquer Ukraine was done in a manner far bloodier than they had hoped for.

There are Russians who aren’t in either of those two groups, but they are very few – among the ones I know, about 5%. Those who aren’t in those two groups cannot stand the rest of the Russians and would definitely choose a submarine ride where they are the only Russian.

In other words: since they were many Russians in the submarine, and not people from a lot of various countries with one or two Russians among them, they were definitely actively or passively supporting a war of genocide.

I would not accept hating all Russian citizens, because I do have a couple of very good friends that are Russian citizens and are absolutely unambigously against what the Russia is doing. But, those are a very surprisingly tiny minority among the people of the Russia 😢

China doesn’t need to push the transitioning. Juat like you said, the previous time that push was done by the west. The same west can do the same push again.

Why for the EU?

It’s much easier to produce military hardware than to set up a large trading network.

Remember, we only need to have enough to decisively stop the Russia. We don’t need to become another US military power.

I would be surprised if Donald hadn’t done precisely that in its childhood.

The original life-size mechanical t-rex from the first Jurassic Park movie.

Not me. Probably nobody? 🤷

😇🤠

It’s not nice having to wish for anyone’s death. Goes against the human nature.

But something not feeling nice tells nothing about whether something is okay or not. Sometimes you need to do things that are not nice.

Putin has said so around 2010.

After Napoleon, Russia was occupying Paris for a while. Ergo, Paris is old Russian territory.

Also, Novgorod was founded by vikings, therefore everything vikings ever held is old Russian territory.

In the end times of Byzantine (Eastern Rome), Muscovy bought the right to call itself a successor of Rome. Therefore, Spain and Morocco are old Russian territories. And Israel as well.

Socialism originally spread from the Russia. Therefore, all countries that have been socialist actually belong to the Russia. Yes: Angola, China, Laos, Venezuela. Alaska is old Russian territory, and is one unit together with USA. Therefore, Hawaii and Texas belong to the Russia.