Political Posts

[Xerxes]

3 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

I think the main lesson is that everyone needs nukes. North Korea already does some saber rattling and my guess is that Iran is tong to get theirs for sure as well. Europe needs to get its own nuclear umbrella. It’s a matter of sovereignty now.

 

South Korea needs nukes yesterday.

Poland, Japan, South Korea, yes but not Ukraine. 
 

Ukraine will go the Iranian path, coming out of a similar brutal long war. It will become a near threshold nuclear state. There but not there. 

[Xerxes]

I listened to the full Trump interview today. It is clear that he wants Zelenskyy gone pronto. 

[winjitsu]

12 hours ago, Luke said:

 

Isnt Alibaba also mainland listed now and can just buy back shares locally without this USD conversion problem?

Via stock exchange from HK, not exactly "listed." I think it's for institutional and retail investors, not sure if the firm itself can use this mechanism for buyback. Atleast I haven't seen anything in english

[John Hjorth]

Which interview, @Xerxes ?

[Luke]

10 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

I think the main lesson is that everyone needs nukes. North Korea already does some saber rattling and my guess is that Iran is tong to get theirs for sure as well. Europe needs to get its own nuclear umbrella. It’s a matter of sovereignty now.

 

South Korea needs nukes yesterday.

Is the world safer when there are not only 12k nuclear warheads but 20k or 30k? And you then still have a M.A.D situation where both parties wont pull the trigger and just fight a conventional war that will still lead to infinite uparming, droneuparming etc. It never ends, nobody is safer afterwards, it costs a treasure that desperately needs to be invested in important things and it increases the total risks for everyone while leading to the possibility for even more brutal conflicts.

[Sweet]

5 minutes ago, Luke said:

Is the world safer when there are not only 12k nuclear warheads but 20k or 30k? And you then still have a M.A.D situation where both parties wont pull the trigger and just fight a conventional war that will still lead to infinite uparming, droneuparming etc. It never ends, nobody is safer afterwards, it costs a treasure that desperately needs to be invested in important things and it increases the total risks for everyone while leading to the possibility for even more brutal conflicts.

It’s the game that is played.  There is not point shouting at the sky and arguing it should be this way or that way.  If the likes of Putin has nukes then we need them too… there is simply no escaping that.

[Luke]

16 minutes ago, Sweet said:

It’s the game that is played.  There is not point shouting at the sky and arguing it should be this way or that way.  If the likes of Putin has nukes then we need them too… there is simply no escaping that.

Its an everlasting uparming that ultimately will lead to conflict, i also think the countries who have to engage in this kind of uparming will fall behind economically because it drains so much ressources. Its not smart from a diplomatic or economic perspective, with the reasonable diplomatic engagement institutions like the UN could serve their purpose of deescalation and dearming but you need people willing to do so. If you come in with a mindset of "its the game that is played lets go all in" of course nothing will happen but thats not smart frankly, my two cents.

[Sweet]

Just now, Luke said:

Its an everlasting uparming that ultimately will lead to conflict, i also think the countries who have to engage in this kind of uparming will fall behind economically because it drains so much ressources. It’s not smart from a diplomatic or economic perspective, with the reasonable diplomatic engagement institutions like the UN could serve their purpose of deescalation and dearming but you need people willing to do so. If you come in with a mindset of "its the game that is played lets go all in" of course nothing will happen but thats not smart frankly, my two cents.

Why does up arming lead to conflict?  I don’t think that it does.

 

Countries arm themselves for a reason.  Those reason are the root cause of conflicts.

 

Mutually assured destruction does have a peace keeping role.

 

 

[mt04]

On 2/17/2025 at 11:35 PM, Spekulatius said:

Why not lay a trap and get foreign capital suckered in before letting it snap shut. It makes perfect sense to me.

imo this would destroy trust over the long term leading to them being unable to raise (foreign) capital post snap shut 

[Spekulatius]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Is the world safer when there are not only 12k nuclear warheads but 20k or 30k? And you then still have a M.A.D situation where both parties wont pull the trigger and just fight a conventional war that will still lead to infinite uparming, droneuparming etc. It never ends, nobody is safer afterwards, it costs a treasure that desperately needs to be invested in important things and it increases the total risks for everyone while leading to the possibility for even more brutal conflicts.

The world being safer doesn’t matter if your country is not safe. Russian is a very hostile power, China as well and the USA are on a Neo Imperialist path now. Especially as a smaller country with mighty neighbors owning nukes you are giving up your sovereignty if you don’t own nukes as well.

 

South Korea for example has no protection anymore from NK nukes or Chinese aggression. Europe has no protection from Russian nuclear bullying. With Article 5 in question or gone, the NATO really doesn’t exist any more the way it used to. Europe is on its own now that’s should be very clear. What it makes out of this situation is much leads clear.

[Xerxes]

4 hours ago, John Hjorth said:

Which interview, @Xerxes ?

there you go 

 

 

[Xerxes]

“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle,” Trump said of Zelenskyy, who was popular television star in Ukraine before running for office.

is this a political thriller on HBO or what …. 

[cubsfan]

Pretty funny actually. Most of what he said is true about Zelensky. It will be good to get this war settled. Not sure Zelensky has a lot of cards to play.

[Gregmal]

Yea it’s crazy how many people advocated for giving this clown endless blank checks. 

[cubsfan]

9 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Yea it’s crazy how many people advocated for giving this clown endless blank checks. 

 

Yes, I was very slow to come around to the fact that Zelensky is a dictator who rules with an iron fist, at the same time stealing his allies blind. I bought the whole freedom fighter shtick,,, hook, line and sinker.  When I heard that Biden refused to audit any of the aid going to Ukraine, I finally woke up.

[Gregmal]

8 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

 

Yes, I was very slow to come around to the fact that Zelensky is a dictator who rules with an iron fist, at the same time stealing his allies blind. I bought the whole freedom fighter shtick,,, hook, line and sinker.  When I heard that Biden refused to audit any of the aid going to Ukraine, I finally woke up.

That is what’s scary. The lying is so rampant and the media is the biggest problem. People don’t know what to believe anymore and have few real resources for getting to the truth. Remember the endless propaganda about how Ukraine was “winning” this war and “wrecking” Russia? All designed to just keep the money train going. 

[John Hjorth]

37 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle,” Trump said of Zelenskyy, who was popular television star in Ukraine before running for office.

is this a political thriller on HBO or what …. 

 

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114031332924234939

 

 

@Xerxes,

 

He is a disgrace to The Office.

 

Do you remember the concept of 'The Alternative Reality' under his first presidential period?

[Parsad]

53 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

Pretty funny actually. Most of what he said is true about Zelensky. It will be good to get this war settled. Not sure Zelensky has a lot of cards to play.

 

41 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Yea it’s crazy how many people advocated for giving this clown endless blank checks. 

 

29 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

 

Yes, I was very slow to come around to the fact that Zelensky is a dictator who rules with an iron fist, at the same time stealing his allies blind. I bought the whole freedom fighter shtick,,, hook, line and sinker.  When I heard that Biden refused to audit any of the aid going to Ukraine, I finally woke up.

 

19 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

That is what’s scary. The lying is so rampant and the media is the biggest problem. People don’t know what to believe anymore and have few real resources for getting to the truth. Remember the endless propaganda about how Ukraine was “winning” this war and “wrecking” Russia? All designed to just keep the money train going. 

 

You guys are fucking retards, believing everything Trump spews in his vitriolic posts!  

 

https://www.csis.org/analysis/where-missing-100-billion-us-aid-ukraine

 

He wants Zelensky gone now because Zelensky wouldn't provide shit on the Bidens. 

 

The fact that you guys are even mildly enthused and believe that Putin is anything but a fucking maniac is beyond me!  I never thought I would see this shit happen in the United States, but it is...anything can happen these days and fiction has become fact!  

 

Cheers!

 

 

[Parsad]

By the way, I'm sick of this partisan crap running into everything.  Dinar got a 30-day ban yesterday.  I'm not going to waste my time anymore with even that...I'm doing permanent bans if I see another post on Trump, Biden, Obama or anything that remotely looks like politics.  This shit has got to stop and I'm not going to perpetuate false narratives from either side.  If you guys want to do that go elsewhere!  Cheers!

[nsx5200]

1430 bottles of beers on the wall

1430 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around,

1429 bottles of beer on the wall.

Edited February 19, 2025 by nsx5200
I can't subtract

[cubsfan]

@Parsad You are absolutely correct about Putin.

 

I think you obviously know that Zelensky declared martial law 3 years ago, cancelled all elections, cancelled the free press - and that billions in aid have been stolen.  I was a fan of Zelensky for quite some time - but he is a dictator, no doubt.

 

Even in the good old USA, with all the wars we have - I've never seen a Presidential election cancelled and dictatorship installed.

 

I've always wanted Ukraine to win this war - the question now - is how will/can they win?

 

 

 

 

[Gregmal]

What have we gotten in return for the billions we sent Mr comedian the last 3 years? Anyone ever find it ironic that despite the news snippets about how much Russia was getting "annihilated" that the cash spigot never got shut off? Seemed more like a rope-a-dope strategy that apparently worked. 

[Gregmal]

20 minutes ago, Parsad said:

Dinar got a 30-day ban yesterday.

Maybe I missed what Dinar wrote, and perhaps its warranted, but now we're at 2 guys from one side, and 0 from the other.......

[Ulti]

https://warontherocks.com/2025/02/armed-neutrality-for-ukraine-is-natos-least-poor-option/
 Limited options for Ukraine to settle war

described as the Finland option 

 

 

The hype about the Ukrainian rare earths began with Ukrainians themselves. Desperate to find a way to engage Trump, they miscalculated presenting the then-incoming president a “victory plan” in November that talked up — way, way up — the potential of the country’s mineral resources. Soon, they lost control of the narrative.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-02-19/trump-s-insistence-ukraine-has-rare-earth-elements-is-wrong

 

Column by Javier Blas … seems like both sides way way overhyped the amount of metals available 

 

[Pelagic]

Forcing Ukraine to hold elections is a strange take from Trump. Zelenskyy ran as the moderate open to dialogue with Russia in 2019, a stance which has clearly changed but worth highlighting as a starting point. While he'd likely win reelection, the most likely alternative candidate, Zaluzhnyi, is just as hawkish if not more so. Saying Zelenskyy has a 4% approval rating yesterday likely gave him at least a 4% bump from around the 52% he was at in December, but more to my point, what's the end game when it comes to holding elections? Is the thinking someone more likely to cave to Russian demands will win, because if so that seems way off the mark.

 

And as an American what we've gotten in exchange for aid to Ukraine is fairly simple, low gas prices. Ukraine would have almost certainly targeted Russian crude export capacity early in the war and knocked a meaningful portion offline. American aid came with restrictions on what Ukraine could target and this was very much one of the lenses through which the Biden admin prosecuted the war, conditioning aid and capabilities on targets they thought were permissible. That Trumps team doesn't seem to care about this, both in terms of the energy aspect and escalation management, is interesting and likely incredibly confusing to the Ukrainians who've felt micromanaged for the last 3 years. That said, things likely don't change too much going forward as EU aid comes with similar conditions, but the UK and France have both been far less hesitant about strikes in Russia than the Biden team was.