| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 08:57 - Jul 10 with 3750 views | DJR |
Interestingly, the United States is also a flawed democracy in the Economist's Democracy Index. |  | |  |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:04 - Jul 10 with 3665 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 08:57 - Jul 10 by DJR |
Interestingly, the United States is also a flawed democracy in the Economist's Democracy Index. |
As are over half of the EU’s 27 countries, including several in Western Europe, whom a majority of posters wanted to be in a political union with. |  | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 13:51 - Jul 10 with 3602 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
Indeed but even Belgium as Western European peer, and at the heart of the EU is rated as a ‘flawed democracy. It’s not a metric I see used when assessing political risk, because it’s such a blunt rating - for instance India would have a far greater risk than Belgium or the US, and Israel despite ranking higher than Portugal would be considered a more risky jurisdiction.
14 out of the 27 EU states are considered flawed, so if we are eager to be in a political union with them, we can’t then really use it as a stick to beat others in my opinion.
As for India, interestingly they were big buyers of Russian arms pre-Ukraine but have subsequently cancelled some and reduced orders on other contracts. It was speculated that the poor performance of Russia and its equipment in Ukraine may have been the driver. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 13:56 - Jul 10 with 3594 views | DJR |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:04 - Jul 10 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
As are over half of the EU’s 27 countries, including several in Western Europe, whom a majority of posters wanted to be in a political union with. |
That's certainly true. As it is, I always preferred the political aspects of the EU to the economic, but the EU is no longer the beacon (to use an oft misused word) that it was even at the time of Brexit. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 15:13 - Jul 10 with 3554 views | Eireannach_gorm |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 13:51 - Jul 10 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
Indeed but even Belgium as Western European peer, and at the heart of the EU is rated as a ‘flawed democracy. It’s not a metric I see used when assessing political risk, because it’s such a blunt rating - for instance India would have a far greater risk than Belgium or the US, and Israel despite ranking higher than Portugal would be considered a more risky jurisdiction.
14 out of the 27 EU states are considered flawed, so if we are eager to be in a political union with them, we can’t then really use it as a stick to beat others in my opinion.
As for India, interestingly they were big buyers of Russian arms pre-Ukraine but have subsequently cancelled some and reduced orders on other contracts. It was speculated that the poor performance of Russia and its equipment in Ukraine may have been the driver. |
Regarding the reticence to deal with flawed democracies, I would just like to show the list of countries that the UK does have trade deals with. Switzerland seems to stand out considerably from the rest.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-trade-agreements-in-effect
Plus.......
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-launches-ambitious-trade-deal-with-gulf-na |  | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 15:32 - Jul 10 with 3541 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
Yes that’s very much through a lens of the state. For financing and facilitation of trade from a commercial perspective, political risk is given a lot more credence. The private sector is the one assuming all the risk, not the government. And the point was not that there is a reluctance to deal with ‘flawed’ democracies, rather that they are not all equal when determining political risk so it’s not a particularly useful measure by itself. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 15:54 - Jul 10 with 3536 views | Eireannach_gorm |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 13:56 - Jul 10 by DJR |
That's certainly true. As it is, I always preferred the political aspects of the EU to the economic, but the EU is no longer the beacon (to use an oft misused word) that it was even at the time of Brexit. |
Not seeing much change in the graph for the EU.
The deal with the sheik's however doesn't pull up too many trees in the democracy department.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu?tab=chart&country=OWI | | | |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 17:34 - Jul 10 with 3497 views | Eireannach_gorm |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 15:32 - Jul 10 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
Yes that’s very much through a lens of the state. For financing and facilitation of trade from a commercial perspective, political risk is given a lot more credence. The private sector is the one assuming all the risk, not the government. And the point was not that there is a reluctance to deal with ‘flawed’ democracies, rather that they are not all equal when determining political risk so it’s not a particularly useful measure by itself. |
My point is that all democracies are flawed ( no 10's ) but some are very flawed, verging on the undemocratic. It is a bit disingenuous to lump in the US and Europe with the likes of Russia for instance. What would be a better gauge of what country to trade with? I assume the private sector is only interested in return. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:01 - Jul 10 with 3468 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 17:34 - Jul 10 by Eireannach_gorm |
My point is that all democracies are flawed ( no 10's ) but some are very flawed, verging on the undemocratic. It is a bit disingenuous to lump in the US and Europe with the likes of Russia for instance. What would be a better gauge of what country to trade with? I assume the private sector is only interested in return. |
I think you may be barking up the wrong tree here, since you appear to be making the same argument I did. Which is why this isn’t a useful metric, since not all ‘flawed democracy’s are equal’. There was an inference that the US was flawed in the same way as India. I was making the case that whilst they have the same index category they do not present the same level of political or financial risk. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 22:06 - Jul 10 with 3398 views | DJR |
Sorry, I was using the term "flawed democracy" in a sense that its meaning may not strictly have or take into account, namely, an increase in populism etc which seems to me to be happening in the US, India and certain countries in the EU.
The UK has also experienced this, and the sentiment appears to be re-emerging despite Brexit. [Post edited 10 Jul 2024 22:26]
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 22:08 - Jul 10 with 3388 views | DJR |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:01 - Jul 10 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
I think you may be barking up the wrong tree here, since you appear to be making the same argument I did. Which is why this isn’t a useful metric, since not all ‘flawed democracy’s are equal’. There was an inference that the US was flawed in the same way as India. I was making the case that whilst they have the same index category they do not present the same level of political or financial risk. |
With Trump waiting in the wings, your last sentence is perhaps a bold one, at least on the political front. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 08:57 - Jul 12 with 3224 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 22:08 - Jul 10 by DJR |
With Trump waiting in the wings, your last sentence is perhaps a bold one, at least on the political front. |
As well as trade barriers, I fear Trump would interfere with the judicial system which are currently largely free of political influence unlike many jurisdictions. There’s a Trump Risk index report published by the Economist Intelligence Report you might find interesting to read (I won’t share on here to avoid any problems for Phil).
Sadly a Trump presidency is looking more likely by the day - Biden with another cringe inducing moment at NATO summit:-
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/07/12/joe-biden-gaffe-putin-zelensk | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 10:42 - Jul 12 with 3166 views | Kievthegreat |
For comparison that's more deaths than the USA in all conflicts since WW2 and America was pretty busy in that timeframe! |  | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 13:10 - Jul 20 with 2913 views | WeWereZombies |
I'm not sure if the threat of missile attack would put me off going to a festival or more determined to join in the spirit of 'can't stop the music':
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ng4pj43ndo
'Atlas has just been pushed back a week after a series of deadly missile attacks, including one that hit a children's hospital...Since it began in 2015 Atlas, held in Ukrainian capital Kyiv, has hosted huge names such as Kasabian, The Chemical Brothers and Liam Gallagher...Atlas is expecting about 25,000 fans, crew and artists to be on site...a potential air attack is a huge concern. Vlad says the solution has been the brand new venue - two stages erected in the car park of a Kyiv shopping centre...It gives us a shelter which can fit more than 100,000 people...more than enough space to get everyone evacuated quickly -- and we're talking minutes...it can be challenging to convince people - who are so used to hearing air-raid sirens - to head for a shelter when the alarm is raised...there's a plan for that too - take the festival underground.' |  |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 02:08 - Aug 22 with 2355 views | WeWereZombies |
I wonder how much time was wasted and how much sooner the fire would have been tackled without this nonsense ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qgyenzwzyo
'The [priests] spoke with the firefighters and blessed all the fire equipment," the local Volgodonsk eparchy - the Russian Orthodox Church equivalent of a diocese - told Reuters news agency...air defences shot down the Ukrainian drone on 18 August, but its debris caused diesel fuel to ignite on the territory of the facility.' | |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 19:12 - Aug 22 with 2162 views | Eireannach_gorm |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 01:01 - Sep 11 with 1762 views | Kropotkin123 |
RIP David Knowles, Creator of Ukraine the Latest. |  |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 14:13 - Sep 18 with 1517 views | Kievthegreat |
Ukrainian Drone operations continue to get more sophisticated:
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 16:25 - Sep 18 with 1454 views | DJR |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 14:13 - Sep 18 by Kievthegreat |
Ukrainian Drone operations continue to get more sophisticated:
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Before the summer my son did an essay at university on the use by both sides of drones in the war.
It looks like the technology and effectiveness have moved on from the contemporary articles on the issue that he used at the time to write the essay. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 16:31 - Sep 18 with 1438 views | Kievthegreat |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 16:25 - Sep 18 by DJR |
Before the summer my son did an essay at university on the use by both sides of drones in the war.
It looks like the technology and effectiveness have moved on from the contemporary articles on the issue that he used at the time to write the essay. |
I remember studying drones at Uni back around 2010 (Aerospace Engineering). At that point very crude and simple. Just glorified remote control planes using modified lawnmower engines.
In some ways there are 2 drone development paths going on. The first is these highly sophisticated stuff which is making in effect jet powered miniature cruise missiles or very nimble and capable recon drones with anti-electronic warfare capability built in.
The other path is still following the 2010 route. Making missiles out of stuff you'd buy at B&Q and lawnmower engines to make drones designed to attack en masse and overwhelm defences.
Playing both sides in the cost Vs capability paradigm! | | | |
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