| Starmer in Washington. 09:20 - Feb 27 with 2477 views | Pinewoodblue |
What are our expectations? An opportunity to define his leadership skills, or a Neville Chamberlin moment but without a piece of paper to wave. |  |
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| Starmer in Washington. on 12:55 - Feb 27 with 669 views | Guthrum |
| Starmer in Washington. on 11:07 - Feb 27 by bluester |
Terrible deal for Ukraine though isn't it? Pretty meaningless without security guarantees? |
No security guarantees without it, either. Only the cutting off of any supplies or support from the US, with the possibility of obstruction instead (e.g. loss of access to Starlink). |  |
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| Starmer in Washington. on 13:12 - Feb 27 with 650 views | Guthrum |
| Starmer in Washington. on 12:47 - Feb 27 by Pinewoodblue |
He would also be able to reduce the size of the regular army as if you aren’t going to make a commitment to come to the aid of Europe you need 200,000 less grunts.
He would increase National Guard, thry only get paid when on active service. |
Plus you can deploy the National Guard in country, which is much harder with the regular forces. | |
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| Starmer in Washington. on 13:29 - Feb 27 with 624 views | brazil1982 |
Away from home on a Thursday evening? Tough draw, settle for a point. |  | | |
| Starmer in Washington. on 13:49 - Feb 27 with 598 views | Churchman |
| Starmer in Washington. on 12:29 - Feb 27 by ArnoldMoorhen |
The reality, full stop, is that Trump is returning the USA to a hemisperist Foreign Policy.
He won't let the US military come to Europe's aid.
This was a policy which held dominant sway in the USA for large periods of the early 20th Century, and is why they entered WW1 and WW2 so late.
Broadly speaking, if it's not in the USA hemisphere of influence (North and South America and US Pacific Islands, including Hawaii) then it's not the USA's problem.
Trump has been saying it for long enough. Nobody took him seriously.
Lots of pro-Democrat talking heads in the States mocked his negotiations with Putin, saying "He says he is the best at deals, but you don't give everything that the other guy wants straight away!"
They missed the point. Trump wasn't negotiating on behalf of Ukraine, he was negotiating a shift in European power dynamics which would enable him to remove tens of thousands of US service personnel, and save billions a year. That's his win. And would then lumber Europe with those costs, weakening their position as a potential economic threat to the USA.
Meanwhile, with Russia no longer the enemy, he would be able to focus US Foreign (and Economic) Policy goals on competing with China in the Pacific.
Bad news for Europe, terrible news for Ukraine, but definitely a win for Trump.
And possibly good news for Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Maybe for Australia and New Zealand, too.
I am a huge supporter of Ukraine, but Trump has played an absolute blinder for naked, cynical American self-interest.
And the "Rare Earths and Minerals" Deal would just be the icing on the cake. |
If you mean that he’s joined the ranks of pariah, totalitarian states that take what they want by force (blackmail is force without using your tanks) then yes, he’s played a blinder.
In terms of robbing Ukraine and reducing military costs he has done brilliantly - the actual amount the US has spent is a fraction of what he dribbles on about and half that is replenishing the old rubbish they gave Ukraine with brand new kit. They will have made a huge profit on ‘the deal’.
To back my claim of pariah state further, who is to say there will be another open election in the US now the GOP control everything and are determined to ignore everything including the constitution? It’s essentially what Hitler did and all would be dictators try and do.
But there are consequences. They have diminished their place in the world. Who cares? Well that depends on who they want to trade with. Anyone who trusted their word on anything knows better now. Dollar as a reserve currency? Not for much longer. America first? Ok. America at the expense of everyone else? Seems an odd way to go about it to me.
You can force countries to trade and do things including dragging two European leaders over to grovel on behalf of the beleaguered third who shouldn’t have to deal with a man who has betrayed them and is now robbing them. Britain tried this as the empire began to come apart and it failed longer term just as it will for the US. So it can tariffs at 25% and will.
Their economy and capacity to sell outside its own borders has to diminish. It’s what protectionism does. And what essentially happened to the old Soviet Union. There was only one outcome. Implosion, which is what the disintegration of Russia was all about.
As for weakening Europe? Yes that’s his aim, but providing the main European countries start acting cohesively it will work in reverse. The fastest way to grow an economy is actually to invest in military stuff. It’s how America wound up as an economic powerhouse along with the destruction of everyone else’s economy. Nothing to do with the New Deal, everything to do with rearmament and flogging it’s stuff (a lot of it rubbish) to others, mostly U.K. for inflated prices.
So I see opportunity for U.K. and Europe. The danger is that Russia may invade sooner rather than later. They have the second biggest military in the world and no scruples. That’s why surrounding countries are so nervous and funding proper defence, not a piddling extra 0.2% GDP.
For Trump, yes, he’s the man that’s played a blinder screwing everyone bar his new besties. Long term it could be his biggest mistake yet unless his rogue behaviour splits the US, which is possible given its countries within a country in real terms.
Lastly, a lesson on history is that he US has been at best a competitor and at worst an enemy for all bar WW1 period and 1940-2024. They are now in my opinion [Post edited 27 Feb 14:00]
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| Starmer in Washington. on 13:51 - Feb 27 with 588 views | WeWereZombies |
| Starmer in Washington. on 12:29 - Feb 27 by ArnoldMoorhen |
The reality, full stop, is that Trump is returning the USA to a hemisperist Foreign Policy.
He won't let the US military come to Europe's aid.
This was a policy which held dominant sway in the USA for large periods of the early 20th Century, and is why they entered WW1 and WW2 so late.
Broadly speaking, if it's not in the USA hemisphere of influence (North and South America and US Pacific Islands, including Hawaii) then it's not the USA's problem.
Trump has been saying it for long enough. Nobody took him seriously.
Lots of pro-Democrat talking heads in the States mocked his negotiations with Putin, saying "He says he is the best at deals, but you don't give everything that the other guy wants straight away!"
They missed the point. Trump wasn't negotiating on behalf of Ukraine, he was negotiating a shift in European power dynamics which would enable him to remove tens of thousands of US service personnel, and save billions a year. That's his win. And would then lumber Europe with those costs, weakening their position as a potential economic threat to the USA.
Meanwhile, with Russia no longer the enemy, he would be able to focus US Foreign (and Economic) Policy goals on competing with China in the Pacific.
Bad news for Europe, terrible news for Ukraine, but definitely a win for Trump.
And possibly good news for Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Maybe for Australia and New Zealand, too.
I am a huge supporter of Ukraine, but Trump has played an absolute blinder for naked, cynical American self-interest.
And the "Rare Earths and Minerals" Deal would just be the icing on the cake. |
I don't see how emboldening Russia, and by extension North Korea, is going to encourage Japan and South Korea into placing renewed trust in the United States. Nor will sacrificing part of Ukrainian territory and mineral rights give Taiwan confidence that their semiconductor dominance is safe from Trump doing a deal with China. |  |
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| Starmer in Washington. on 13:55 - Feb 27 with 573 views | Guthrum |
| Starmer in Washington. on 13:51 - Feb 27 by WeWereZombies |
I don't see how emboldening Russia, and by extension North Korea, is going to encourage Japan and South Korea into placing renewed trust in the United States. Nor will sacrificing part of Ukrainian territory and mineral rights give Taiwan confidence that their semiconductor dominance is safe from Trump doing a deal with China. |
That's alright. Withdrawing from South Korea and closing down Okinawa will save a load more money which can instead be spent on tax reductions for the wealthy. | |
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| Starmer in Washington. on 14:14 - Feb 27 with 535 views | WeWereZombies |
| Starmer in Washington. on 13:55 - Feb 27 by Guthrum |
That's alright. Withdrawing from South Korea and closing down Okinawa will save a load more money which can instead be spent on tax reductions for the wealthy. |
Reading through the nations who voted with Europe at the United Nations was interesting. From memory Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were with us. Also Turkey, Jordan and Egypt. It's too soon to say that the Mediterranean and some of the Pacific will be closing up to the United States and Russia but the potential for powerful new alliances is increasing rapidly at the moment.
China, dependent on trade to continue lifting its population out of poverty, may curb its expansionism to retain access to European (more than double the number of people compared to the United States) and other markets. Europe in turn can apply pressure on China to increase quality. [Post edited 27 Feb 14:16]
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| Starmer in Washington. on 14:23 - Feb 27 with 492 views | WeWereZombies |
| Starmer in Washington. on 13:55 - Feb 27 by Guthrum |
That's alright. Withdrawing from South Korea and closing down Okinawa will save a load more money which can instead be spent on tax reductions for the wealthy. |
Also Serbia voted with Europe, that really did surprise me. However, thinking on it, maybe Orthodox Serbia value their independence just as much as Orthodox Ukraine. | |
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| Starmer in Washington. on 14:28 - Feb 27 with 463 views | OldFart71 |
| Starmer in Washington. on 12:29 - Feb 27 by ArnoldMoorhen |
The reality, full stop, is that Trump is returning the USA to a hemisperist Foreign Policy.
He won't let the US military come to Europe's aid.
This was a policy which held dominant sway in the USA for large periods of the early 20th Century, and is why they entered WW1 and WW2 so late.
Broadly speaking, if it's not in the USA hemisphere of influence (North and South America and US Pacific Islands, including Hawaii) then it's not the USA's problem.
Trump has been saying it for long enough. Nobody took him seriously.
Lots of pro-Democrat talking heads in the States mocked his negotiations with Putin, saying "He says he is the best at deals, but you don't give everything that the other guy wants straight away!"
They missed the point. Trump wasn't negotiating on behalf of Ukraine, he was negotiating a shift in European power dynamics which would enable him to remove tens of thousands of US service personnel, and save billions a year. That's his win. And would then lumber Europe with those costs, weakening their position as a potential economic threat to the USA.
Meanwhile, with Russia no longer the enemy, he would be able to focus US Foreign (and Economic) Policy goals on competing with China in the Pacific.
Bad news for Europe, terrible news for Ukraine, but definitely a win for Trump.
And possibly good news for Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Maybe for Australia and New Zealand, too.
I am a huge supporter of Ukraine, but Trump has played an absolute blinder for naked, cynical American self-interest.
And the "Rare Earths and Minerals" Deal would just be the icing on the cake. |
Europe has been a lame duck for years. People like Tony Blair only wanted us in Europe because it was a gravy train which since we left has come off the rails as us along with Germany and France were the only one's paying in more than we got out of it. Trump was voted in to restore the American dream. The people were fed up with paying high taxes just to support other nations as is the case in the UK but those that run it either can't or won't see. I'm no fan of Trump and I see no reason not to help others, but when you have the highest level ever of people living on the streets, masses queuing at food banks, kids who can't afford homes and the elderly unable to heat their homes then charity should begin at home. I am sorry to say this but the current way things are being run won't work. Companies like AstraZeneca and car manufacturers pulling out of building or expanding their businesses, lower levels of employment added to higher costs for both industry and the general population will do nothing to expand the economy. Borrowing much higher than expected that will lead to cuts or increases in taxation already at the highest level since just after the second world war. Trump is protecting America and it's interests. We need to do the same. |  | | |
| Starmer in Washington. on 14:32 - Feb 27 with 445 views | positivity |
| Starmer in Washington. on 14:28 - Feb 27 by OldFart71 |
Europe has been a lame duck for years. People like Tony Blair only wanted us in Europe because it was a gravy train which since we left has come off the rails as us along with Germany and France were the only one's paying in more than we got out of it. Trump was voted in to restore the American dream. The people were fed up with paying high taxes just to support other nations as is the case in the UK but those that run it either can't or won't see. I'm no fan of Trump and I see no reason not to help others, but when you have the highest level ever of people living on the streets, masses queuing at food banks, kids who can't afford homes and the elderly unable to heat their homes then charity should begin at home. I am sorry to say this but the current way things are being run won't work. Companies like AstraZeneca and car manufacturers pulling out of building or expanding their businesses, lower levels of employment added to higher costs for both industry and the general population will do nothing to expand the economy. Borrowing much higher than expected that will lead to cuts or increases in taxation already at the highest level since just after the second world war. Trump is protecting America and it's interests. We need to do the same. |
why should we be protecting america and it's interests?
more seriously, trump is not using the money saved from pulling out of europe to reduce food banks, help elderly people cope with heating (or their main problem which is climate breakdown) or even provide basic healthcare. he's cutting taxes for himself and his rich mates. [Post edited 27 Feb 14:36]
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| Starmer in Washington. on 14:41 - Feb 27 with 401 views | J2BLUE |
Wait until the second state visit is announced... |  |
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| Starmer in Washington. on 14:46 - Feb 27 with 396 views | WeWereZombies |
| Starmer in Washington. on 14:28 - Feb 27 by OldFart71 |
Europe has been a lame duck for years. People like Tony Blair only wanted us in Europe because it was a gravy train which since we left has come off the rails as us along with Germany and France were the only one's paying in more than we got out of it. Trump was voted in to restore the American dream. The people were fed up with paying high taxes just to support other nations as is the case in the UK but those that run it either can't or won't see. I'm no fan of Trump and I see no reason not to help others, but when you have the highest level ever of people living on the streets, masses queuing at food banks, kids who can't afford homes and the elderly unable to heat their homes then charity should begin at home. I am sorry to say this but the current way things are being run won't work. Companies like AstraZeneca and car manufacturers pulling out of building or expanding their businesses, lower levels of employment added to higher costs for both industry and the general population will do nothing to expand the economy. Borrowing much higher than expected that will lead to cuts or increases in taxation already at the highest level since just after the second world war. Trump is protecting America and it's interests. We need to do the same. |
Paragraphs, sunshine, paragraphs. Posting a splurge of impressions is not validated by imitating the closing passage of Ulysses. | |
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