I hate that this has to be explicitly stated and isn’t a given.

… to be humiliated like all those before him, I presume.

Narrator: “They didn’t stop the hostilities. In fact, they started a major offensive.”

The Trump administration has no idea what negotiations with the EU actually entail. I don’t expect this to lead to anything substantial and since it’s obvious that the US would not feel bound by any “deal” this will mainly be an exercise in diplomacy.

Wow, he did not only blink first, he did it in record time, too.

Now the whole world can learn how to deal effectively with this would-be strongman.

He makes Lukashenko look like a sensible, intelligent statesman in comparison.

I have “US defaulting on its debt” on my Trump presidency bingo card. No one knows what happens if it comes to that.

I also have “US testing a nuclear warhead” on there, for what it’s worth.

I have faith in the European Comission’s ability to do a deep analysis of possible paths forward. As usual, the slowness and perceived weakness of any response will be deeply unsatisfactory, but they will have weighted an immense number of factors to arrive at any decision. Give it some time, trade wars are what the EU excels at.

Let’s see, what do you need do a modern car factory? Robots! Huh, they’re extra expensive now, since there are tariffs on them. What else? Electronics! Huh, they’re from Asia, with extra high tariffs. Workers! Huh, they’ve been deported by ICE. Building parts for automobiles! Huh, they’re only manufactured in Europe and China, hence super-expensive. Guess we’ll have to build a factory for auto-parts first. Let’s see, what do you need for a modern auto-parts factory…

That seems an apt assessment.

Trump’s administration is really speedrunning fascism. When things inevitably start crumbling, war is the logical next step. Usually this takes a while, but under Trump you might see US troops invading democratic countries within months.

I don’t consider meduza a trustworthy news source.

Whoops! But it says “belt and road”, not river, so everything is in order.

This will start off very slowly and become huge over time. When the EU starts construction of single markets, expect long lasting results.

Just for anyone who still holds out hope: NATO as we have known it is over. The US won’t come to the defense of the other members if they are attacked. It’s time to move on.

I strongly disagree. They are actually very dumb and there is no grand strategy at play here. While everyone tries to understand the sense behind the erratic decisions, there really is not much to understand at all. It’s as simple as “we don’t want to spend money on European defense anymore”, so all activities related to that are stopped, without any regard to the consequences.

I’ve noticed an uptik of pro Chinese propaganda content here on lemmy in recent days. I am afraid the fediverse had been discovered.

The way things are going he will announce it tomorrow, likely via social media and without prior warning to the other NATO members.