Same in Australia. It’s just that lots of zombie companies continued to operate through Covid and can’t manage now that costs have increased while the temporary relief and rule laxation cease.

While reframing the conversation.

He also doesn’t know anything about a lot.

Well, Putin was worried their mercenaries might. Then the leader blinked and is now dead.

So your middle ground is to not give passports to trans people that allows them safe passage. Literally, what passports were designed to do.

If their passport doesn’t match their appearance, would that be safe for travel in less welcoming countries? Would it allow them to travel at all, if it didn’t match their presentation? Isn’t that the whole point of a passport? There is no reason for this kind of legal ruling apart from offering a way for bigots to practice bigotry. Nobody will be safer, but trans people will be more at risk.

Oh, I certainly agree that r&d is probably higher than manufacture, but they are ninijisibg the cost to replace. There is also runk cost fallacy to consider.

Russia doesn’t have the spare cash lying in the couch as you say and the cost to manufacturer is higher when under sanctions. The ability to manufacturer is also hamstring.

How much do you think it costs to build and launch a new satellite? Do you have enough faith in Russian manufactthat this won’t happen again, in a slightly different way? Will all the replacement money end up where it should?

Yes, but the power still works and you still have cheaper load to allow you to subsidise development of a local market later, should that happen.

So, it is a risk, but not a substantial one. For something that stops working after a disagreement, say like US military equipment, then you’re screwed. Solar keeps working.

No, they are getting 1c per racist comment online like this and using that instead.

I get that. My point is that in arenas that have usually nothing to do with the USA, it’s being talked about as fact that the USA is in a failed state at the moment.

It doesn’t have the dramatics of things like 9/11 that changed the world irrevocably. However, it’s a similar feeling for those not in the USA. The world has changed and won’t be the same. You don’t have to follow the news to be aware.

It’s not just in the news. My husband is a lawyer. He was on a training conference today. Part of it was about how the rule of law needs to be followed and society only works when it is. They then discussed how important it was to upkeep that using America as an example of a government no longer following rule of law. This wasn’t internet memes. This was senior legal minds discussing how American democracy is failing.

To be fair, there was enough information correcting that misinformation that you would have known what was real and fake if you had any inclination to find out.

Misinformation was definitely a problem, but racism is a bigger problem that was exploited.

When everyone is looking for new trading partners, the only person missing out is the person declining to trade.

If there is no retaliation, then there is no incentive to stop the tariffs on the USA side. Even if that wasn’t trump, it’s logical.

A del would imply he’s good at negotiation. He isn’t. He’s good at leveraging people, but mostly that’s been illegal. If he was good at deals, he wouldn’t have messed up international relations, which is deal making, but more complex. He’s a rich kid that fell upwards and inspired a cult following through sheer luck.

While I agree, they are useful, I don’t expect Russia to respect international waters should Greenland remain in control. Already they frequently venture into European water and have severed communication cables.

Shipping lanes are only useful if countries are still trading with each other.

I think talking to counterparts means talking to those, apart from trump who have some influence but might also be level headed. I assume they will all be pushed out over time for loyalists but there are likely still rational actors. Somewhere.

Historically, the USA did horrible things, as did most countries with power. The USA, as a superpower, did even more. However, they usually were reliable to allies. And, their atrocities were for the benefit of the nation, mainly.

Now, they are burning allies and it’s for the whims and benefit of Trump and Musk. So, it’s not the same. Tolerating it and saying it’s the same as it ever was minimizes the damage that is happening and normalises it.

Not just for trump, but who ever comes next. If institutions are damaged and laws are not followed, nationally or internationally, then much greater damage and atrocities are possible, and ever more likely,

This is highly unusual, even if some of the events are similar. It bears more resemblance to events leading to ww2 than the events after, that were muddied with Hollywood propaganda.