The difference between a unilateral decision that blindsided the cult leader and a coordinated decision where the messaging is supposed to divert any future blame away from the cult leader is easy: was the person supposedly at fault fired? No? Then it’s all just talk, since the overall outcome nicely aligns with the policy goals of the red team.
No, no, don’t close it. Just make sure the aircraft accidentally loses coms and has technical problems en route. Make sure the blackbox is never found. You know, the Russian way. If anyone asks, just throw some hastily made powepoint slides at them illustrating that a Russian missile or alien space bats were behind the entire thing. You know, the Russian way.
The fact that the United States still only has “acting” ambassadors in many countries that used to consider them allies really adds to the insult.
Thanks so much for the concise and informative overview. Here’s to hoping that the Romanian voters chose wisely.
Can a Romanian person with a good understanding of this shit show please give the rest of us a solid rundown of how the second election is likely to pan out?
From the experience of a friend of mine: if you are of European descent, try finding out about your lineage and if that can somehow get you a European citizenship.
A friend of mine, who is Mexican, wanted to remain in Germany after finishing her Master’s degree, since she had a German boyfriend and generally believed her prospects were better here. While it’s possible for non EU citizens to get a work visa, the requirements are very high. She ended up applying for Spanish citizenship, since one of her grandparents had emigrated from Spain. After getting the Spanish EU citizenship, everything was a breeze. She didn’t need any further paperwork, could remain in Germany indefinitely and apply for any job that doesn’t specifically require German citizenship (such as some public service jobs).
Similarly another friend of mine, who is Brazilian, now holds German citizenship, despite not speaking a single word of German. He’s fluent in French though and has found work in Luxembourg easily.
Therefore, if at all possible, try getting any EU citizenship via your grandparents/great grandparents. It will open the door to living and working in any EU country without ever needing a visa or work permit.
Perhaps they will be able to meet up in the afterlife soon, since I believe both of them are likely heading in the same direction there.
I don’t want to excuse Netanyahu here. He certainly belongs behind bars in my opinion. However, he only holds a part of the world hostage rather than all of it. I see him on par with folks like Kim Jon Un or Mohamed bin Salman rather than Trump or Putin.
The last time I visited China was ca. 2005/6 and pretty much matches what you describe.
The last time I was in the United States was in 2015. While I work in banking (specifically IT for banking) it was fairly chill at the time. I changed jobs though in early 2016 and haven’t been required to leave the EU for work related travel since, which is incredibly reassuring.
Exactly. The risk is too high for me to personally want to take that chance. It seems like many others also come to the same conclusion in their risk assessment. Nonetheless there are still thousands of people visiting the United States (and China, for that matter) every day. The majority of them aren’t randomly arrested on some trumped up charge.
The United States are now more or less on the same risk level as China. While it’s likely that your visit is going to be uneventful, there is a chance that you may be disappeared without any form of recourse.
I remember visiting Mohenjo-Daro in the mid 1990s and being impressed by the sheer scale of time between these remnants of civilization and myself. It’s sad that the site isn’t as developed as it deserves to be, since it is among the oldest proofs of civilisation still around.
I fail to see a scenario where Europeans and China come into direct conflict. Even if/when China invades Taiwan I don’t see the Europeans committing to the Pacific, given the Russian threat directly at home. Therefore the only real war scenario seems to be a direct war with Russia. For this the Gripen should be solid, especially with uncertainty about the availability of some capabilities of the F-35 likely depending on US support.
I understand that a court of law found that it’s illegal to bar someone from joining a club they are otherwise qualified for due to their political beliefs. Nonetheless, why would the democratic members of the club in any way be accommodating for the antidemocratic ones? If it were me, I’d simply not train, play or otherwise engage with these lunatics and just pretend that they aren’t around.
Oh dear ! Must be those batteries spontaneously combusting. I remember when that used to happen to Samsung phones a while back.
And the US negotiation team will respond: “Yes sir, we agree that all of your terms need to be met. Now we can finally suspend all aid to those pesky Ukranians again and lift all sanctions, since Uncle Vladimir is totally in favour of peace!”
This will really be an interesting question for the so-called global south. Since most countries there are generally considered to politically align with China/Russia due to “anti imperialism”, it’s going to be interesting to see if they remain on the side of Russia although this is now the side of the US or whether they alternatively remain opposed to the US but find themselves on the same side as the Europeans.
Man, I remember using Eutelsat to send and receive E-Mails in Afghanistan in the early 2000s. Of course back then we needed a giant receiver in the back yard of the compound. It was slow as hell, incredibly expensive, but the only reliable way of getting an internet connection after the end of the (first) Taliban regime. The world really has changed so much in the last twenty years, unfortunately more for worse than for better in my opinion.
As a Dutchman living in Germany I can attest to the immense difference that dubbing makes. While even young children in the Netherlands consume tons of English language media and have done so for decades, their peers in Germany generally get only dubbed versions. This leads to a lackluster immersion when “properly” learning English.
Yet in the voting booth a majority will likely decide to put one of Moscow’s sockpuppets in a position of power.