agnos.is Forums

On the one hand, I share your doubt, which is justified in the face of all the deceit and mismanagement that Merz in particular and the CDU and CSU in general engage in and their disdain for the public good. On the other hand, the fact that the Sovereign Tech Fund / Agency survived the German budget crisis gives me some hope that it will at least stay.

Although they could do more, I wouldn't say they don't care. For instance, Germany established the Sovereign Tech Agency.

This is due to a few people in power, not because of tsunamis etc. So this can switch over in just a day.

In my view, the damage is very real and businesses will keep suffering even if Trump winds down his tariff ambitions, because the uncertainty and unpredictability hinder investment decisions. For example, if you managed an aluminium business like Alcoa, would you put up the cash to set up new smelters in the US despite melting stock prices, high borrowing costs and the possibility that the tariffs shielding those US smelters from foreign producers are reduced or even scrapped altogether without warning? Many businesses are “damned if they do, damned if they don't”.

I'm sure there are smart plays in this market, but I'm also convinced that we've entered a bear phase.

I searched for German articles about this, but found none. However, the three parties expected to form the next government –the SPD, the CDU and its Bavarian sibling, the CSU– are considering to weaponize migration background against “sponsors of terror, antisemites and extremists”, which could be construed to include some peaceful critics of the Israeli government and military and their actions and plans.

Interesting to note that since 2022, he lost under 1% of his population to the war... Meat attacks could go on for years on end and it would barely move him.

If that "1% of his population" refers to the general population, I would note that the total includes many people who could never fight, such as:

• all those involved, whether directly or indirectly, in the development and production of military hardware,
• all those involved, whether directly or indirectly, in the extraction and trade of natural resources, without which the Russian economy would collapse, and
• all those physically unable to fight, such as children, the elderly and disabled people, and all those who care for them in one way or another.

As much as Putin's tyranny may yet squeeze out of the general population, 1% in three years is already devastating, in my view.

As good as that would be and as much as I desire it, my impression is that too many of them are trapped in a disinformation bubble to realize what and who is actually causing their problems. Some might, like the former Republican who shot at Trump and the veteran who blew up a Cybertruck, if I understood their motivation correctly, but I doubt such incidents will ever reach the scale for Republicans to reverse their entrenched stance on gun ownership.

Trudeau did adopt some of Trump's lingo when addressing him –by his forename, as you point out–, using "big" several times and referring to some treaty they negotiated as a "deal". He also slowed down, as if talking to someone with impaired understanding. Finally, Trudeau delivered this gem:

Now, it's not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that, even though you're a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do.

— starting at 10:34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT_ePmJyIcw

It was brilliant; out in plain sight for anyone with mild linguistic skills yet too subtle for the Trump base to grasp any of it.

I think Trumpism does not need to take away guns thanks to the correlation between Trumpism and gun ownership. Why would they disarm those who support them and carry out their wishes with a degree of plausible deniability, as in January 6th?

To my knowledge, intelligence gathering is one of the capabilities for which Ukraine and, indeed, all non-US members of NATO depend on the United States the most, and one which they can less readily ramp up than the production of military hardware and materiel. This latest move is, perhaps, an even bigger blow to a fair and durable peace than the recent suspension of US military aid.

The US has cut off intelligence-sharing with Kyiv in a move that could seriously hamper the Ukrainian military’s ability to target Russian forces, according to officials familiar with the matter.

The move follows the decision on Monday by the Trump administration to suspend military aid deliveries to Ukraine and comes after a dramatic breakdown in relations between the US president and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

[…]

While the US has also formally blocked its allies from sharing US intelligence with Ukraine, two officials said that recipients with assets inside the country were likely to continue passing on relevant intelligence to Kyiv. But that would not apply to time-sensitive and high-value intelligence, such as that needed for Ukraine to conduct precision strikes on moveable Russian targets.

The US decision to ban its allies from passing intelligence to Ukraine was first reported by the Daily Mail.

https://web.archive.org/web/20250305120633/https://www.ft.com/content/c58fccea-00c4-4fad-bc0a-0185b7415579

Fair enough. I couldn't tell from your original comment.

We have also never been imperial powers

Italy did maintain colonies in parts of what today are Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, among other places, albeit the Italian imperial project was comparatively short in both time and space.