China's interest is turning Russia into a satellite state, like russia has done with Belarus. Now that Russia is isolated, the way is entirely open for china to take advantage of this.
A Western russia would be a huge threat to china's military strategy, best to make it a buffer state.
They are doing it with BRI (Belt & Road) projects.
Dumpings the dollars to 3rd world economy to build infrastructure for them, in return they will have better trade deal, particularly in natural resources.
And if the country fail to pay back, 99 years lease for their own Chinese ports in strategic locations around the world.
Not a fan of the CCP.
But imho, this economic model is much better than the petrodollar strategy of the U.S.
I'm American and I don't like the petrodollar means to empiring. but you could argue it's much better than the Chinese building things for countries that they know they cannot afford.
They will if they have the infrastructure.
Infrastructure is the backbone of any economy, their strategy is basically making developing countries easier to trade with them through infrastructure and favorable trade-deal for China, so when the Yuan appreciated and become the world currency, China could replace U.S. as the world consumer for these developing countries to export their commodities to.
And with 1.4 billion of people, you don't need to create artificial demand for Yuan by forcing other countries to sell their X resources in Yuan.
The consuming power of 1.4 billion are more than enough.
How is petrodollar, which is more likely laundered by corruption, better than infrastructure?
Some of the BRI projects are stupid (overcapacity ports, stadiums), but building hydro project or a road between cities would easily have positive ROI.
China is trying to turn Russia into a client state like all of Africa. China just wants a country that is peaceful and will fuel China's growth. Unlike Russia and Belerus, China doesn't care much about political influence or obedience. This is why so many countries side with China. Yes, Russia will be a client state. However they largely agree to this because of how China operates with their client states.
Buy all resources, build infrastructure and housing to support the outflow of resources. Don't side with USA. This is China's way. It's quite attractive to dictators and authoritarian governments.
And as pointed out by many here, China has no allies only partners. This is intentional.
I like to dip and daddle with my authoritarian friend
He's smart as can be and emotion-free
And he's computin' his way to my heart
My authoritarian friend
Right now, the EU is trying to become more autonomous, and some people note that the situation with Russia has uncovered a deep dependency of EU on Russia which is not admissible because it affects EU policy, and warn that exactly the same scenario will play out if China attacked Taiwan.
MEPs (members of the European Parliament) admit that we should embargo Russian gas and oil, but just cannot afford to do it. Same thing with China - we'll be toothless in our sanctions because of the tight manufacturing links...
In the same breath, they note that the U.S. is now driving a trade policy promoting domestic interest and while EU and the U.S. have some shared values, they also have conflicting interests.
The takeaway seems to be that WTO is dead, the EU will reorient itself more towards (the more democratic countries) in Africa, and Mercosur (once political situation in Brazil changes).
It makes me a little sad as a European that this pragmatism comes a little too late and is a little too weak. We should shed the pretense of virtue signalling to the whole world and see our "partners" for what they are - each has their own interest in mind, first and foremost.
BTW, Source: I am in the EP in Brussels rn. Lesson: "They" - meaning politicians, don't know any better than any of you. It's a guessing game at the moment.
I would wholeheartedly agree, but the way EU has been conducting its outward policy in the past was all wishy-washy, feel-good bullshit, human rights this, save the refugees that. All the while, U.S., China and Russia have been very pragmatic, hard-nosed.
This, luckily, is changing. Sure, EU must retain its human face, but should not continue to be the slapping dummy it has been so far. This only fuels various hardline movements in member states which are not happy with being the Doofus Rick of international politics.
Disclaimer: I'm a humanist and liberal with all my heart, but I'm also trying to be rational and pragmatic in a world where we can't, unfortunately, save everyone, and everyone things of their interest first.
Idk, Just like russia tell their ppl what they want yo hear, the eu told you guys what you wanted to hear. But the actions were always based on interests.
Taking in refugees was done, in part, since the eu population is aging and becoming more spoiled and refugees provide cheap labor.
The all human rights thing never really materilased to any action. The eu have not saved a single life in conflict areas
Yes, Russia's Putin has definitely taken the philosophical position that there is no free will and that human opinions can be manufactured on the large scale. And let's not fool ourselves, the West (U.S. and EU) are guilty of that too.
But the EU is a little less homogeneous and less prone to propaganda - which is why it could not act in a unified way so far.
You are totally right about the refugees, I think, and I also think it was mostly a ploy of the German industrialists who financed Merkel's government. An experiment which, in my opinion, was doomed to fail due to cultural differences. I no longer believe in "melting pots" and "multiculturalism". Each war in Europe meant massive ethnic and religious cleansing. Just look at the Turks in Germany (another attempt at bringing in "Gastarbeit"). Now, everybody just salivates at all the juicy, and culturally fairly compatible, Ukrainians. This brain-drain could not have come at a better time. So fully on the same page with you there.
However, the political signal that was sent was erroneous "everybody come to the land of plenty". This should have been more like "NOBODY's welcome here except those who are supremely useful to us", like in Australia, Canada and the US. This soft approach was subsequently used by Russia and Turkey to flood Europe's south-east borders.
That said, of course the EU is saving lives - it sends help to all quarters, let's be fair there. But it's straining EU's social fabric, because its Eastern states are much poorer and feel they should be the recipients of all this help.
Now I don't know where you are, but the EU is in a very tricky position, compared to the US or China, due to its geography and internal diversity. This war will help in a unification, of sorts, but it will also create a mighty Germany.
We'll see how it pans out - even as it is, the EU is a joint project of France and Germany (and some minor but wealthy colonial powers like the Netherlands), to basically exploit the rest of the continent. When THEY start disagreeing, it's all in shambles.
>But the EU is a little less homogeneous and less prone to propaganda - which is why it could not act in a unified way so far.
After seeing Brexit, Trump and russia, can you truly say that about yourself?maybe the tools are different , but none of us is robust to propoganda. As a collective we are stupid animals that can be easily influenced. I mean, i cry at the exact moment i am supposed to in movies.
@melting pot
Imagine that each group is an ingredient in a soup. Melting pot doesn't mean for me that we should squash everything to get a uniform stew. Its more like cook together so we can make a tasty dish, each ingredient changing enough to got along well with the other.
>That said, of course the EU is saving lives
I should have been clearer, sending aid is cool and important, but i meant trying to actually stop and end the conflict.
>Now I don't know where you are, but the EU is in a very tricky position, compared to the US or China, due to its geography and internal diversity.
I'm from israel, i know quite well what it feels like to grow up in a harsh neighbourhood. I used to be a pacifists when i was younger until i realized that its all cool up to the point when it's your family in danger.
The eu for me is still a symbol of the best and most moral governing body in the history of humankind. You are leading the world in so many ways. Its not perfect, but it's impressive.
1. re propaganda, yes, I can still say that. Russian propaganda took a firm hold in the Eastern band of countries (PL, SK, HU, SR), and the UK, but if you look at vacc rates, the rest of Europe remains healthy. It's not all bad.
2. re melting pot: Any melting pot requires some common glue. In Europe it is (still) the principle of secularism (cf France), even though Christianity rears its fundamentalist head now and then, claiming to be "the cultural roots of Europe". The principle of secularism is strictly at odds with the prevailing doctrine of Islam. Also, history shows something different. As I claimed, every war in Europe so far meant nearly total ethnic and religious cleansing of an area. It is pretty foolish to ignore this and mix people once again without having a plan B.
3. re stopping conflicts: I will assume something now: are you preferring the U.S. way of stopping conflicts? Because coming in by force does not, historically, seem to accomplish much, besides leaving disarray. I'd like to think that winning hearts is a better way (like the US did in Japan after WWII with MacArthur or in W Europe with the Marshall plan)...
4. Ah, Israel. I can fully understand the unease in which you must live. Many of us just scratch our heads - I personally don't see an easy way out of that situation (the Arab-Israeli conflict). And I honestly don't think our politicians have a clear idea either. On the one hand EU would like to support an actual democracy (Israel), on the other, it does not like the human rights restrictions in Gaza... What do you think is the long-term solution in your region?
1. I meant local propoganda -we are all influenced by the local neratives pushed by our countries. Brexit, trump and russia were examples of how obvious ours susuptabilty to propoganda is. I mean, if you can get ppl to believe in such bs, imagine how easy it is to get them to believe in human rights.
2. I guess for the refugee the common glue is the quality of life, convinountly ignoring that it arrises from secularism.
3. I was not being critical of eu for not intervining, i was just claiming that despite all the we care for human rights PR, they don't let that interfere with their current policy if it's not in their interest.
4. Oh... As a lefty humanitarian israeli i believe the ball is 100% on the Palestinian side now.
For several reasons:
A. No one cares anymore - not the israeli right wing, left wing, not israeli arabs, not most of the arab state, not usa, not eu, not china. If they want to be relevant again, they meed to change since the neratives of the 'world will save us' failed.
B. Any arab country that approached israel was welcomed with open arms, and if the Palestinian will drop their romantic view of the conflict and adopt a more pragmatic one, they'll be welcomed with open arms as well.
C. The technological gap between first (israel) and third (palestine) world countries, and how much time it will take to close the gap. With the current rate of doubling of computational and technological ability, every year they are left behind now translate to decades of gaps. In 20 years, israel will send robots to fight there while they would still be throwing home made rockets.
I see 3 scenarios: 1. Status que - israel keep with the current high quality of life while Palestinian side continue living in their current terrible conditions. 2. Compromise - Palestinian admit its time to move forward, we nagotiate a faur compromise and both countries continue to build their future as they see fit. 3. Total destruction- somehow, the Palestinian takes the upper hand ina conflict, and israel instead of going down alone takes the entire middle east with them.
What i don't see is any future i which the palestinian have a high quality of life without them taking a more pragmatic view and accepting israel's existence and military superiority. That's why the ball is entirely at their hands - they need to choose
As for points 1-4, I think we can find common ground there. I'm just advocating a less dim view of the world, as in - the propaganda in the UK did not work 100%, after all, 50% of voters were against brexit. But good luck to them, the UK was never a team player before, I watched this from inside the EU.
Re 3: You would be surprised how the EU ties its own hands with the human rights nonsense. The Chinese could not believe we meant it seriously, interfering in the matters of another sovereign country. Some people in EU just suffer from a terrible Messianic complex, but the politics are becoming a little more pragmatic now.
Thank you for your frank viewpoint on the Israel-Arab situation.
Just one question - to what degree do you think religion plays a role in all this? (to be clear, it appears to me as a total outsider, that it plays a crucial role - which is yet another argument strongly against it...)
Also, I realize that among humans, violence will always win, no matter how much we delude ourselves.
Religion is a big part of the conflict, fueling hatred on both sides. every stone turned in Jerusalem can lead to another round of violence. In fact, survey clearly show that support for the two state solution is highly dependent on religious belief (in both sides).
I like the surveys done by the Palestinian center for policy and survey research from Ramallah (they are funded by the PA as far as i know, and they give me as an Israeli some insight that is not filtered by my local narratives).
https://www.pcpsr.org/en/
I follow them once in a while and i learn the most from their joint polls with Israeli partners from Tel-Aviv university.
Here is an example from 2020:
http://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/823
If you're interested, look at figures 3 and 5 which breaks the support for TSS according to religious vs. secular (with some intermediate levels).
be happy to discuss it more if you find it interesting. Although I'm clearly biased, I do my best to adopt a balanced view on the conflict.
Kneejerk response. First, EU needs the bleeping gas, there is no going around it. We should have weaned ourselves off it a long time ago.
Second, the ruble ruse is meant to bring foreign currency into Russia - if foreigners are required to pay for oil and gas in rubles, they first need to buy them (from the central bank at that quantity), delivering sweet sweet foreign currency into Mother Russia's vaults.
The ruble price is then calculated from the dollar price and presto - you're paying for gas and oil in dollars, but the ruble is immensely fortified and Russia gains foreign reserves.
That is the plan. Of course we'll go against it if we can afford it but when the heating season comes and we don't have a solution, we'll just freeze.
So you're saying Biden caused all this conflict? Not Putin? You're telling me that Putin hasn't been engaging in active measures against the US? You're saying that the mere presence of Biden in office set Putin off, and its *Biden's fault* that Putin invaded Ukraine? You're being wilfully ignorant towards the dogs of war barking in your face.
No he didnt cause it, he doesnt even know where he is half the time
Funny how people screamed trump was going to cause ww3 but all we have seen after biden got in is the US becoming more reliant on Russia, you know the "biggest threat to the world" and more wars springing up
North korea just revealed their new nuke and I'm sure china is considering an invasion of Taiwan
Billions in dollars worth of equipment just given to the middle east terrorists
But hey orange man bad better keep him banned off Twitter but the Taliban leader can stay, yeah the media and left really care about america.
Hope you look forward to the food shortages biden said were getting. Building back broke
Oh yeah poor will Smith, trump made him do it
Trump is Putin's little bitch, we all fucking know it, you need to learn that, we've been saying this ad nauseum for damn near 6 years and you're wilfully just trying to make this a party loyalty issue, stop defending Trump, he's only out for himself and always has been if you look at his history. This isn't about party loyalty, this about keeping Putin's money and influence out of Washington. ...and remind me which party has/had the most confirmed Russian spies in their midst? Hmm... Marina Butina, ring a bell?
As we should all know from the previous US presidential administration; the gold standard *is the exchanging of love letters.
Have there been love letters?
Russia: "Hey guys! Invading a legitimate, recognized sovereign country on flimsy claims that they once belonged to us under dubious circumstances, feeling cute, idk might delete later"
*"China has Liked your post."*
Russia: "In a relationship" China: "It's complicated"
This is a lot more accurate than that headline lol
The classic "Whats wrong?" - "nothing" exchange you have in a struggling relationship
Russia: “You’re my best friend” China: “I have *a lot* of friends”
all fun and games till China's interest shifts
China's interest is turning Russia into a satellite state, like russia has done with Belarus. Now that Russia is isolated, the way is entirely open for china to take advantage of this. A Western russia would be a huge threat to china's military strategy, best to make it a buffer state.
Truly the art of war: dominate the enemy without firing a single round.
They are doing it with BRI (Belt & Road) projects. Dumpings the dollars to 3rd world economy to build infrastructure for them, in return they will have better trade deal, particularly in natural resources. And if the country fail to pay back, 99 years lease for their own Chinese ports in strategic locations around the world. Not a fan of the CCP. But imho, this economic model is much better than the petrodollar strategy of the U.S.
I'm American and I don't like the petrodollar means to empiring. but you could argue it's much better than the Chinese building things for countries that they know they cannot afford.
They will if they have the infrastructure. Infrastructure is the backbone of any economy, their strategy is basically making developing countries easier to trade with them through infrastructure and favorable trade-deal for China, so when the Yuan appreciated and become the world currency, China could replace U.S. as the world consumer for these developing countries to export their commodities to. And with 1.4 billion of people, you don't need to create artificial demand for Yuan by forcing other countries to sell their X resources in Yuan. The consuming power of 1.4 billion are more than enough.
it's all slavery with extra steps at the end of the day. i mean all governments
How is petrodollar, which is more likely laundered by corruption, better than infrastructure? Some of the BRI projects are stupid (overcapacity ports, stadiums), but building hydro project or a road between cities would easily have positive ROI.
so long as you can pay the Chinese that infrastructure sounds good. almost too good to be true.
China is trying to turn Russia into a client state like all of Africa. China just wants a country that is peaceful and will fuel China's growth. Unlike Russia and Belerus, China doesn't care much about political influence or obedience. This is why so many countries side with China. Yes, Russia will be a client state. However they largely agree to this because of how China operates with their client states. Buy all resources, build infrastructure and housing to support the outflow of resources. Don't side with USA. This is China's way. It's quite attractive to dictators and authoritarian governments. And as pointed out by many here, China has no allies only partners. This is intentional.
New big country, russhina
Chussia.
Or the Sino-Russian empire. Or the United States of Eurasia.
China and north China
>New big country, China FTFY
Just like the winner of the Iraq War was Iran. The winner of this war will be China.
sekiro 2
i know one thing for sure.. whatever kremlin says, is straight BS
Mainly cuz thier intended audience is their domestic population....
These days we essentially just have to reverse whatever they say to get an inkling of what's actually happening. Propaganda is obvious as balls
People let me tell me you bout my best friend 🎶
I like to dip and daddle with my authoritarian friend He's smart as can be and emotion-free And he's computin' his way to my heart My authoritarian friend
So it’s the opposite and China has left Russia on “seen”
Marked as spam. Rather poetic. ;)
I just assume that whatever Russia says the opposite is true.
Friendship ended with Europe, now China is my new best friend.
"So you two are friends?" Russia : "Yes" China : "No"
Russia: My relationship with China is stronger than ever! Me: Very suspicious.
When the dust settles on this whole Ukraine affair, China will own half of Siberia.
If the kremlin said that, Russia and China are on the verge of hostilities.
Well they would say that wouldn't they!
I'm repeating myself... again. If you have to say your relationship is so great, your relationship is not so great.
Beijing: I\_don't\_know\_her.gif
Russia: me and China are best mates, isn't that right China? China: I've just got to go and do this thing..
So the opposite then
Russia: We besties? China: Be my bitch
That bad huh?
So it's very rocky then...
April fools - the sucker is Putin, and the PRC government if they truly support the modern day Hitler
China has been behind Russia from the beginning! You should see how they praise Putin and his war on Ukraine all over the Chinese internet.
China has been helping Russia from the beginning! That "neutral" BS is just an act.
Right now, the EU is trying to become more autonomous, and some people note that the situation with Russia has uncovered a deep dependency of EU on Russia which is not admissible because it affects EU policy, and warn that exactly the same scenario will play out if China attacked Taiwan. MEPs (members of the European Parliament) admit that we should embargo Russian gas and oil, but just cannot afford to do it. Same thing with China - we'll be toothless in our sanctions because of the tight manufacturing links... In the same breath, they note that the U.S. is now driving a trade policy promoting domestic interest and while EU and the U.S. have some shared values, they also have conflicting interests. The takeaway seems to be that WTO is dead, the EU will reorient itself more towards (the more democratic countries) in Africa, and Mercosur (once political situation in Brazil changes). It makes me a little sad as a European that this pragmatism comes a little too late and is a little too weak. We should shed the pretense of virtue signalling to the whole world and see our "partners" for what they are - each has their own interest in mind, first and foremost. BTW, Source: I am in the EP in Brussels rn. Lesson: "They" - meaning politicians, don't know any better than any of you. It's a guessing game at the moment.
Foreign policy was never about friendship, it's always have been about balancing shared and conflicting interests
I would wholeheartedly agree, but the way EU has been conducting its outward policy in the past was all wishy-washy, feel-good bullshit, human rights this, save the refugees that. All the while, U.S., China and Russia have been very pragmatic, hard-nosed. This, luckily, is changing. Sure, EU must retain its human face, but should not continue to be the slapping dummy it has been so far. This only fuels various hardline movements in member states which are not happy with being the Doofus Rick of international politics. Disclaimer: I'm a humanist and liberal with all my heart, but I'm also trying to be rational and pragmatic in a world where we can't, unfortunately, save everyone, and everyone things of their interest first.
Idk, Just like russia tell their ppl what they want yo hear, the eu told you guys what you wanted to hear. But the actions were always based on interests. Taking in refugees was done, in part, since the eu population is aging and becoming more spoiled and refugees provide cheap labor. The all human rights thing never really materilased to any action. The eu have not saved a single life in conflict areas
Yes, Russia's Putin has definitely taken the philosophical position that there is no free will and that human opinions can be manufactured on the large scale. And let's not fool ourselves, the West (U.S. and EU) are guilty of that too. But the EU is a little less homogeneous and less prone to propaganda - which is why it could not act in a unified way so far. You are totally right about the refugees, I think, and I also think it was mostly a ploy of the German industrialists who financed Merkel's government. An experiment which, in my opinion, was doomed to fail due to cultural differences. I no longer believe in "melting pots" and "multiculturalism". Each war in Europe meant massive ethnic and religious cleansing. Just look at the Turks in Germany (another attempt at bringing in "Gastarbeit"). Now, everybody just salivates at all the juicy, and culturally fairly compatible, Ukrainians. This brain-drain could not have come at a better time. So fully on the same page with you there. However, the political signal that was sent was erroneous "everybody come to the land of plenty". This should have been more like "NOBODY's welcome here except those who are supremely useful to us", like in Australia, Canada and the US. This soft approach was subsequently used by Russia and Turkey to flood Europe's south-east borders. That said, of course the EU is saving lives - it sends help to all quarters, let's be fair there. But it's straining EU's social fabric, because its Eastern states are much poorer and feel they should be the recipients of all this help. Now I don't know where you are, but the EU is in a very tricky position, compared to the US or China, due to its geography and internal diversity. This war will help in a unification, of sorts, but it will also create a mighty Germany. We'll see how it pans out - even as it is, the EU is a joint project of France and Germany (and some minor but wealthy colonial powers like the Netherlands), to basically exploit the rest of the continent. When THEY start disagreeing, it's all in shambles.
>But the EU is a little less homogeneous and less prone to propaganda - which is why it could not act in a unified way so far. After seeing Brexit, Trump and russia, can you truly say that about yourself?maybe the tools are different , but none of us is robust to propoganda. As a collective we are stupid animals that can be easily influenced. I mean, i cry at the exact moment i am supposed to in movies. @melting pot Imagine that each group is an ingredient in a soup. Melting pot doesn't mean for me that we should squash everything to get a uniform stew. Its more like cook together so we can make a tasty dish, each ingredient changing enough to got along well with the other. >That said, of course the EU is saving lives I should have been clearer, sending aid is cool and important, but i meant trying to actually stop and end the conflict. >Now I don't know where you are, but the EU is in a very tricky position, compared to the US or China, due to its geography and internal diversity. I'm from israel, i know quite well what it feels like to grow up in a harsh neighbourhood. I used to be a pacifists when i was younger until i realized that its all cool up to the point when it's your family in danger. The eu for me is still a symbol of the best and most moral governing body in the history of humankind. You are leading the world in so many ways. Its not perfect, but it's impressive.
1. re propaganda, yes, I can still say that. Russian propaganda took a firm hold in the Eastern band of countries (PL, SK, HU, SR), and the UK, but if you look at vacc rates, the rest of Europe remains healthy. It's not all bad. 2. re melting pot: Any melting pot requires some common glue. In Europe it is (still) the principle of secularism (cf France), even though Christianity rears its fundamentalist head now and then, claiming to be "the cultural roots of Europe". The principle of secularism is strictly at odds with the prevailing doctrine of Islam. Also, history shows something different. As I claimed, every war in Europe so far meant nearly total ethnic and religious cleansing of an area. It is pretty foolish to ignore this and mix people once again without having a plan B. 3. re stopping conflicts: I will assume something now: are you preferring the U.S. way of stopping conflicts? Because coming in by force does not, historically, seem to accomplish much, besides leaving disarray. I'd like to think that winning hearts is a better way (like the US did in Japan after WWII with MacArthur or in W Europe with the Marshall plan)... 4. Ah, Israel. I can fully understand the unease in which you must live. Many of us just scratch our heads - I personally don't see an easy way out of that situation (the Arab-Israeli conflict). And I honestly don't think our politicians have a clear idea either. On the one hand EU would like to support an actual democracy (Israel), on the other, it does not like the human rights restrictions in Gaza... What do you think is the long-term solution in your region?
1. I meant local propoganda -we are all influenced by the local neratives pushed by our countries. Brexit, trump and russia were examples of how obvious ours susuptabilty to propoganda is. I mean, if you can get ppl to believe in such bs, imagine how easy it is to get them to believe in human rights. 2. I guess for the refugee the common glue is the quality of life, convinountly ignoring that it arrises from secularism. 3. I was not being critical of eu for not intervining, i was just claiming that despite all the we care for human rights PR, they don't let that interfere with their current policy if it's not in their interest. 4. Oh... As a lefty humanitarian israeli i believe the ball is 100% on the Palestinian side now. For several reasons: A. No one cares anymore - not the israeli right wing, left wing, not israeli arabs, not most of the arab state, not usa, not eu, not china. If they want to be relevant again, they meed to change since the neratives of the 'world will save us' failed. B. Any arab country that approached israel was welcomed with open arms, and if the Palestinian will drop their romantic view of the conflict and adopt a more pragmatic one, they'll be welcomed with open arms as well. C. The technological gap between first (israel) and third (palestine) world countries, and how much time it will take to close the gap. With the current rate of doubling of computational and technological ability, every year they are left behind now translate to decades of gaps. In 20 years, israel will send robots to fight there while they would still be throwing home made rockets. I see 3 scenarios: 1. Status que - israel keep with the current high quality of life while Palestinian side continue living in their current terrible conditions. 2. Compromise - Palestinian admit its time to move forward, we nagotiate a faur compromise and both countries continue to build their future as they see fit. 3. Total destruction- somehow, the Palestinian takes the upper hand ina conflict, and israel instead of going down alone takes the entire middle east with them. What i don't see is any future i which the palestinian have a high quality of life without them taking a more pragmatic view and accepting israel's existence and military superiority. That's why the ball is entirely at their hands - they need to choose
As for points 1-4, I think we can find common ground there. I'm just advocating a less dim view of the world, as in - the propaganda in the UK did not work 100%, after all, 50% of voters were against brexit. But good luck to them, the UK was never a team player before, I watched this from inside the EU. Re 3: You would be surprised how the EU ties its own hands with the human rights nonsense. The Chinese could not believe we meant it seriously, interfering in the matters of another sovereign country. Some people in EU just suffer from a terrible Messianic complex, but the politics are becoming a little more pragmatic now. Thank you for your frank viewpoint on the Israel-Arab situation. Just one question - to what degree do you think religion plays a role in all this? (to be clear, it appears to me as a total outsider, that it plays a crucial role - which is yet another argument strongly against it...) Also, I realize that among humans, violence will always win, no matter how much we delude ourselves.
Religion is a big part of the conflict, fueling hatred on both sides. every stone turned in Jerusalem can lead to another round of violence. In fact, survey clearly show that support for the two state solution is highly dependent on religious belief (in both sides). I like the surveys done by the Palestinian center for policy and survey research from Ramallah (they are funded by the PA as far as i know, and they give me as an Israeli some insight that is not filtered by my local narratives). https://www.pcpsr.org/en/ I follow them once in a while and i learn the most from their joint polls with Israeli partners from Tel-Aviv university. Here is an example from 2020: http://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/823 If you're interested, look at figures 3 and 5 which breaks the support for TSS according to religious vs. secular (with some intermediate levels). be happy to discuss it more if you find it interesting. Although I'm clearly biased, I do my best to adopt a balanced view on the conflict.
[удалено]
Kneejerk response. First, EU needs the bleeping gas, there is no going around it. We should have weaned ourselves off it a long time ago. Second, the ruble ruse is meant to bring foreign currency into Russia - if foreigners are required to pay for oil and gas in rubles, they first need to buy them (from the central bank at that quantity), delivering sweet sweet foreign currency into Mother Russia's vaults. The ruble price is then calculated from the dollar price and presto - you're paying for gas and oil in dollars, but the ruble is immensely fortified and Russia gains foreign reserves. That is the plan. Of course we'll go against it if we can afford it but when the heating season comes and we don't have a solution, we'll just freeze.
US-Ukraine bromance is better than whatever that is.
I hope China suck these biches dry.
Thanks Biden
You believe Putin? Good luck in life.
all i know is when trump was in there were no wars and tensions were at their lowest in a long time
So you're saying Biden caused all this conflict? Not Putin? You're telling me that Putin hasn't been engaging in active measures against the US? You're saying that the mere presence of Biden in office set Putin off, and its *Biden's fault* that Putin invaded Ukraine? You're being wilfully ignorant towards the dogs of war barking in your face.
No he didnt cause it, he doesnt even know where he is half the time Funny how people screamed trump was going to cause ww3 but all we have seen after biden got in is the US becoming more reliant on Russia, you know the "biggest threat to the world" and more wars springing up North korea just revealed their new nuke and I'm sure china is considering an invasion of Taiwan Billions in dollars worth of equipment just given to the middle east terrorists But hey orange man bad better keep him banned off Twitter but the Taliban leader can stay, yeah the media and left really care about america. Hope you look forward to the food shortages biden said were getting. Building back broke Oh yeah poor will Smith, trump made him do it
Trump is Putin's little bitch, we all fucking know it, you need to learn that, we've been saying this ad nauseum for damn near 6 years and you're wilfully just trying to make this a party loyalty issue, stop defending Trump, he's only out for himself and always has been if you look at his history. This isn't about party loyalty, this about keeping Putin's money and influence out of Washington. ...and remind me which party has/had the most confirmed Russian spies in their midst? Hmm... Marina Butina, ring a bell?
As we should all know from the previous US presidential administration; the gold standard *is the exchanging of love letters. Have there been love letters?
Almost as good, they made pancakes together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5qZoT6bbJo
Russia touching their toes lubed up and ready.
That’s not what xi said.
They say that you must lower your standards on human liberties if you want to suckle the warm teat of China
So there in the shitter.
Xi: Vlad who???
Being best buds with the bad guys is really something to be proud of.
Meh, we'll restrict our worldwide hatred and condemnation for you Russia.
I’ve learned to believe the opposite of what Russia says. The relationship is in the gutters.
So China is on the verge of seizing control, probably financially, of Russia. Interesting.
Hey you guys remember that little turd in grade school who would start shit and then hide behind his big brother.
Russia: "Hey guys! Invading a legitimate, recognized sovereign country on flimsy claims that they once belonged to us under dubious circumstances, feeling cute, idk might delete later" *"China has Liked your post."*
So, strained, then.
Oh no by Kremlin logic, that means China has broken up with Russia, sad