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brickstser69
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mulbot
Russia is pissing China off.
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3301949/big-impact-russian-goods-seizures-cause-havoc-china-europe-rail-link?module=top_story&pgtype=homepage
I'm hoping Europe will move against the tech companies, and hammer Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg. An outright ban may be too much to hope for, but seriously curtailing their ability to spread their bullshit would be great.
For some time now I have been of the opinion that one of the greatest threats to democracy and our ability to live in free and open societies is the poison that is unregulated social media. They without a doubt IMHO need to be reigned in and regulated at least to the same extent that traditional media are.
The fact they are tools for deliberate misinformation and influence operations by bad actors and the companies themselves.
There is no doubt that social media has created huge political problems, it is the go-to for bad actors and makes it easy to promote simplistic, foolish ideas rather than more complex ones.
A lot could be achieved for democracy if the companies required people to register with a passport or credit card details, but there doesn't seem to be any move towards that.
I said this about the Polish investment two weeks ago and was shot down by a couple of posters who insisted it could never happen. But Poland and others are seriously exposed due to buying US arms which they have the ability to shut down. Crazy situation where you invest billions and the supplier can reduce it to scrap metal on a whim.
Agree about the wider problems with social media. However the large ones that are clearly just bad actors (X), and/or owned and run by hostile foreign powers (e.g. TikTok/CCP) just need to be forced to sell, or shut down to improve things significantly. I wish someone had the balls to do it.
I kind of think govt's could underestimating numbers of voters in European countries who would be pleased with this and overestimating the numbers of noisy ones who would be furious their precious TikTok or X dopamine rush was taken away by the "nanny state"/"big govt.". I wonder is there any polling on it?
Yes what I more meant was it's the constant flip-flop of where the US seems to stand on the issue week to week.
Few weeks ago Trump said Ukraine would get some land back, Russia was taking horrific losses, and even more importantly, he expressly told press that Putin cannot be allowed to walk away with anything that can be constituted as a win for Russia.
Few weeks later he was saying Putin wanted peace, refused to say anything negative about him, accused Zelensky of being a dictator, the cause of the war, wanted to keep the war going ala a "gravy train", claimed Ukraine held no cards, and we saw the farce in the oval office.
Now, via Rubio this morning, it's circled back to what Trump originally said - Ukraine will get some land back and Russia will have to make concessions.
It's a complete mess and it's impossible to know, behind closed doors, where the US actually stands on anything or where this is headed.
If we look at the nonsense with Canada, Mexico and Europe, I think it's less that Trump is a Russian asset and more he genuinely thinks he's playing global hardball/projecting the US strongman image and failing to appreciate how many own goals he's scoring in the immediate and longer-term scheme of things.
Like said a comedian: Before social media, we all knew who the idiot of the village was. We all knew not to trust the bs they talked about in the pub. Social media allowed the idiots of all the villages to talk to each other. The problem is we don't know all the idiots from all villages.
There is no kill switch. At most, the US would stop sending updates meaning the jet doesn't get any more capable over time, and maintenance becomes a bit more logistically involved.
https://theaviationist.com/2025/03/10/f-35-kill-switch-myth/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14485007/donald-trump-f35-kill-switch-concern-europe.html
No question it is insane. Clearly this is not an issue that Europe can solve in the short term but equally its clear we need to be developing and spending defense money within Europe going forward and not be buying from the US as much as possible and I imagine less and less over time given how we simply cannot trust and or rely on the US any more.
I'd be more worried about a Chinese 'kill switch' in critical European internet infrastructure that uses Huawei and ZTE equipment than I would about a US one in combat aircraft.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/08/12/eleven-eu-countries-took-5g-security-measures-to-ban-huawei-zte
A major point of it (IMO) was to make themselves important to the USA as an ally, building a strong military that can work with the US one, buying loads of the same gear and supporting their companies etc. It was quite logical, but when the US is turning to Russia and prioritising reset of relations with Putin over future of Ukraine and security of Poland, they are left high and dry.
I suppose the Trump admin. views these petty European countries (Where Is Poh-Land??) like very minor and at times irritating vassals (see Musk and Rubio's comments on X posted before).
They will accept a hefty kick to the teeth if the US "king" makes some new and wider deal with the former enemy king who is now lined up to be a friend. They get no say in it.
They'll buy these US weapons, they'll swallow new policy, pivot + cut off Ukraine if we demand that, and and they will shut up and like it, if they know what's good for them.
It's really that ignorant, arrogant, and stupid IMO.
Then what happened to Ukraines F16s suddenly losing radar tech?
You are living in the crazy land now so you might not realise just how much damage republicans have done to US
Like a frog being slowly boiled
As much as we talk about the US shutting down allies military HW, isn't the same possible if the French go with Le Pen in future, or AfD come to power in Germany?
La Pen publicly lambasted Trump's treatment of Zelensky and AfD pretty much peaked in what was the former East Germany so unlikely ever to be the leading party.
I think Trump's deference to Putin popped the anti EU populist bubble in Europe. Even the traditionally rabid anti EU Telegraph has made positive arguments for European cooperation.
Make US economy Russian
Second day of absolute carnage
Third week of red
I think that is due to constantly having to reprogram anti radar systems in a whack a mole with Russia constantly changing their radar systems to avoid detection and countermeasures.
Ukraine's F16 radar tech isn't switched off but it does become less effective if it can't be updated to keep up with the constant changes in Russia's radar systems.
huge news if true..
over to you Vlad…
US State Department, in a joint US-Ukraine statement, says the US will immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.
From RTE live feed.
He will reply with missiles and drones and more meat wave attacks
100% guaranteed
What’s the catch???
Russians won’t touch it with a barge pole. Win win for Ukraine though, notwithstanding the loss of life in the meantime.
What’s in it for Trump sharing intel about his buddy Putin and his army?
maybe Putin is not actually his buddy…
Russians probably launched missiles from Tu-160. There was a launch maneuver, — monitoring channels
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3lk4pyxknfk22
In the meantime……
Can the U.S and russia be trusted in this?
I have my reservations.
I imagine russias attack through the pipe in Kursk only came about because of the Americans stopping intelligence sharing. I wonder how many lost Ukrainian lives trump is responsible for.
Trump and Putin will talk and say it isn’t enough from the Ukrainians.
Straight talk from Vance's cousin
Feel sorry for friends of Russia who spent so much time spinning a narrative that Ukraine is not interested in peace
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