1243 Comments
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Mark Linimon's avatar

There are not many things I am certain of, but I am certain that Donald Trump has never used the word "attenuated" in his life.

werecat's avatar

Good luck Mister Trump. Just understand that anything south of the Darien Gap is going to a metric fuck ton of blood and treasure, to even occupy in small amounts. Most of South America is geographically similar jungle-wise to Southeast Asia, just add a fuck ton of 12,000 foot mountain peaks that dive into ravines where travel is treacherous, comms are almost impossible, and where any invading or occupying military will simply be unable to hold high ground. We don't even have to start talking about the fact that China is Venezuela's number one oil customer, and that is it actively building industry of its own, to extract even more. If this is what happens, people, it's about to get really ugly.

GrannysKnitting's avatar

did they actually release a govt paper with the phrase 'blood and treasure' in it or am i having a stroke

Mark Linimon's avatar

To quote the late Molly Ivins, "it sounded better in the original German".

simpledinosaur's avatar

He writes this junk as his "administration" (fully deserving of those quotation marks) is circling the drain and even many of the dumber Americans have figured out that he's a colossal, stupid fraud.

NH is for 🦡🍄🐍's avatar

Is it POSSIBLE that over the last 35 years global trade increased enough overall that Western Europe’s percentage of the total went down, even though their total trade went up? And that spreading the wealth around instead of concentrating it in one place is a GOOD thing?

Or am I crazy…

Colbert Thorenson's avatar

Being pretty is a merit.

Psyker01's avatar

If Trump has a foreign policy (an big if i admit) its that he thinks he can divide up the world between US, Russia, and China and the rest of the world expecally the Africans can go fuck off. Its a return to the bad old days of might makes right smash and grab imperalism and the worse aspects of US foreign policy.

Joe Schmoe, Troublemaker's avatar

https://archive.ph/COuPv

NYTimes OPINION — THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The Supreme Court Is Failing at Its Most Important Job

Padraic Smithies's avatar

At it's root, it's little more than a blend of racist fever dreams from Steve Bannon's reading list, specifically "The Camp of the Saints" with unspoken references to The Turner Diaries repurposed for a global audience, thrown in the pot with the core components of Putin's "Multipolar World Order," which -being too tedious to recite here- are inserted by reference, relying mainly on the notion that so-called Atlantacist, Anglo-Saxon culture is too woke and decadent to save. For further background, see the work of one Alexander Dugin.

Padraic Smithies's avatar

"As a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, European relations with Russia are now deeply attenuated, and many Europeans regard Russia as an existential threat. Managing European relations with Russia will require significant U.S. diplomatic engagement, both to reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states." Straight outta Kremlin stuff there, with strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass meaning Russia gets it all, starting with but not limited to Ukraine, and mitigating the risk of conflict means NATO folding like a Trump suit so Putin doesn't feel the need to threaten us with nuclear Armageddon on a near-daily basis. And the kicker: "the European Union and other transnational bodies [...] undermine political liberty and sovereignty" so they should just call it a day and let the inmates run the asylum.

Revenant's avatar

So, now the Mad King feels entitled to wag his short, fat finger at the world at large lest they follow his example and censoring free speech and suppressing political opposition. Maybe he believes that only he may commit those breeches of the social contract.

And, what an unlikely passel of professors on civilization Dim Donnie and his henchmen make. As if they know one goddamn thing about the subject. I don't think a booster of professional wrestling and hate fest/political rallies reminiscent of the Nazi party rallies of the 1930s is well qualified as a professor of civilization and I suspect I am not the only person in the world to question this world class boor's credentials. Many a standup comic would give a lot for such a comical lecture.

Bear: PROTECT THE AMERICUB's avatar

You bet your sweet bippie the economic part of that nasty rant is about the data privacy regulations. Palantir must nom!!!

Pere Ubu's avatar

Huh, interestingly enuf I was watching something yesterday about how the Fourteenth Amendment not only is about citizenship but the right to privacy, and I'm ashamed I didn't realize sooner what the attack on the Fourteenth *actually* meant.

Flora78's avatar

Reading this, I'm beginning to wonder whether the biggest present threat to Europe and European countries is Russia, or Trump's USA 🤔

RRJKR's avatar

Russia is on the verge of total economic collapse Their military has not been able to defeat the Ukrainians and has sustained heavy losses in trying. If the United States withdraws support, the Europeans will be forced to pick up the load. Russia will prove no match for a united European conventional force , There is always the concern that if backed into a corner, Putin will launch nuclear attacks. Is he crazy enough to do that?

Pere Ubu's avatar

There's really no point in launching missiles; both Britain and France have their own nuclear deterrents, and Putin doesn't strike me as suicidal. Which isn't to say he isn't interested in waving his atomic dick around as much as possible.

Free beach's avatar

Stephen Miller will show you.

Glennis Waterman's avatar

“Competence and merit.” Whoooo! The notion that the Trump regime actually authored this is making my irony meter flip out.

Vic's avatar

The reason everyone at Quantico was laughing at Pete Hegseth, a while back. "THIS GUY is talking about competence and qualifications? That's rich."

Glennis Waterman's avatar

“The outsized influence of larger, richer, and stronger nations is a timeless truth of international relations. This reality sometimes entails working with partners to thwart ambitions that threaten our joint interests.” WTF does this mean? It sounds like, to me, they’re saying “who cares if the rich guys with oil chop up a journalist with a bone saw as long as we can get some oil.”

UVB-76's avatar

Big dogs eat first.

Glennis Waterman's avatar

So they want to “enlist friends….in the hemisphere” but at the same time they are assaulting, brutalizing, imprisoning and dashing the hopes of actual human beings who are indigenous to “the hemisphere”? How is that supposed to work?

Regret's avatar

"Enlist" and "friends" are not concepts that go together. You enlist soldiers, underlings, and minions. You work together with friends.

UVB-76's avatar

They'd rather be feared than respected.