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@ 211 @sopuli.xyz

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138
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • Removed

    you are the democratically elected leader of a liberal democratic country which so far has had a good relationship with the US, how do you and your country survive 4 years of trump?

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  • Fingers crossed, that would make me very happy. Land loss hurts way less than decades of finlandization.

    Would have to be a -very- quick process, every day of negotiations would be a massive danger to them, and based on how it went with Finland and Sweden I'm sceptical of that too. And of course US commitments to defend EU Nato members, based on political whims.

  • Removed

    you are the democratically elected leader of a liberal democratic country which so far has had a good relationship with the US, how do you and your country survive 4 years of trump?

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  • Pretty sure he'll "negotiate" and likely push through a peace treaty where the new border is the combat line (in Ukraine, Russia loses nothing), and Ukraine is forced into neutrality (such a pretty word for always walking a metaphorical tightrope, have R interfere with your election/election results, not daring to voice your own opinions in the UN or otherwise on the global arena... and of course no trade deals with the EU).

    And he'll tout it as a massive victory and compromise, when actually R got everything they really wanted. If Ukraine doesn't go along, then they become "stubborn, hateful warmongers" or the like.

  • Trump unravels US climate agenda as he promises to ‘drill, baby, drill’ | From declaring a “national energy emergency” to exiting Paris Agreement, here is everything climate-related Trump did on day 1

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  • I'm intentionally avoiding these discussions for my blood pressure and mental health, and this is WAY wrong a forum anyway, so I'll just address your points in as good a faith as I can, and then you can have the last word.

    2014 [...] raised gas transit fees through Ukraine to extortionist levels

    Gas transit through Ukraine has been wrought with disagreements since forever, so much that it even has its own Wikipedia page (the contents of which one can be of many opinions), with accusations of unpaid debts on both sides, Russia cutting off gas several times, and so on. In 2014 we're talking of the two most corrupt countries in Europe, one of which has just annexed part of the other and claimed part of their fossil fuel company. (And no, corruption is no cause for invasion.) Perfect time for negotiations! Russia raised their gas price to Ukraine to extortion levels (up to $480 per 1,000 cubic metres), so they paid it forward in transit fees, looks to me.

    In late 2024 they chose to cut off all Russian imports, mostly out of meanness to Moldova and Slovakia.

    Sure. Not wanting to be involved in business with a country they're at war with certainly had nothing to do with it.

    Nazi [...] nazi [...] Ukrainian nazi evil

    God I miss the old Internet, when pulling nazi comparisons was considered gauche. Which one is it for you, a nationalistic and antisemitic historical figure, neonazis in the armed forces, or demanding that native speakers of russian also offer services in ukrainian? I'm not aware of Ukraine having ghettos or marks for jews or Russians, much less camps.

    NATO is wrong direction for EU, and especially if they want the US to stay in it so badly that they destroy themselves in sycophancy.

    NATO is a framework in which to develop collaborative defence and have a nuclear umbrella without every country having nukes. It's got value with or without the US, but of course it'd be nice to have them and their military force. Preferably without them threatening a fellow alliance member over Greenland, but if Greece and Turkey can be frenemies then sure, why not 🙄. All alliances require compromises, and that'd be true even without the US. E.g. Finland, Greece and France have very different opinions on what the primary threat is.

    Best path for EU is to stop the Russia derangement syndrome, and return to peaceful relations they had in 2010s.

    Hard to return to the previous normal after seeing someone assaulting your neighbor, no matter how great their cookies are, don't you think?

    [Pacification of Russia] only happens with Ukraine neutrality

    We know how much the uncertain tightrope walk of necessary neutrality for survival sucks. Unless the Ukrainians themselves choose it, helping them resist that fate is worth it, almost as much as helping them resist direct annexation.

    [Every EU leader's enthusiasm] for a draft to go diminish Russia further

    Citation needed. Citations. From actual leaders, not "experts", not noisy members of parliament. Macron has mentioned the possibility of maybe sending troops in the vague future (and been blasted for it), and some countries are considering (re?)instating mandatory military service, which is not a draft; the servicemen are being taught, not recruited for working in/for the military.

    current levels of US sycophancy has significantly diminished EU during this war

    Having to respond to this war started by Russia has revealed our weakness, and our inner squabbles don't help, US has very little to do with it.

  • Trump unravels US climate agenda as he promises to ‘drill, baby, drill’ | From declaring a “national energy emergency” to exiting Paris Agreement, here is everything climate-related Trump did on day 1

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  • Even if your reality bubble is that Russia wasn't forced to neutralize Ukraine, you cannot claim that it was the one who refused to sell energy to Europe. War is primarily over nordstream and US capture of EU energy.

    And in your reality bubble Ukraine posed a threat to Russia. The gas pipe projects were as much about building a mutual dependency to prevent war (again), as mutual financial benefit. Clearly it didn't work. So capture of EU energy by Russia or US, either's bad. And mind you, the last intact Nordstream pipe isn't working because of Russia (yea yea, "turbine problems, can't accept replacement because reasons").

    Key to dealing with Trump threats is to maintain that progress above all else, but hatred for Russia will likely cause more desperate US sycophancy.

    It's perfectly possible to hate both. 😅 (A little and in jest! I just meant I value European and national independence on all levels like you seem to want us to, with the "pull your own weight in NATO" talk and such. Please US CBP let me through to see family on this already-ESTAd-and-booked -trip.)

    I want to like Russia. All the people I've met have been nice if closed off (just like home), ivan chai and samovars are awesome, they dared to try a new scary political/ownership system (massive respect for people trying on weird things even if it doesn't work out), the language sounds cool, and even russian orthodox christianity has that strange aestetic appeal. But they keep being a piece of shit to their neighbors.

  • Trump unravels US climate agenda as he promises to ‘drill, baby, drill’ | From declaring a “national energy emergency” to exiting Paris Agreement, here is everything climate-related Trump did on day 1

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    1. Oil companies sponsoring Trump are not in it to make energy cheaper.
    2. The policies/EOs announced directly make energy more expensive, with Americans more dependent on the extortionist oligarchs.

    From the inauguration speech: "We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top, and export American energy all over the world." Okay, the prices down probably is empty words aimed at the domestic market.

    1. US energy is always more expensive to transport to EU than Russian or middle east energy. EU in fact is importing oil/gasoline from India which imports it from Russia, as a sick joke on its citizens for supporting war on Russia.

    Oil is a fungible product. If someone buys American rather than Middle-Eastern or Norwegian oil, the price of Middle-Eastern or Norwegian oil goes down to meet the demand that exists.

    Yeah, the import of refined Russian oil from India is ridiculous. That's not "EU importing" as much as "companies in EU importing", though. Business gonna business. ¯ (ツ) /¯

    1. Russian economy is strong and independent such that more people/resources are being allocated to domestic needs than expanding FF exports. They myth that sanctions work on Russia who has enough allies to thrive is a delusion for war, and that Europe is winning the war instead of a US victim of it.

    You're kind of making my point. The energy trade was supposed to be a kind of a mutually benefical MAD doctrine. Apparently it wasn't, just an extortion tool by Russia, so bloody well time to cut it. Hopefully we'll be able to cut the replacement soonish too. Really, going green is our best bet, not just for climate change or other environmental damage, but sheer energy independence.

  • Trump unravels US climate agenda as he promises to ‘drill, baby, drill’ | From declaring a “national energy emergency” to exiting Paris Agreement, here is everything climate-related Trump did on day 1

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  • Even ignoring the environment for a moment, I'm sceptical of the long-term wisdom of tying the US to a limited resource with a diminishing EROI as easy access is already exhausted. 🤔

    Also export markets will hopefully diminish soonish, for environmental and energy independence reasons. 🤔

    Then again, if access to cheaper American oil drags down Russian economy further, there's at least a silver lining. OPEC would probably have something to say about it though.

  • SimpleX > Signal; Matrix for privacy and anti-censorship

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  • Oh, they trust the government too, or would say so if asked. Kinda "work with the system and the system works with you" trust, firm belief in not making waves or drawing undue attention to yourself. And, well, it works for upper middle class native white people in EU, if you can look away or give your silent consent to whatever is happening.

    Big companies and the government are familiar 🙄, known 😐 and thus safe 😑.

  • It's Wednesday my dudes...?

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  • Aww, thank you. 😘

  • Well you see, gam gam...

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  • I accidentally told my 50+ friend what shibari is. No, she didn't know, she cancelled going to a planned event that would have included a lecture.

    She also claims she didn't know before what "bondage" was, and isn't in the habit of lying to me. So yay for being a good influence, I guess?

  • SimpleX > Signal; Matrix for privacy and anti-censorship

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  • My messenger needs to be one my 70+ parents, who trust big companies and mistrust anything too small, or different, or "extreme", are willing to use. Getting them to install Signal so we could still have our family group chat after I deleted WhatsApp was a major win. Scanning each others' QR codes, having to go through some process when they change phones...? Yeah, they would've been scared of being "put on a list" and wouldn't have gone through the technical stuff even for me.

  • Tea bags releasing 'millions' of microplastics into tea, study shows

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  • Yeah, personal preferences and feelings are what they are, no debating that.

    You really don't need to wash the infuser though. Even less than a french press. It doesn't have that coil thing that may trap gunk, or leave scratches on the inside of the glass, just stainless steel.

    And you don't really have to pay attention to the amount of tea. Bag of tea, infuser, point bag at infuser and shake until the infuser is somewhere over bottom-covered but under half-full. Yes, you -can- get way more precise than that, but you don't have to. And just like you learn if you want one or two bags, or steep it for a short or long time, eventually you just know.

    Teabags don't even come with their own holder. So you have to be aware of that cooling, coalescing gunk on a saucer the whole time you sip in your cup. A cold used teabag is one of the most unpleasant things in a middle-class household, whereas cold tea leaves are just wet plant stuff.

    Also jin jun mei alone is 100% worth it, and the variety of oolongs doubly so.

  • Tea bags releasing 'millions' of microplastics into tea, study shows

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  • Going loose leaf gives you access to better and more interesting teas though. And having a no-frills basic tea infuser that you'll rinse afterwards, and a bag of loose leaf tea, at home and/or work isn't really more inconvenient than bags.

  • Americans Need to Party More

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  • Depends on the kind of party, it might not take a lot of money. But it does take time and energy.

  • What's the deal with male loneliness?

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  • I'm confused. Are women on social media interfering on man-to-man friendships?

  • What's the deal with male loneliness?

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  • You have to admit the "leftist" ideologies tend to be about working together and supporting each other, and the "right wing" ideologies about encouraging individual accomplishments, though?

  • Help

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  • Seriously, it's not that hard to find.

  • These dames wanting inclusivity

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  • Somehow this stuck with me, and while you are correct, in any conversation about menses I'd probably want to include the people who eg. use contraceptive methods that temporarily stop them, and people whose periods are so irregular they simply don't know if the next one is coming or not (my group). Personally I'd also want to include and hear from people who used to menstruate but no longer do, or who are likely to start soon.

    In statistics afaik they tend to use "women of fertile age", which makes sense for those purposes, to limit it to one clear-cut group for clarity. In gynecology for individual patients I don't think any term is used, just a list of properties ("G0P0 menarche 12 cycle 28 duration 5 normal flow, last period 1.1.2025") and then you move on to the issue.

    And that's for periods, a relatively clear-cut thing. Then you get to "people who had the female/male experience when growing up", or "people who perform the traditionally female/male role in a relationship" or the like.

  • the aliens monitoring our planet know that we are idiots

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  • Any reason to celebrate in a way all participants/affected find enjoyable is a good reason. Not very intelligent aliens.

  • Yule Tidings!

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  • I also liked the idea of New Year's bingo, things you'd enjoy doing the next year and then seeing if you get bingo/s.

    But nah. In 2025 I'm going to start a company that will cheaply generate near-unlimited clean energy from greenhouse gases, pollutants, and (only discarded) plastics. I will install it for free and provide the energy at something like 10% of oil/coal equivalent. By threatening to turn it off, I'll extort those in power to stop wars (yup, within the year) and obey the experts on how to improve the wellbeing of the bottom 10-50% in individual countries and globally.