Comment by OGEnthusiast

12 days ago

Europe is in a tough spot these days, trying to unwind decades of economic partnership with the USA while simultaneously trying to fend off Russia from Ukraine.

Trying so hard to fend off Russia, but they can't put Taurus missiles on a truck and drive them to Kiev?

Converting the Ford factory in Detroit into a tank factory is "trying hard".

  • USA has been strategically re-homing TSMC to the USA mainland for a long time now. 30% of TSMC's global production is scheduled to be produced in America by 2028. Several iPhone chips are already being produced domestically.

    This is what I would call "trying hard".

    Contrast with the EU which has done nothing to become self-reliant, and really just has no ideas. It is unfortunate.

  • They can, but they need to maintain their own security as well. Europe's war factories are running at full capacity at the moment. Plus there's still the political game being played as well, can't be too overt or aggressive because Russia might escalate. With nukes.

    • Yes. Russia will totally nuke the places where their elite's children, mistresses and often themselves live.

  • Do you have any kind of analysis not written by a partisan hack that those Tauruses will change the tide of the war? There are couple of hundred of them in existence. Ukraine will burn trough them in 2 months and China will get the data how to counter them for free.

Optimists practise speaking Cantonese, pessimists— speaking Russian, realists— stripping and reassembling rifles?

  • Why Cantonese?

    • Optimists believe the new economic order will be mostly like the old, only perhaps involving a bit more trade[0] with cities like Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen, and a bit less trade with cities like Houston, LA, and NYC.

      (for Singapore, Mandarin would be better, but there English works, lah. Shanghai would need Mandarin, but we have our own financial centres)

      [0] if the Don were serious about hemispheres, this might work. In practice[1], I believe there could potentially be issues running trade through chokepoints owned by USEUCOM (Gibraltar), USCENTCOM (Suez, Aden), and USINDOPACOM (Malacca). https://www.war.gov/About/Combatant-Commands/

      Anyone know of any good minesweeping technologies?

      [1] did "The Empire Strikes Back" not teach us that Sith always reserve the right to alter the deal?

      Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpE_xMRiCLE

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In a sense the EU is in a bind because it refuses to accept that the U.S. has moved on.

If the EU does that they can throw off a lot of shackles that they’ve imposed on their relationship with China, and part of that deal could be China stopping funding Putin’s insanity.

  • Not sure that's wise.

    The US put pressure on India to stop purchasing Russian oil, which cost the US diplomatic capital. It was showmanship and self-sabotage of an important relationship, but those aren't the actions of a sworn enemy to the EU.

    The US also gave how much material support to Ukraine over the last few years? Volatility and unpredictability is not the same thing as an enemy.

    There's also the self-interest angle. Who controls the oil corridors into Europe? It isn't China. China is an economic juggernaut, but they have little power projection beyond China except somewhat in Eurasia, and especially not naval. The US has the seas locked down.

    The EU could consider doing the opposite to what you're suggesting. Help the US in the Pacific instead of being non-committal. Then maybe the US would be more willing to keep spending hundreds of billions of dollars in your theatre, rather than seeing it as a one-sided relationship that won't reciprocate in a time of need.

    • US basically didn't do jack shit for Ukraine since Trump took over the 2nd time. Worse than that, US is trying to force Ukraine into some rotten capitulation to Russia, so that US and Russia can do business. As far as if US is Europe's enemy, just take a quick look at the recent US foreign policy doctrine, and decide for yourself.

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  • I don't think it's definite yet that "the US has moved on". If Trump kicks it - and he will, sooner rather than later - there will be another regime change. If the politics flips back over to the Democrats again they will probably try and do damage mitigation (again, this is the recurring trend) and try and repair international relationships.