Hey, I didn’t say a shrug. It’s also a bad option, just in a world with no really great ones left.

Erm because Nukes wipe out whole cities? We are talking literal WMDs here, what of that screams “yeah we totally are willing to be the first to launch a strike.”

That’s also how it works for the US, though. MAD has still held for decades, because nobody really wants whatever thing bad enough to risk escalation.

Russia is having trouble fighting just Ukraine + Western weapons. Europe would not have trouble winning (at whatever cost) if it came to it in the near term, NATO or no.

I feel like it should go without saying that the US would not be supporting NATO, if NATO was fighting the US. So, zero days to build back up without them, and they probably blow things up on their way out.

And I doubt France or the UK is willing.

Why? Unless you think none of the nuclear powers are willing. France in particular does not have a reputation for passivity.

How much of NATO is actually needed in the short term? The last bit there was kind of going in that direction. Just being a nuclear power that would credibly respond to actions against any member seems like it would provide safety for a few years.

Over the longer term, a coordinated structure to respond to novel threats starts to matter.

they are probably not Americans

No, it’s worse. They’re Americans that think this is a football game, and who have chosen the edgier team. They shitpost about Deng and Marx, so that makes them honourary Chinese, right? /s

Lemmy likes to push a certain conspiratorial worldview about these things. That’s the point.

Mmm, no. This isn’t a disarmed nation building up like Germany, this is an existing hyperpower that’s weakening. Going early won’t help. And, then there’s the whole nuclear thing.

If we weren’t already.

I worry replacing oilsands oil is part of the goal. It’s the exact same stuff down there.

Except there’s a lot of other, very independent nuclear powers that have also propped it up. Not all of them are even US friends.

Yep, that’s the big question for sure.

They could have a plan, or it could just be Trump’s internal fantasy world.

This usually does that.

Venezuela already has guerillas, is largely jungle and twice the size of Iraq, and the military is the part of the country that was loyal all along. I’m pretty curious if he actually has a plan to “run Venezuela” or if he just thinks you automatically “own” a place once you topple their government.

Nobody’s going to start WWIII over Venezuela, though.

It’s chemically the same as Canadian oil. I do worry this dovetails with his earlier expansion plans and ability to economically coerce.

Post-Trump, I fear that’s the truth.

Yes, I’m thinking this was the real issue.

Maybe put up a nice instagrammable leaderboard to gamify it, and so people will be driven to virtue signal, and anyone who can’t looks as bad as they’re being.

How much do you earn compared to the average rural Nepali, and do you ever do anything bad for the climate?

This isn’t even a climate change issue, it’s just garbage that can be picked back up, and which is only ever seen by other climbers.

“Save us, China!”

Can’t argue about bases if you refuse to elaborate beyond Presburger arithmetic. (Guy pointing at head meme)

Why not? The law is made up, you know.

I’m going to take a guess that, if they were over the age of consent, it would have been consensual.