From the transcript of his press briefing yesterday, Trump talks about the "land swapping" that he says will take place in ending the war in Ukraine:
We're going to change the lines, the battle lines. Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They've occupied some very prime territory. We're going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine. But they've taken some very prime territory. They've taken largely, in real estate we call it oceanfront property.
The most powerful man in the world — attempting to manage what he's just called "by far the worst that's happened since World War II" — seems comfortable reverting to real-estate mogul mode.
That's always the most valuable property. If you're on a lake, a river or an ocean, it's always the best property. Well, Ukraine, a lot of people don't know that Ukraine was largely a thousand miles of ocean. That's gone, other than one small area, Odessa, it's a small area. There's just a little bit of water left. So I'm going to go and see the parameters. Now, I may leave and say good luck, and that'll be the end. I may say this is not going to be settled. I mean, there are those that believe that Putin wanted all of Ukraine. I happen to be one of them, by the way. I think if it weren't for me, he would not be even talking to anybody else right now. But I'm going to meet with him. We're going to see what the parameters are, and then I'm going to call up President Zelensky and the European leaders.
ADDED: The very next headline I read was: "For Trump, Cities Like Washington Are Real Estate in Need of Fixing Up/'It’s a natural instinct as a real estate person,' he said in announcing his federal takeover of the capital’s police, despite falling crime" (NYT).
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157 comments:
…waterfront, then water view, then golf course view, private-wooded, then neighborhood, close to the pool, then the charlie brown, then the lowest is like, by the pickleball courts. You make those the smallest and cheapest so the aspirational can afford them…
The areas that Russia occupies in Ukraine voted over 80% for Yanukovich in 2014 and were punished by Western Ukraine after the coup. The Azov Battalion was active in these provinces after the 2014 coup and the Yanukovich supporters were being repressed for almost a decade.
A lot of the political opponents that Zelensky has arrested are from the occupied provinces.
People pretending Russia is the only bad guy here are dishonest in the extreme. We are not supporting democracy here.
The vast majority of people know nothing of Ukrainian history. In the 1930’s, Stalin starved millions of Ukrainians to death and forcibly sent millions more to Siberia. He replaced them with millions of Russians forcibly sent there. Most of them settled in Donbas and Luhansk. Most people in those two provinces consider themselves Russian because they are. If there was a vote, they would vote to become part of Russia. They are also the poorest part of Ukraine and a big economic drag. Ukraine would be better off giving them back to Russia.
…or there’s the Risk rules where you want choke points to place your armies as a deterrent to invasion while you gain more armies. Historically Ukraine’s in a tough spot where battles go on all the time…btw old Risk boards had Ukraine instead of Russia…
"despite falling crime" based on statistics faked to show just that. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-police-commander-suspended-crime-statistics/3959566/%3famp=1
Chief Sund who was the head of DC Police on J6 is 100% behind Trump's moves and he noted in that democrats purposely spent years dismantling and defunding that department even though crime was bad at the time.
It's true; they ain't making any more of it. (The Global Warming BS to the contrary).
His best one is the square footage nobody wanted underneath that now famous elevator- give it to the model agency’s preferred hair salon so when you’re standing out front on the sidewalk with the client wanting to lease the most expensive space there’s an über model striding into the building. Above oceanfront view, that is. Art indeed…
HGTV beats DEI.
Russia has little trade potential for either China or India; Europe has a lot (second largest consumer market behind US). The strategic pivot for both China and India is towards a Europe increasingly independent from the US. The rising economic powers in the eastern hemisphere are China, India, and Europe. Lots of incentives to work together while geographic separation keeps security concerns away from the mutual threat nature of Europe-Russia.
The probable outcome is a cold ceasefire (Korean war style barbed-wire armistice) along with an American assurance that Ukraine will not be allowed to join Nato (which commitment America can make due to its veto over membership).
Why? The Americans at the top lack understanding (this is an understatement). Therefore they cannot agree to anything beyond freezing the status quo and then putting a PR spin on it. (If you don't have a plan, then anything on the table looks like a solution.)
What is clear is that Putin has a deep personal grasp of the details of the conflict from its geography to high strategy that is far beyond Trump's ken (and probably Witkoff's). Putin now has considerable personal experience negotiating with both Trump and Witkoff.
Whatever Trump seemingly agrees to in the upcoming summit is going to look like a strategic win for Russia because Putin, with the entire Ukraine invasion gambit taken as a whole, will have separated the US from Europe over European security by dividing Nato on the issue of eastern border security. (When the US diminishes its role in Europe, it diminishes its role and influence across the entire eastern hemisphere. The Indian sanctions are a huge American "own goal.")
However, if Europe rises to the challenge and establishes credible European deterrent power, then it becomes the new dominant geopolitical power at the western end of Eurasia. It will be in a position to marginalize Russia while it pursues expanded relations with Iran and the northern Middle East, South Asia, and the Far East across Central Asia. There are enormous payoffs for Europe to pursue an independent Eurasia strategy.
It appears that Mark Rutte, Ursula von der Leyen and the national leaders of the UK, France, and Germany are playing the game for time to give space to a new European Realignment Strategy.
The Europeans are probably better off not being at the Alaska summit. It might be a more regional affair than it looks.
Ukraine could do no better than have a real estate mogul in the discussions to end the war. It’s one among many of Trump’s strengths. More importantly, he is a stop the killing mogul.
This is just the latest war in a series of wars. This is just soviet remnants vs nazi remnants and most of the animus on the nazi side is supplied by the Germans, French and British of all people.
Pretty soon we are going to find out that NATO has little to do with protecting Europe and more to do with occupying a bunch of warring states to keep them from killing each other every 20 years.
Kakistocracy said...
What is clear is that Putin has a deep personal grasp of the details of the conflict from its geography to high strategy that is far beyond Trump's ken (and probably Witkoff's). Putin now has considerable personal experience negotiating with both Trump and Witkoff.
LOL. Rich is so stupid it hurts.
There is a reason Putin invaded Crimean while Obama was president and the rest of Ukraine while Biden was President.
Rich is too stupid to understand why. He thinks he is smart and Trump is stupid meanwhile the results are clear for everyone to see. It is hilarious to watch.
Trump is much more intelligent than you Rich. You are a drooling fool and now that the town square is open to all we are free to look at the scoreboard and discuss what really happened.
'It’s a natural instinct as a real estate person,'
If only there was a word to describe this phenomenon of acting as the person you are, using what you know to be true and works.
The two main factors boil down to laws of common sense: Possession is 9/10ths of the law and the fallacy of sunk costs.
I predict Zelinsky will refuse to agree to the Trump settlement terms.
Trump assumes you can have freedom without fighting for it, that freedom is some sort of gift from the Big Deal. Hard to find in history successful examples of freedom having been achieved without a fight.
It is quite likely by the end of this coming weekend that Trump's Russia-Ukraine policy and his Israel-Gaza policy will be in disarray if not implosion.
Russia is an untapped powerhouse of natural resources they are too incompetent and too preoccupied with war to exploit.
When Ukraine has elections it will be interesting to see how it goes. Most of them understand that if they elect a Western aligned corruptocrat kike Zelensky again they are in for more war with Russia.
A majority of Ukrainians have figured out that they are being used as cannon fodder for European territorial ambitions.
He does seem to be like a real estate developer who cannot pass up a project laying in front of his face. Gaza, Ukraine, Washington DC.
My opinion is to let him at it. The politicians, geopolitical gurus, and international experts have had at it for centuries. And they've made more than a few mistakes. Hell...much of the Middle East is a jigsaw puzzle of pieces forced into wrong places by such international experts and geopolitical gurus. Which is why you have tribes settled within boundaries of their blood enemies and peace can be found almost nowhere unless a strong man takes a dominant leadership role over all of them.
Trump could do no worse, certainly, than those who came before him. And who knows? Gaza might actually turn out to be a nice place if it could be fully redeveloped and was not run by Hamas.
Howard said...
Russia is an untapped powerhouse of natural resources they are too incompetent and too preoccupied with war to exploit.
This whole war is driven by Europe's coveting of those resources. The end goal of everything NATO has done since the fall of the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall is the installation of a puppet government in Russia so they can take those resources. Europe wants to do to Russia what it did to Africa for the last 50 years.
People keep pretending Europe is not what it actually is. Western Europe is a greedy lazy colonial power. It is run by an evil globalist cabal that hates its own citizens and hates freedom.
"Seems comfortable reverting to real-estate mogul mode." Well he was that first... and he is doing all he can to find a solution.. and any solution will not make any side really happy. But he will get it done.
In terms of redevelopment, Russia, Ukraine and Gaza are brownfields.
Kakistocracy said...
"Russia has little trade potential for either China or India"..
wow! if ONLY Russia had Oil, or Natural Gas, or metals, or timber, or grain, or SOMETHING!
At the press conference, after Trump said, "I may say this is not going to be settled. "
A reporter asked Trump how he would determine that. Trump said something like, "I make deals. That's what I do."
It's hard to argue that.
Achilles said...
Howard said...
Russia is an untapped powerhouse of natural resources they are too incompetent and too preoccupied with war to exploit.
This whole war is driven by Europe's coveting of those resources. The end goal of everything NATO has done since the fall of the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall is the installation of a puppet government in Russia so they can take those resources. Europe wants to do to Russia what it did to Africa for the last 50 years.
People keep pretending Europe is not what it actually is. Western Europe is a greedy lazy colonial power. It is run by an evil globalist cabal that hates its own citizens and hates freedom.
8/12/25, 7:57 AM
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No - the cause of the war is that Putin’s geopolitical outlook is rooted firmly in the 18th century - much like Trump’s economic outlook is rooted firmly in the 18th century.
Putin’s big project has always been to reassemble the Russian Empire.
"For Trump, Cities Like Washington Are Real Estate In Need of Fixing Up."
So true. First thing you have to do is secure the place. Then evict the grifting deadbeats.
Randomizer said...
At the press conference, after Trump said, "I may say this is not going to be settled. "
A reporter asked Trump how he would determine that. Trump said something like, "I make deals. That's what I do."
It's hard to argue that.
—————————
That gives me little comfort.
Trump’s deal making history is checkered, at best.
He is famously transactional but he can’t get it out of his head that successful transactions are win-win. He sees all transactions as win-lose propositions.
This is why his view of international trade is so bizarre.
I predict Zelinsky will refuse to agree to the Trump settlement terms.
Yassir Arafat would be proud of him.
If only there was a word to describe this phenomenon
Well played.
Trump is desperate for any 'deal'. He fundamentally misunderstands governance as making a 'deal' irrespective of the rationale. The difference here is that Putin knows that nothing bad is going to come his way if there is no deal. This was the flaw in US diplomacy from the start towards Russian aggression starting 2014.
This is why his view of international trade is so bizarre
It’s only bizarre to you because you don’t really understand it or choose not to understand it…
AMDG said...
No - the cause of the war is that Putin’s geopolitical outlook is rooted firmly in the 18th century - much like Trump’s economic outlook is rooted firmly in the 18th century.
Putin’s big project has always been to reassemble the Russian Empire.
You can't be serious.
The point of a hypothesis is to better understand something. You create your hypothesis and you apply it to observed data.
Russia has made clear statements about what they consider red lines and their actions and their words have matched. Russia's actions have been 100% predictable since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
In the 90's NATO promised not one inch East. NATO has consistently done things it said it would not. NATO's words and actions do not match.
Thus you form a hypothesis to explain observed data.
Russia places friendly governments in nearby countries. Russia is consistent in defending red lines it sets on NATO expansion.
NATO is aggressively expanding East and consistently breaks promises over decades. NATO countries have a recent pattern of conquering nations and installing puppet governments in Africa and then raping those countries for natural resources. NATO countries are just following a long held pattern.
Neither Russia nor NATO really give a shit about the people in these countries. It is funny to watch people pretend that NATO supports "democracy" while its puppet in Ukraine jails his political opponents.
Trump perceives real estate as where real people, not DEIst blocs, not fetal "burdens", live in safety with a present and forward-looking quality of life.
""For Trump, Cities Like Washington Are Real Estate In Need of Fixing Up."
Because that's what they are. Is there some other more basic reality? The way things look has more effect on human behavior than anything else short of war or revolution, which is always closer in a mess.
"Western Europe is a greedy lazy colonial power. It is run by an evil globalist cabal that hates its own citizens and hates freedom."
These are the people progressives hold up as examples of what they want the US to be.
Howard said...
In terms of redevelopment, Russia, Ukraine and Gaza are brownfields.
Grok had an interesting contextual interpretation of your comment and it is apt.
You need to add Chicago, DC, San Francisco and other blue cities to your list.
It is an interesting pattern to watch certain ideas spread ruin.
In the end it always seems to be a conflict between those that build and those that take.
"Trump is desperate for any 'deal'."
"So I'm going to go and see the parameters. Now, I may leave and say good luck, and that'll be the end. I may say this is not going to be settled."
Mindset that is too set leads some to appear dedicated to getting things wrong every time.
"In the end it always seems to be a conflict between those that build and those that take."
That is the entire political and even street level conflict in the U.S. and the world, and it's so obvious which side will improve things and which will lead to ruin.
Now we all take some, but some build nothing, and have no interest in it, and for them resentment takes the place of vision and responsibility.
rehajm said...
This is why his view of international trade is so bizarre
It’s only bizarre to you because you don’t really understand it or choose not to understand it…
8/12/25, 8:32 AM
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You are correct. I do not understand how a trade deficit is necessarily a bad thing.
I do not understand how raising taxes on every American, and thus making them poorer, is a good thing.
I do not understand how raising the cost of manufacturing goods domestically is a good thing.
There is only one thing that Trump is desperate for: success, real success that no one can deny. He lives for it. It drives him. It's what his ego requires, and that's a fundamentally good thing. It's not wealth, he has it. It's not fame, he can't get more. He wants to be responsible for great things that are undeniably great. So many deeply desire him to fail especially at doing good, and that's just a sickness in the human spirit.
People keep pretending Europe is not what it actually is.
Because it's pretty.
Western Europe is a greedy lazy colonial power. It is run by an evil globalist cabal that hates its own citizens and hates freedom.
But it's so pretty. And the wine and beer are good, and everything is so sophisticated - you never see a strip mall.
I love going to Europe - all sarcasm aside, it has so many beautiful natural areas and so much beautiful architecture, and the regional cuisines retain so much... regionalness. Regionality? But the older I get, the more clearly I see that Europe-worship is silly; today's Europeans (those who actually hark from European countries, not the immigrants) are just the grandchildren of butchers and fighters and hapless victims, who were themselves the children of butchers and fighters and hapless victims, who were themselves the grandchildren of... Whoever it was up-thread who said the purpose of NATO will be revealed to be keeping the people of Europe from slaughtering one another every twenty years has a point, it seems to me.
The United States, born in revolution, is peopled by peaceful productive citizens who insult one another freely but - with only one terrible exception so far - don't tend to engage in mass slaughter of one another. And the best Italian restaurant in my very American fancy-house suburb - and it is quite a good northern Italian restaurant even by the standards of northern Italy itself, based on my first-hand research - is in a strip mall.
It’s a strategy, not a policy…
So many deeply desire him to fail especially at doing good, and that's just a sickness in the human spirit.
Brother (or sister, but I think brother), you said a mouthful.
AMDG 8:55am,
We definitely believe you! I'm sure you are just scratching the surface, and the things that you don't understand would make a fabulously long list.
..."Ukraine could do no better than have a real estate mogul in the discussions to end the war. ...."
Well, right now they have a f*ckin television gag comedian running the war, so....
Achilles said...
Russia places friendly governments in nearby countries. Russia is consistent in defending red lines it sets on NATO expansion.
8/12/25, 8:34 AM
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And there is the crux of the matter.
What if those countries do not want their governments to be put in place by Russia?
That is certainly the case with the Baltic Republics, Poland, Sweden, and Finland.
What we Americans see in the Ukranian conflict is a war of words that leverages our generalized ignorance of the region, both historical and physical. We have those saying the eastern regions are wasteland, no, they're historically Russian anyhow, no they're the crop-growing and industrial heartland of the region, the most valuable, so forth.
What don't we have? I guess the time and the reputable resources to resolve these disparities. You won't read about it in the papers though, or see it online. They're all about how awful things are, and how bad we should feel about it. It's like a diet of refined sugar and carbohydrates, except with words.
Kirk Parker said...
AMDG 8:55am,
We definitely believe you! I'm sure you are just scratching the surface, and the things that you don't understand would make a fabulously long list.
8/12/25, 9:03 AM
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Educate mem
Why are trade deficits intrinsically a bad thing?
Why is making all Americans poorer a good thing?
Why is making production more expensive a good thing?
We go over and this, again and again and you just choose not to get it. Somebody tells you ‘tariffs bad’ and you seize the opportunity to try and get Trump but you’ll never want anyone to see what’s really happening. Conspicuously absent is your angst and agony over swiss tariffs in place for 100 years that harm the US, or the rest of Europe’s tariffs, or India’s or China’s, only ‘Trump bad’. If only there were a word for such phony baloney rhetoric…
The idea that a “deal” is the solution is the adolescent delusion of a very limited man.
This is a failure waiting to happen.
Hope he succeeds. The hive left are rooting for more war.
" (t)he adolescent delusion of a very limited man"
Only a fool consistently underestimates his opponent. With the Left it's been going on for 9-10 years now.
You may want to consider how this delusional, very limited man has been kicking your ass up and down the field the last 8 months.
Go to Portland - and look at what pure leftist corruption does to a city.
kaktitious excrement.
kak takes no notice of the failure that’s already happened.
rehajm said...
We go over and this, again and again and you just choose not to get it. Somebody tells you ‘tariffs bad’ and you seize the opportunity to try and get Trump but you’ll never want anyone to see what’s really happening. Conspicuously absent is your angst and agony over swiss tariffs in place for 100 years that harm the US, or the rest of Europe’s tariffs, or India’s or China’s, only ‘Trump bad’. If only there were a word for such phony baloney rhetoric…
8/12/25, 9:10 AM
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And their questions remain:
Why are trade deficits intrinsically a bad thing?
Why is making all Americans poorer a good thing?
Why is making production more expensive a good thing?
Our economy is in an existential crisis because of the national debt. One way to make the debt more manageable is to increase economic growth. Raising taxes puts the brakes on economic growth.
Trump is desperate for any 'deal'. He fundamentally misunderstands governance as making a 'deal' irrespective of the rationale. The difference here is that Putin knows that nothing bad is going to come his way if there is no deal. This was the flaw in US diplomacy from the start towards Russian aggression starting 2014.
Yeah. The Iranians thought that, too.
And those Russian Special Ops guys who Putin said weren't in Syria.
AMDG said...
Achilles said...
Russia places friendly governments in nearby countries. Russia is consistent in defending red lines it sets on NATO expansion.
8/12/25, 8:34 AM
——————————
And there is the crux of the matter.
What if those countries do not want their governments to be put in place by Russia?
That is certainly the case with the Baltic Republics, Poland, Sweden, and Finland.
When we installed Zelensky after the 2014 coup how was that any different than what Russia does? Zelensky reneged on promises to seek peace with Russia he made during the campaign, cancelled elections and jailed his opposition.
If NATO had held to its promises and not moved one inch east I doubt any of these wars happen.
Russia wanted to join NATO at the start. I think it is pretty clear that if Western Europe was not trying to colonize Russia then Russia would have opted to get the same deal Western Europe and Japan and the Philippines got from the US.
But alas Western Europe has never given up their colonial ambitions and the US has had a series of globalist presidents who put globalist colonial interests ahead of our country’s interests. The purge of the Neocons is of paramount importance and so is embracing a more detailed and honest version of recent history.
Ref the beachfront: Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is a huge part of its naval power. So many of the Soviet naval bases were in republics including the Ukrainian SSR, which are no longer part of Russia. Trump understands this, but he is not a lifelong defense guy, much less a naval guy. So when he’s on his tenth hour of impromptu public speaking, he reverts to the words he’s used to, rather than talking about littorals, channels, ports, etc.
In other words, he doesn’t want to develop the beaches, he’s talking about key shore terrain.
RR
JSM
ADMG said…
And their questions remain:
Why are trade deficits intrinsically a bad thing?
If you consume more wealth than you produce you are trading purpose for comfort. Consumerism and hedonism are corrosive on many levels.
Why is making all Americans poorer a good thing?
This is a lie. Tariffs are shifting the tax burden from domestic producers to globalist corporations. You don’t get to pretend to care about consumers anymore. We know you don’t.
Someone has to pay taxes. Trump and the rest of us have decided that oligarchs who make stuff in China and ship it here get to pay taxes too.
Why is making production more expensive a good thing?
Our economy is in an existential crisis because of the national debt. One way to make the debt more manageable is to increase economic growth. Raising taxes puts the brakes on economic growth.
We have noticed you care more about taxes on your globalist masters than about taxes on wages and businesses that employ American workers.
You don’t actually believe a word that you say. There is no difference between tax revenue from tariffs and income taxes on cost of goods. The only real difference is where the goods are produced.
I would actually like to see arguments against the proposition that we replace income taxes with tariffs.
You know, I'm not an American. I lived in the US for almost 40 years, and raised a family there, but I am my own thing, I am not you. I am from a small country (the as yet unrealized Basque state) that's part of a not very big country, Spain (thats Europe for you). And I was (mostly) raised in a poor and weak tropical country (the Philippines) formerly a colony of one of my other countries, with no significant power in the world either. This leads a a certain point of view that is fundamentally different from that of Americans. It is significantly complex for one thing, seeing as in my case I am talking of three countries with fraught relationships.
So, in re NATO - NATO, from the POV of all my countries, and of those countries who so inconveniently clamored to join it, is a mutual defense pact of a bunch of weak countries desperate to fend off the cruel desires of the amoral leaders of much more powerful countries.
When I hear people like Achilles licensing the evil desires of the Russians vs that pact of the weak that is NATO - I can only tell Achilles, the evil fool, to stand there with Mr. Putin so we will all know whom to shoot. Because that's all you deserve.
Me, I think the US should be kicked out of NATO, the EU nations should fully fund their armed forces (as they are now finally doing) and countries like Poland and Sweden and Spain and Lichtenstein and etc., the little countries, should acquire nuclear weapons of their own, perhaps in a collaborative ownership, and these should be pointed in all directions, at all likely enemies, some of them, maybe, in the direction of Achilles.
A data point from today to consider: CPI data released to day show Americans are not being devastated by trade policy. So where is this economic crisis of which is spoken? Certainly not in the data…
Economic reality is not something the left can ‘cure’ with better messaging…
It's not a coincidence that George Washington was a "real estate person". He spent his youth as a land surveyor, and ended up owning more that 50,000 acres. What you come to understand as a "real estate person" is that, if you can't defend your right of ownership, you don't actually own it. If you don't have both the ability and inclination to fight for your rights, you'll lose your right to own them.
This is relevant to Gaza, Ukraine, and DC home rule. Show me where on the map of the world the current "owners" just got to own their land without the ability and inclination to fight for it. Pacifism is a fundamentally dishonest free rider scheme that, like many forms of dishonesty, works in the short term for its adherents.
Arguing with the likes of Achilles on trade is like arguing with Mandami on Socialism. It’s not like there is over a century of data to show that the narrative they push is not only wrong, but counter productive.
Oh - Achilles - you have no idea what I think or believe. The first sign of a week mind is not claim to know what others think.
Some see a desert and call it peace.
Others see hotels.
rehajm said...
A data point from today to consider: CPI data released to day show Americans are not being devastated by trade policy. So where is this economic crisis of which is spoken? Certainly not in the data…
8/12/25, 10:31 AM
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Trump keeps delaying the bulk of tariffs.
You are sitting at 2nd down with 7 to go on your own 8 yard line. It’s a little early to spike the ball.
Zelensky was not put in place by the US despite the cacophony of idiots on American social media. He was elected by the Ukrainians, wherein he defeated the party (led by Poroshenko) that formed the post-Yanukovich government. He represented, largely, the Russian-speaking Easterners in Ukraine. His principal opponent in 2019, Poroschenko, largely represented the Ukrainian speaking westerners. The Ukrainian election was as honest as any in the world. Arguably more so than the US election of 2020, as the Ukrainians weren't raising a fuss. If we are going to quibble about the Ukrainian election of 2019 then no elections anywhere in the world can be seen as legitimate, and no government is due its claims of sovereignty.
Most of them understand that if they elect a Western aligned corruptocrat kike Zelensky
Kike?! I guess Althouse is not as sensitive to anti-Jewish slurs as she is to anti-Black slurs. And I am the anti-semite?
And how is it that Ukraine is both Nazi and electing Jews as president?
August CPI is up slightly mainly due to services, not tariffs.
Putin doesn't want Finland, the Baltic States, and half of Poland. Muslim Central Asia and the fractious Caucasus are also undesirable. He may have a vision of reviving the Orthodox Christian, East Slavic core of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, but that may be more of a vision than a real plan.
Of course, Putin may have assumed that the war would have been long over by now and Ukraine subjugated, but does he really have hopes now of getting much more than Crimea and a few eastern oblasts? Is he planning another war to bite off more in the future? How much time would it take to rebuild Russia's military and economy? How much time does Putin have left?
Short Achilles - “let’s return to the economic theory that led to no economic growth (as measured by growth the average person’s income) for over 1000 years.”
Let’s make feudalism great again.
“This whole war is driven by Europe's coveting of those resources. The end goal of everything NATO has done since the fall of the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall is the installation of a puppet government in Russia so they can take those resources. Europe wants to do to Russia what it did to Africa for the last 50 years.”
Exactly correct but it is not just Europe,it is the United States as the head of NATO. We started this war the minute we started expanding nato towards Russia. This is all ours and natos fault, every bit of it.
Territorial "swap" may mean that Russia gets to keep Luhansk and Donets (and Crimea) and gives up the other territories it's conquered. Last year, or the year before, I would have said that Luhansk and Donets become demilitarized and autonomous, pending further review of their status, but Putin's not going to go for that.
Dude 1394 - "We", as in the US, didn't expand NATO. The countries of Eastern Europe expanded NATO, it was their desire to do so. Most recently and significantly Sweden and Finland. Your assumptions are defective, this is not an argument with two parties, it involves dozens of countries, most of which think Russia is a proximate danger.
In Asia there is a similar situation, where there are a lot of little (or smaller anyway) countries fearful of China. There is a tacit NATO-like pact already emerging, which is already acting outside the direction of the US.
AMDG said...
Arguing with the likes of Achilles on trade is like arguing with Mandami on Socialism. It’s not like there is over a century of data to show that the narrative they push is not only wrong, but counter productive.
Oh - Achilles - you have no idea what I think or believe. The first sign of a week mind is not claim to know what others think.
You need to compare my posts in response to you with your posts in response to me.
You will never understand why you are losing the argument until you realize that ad hominem and appeal to authority fails to be persuasive.
People notice that you completely avoided the arguments I made. This is why you are a part of a dead political tribe that nobody cares about anymore and why Trump got more votes from voters than any person in history.
AMDG said...
Short Achilles - “let’s return to the economic theory that led to no economic growth (as measured by growth the average person’s income) for over 1000 years.”
Let’s make feudalism great again.
Really poor straw man argument. You are obviously too stupid to understand my points much less come up with counters to them.
Your real problem is that I could argue the case against tariffs better than you can. This is pathetic. There are real arguments to be made but you are just too stupid to understand them and engage.
Russia, it seems to me, has been a conflict of aristocracy over the serfs, much more brutally than in Europe, which is saying a lot. Aristocrats see land as wealth, not industry as wealth. Russia picked at the scab of its great resources to fight wars but did not like the Industrial Revolution, and did not leverage resources into great wealth like the west even though they had massive Intellectual resources. Under communism they used resources to fight wars not to create consumer goods for export.
Putin is hooked on other peoples land when he should use his resources to provide capital for export growth.
Brownfield redevelopments are everywhere, Achilles.
"Google offices at the Middlefield-Ellis-Whisman Superfund site in Mountain View, California, were impacted by contamination from the former Fairchild Semiconductor plant. Specifically, elevated levels of the industrial solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) were found in the soil gas, leading to potential vapor intrusion into Google buildings. This occurred because the Google buildings were located on a portion of the larger Superfund site, which was contaminated by Fairchild's past use of TCE and other solvents. "
In short, the job of a nation in the 19th century was to use coal, steel, and steam to build a sooty industrial power of great wealth that could be cleaned up later and provide wealth for future people. Russia did not do this.
Your real problem is that I could argue the case against tariffs better than you can
Me, too. I also learned long ago comment sections don’t tolerate much rational argument about finance or economics. A mug’s game…
buwaya said...
Zelensky was not put in place by the US despite the cacophony of idiots on American social media. He was elected by the Ukrainians, wherein he defeated the party (led by Poroshenko) that formed the post-Yanukovich government.
Sorry friend but this is going to be a disagreement.
After the 2014 coup the party led by Yanukovich and Poroshenko was being repressed by irregulars like the Azov Battalion. Voter suppression was carried out by the pro Zelensky faction and voter participation in the regions that voted for yanukovich were way below 2014 levels.
Furthermore Zelensky ran on a platform that was specifically tied to signing the Mingsk accords because Ukrainians wanted peace with Russia.
Zelensky reneged on that promise and took actions that were guaranteed to cause Russia to invade because Russia said repeatedly they would invade if Ukraine tried to join NATO.
You can argue that Russia always wanted to invade Ukraine and they want to take over Europe and whatever else. Russia is a corrupt oligarchy with a dictator who kills and jails political opponents.
The problems start when you also notice that Britain France and Germany each have more people in jail for speech and political views than Russia does. You also have to note that NATO has been the aggressive and dishonest entity in all of these conflicts.
The Biden Regime put more J6 protestors in jail than people Russia has put in jail for opposing Putin.
People inserting morality into discussions of war are generally trying to justify their own immorality.
buwaya said...
Dude 1394 - "We", as in the US, didn't expand NATO. The countries of Eastern Europe expanded NATO, it was their desire to do so. Most recently and significantly Sweden and Finland. Your assumptions are defective, this is not an argument with two parties, it involves dozens of countries, most of which think Russia is a proximate danger.
In Asia there is a similar situation, where there are a lot of little (or smaller anyway) countries fearful of China. There is a tacit NATO-like pact already emerging, which is already acting outside the direction of the US.
You have to understand that the political forces in the US are not monolithic and some of them are dishonest and cause real trouble.
Just one brutal example is how the United States helped Europe overthrow kadafi. Now Libya has open air slave auctions. We did this because Libya and gadafi were causing problems for France in the Sahel.
“We came we saw he died.”
After that there was zero credibility in our actions. Nobody in the world would be able to trust anything the United States said or did.
Russia would be stupid to believe anything that the US says or does is honest in any way shape or form until we have credible leadership.
Yanukovych and Poroshenko were fundamental political opponents. They led different enthno-linguistic parts of Ukraine. They did not share a party. Poroshenko, a westerner, is a born enemy of Russia no less than Zelensky.
A lot of the Donets and Luhansk territory that Yanukovych formerly represented was in Russian hands, through their puppet states, since 2014, and the 2019 election was not held there. A lot of the adjoining territory was depopulated as many of the residents of Ukrainian Donets had fled in 2014 or after. Complaints of the sort you raise were not brought by international election monitors but by Russian propaganda.
Russia has done a good job of poisoning western discourse in re Ukraine via social media.
No, Britain France and Germany dont have any significant number of people in jail for their political views. Britain had one, Robinson, off and on. France has some Muslims AFAIK, and Germany has none. If you know of any name them.
Re: Tariffs
Inflation was roughly in line with the Bloomberg survey.
Notably, core inflation rose to 3.1%, from 2.9% in the previous month, signaling that energy and/or food placed downward pressure on headline.
So, we are seeing the impact of tariffs, as expected.
Moreover, durable goods inflation rose from 0.6% to 1.2%. This is what has placed the upward pressure on the core measure, and is exactly the category which is greatly affected by tariffs.
Core CPI was above expectations and that's the real point.
I have written it before and I will likely do it again in the future- there will never be NATO troops and air support for the Ukrainians- there is close to zero political support for such a plan. The absolute most that the U.S. and NATO will do is offer defensive weapons and there isn't much political support for either- if Trump were to offer to give the Ukrainians all of the weapons the EU will pay for, you would quickly learn that the EU isn't really all that willing to arm the Ukrainians, too. The EU will support Ukraine as long as the U.S. supplies most of the funds.
So, Ukraine is in a completely untenable situation and has been from the very start. Sure, they might hold off the Russians for the next five years but it won't change a single thing except the country is further degraded both structurally and demographically. Ukraine the last 11 years have been sold a literal bill of goods by NATO.
You are free to piss on your leaders. And it doesnt matter, anymore, what the US thinks in re NATO. The US has burned its relationships with NATO, and everyone is assuming a US-free Europe already. What will matter is Germany, Poland, Finland, the Baltics, etc. The US is already irrelevant.
Europe was supplying most of the funds already. The only things the US is needed for are some niche weapon systems, the most significant is Patriot missiles (reloads) vs ballistic missiles. The bulk of Ukrainian air defense vs cruise missiles is already handled by IRIS-T (Diehl, Germany).
In Britain according to Grok:
"Wayne O’Rourke: A 35-year-old convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for "stirring up racial hatred" due to anti-immigrant views expressed during riots.
Lucy Connolly: A 41-year-old woman convicted in October 2024 and sentenced to 31 months in prison for "incitement to racial hatred" after posting on X about mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
Lee Joseph Dunn: Sentenced to two months in jail in July 2024 for posting memes suggesting Asian men with knives might move into British communities.
Billy Thompson: Sentenced to three months in prison for a Facebook post that included emojis of an ethnic minority and a gun.
Filton 18: A group of Palestine Actionists arrested for allegedly shutting down an Israeli weapons factory in Bristol, held without trial as of 2024, though specific names are not provided, and charges relate to actions rather than statements.
Other cases, like Adam Smith-Connor (arrested for silently praying near an abortion clinic) and Rose Docherty (arrested for holding a sign), involve speech-related actions but are noted as under appeal or not clearly resulting in current imprisonment. The search results also mention broader trends, such as 3,395 arrests in 2016 for online speech, but specific names and current statuses are not detailed."
Then, Buwaya, the EU can fund 100% of it.
well Germany doesn't matter, it had an opportunity to do so in the 90s after unification, but it was soon capture by Gerhard Schroeder who was partnered with ex stasi figures, who was Putin's opposite, in Dresden,
buwaya said...
Europe was supplying most of the funds already. The only things the US is needed for are some niche weapon systems, the most significant is Patriot missiles (reloads) vs ballistic missiles. The bulk of Ukrainian air defense vs cruise missiles is already handled by IRIS-T (Diehl, Germany).
Europe wants to conquer Russia.
They can’t do it without the US. They want our help like when we helped them conquer Libya.
Everything in the Ukraine war boils down to this.
The Biden Regime put more J6 protestors in jail than people Russia has put in jail for opposing Putin.
If true, and I doubt it is but am too lazy to fact check you today, Putin's preferred method for dealing with political opponents is to have them fall out of windows (or just good old assassination).
its energy grid is collapsing in part because it indulged the magic beans strategem of 'clean energy' as if the Krupps and the Thiessens indulged in such folderall
The only way Europe defeats Russia without the United States is with a Muslim army.
What do you think this means for the people of Europe?
“Former French president François Hollande, who in 2015 co-led peace negotiations with then German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Putin over Ukraine, has a warning for the US president: “Putin’s technique is professional lying.” ~ FT
2/18/22 Putin said the following:
“I have no intention of invading Ukraine. These are just defensive exercises.”
6 days later he invaded Ukraine.
Freder Frederson said...
The Biden Regime put more J6 protestors in jail than people Russia has put in jail for opposing Putin.
If true, and I doubt it is but am too lazy to fact check you today, Putin's preferred method for dealing with political opponents is to have them fall out of windows (or just good old assassination).
Seth Rich is unavailable for comment.
Fortunately you all failed to kill Trump.
"Europe wants to conquer Russia" - thats insane. The statement is insane that is, no matter the idea. There is no "Europe" that you can point to for one thing. Does the Finnish Parliamentary governing coalition want to take Saint Petersburg? Does the President of Poland want to help them? No, you cant claim that and those are the most relevant people in such a question.
the ruling classes in the uk france and germany, despise their own people, their cultures, what would the typical soldier fight for,
of course it's a ridiculous notion, doesn't mean they haven't made it time and again, including people who should know better,
“ Europe was supplying most of the funds already.”
To provide nuance, direct US contribution to the NATO budget is 15.3% the same as Germany, but that does not include cost of US troops stationed in Europe and their weapons. Including that cost US contribution to the defense of Europe would be approximately 90%. An American critic might say that those troops should not be there. A Euroskeptic I know would say that they are there to keep Europeans from going to war with each other every 20 years. I remain perfectly indifferent, and work at my own business. I try to like everyone.
buwaya said...
“…the little countries, should acquire nuclear weapons of their own, perhaps in a collaborative ownership, and these should be pointed in all directions, at all likely enemies, some of them, maybe, in the direction of Achilles.”
I take no position on this doctrine, but do note it seems like overkill to ensure hitting him in the heel.
buwaya said...
"Europe wants to conquer Russia" - thats insane. The statement is insane that is, no matter the idea. There is no "Europe" that you can point to for one thing.
I can point to the European Union. Additionally I can point to the fact that the European Union is constantly agitating for war with Russia.
Additionally all of the pro war parties in Europe are also pro European Union.
The Nationalist parties throughout Europe are generally against expanding the war. They also generally want to leave the European Union and limit their participation.
Finally the parties that support war and the EU are also supporting mass immigration policies to replace the populations that are skeptical of war and of the European Union.
The Ukraine War and the wider war on Russia is the extension of this political divide.
Why are trade deficits intrinsically a bad thing?
Achilles says:
If you consume more wealth than you produce you are trading purpose for comfort. Consumerism and hedonism are corrosive on many levels.
AMDG Responds:
You didn’t answer the question. Company X buying something from foreign based Company Y does not constitute a consumption of wealth. Company X obtains that it believes can be used to increase its overall wealth.
Achilles says:
Why is making all Americans poorer a good thing?
This is a lie. Tariffs are shifting the tax burden from domestic producers to globalist corporations. You don’t get to pretend to care about consumers anymore. We know you don’t.
Someone has to pay taxes. Trump and the rest of us have decided that oligarchs who make stuff in China and ship it here get to pay taxes too.
AMDG Responds:
This is where your ignorance shines through like a supernova.
Tariffs are paid for by the importer at the port of entry before they can take possession of the items. The funds to pay the tariffs are sourced from Domestic operations. In order to make up for the cost of tariffs the importer can do one of three things:
1. Absorb the cost of the tariffs. This can be done in the short term (as the automakers are currently doing) but is not a sustainable long term solution because of the impact on profitability.
2. Raise prices.
3. Reduce costs which means cutback on headcount.
Buwaya said…
When I hear people like Achilles licensing the evil desires of the Russians vs that pact of the weak that is NATO - I can only tell Achilles, the evil fool, to stand there with Mr. Putin so we will all know whom to shoot. Because that's all you deserve.
Me, I think the US should be kicked out of NATO, the EU nations should fully fund their armed forces (as they are now finally doing) and countries like Poland and Sweden and Spain and Lichtenstein and etc., the little countries, should acquire nuclear weapons of their own, perhaps in a collaborative ownership, and these should be pointed in all directions, at all likely enemies, some of them, maybe, in the direction of Achilles.
You are letting emotion cloud reason.
I would actually have no problem with the small nations around Russia building a nuclear arsenal. It would be the ideal option if your goal is peace. The same is true about Japan and Taiwan and the Philippines and most of China’s neighbors.
But everyone should be honest about why this has not happened. It comes down to who benefits from the US people being forced to pay for the Armed Forces that make it the global hegemon.
The biggest problem with the Ukrainian War is that it was entirely unnecessary.
The Russians are not gaining anything from it compared to what they have spent. Putin knows that he is risking his life and political future here. He knows that his army is not very strong and his economy is too small to carry on.
But Putin also saw what happened in Libya and he knows that is what the globalists have planned for him. We have a track record of invading countries on pretense.
Putin knows that Ukraine joining NATO makes NATO invasion of Russia inevitable.
We can mouth all of the platitudes about freedom and democracy we want. Our actions have belied our words too many times.
Nobody should trust NATO, the UN, the EU or any US administration that sides with them.
In a war, you only get 100% of what you want if you have total victory over your opponent and get them to surrender unconditionally.
Russia will never surrender unconditionally or admit that they lost to Ukraine.
That's why this is a negotiation to end the war and not total victory by Ukraine. There needs to be some give and take. Plus, Ukraine, not Trump, will decide how much they're willing to give up.
Duda's PiS was perpetually at odds with the EU bureacracy (well, Germany). They had their EU funds (@137B Euro between Covid and development funds) withheld. In spite of that it was Duda more than anyone who saved Ukraine in 2022 (ammo, about 1,000 tanks, etc), it was Duda that broght in a gas pipeline from Norway to bypass Russian gas, and it was his government that led the huge increase in defense spending in 2022, such as the South Korean tank agreement.
Achilles says:
We have noticed you care more about taxes on your globalist masters than about taxes on wages and businesses that employ American workers.
You don’t actually believe a word that you say. There is no difference between tax revenue from tariffs and income taxes on cost of goods. The only real difference is where the goods are produced.
AMDG Responds:
Again you have doubled down on the false assumption that tariffs are paid for by foreign entities. They are not.
You seem to think that Canada cuts a check to the US Treasury when it exports lumber to the US. That is not the way it works. The check is cut by the US company (with US workers) that is importing the lumber. To think that this does not hurt those workers at the importing lumber company is an indication of a really low IQ or a person who is so lost in a cult there entire identity will be threatened if they let the truth get in the way of their preferred narrative.
AMDG Responds:
This is where your ignorance shines through like a supernova.
Tariffs are paid for by the importer at the port of entry before they can take possession of the items. The funds to pay the tariffs are sourced from Domestic operations. In order to make up for the cost of tariffs the importer can do one of three things:
1. Absorb the cost of the tariffs. This can be done in the short term (as the automakers are currently doing) but is not a sustainable long term solution because of the impact on profitability.
2. Raise prices.
3. Reduce costs which means cutback on headcount.
How is any of this different than a corporate tax or a tax on wages/income?
The only difference is who you tax.
I believe globalist oligarchs who make things in other countries and ship them here should pay taxes too.
Until you deal with this you just look stupid.
AMDG Responds:
Again you have doubled down on the false assumption that tariffs are paid for by foreign entities. They are not.
You seem to think that Canada cuts a check to the US Treasury when it exports lumber to the US. That is not the way it works. The check is cut by the US company (with US workers) that is importing the lumber. To think that this does not hurt those workers at the importing lumber company is an indication of a really low IQ or a person who is so lost in a cult there entire identity will be threatened if they let the truth get in the way of their preferred narrative.
If you cut down a tree in the US you pay a US logger to cut it down and a US trucker to ship it to the sawmill. A US business processes it into lumber employing Americans and US capital.
If you cut down a tree in Canada process it and ship it to the US that is fine. People are allowed to do things in Canada.
But if the tariffs on Canadian imported lumber are not at least equal to the taxes on American Labor and American businesses then we are committing economic suicide.
Until you deal with that you just look stupid.
Achilles Says:
How is any of this different than a corporate tax or a tax on wages/income?
AMDG Responds:
You need to get it through your thick skull - THE EXPORTERS DO NOT PAY TARIFFS.
You are right that tariffs are just another tax, and like all taxes, they end up being paid by the American people no matter how you slice it.
The MAGA mantra is now - “New taxes because you can tax your way to prosperity.
AMDG said...
Achilles Says:
How is any of this different than a corporate tax or a tax on wages/income?
AMDG Responds:
You need to get it through your thick skull - THE EXPORTERS DO NOT PAY TARIFFS.
You are right that tariffs are just another tax, and like all taxes, they end up being paid by the American people no matter how you slice it.
The MAGA mantra is now - “New taxes because you can tax your way to prosperity.
So Trump and I are right and you are wrong.
Thanks for playing.
Achilles Says:
If you cut down a tree in the US you pay a US logger to cut it down and a US trucker to ship it to the sawmill. A US business processes it into lumber employing Americans and US capital.
If you cut down a tree in Canada process it and ship it to the US that is fine. People are allowed to do things in Canada.
But if the tariffs on Canadian imported lumber are not at least equal to the taxes on American Labor and American businesses then we are committing economic suicide.
Until you deal with that you just look stupid.
AMDG Responds:
If you are a Lumber Company based in New England why should your employees, customers, and the customers of your customers bear the additional cost it takes to source lumber from the PNS instead of Ontario?
Trump and reaI estate. I found that part amusing. Hey, Ukraine is really losing, all its beachfront property is gone. No more surfing off the crimea coast. No more windsurfing off the Azov sea. Ukrainian yacht's will have anchor somewhere else. They gotta make a deal.
Im assuming by "Landswap" trump means Russia will give back the buffer zones along the Ukraine-russia border, and any claim to land west of the Dnieper River, in return for Ukraine accepting reality - namely all the Donbass oblasts and Crimea are part of Russia now.
We've wasted over $250 billion (or it $300 billion) on this crazy war, propping up a Corrupt, authoritarian regime, when none of this was any of our business. Its not just weapons, we're helping pay salaries (and pensions) of Ukrainian Government workers.
Hopefully, Trump can end it. If not, it'll go on till Putin takes everything west of the river.
Achilles Says:
MAGA mantra is now - “New taxes because you can tax your way to prosperity.
So Trump and I are right and you are wrong.
AMDG Responds:
And you have it - The single stupidest thing written on the blog ever.
Economics 101 - If you want less of something, tax it.
Putin expected that the FSB and the other Russian politico-intelligence services had prepared the way for, effectively, a coup d'etat. This worked in part on the southern front where Ukrainian brigades were moved out of the way from the defenses at Perekop and the Dneiper crossings were left unguarded, the bridges on the other side in the approaches to Mykolaiev likewise, outflanking the defenses by Donets. It was this betrayal by senior officers through "silver bullets" that caused the bulk of Ukraines problems. But it did not work elsewhere, hence the advances, also meant to "bounce" weak defenses, on Kiev and Kharkiv and via Izyum failed. The Russian columns were blocked by hastily improvised reserves (because most of the Ukrainian Army was facing the Donets-Luhansk fronts). Then Putin himself had to improvise plan B, and C, and D, because of course the failure was too big to admit, Putins goose would have been cooked . The thing was supposed to be easy, but no, it was not so easy. Ever since Putin has been spending Russias resources to save his butt.
AMDG Responds:
If you are a Lumber Company based in New England why should your employees, customers, and the customers of your customers bear the additional cost it takes to source lumber from the PNS instead of Ontario?
If the lumber sourced from Ontario has the same tax and regulatory burden as PNS and that lumber is cheaper then import that lumber.
But if you refuse to accept that the lumber from Ontario will be taxed in the form of tariffs at least at the same level as taxes levied on PNS then you are just stupid.
Buwaya: "it was Duda more than anyone who saved Ukraine in 2022"
That must be why the Kiev ladies sing that song....
RR
JSM
Vanity drove Putin to get over his skis, if you hold the mineral rich provinces, the heart of the industrial base, then you have a relatively easy task, as you move closer to the Dnieper, who end up in trouble,
Every country on earth has what could be construed, in malice, to be a "corrupt, authoritarian regime". The US not least in this. Therefore you can express hate and malice against millions of innocent people (maybe even your own?) whenever you feel like washing your hands of something. You are Pilate, or worse.
I spent decades, and it seems my health, keeping your infrastructure running. Apparently for no reason, you Americans have betrayed my image of you. I was wasting my efforts, I was not serving a greater purpose. You are a weak and useless lot, and the devil shall take the earth, and on account of my broken heart and stroked out brain, I curse you and all your issue.
Josephbleau: "In short, the job of a nation in the 19th century was to use coal, steel, and steam to build a sooty industrial power of great wealth that could be cleaned up later and provide wealth for future people."
That is beautiful.
RR
JSM
Buwaya said…
Then Putin himself had to improvise plan B, and C, and D, because of course the failure was too big to admit, Putins goose would have been cooked . The thing was supposed to be easy, but no, it was not so easy. Ever since Putin has been spending Russias resources to save his butt.
Nobody should be arguing that Putin is a good person or that the Russian Army is competent and capable of invading a country the size of Ukraine. Obviously none of that is true.
The point is that this war happened because Biden and the Europeans wanted it to happen. They installed a dictator after deposing the lawfully elected government. They are waging a proxy war against Russia.
If you want to understand what is happening in the world you have to take your emotions and tribal loyalties out of it. I volunteered to die for my country and went to war. I feel shame when I look at what our country is doing to the people of Ukraine using them to fight our proxy war for Europe’s greed.
If you are honest about the situation the truth here is very painful. The war in Ukraine is unmitigated evil.
certainly many part of this country are run by corrupt oligarchs and they throw shade at other corrupt oligarchs, those that had the knowledge gave ways to those who did not know,
in the Cold War, some like Marcos were easy targets because some of their habits, but it Magsaysay had lived would he have faced the same problems with Communist China, going back further, when Chiang was the bete noire, well no one could be worse than him, hold my Tsingtao brew, same with Batista and Ortega,
Just something to toss in. Don't flame me. Lol. I am here to learn by seeing what people think and know.
In trade, the exporter gets the dollar value, the importer’s consumers get the utility value — but discussion tends focus on only one measure, rarely a combination of the myriad factors, and our set of equations is missing a few things.
Would be nice if we had a comprehensible model we could consult but we don't. So we can try things out. See what happens and adjust.
boatbuilder said...
It's true; they ain't making any more of it.
Not true. As populations shrink, land becomes available.
In the US, as aliens are deported, land, houses and apartments become available.
Almost the same thing as creating new land.
John Henry
The Russians are about to break through the latest Ukrainian main line of resistance in the Donbass. Once they do, the AFU will have to retreat to 30-40 miles to their new line. They can't stop the Russian steamroller. Outnumbered, and overmatched in tanks, artillery, drones, Missiles.
Any Ukrainian soldier must ask himself, "What am I dying for?". Because he's not dying for anything. Other than to help NATO and please people like Lindsey Graham.
it has worked for the exporting countries until since the GATT rules were formalized in the 60s, which was around the time negotiating authority, was given to the President, and rarely used,
buwaya said...
Every country on earth has what could be construed, in malice, to be a "corrupt, authoritarian regime". The US not least in this. Therefore you can express hate and malice against millions of innocent people (maybe even your own?) whenever you feel like washing your hands of something. You are Pilate, or worse.
I spent decades, and it seems my health, keeping your infrastructure running. Apparently for no reason, you Americans have betrayed my image of you. I was wasting my efforts, I was not serving a greater purpose. You are a weak and useless lot, and the devil shall take the earth, and on account of my broken heart and stroked out brain, I curse you and all your issue.
Again you are letting emotion cloud reason.
Every person alive on this planet is alive because their ancestors killed the ancestors of people who are not alive today. Every country is blood soaked and covered with sin.
The main problem with supporting the war in Ukraine is that we are using Ukrainians to fight our war with Russia. Ukraine could have signed the Minsk agreements and been done with it. We instructed our puppet to scuttle the agreement and to apply for NATO membership knowing this would cause Russia to invade because Russia made it absolutely clear post Libya that it did not view NATO and the US as honest brokers.
Ukraine is not going to be any more or less free than it was 10 years ago. It is all pretense. Nobody in Ukraine is going to be all that materially affected by changing lines on a map. The rulers of Ukraine are no better than the rulers of Russia. The current rulers of Europe are the worst of the bunch.
I am primarily concerned with the little people in Russia and the Ukraine and tangentially the native population of Europe who is being attacked and dispossessed by the rulers in Europe.
Try to accept what we are saying in good faith.
Tariffs increase costs of imports. The extra tax (increasing prices) is less economically significant than the incentive to substitute an untariffed source (it is all about marginal costs). Canadian lumber that undercuts US lumber becomes relatively expensive vs US lumber. Whether this will revive US industries or not (or fast enough) is an open question. Canadian imports represent 23% of US softwood lumber consumption. US lumber producers seem fairly healthy on the whole, so they should be able to expand production to pick up displaced Canadian production, probably for less than the tariff difference. Or there will be a price increase affecting 23% of US consumption, probably something in between.
Its total BS. Nobody "installed a dictator". The guy who was elected (elected, note) post Maidan, the guy who was "installed", LOST the next election in 2019. This line is pure Russian propaganda. You have no shame btw.
Ukraine the last 11 years have been sold a literal bill of goods by NATO.
Not just NATO... Bill Clinton sold them some stuff too, and Ukraine paid a big price for it.
I live under the "current rulers of Europe". Day to day facts. You have no idea what you are talking about. From my POV a vast number of things are done much better here than in California. You simply have no basis for comparison, all you have are assertions in social media.
Keldonric said...
Just something to toss in. Don't flame me. Lol. I am here to learn by seeing what people think and know.
In trade, the exporter gets the dollar value, the importer’s consumers get the utility value — but discussion tends focus on only one measure, rarely a combination of the myriad factors, and our set of equations is missing a few things.
Would be nice if we had a comprehensible model we could consult but we don't. So we can try things out. See what happens and adjust.
It is all just words. The internet is full of people who act like they are more than that. We all do it at times.
The purpose of setting economic policy is to achieve an economic system that matches desired outcomes. The first step is to define the desired outcomes.
Trump has made it clear his desired economic system is weighted towards a better future for middle and working class people in the United States. His policies are clearly designed to motivate capital to be applied in the United States and to make sure that the working and middle class share a larger part of the economic output.
Tariffs disproportionately apply the tax burden to large corporations that operate internationally. All of the sturm and drang is a result of wealthy people being forced to pay taxes.
I will be in the US (SF and LA) end of September, to see my kids. I go back once or twice a year, and I thus have an excellent basis for comparison, US vs "the current rulers of Europe".
well the West Coast probably qualifies, at the level of the worst province, perhaps Catalonia, but the same can be said for the North Atlantic sector,
Tariffs can make a difference. The cheapest place on earth to buy Japanese cameras and lenses, currently, is the US because of low tariffs from Japan and China. Their prices WILL be increasing. I have ordered some stuff to be delivered to my son, that I will pick up and carry back. Else I would have to go to Hong Kong which is a huge PITB even if its just an hour from Manila.
Barcelona is a wonderful place btw, as well as the rest of Catalonia. I've been to Girona, Tarragona, Monserrat, Lleida, Figueras, etc etc. You can easily spend two weeks in Barcelona. Its rather expensive by Spanish standards (by California standards its still nothing). The place is well run, not quite as well as the Basques do it, but theres nothing to cry over.
California does seem to be aspiring for the worst management, I guess its like that Hemingway line, 'slowly then all at once'
but Madrid seems better run, in some respects, one would suspect the Capitol district should be so, that isn't alway so,
buwaya said...
I live under the "current rulers of Europe". Day to day facts. You have no idea what you are talking about. From my POV a vast number of things are done much better here than in California. You simply have no basis for comparison, all you have are assertions in social media.
I don’t defend what California is doing. They are doing the same thing as much of Europe is. They are importing low skilled labor and reducing law enforcement efforts often times siding with foreign invaders over their own citizens.
What is being done by globalists in the USA is parallel to what the globalists are doing in Europe.
You have been away for a while. The current geopolitical lines are drawn completely differently now. Pretty much every political distinction right now in most countries rests on the conflict between the people of the nation and the agents of the globalist elite.
California and Europe are ruled by agents of the same people.
buwaya said...
Barcelona is a wonderful place btw, as well as the rest of Catalonia. I've been to Girona, Tarragona, Monserrat, Lleida, Figueras, etc etc. You can easily spend two weeks in Barcelona. It’s rather expensive by Spanish standards (by California standards it’s still nothing). The place is well run, not quite as well as the Basques do it, but theres nothing to cry over.
From the outside it appears that Spain has several regions that are insistent on local control and naturally resistant to outside elite influence.
Madrid traditionally has a PP government (think Republican "deep state") because of the leftover from the Franco regime. The Spanish bureaucracy is still conservative/professional in spirit. This persists even with a Socialist national government because "Yes, Minister" applies here, and how. Barcelona has some of that btw. Its not badly run. I prefer Madrid, better airport, more logical metro, I like palaces, but its a matter of taste; the Madrid weather is more stressful.
The "globalist" bs is just that. There is no central committee. Theres just a bunch of idiots that say stupid shit. Stuff gets printed in the papers. Money gets invested. Shit gets done. Life goes on. People here can build a railroad, unlike California.
Theres not really a "woke" thing here, or in most of Europe ( in the UK ymmv). The biggest problem is the low birthrate, that is the ultimate cause of a lot of problems.
All of Spain insists on local control. Thats why theres a regional system, like US States, but rather more. The Catholic Church snuck in subsidiarity and the socialists thought it was their idea to keep the Basques and Catalans happy. It was probably the Opus Dei dudes. Anyway, there is no totalitarian globalist state, not even Germany.
“ Any Ukrainian soldier must ask himself, "What am I dying for?". Because he's not dying for anything.”
That has been the fate of every soldier since the beginning of humanity. A private in the Army of the Potomac after Chancellorsville could have said the same thing. Fortunately the majority chose to serve in that case.
Buwaya is a voice of reason. In the cases where I am personally very familiar with Europe, I find the Twitter version of life there completely incoherent and unfamiliar. If you base your understanding of the world on what you read on the Internet, you may know a lot of things that just aren't true.
Why are we still talking about this when Trump promised to end the Russia/Ukraine war within 24 hours? It's over. Please. Give it a rest. And move on.
This Summit with Putin shows the difference between Trump and his globalist predecessors. Its easy to laugh at Trump with his Real estate "the art of deal" obsessions. And his salesman puffery. But once you get past the eccentricities and rhetoric, he is trying to make peace and do whats good for the USA.
As opposed to Bush, Obama, and Biden. If we had any of those 3 in office, we'd be hearing the same ol' "Hate Russia" rhetoric, and how we need Ukraine another Zillion dollars to keep Putin from "conquering the world!!!".
And lets not even talk about Hillary. that amoral walking piece of shit. It humorous that Suffragettes pushed women voting because "women will help stop wars". LOL. You only have to look at killer clowns like Hillary or "Kam" or Pelosi to see how untrue that was.
Btw, the Europeans need to dissolve their EU parliment, and get rid of the EU President and all the nonsense and go back to being a simple Economic Union. That's all the EU should be. Trading goods with a tarriff wall against outsiders.
"That has been the fate of every soldier since the beginning of humanity. A private in the Army of the Potomac after Chancellorsville could have said the same thing. Fortunately the majority chose to serve in that case."
Nope, doesnt apply here. The Ukraine soldier is fighting for nothing. They can't win. And even if they "win" - the average Ukrainian will get nothing. Russia and Ukraine are natural allies, not enemies. When the war ends and Russia controls the Donbass, do you think they'll forbid Ukrainians from living there? LOL. They've never left.
Its as if some crazy Canadian leader decided to ally Canada with China and start a war with the USA over Alaska. And got Canadians to think Americans were their great enemy and they needed to bring Chicom troops to Canada to protect them.
BTW, the civil war was a "Rich mans war, and a poor mans fight". If Billy Yank and Johnny Reb had had any brains they would've stopped shooting each other and gone to Richmond and DC and shot the Goddamn Politicians.
The average Northerner didn't want to mess with the south, and the average Southerner didn't want to leave the Union. The whole thing should have been settled around a table.
“ The whole thing should have been settled around a table.”
I won’t disagree but they were sitting at tables since the constitution was signed and the slaves were still in the fields in 1861. If you read the letters and listen to the songs they wrote there were many true believers of freedom in the North. And many in the South fought in a trap where a man would defend his home.
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