Tariffs...what to make of them.

[SmooveP]

This country is sold on consumption every day, it will be a hard beast to ween it off. I would think tax and inflation will help with this. The easiest way from what I can see is just make things more expensive - but that leads to class separation. That’s a tough sell for any politician.

USAID - from what I am reading this was a tool used to manipulate areas/countries to battle Russian/Chinese interest. Leaving it will definitely allow a vacuum for our competitors to come in. I think Trump and Elon (and many others) feel the government lost control of this entity and it began to independently operate against some US interests in the name of inter agency competition - that’s pretty scary but i am sure it happens more often than not.

USAID is used for a million things, from straight up humanitarian stuff to serving as a conduit to fund foreign diplomatic/intel initiatives. Decades ago, the company I worked for used USAID to fund installation of a microwave landing system in a small third world country's airport. I didn't work on it, but as I recall the rationale for using US funding was to make it safer for our planes to fly in and out of that country. It's impossible define its role in a single sentence, paragraph or even a book, so people with short attention spans are likely to say WTF does USAID do? Kill it!

It has a connection to immigration issues as it provides a means to fix problems in a foreign country that would otherwise drive people to flee. I have no doubt there is fraud and abuse. So target that instead of blowing the whole thing up.

 

[thegock]

Did you see this movie?https://www.google.com/search?gs_ss...INTEwOGowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

No. Wasn't aware of it, but it is on the list now. Thanks.

 

[Bike N Gear]

Trump has only one goal with the war , that is to give Putin what ever he wants.

Nah. Trump’s only goal is to be able to say he ended the war. He just doesn’t care who he hurts to get there.

 

[Johnny Utah]

All that money spent and we can't get a million or two for Bike trails in NJ!

Word!!!!!

 

[SmooveP]

You make some fantastic points here.

This is a really deep and fawked situation that I think plays a huge part in some of Trumps politics if you hear me out.

The US agreed to protect Ukraine when we rearmed their nuclear weapons in the 1990’s, in my opinion we are on the hook.

BUT - Ukraine trying to join NATO is a huge issue for Putin. I listened to the interview he did last year with Tucker as well as the Lex Friedman takes - essentially Putin says put someone else in power for Ukraine that is neutral or pro-Putin and the war is over. If the US faced the same with Mexico, Cuba or Canada I think we would be in the same place.

In my opinion Trump does not want to expand NATO, the Biden/Clinton Camp did/does.

If we are going to push Ukraine to join NATO - Europe needs to absorb the costs and cover the weapons. At least the majority, because China is coming.

China has been building their navy - they now have the largest in the world. They have been building their military and nuclear stockpile. Further they have been pushing against western assets for years - USAID battles some of this.

Several outlets, including XI and parts of the US Military have noted we will be at war with China in the next few years - this will include Taiwan. Japan and Korea are rapidly building their military, even Vietnam is starting to play ball with the West as they know China is coming.

Israel, in my opinion, weakened HAMAS and leveled Gaza now as they know if the west is battling China and Europe in deep with Russia, they will be fighting Iran and the Arab States with limited help.

War is expensive - smart weapons go fast. The US is repowering our battleships including the NJ now to lob cheap weapons like 5” and 16” shells again. The drone war is here, they are cheap and many of the countermeasures that we really know about like SAMS are not.

The US needs military person power as well - over the summer our carrier groups went on some of the longest non war time deployments in history - our equipment is getting strained.

We are back to rebuilding our pacific island airfields - fueling the tanks again.

War is looming - it has been.

If Ukraine wants into NATO - Europe needs to be ready to hold Russia at bay while The US, Australia, South Korea and Japan tackle China.

It will be an absolute mess.

That's like saying "If I was a brutal dictator/kleptocrat, I'd do the same thing." It's insane to leave that part out. No one was threatening to invade Russia before the Ukraine business. If not for their nukes, we'd probably have gone in by now, though.

 

[Johnny Utah]

That's like saying "If I was a brutal dictator/kleptocrat, I'd do the same thing." It's insane to leave that part out. No one was threatening to invade Russia before the Ukraine business. If not for their nukes, we'd probably have gone in by now, though.

I am not connecting with you in the first, I mean that seriously and I know there was a good amount of content you were responding too.

As for the second part - yes, if Russia did not have nukes I think we would have gone in with air power after their disastrous push to Kiev. Followed by the ground invasion.

There was a short period I thought Wagner would do it for us. That was a crazy few days.

 

[Robson]

If Ukraine didn't give up nukes there wouldn't be any conflict with Putin.

 

[dvaidya]

BUT - Ukraine trying to join NATO is a huge issue for Putin. I listened to the interview he did last year with Tucker as well as the Lex Friedman takes - essentially Putin says put someone else in power for Ukraine that is neutral or pro-Putin and the war is over. If the US faced the same with Mexico, Cuba or Canada I think we would be in the same place.


If we are going to push Ukraine to join NATO - Europe needs to absorb the costs and cover the weapons. At least the majority, because China is coming.

I have not been following any of this closely so this is my take based on the finger in the wind opinion.

I get the feeling that Ukraine wants into NATO to prevent Russia from basically taking over Ukraine completely. Russia does not want a NATO country as border neighbor. If part of the deal with Russia is no NATO for Ukraine Russia has to basically agree to return anything that they have annexed and stop providing support to pro-Russian folks. If Ukraine joins NATO everyone that is part of NATO at minimum provide equivalent money to expand.

My 2c.

 

[thegock]

Maybe @Johnny can tell us why disregarding a signed agreement is good policy!

 

[OddTrickStar]

All that money spent and we can't get a million or two for Bike trails in NJ!

We probably have, spent it somewhere else, painted a line down the side of a busy road and called it a bike trail.

 

[Dave Taylor]

There were a lot of good points - I think we are all still waiting for you to show us how it gets worse and worse as well and highlight where all this white supremacy is.

I don’t think that is going to happen, but I expect more posts about it. I mean I get it, if Trump gave you $700k and a Cheeseburger you are going to find a problem with it - you two are not going bowling together and definitely will not be playing Team Darts at the Ground Round.

Is Daniel Carver still alive - he was a pretty famous white supremacist. He was on Hollywood Squares I believe.

Can you provide a Top Ten “ White Supremacist” list we can look into?

View attachment 255713

We didn’t even get the bun yet doh…

 

[Johnny Utah]

Maybe @Johnny can tell us why disregarding a signed agreement is good policy!

Which agreement - the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty?

I don’t think it is a good idea to disregard it - touched on it above.

 

[UtahJoe]

BUT - Ukraine trying to join NATO is a huge issue for Putin. I listened to the interview he did last year with Tucker as well as the Lex Friedman takes - essentially Putin says put someone else in power for Ukraine that is neutral or pro-Putin and the war is over. If the US faced the same with Mexico, Cuba or Canada I think we would be in the same place.

ya this is going to be a non starter...I mean its how we got here in the first place. Ukrainians like being Ukrainian...Just like Americans like being American.....There is no chance they will accept Russia installing a puppet president.

I have not been following any of this closely so this is my take based on the finger in the wind opinion.

I get the feeling that Ukraine wants into NATO to prevent Russia from basically taking over Ukraine completely. Russia does not want a NATO country as border neighbor. If part of the deal with Russia is no NATO for Ukraine Russia has to basically agree to return anything that they have annexed and stop providing support to pro-Russian folks. If Ukraine joins NATO everyone that is part of NATO at minimum provide equivalent money to expand.

My 2c.

So the nato countries borderline with Russia has now doubled (Finland) since the war started....so now they REALLY have Nato on their border....So if Putins plan was to stop nato expansion, it could not have backfired worse.

 

[dvaidya]

ya this is going to be a non starter...I mean its how we got here in the first place. Ukrainians like being Ukrainian...Just like Americans like being American.....There is no chance they will accept Russia installing a puppet president.

So the nato countries borderline with Russia has now doubled (Finland) since the war started....so now they REALLY have Nato on their border....So if Putins plan was to stop nato expansion, it could not have backfired worse.
View attachment 255752

Learned something new today. Thank you.

 

[Johnny Utah]

ya this is going to be a non starter...I mean its how we got here in the first place. Ukrainians like being Ukrainian...Just like Americans like being American.....There is no chance they will accept Russia installing a puppet president.

So the nato countries borderline with Russia has now doubled (Finland) since the war started....so now they REALLY have Nato on their border....So if Putins plan was to stop nato expansion, it could not have backfired worse.
View attachment 255752

Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦

 

[Robson]

ya this is going to be a non starter...I mean its how we got here in the first place. Ukrainians like being Ukrainian...Just like Americans like being American.....There is no chance they will accept Russia installing a puppet president.

So the nato countries borderline with Russia has now doubled (Finland) since the war started....so now they REALLY have Nato on their border....So if Putins plan was to stop nato expansion, it could not have backfired worse.
View attachment 255752

ya this is going to be a non starter...I mean its how we got here in the first place. Ukrainians like being Ukrainian...Just like Americans like being American.....There is no chance they will accept Russia installing a puppet president.

So the nato countries borderline with Russia has now doubled (Finland) since the war started....so now they REALLY have Nato on their border....So if Putins plan was to stop nato expansion, it could not have backfired worse.
View attachment 255752

For Putin this is just smoke and mirrors. He wants Ukraine to be part of Russia. Historically speaking Russia as a country started in the current Ukraine territory. That's why Putin wants it back. It's not about NATO.

 

[SmooveP]

I am not connecting with you in the first, I mean that seriously and I know there was a good amount of content you were responding too.

As for the second part - yes, if Russia did not have nukes I think we would have gone in with air power after their disastrous push to Kiev. Followed by the ground invasion.

There was a short period I thought Wagner would do it for us. That was a crazy few days.

Sorry, I was responding to the last part of this statement:
"BUT - Ukraine trying to join NATO is a huge issue for Putin. I listened to the interview he did last year with Tucker as well as the Lex Friedman takes - essentially Putin says put someone else in power for Ukraine that is neutral or pro-Putin and the war is over. If the US faced the same with Mexico, Cuba or Canada I think we would be in the same place."

It makes it sound like you think Putin has a good point. It's hard for me to envision a similar situation that would involve Canada or Mexico. Cuba WAS aligned with one of our enemies but we did not invade them, unless you count the half-assed Bay of Pigs fiasco, which spurred Russia to align themselves with Cuba afterwards. Wasn't sure if you were saying that Putin has a valid reason for Invading Ukraine.

 

[UtahJoe]

For Putin this is just smoke and mirrors. He wants Ukraine to be part of Russia. Historically speaking Russia as a country started in the current Ukraine territory. That's why Putin wants it back. It's not about NATO.

Absolutely agree.

 

[MMuller]

ya this is going to be a non starter...I mean its how we got here in the first place. Ukrainians like being Ukrainian...Just like Americans like being American.....There is no chance they will accept Russia installing a puppet president.

I hear Gazans like being Gazans too. Even if they're living in piles of rubble. Funny how that works in humans. I oddly LIKE NJ.....

 

[Johnny Utah]

For Putin this is just smoke and mirrors. He wants Ukraine to be part of Russia. Historically speaking Russia as a country started in the current Ukraine territory. That's why Putin wants it back. It's not about NATO.

Concur - I think he wants a whole lot more as well.