World Politics

[djpbaltimore]

I imagine this China news didn't merit much outcry was because most people believed that Xi would run the country even without the title of president. At least this move is more transparent. You can't mourn the passing of a democracy that never really existed in practice.

I get that python wants Trump's words to be representative of Western values so he can incessantly beat his drum about the US by proxy, but that dog won't hunt.

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

..i got few moments to reflect on some old news, i mean the last weak news...

among the more significant was the chinese communist party decision to allow the current china leader to remain the leader for life. the 1st thought was, well, china is officially still a communist state and as such they would be expected to resort to what the western value system considers a total no-no.

the 2nd thought was WHY there was no protest, much less a wide outrage in the west's political and print circles about violating one of the cherished western democratic principles :Question: moreover, the president of the country that appointed itself the word-wide guardian of freedom and democracy praised the chinese decision

wtf is going on with our cherished democratic values ? are they applicable only when the object isn't the main trading partner ? or the hypocrisy of applying the absolute democratic values is limited to the countries the us considers easy to attack or unable to kick back hard ?

i have no idea except i learned to believe the western democratic values are a chump change of geopolitics or, more accurately, the tool of political midgets of all kinds, not just in the west.

Could be why?
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/poli...claims-move-scrap-presidential-term-limit-has

In China, the president is a largely ceremonial title and the real power rests with the other two offices a top leader holds – Xi is also chief of both the party and the military. But the president is the only one with a formal limit of two terms – introduced by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in 1982 to prevent another lifelong dictatorship after Mao Zedong’s tumultuous rule.

 

[aphronesis]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/437mmq/this-is-how-american-democracy-could-end

 

[Unchained]

Lup, maybe you can tie it all in for me.. Putin shows videos of bombing Florida.. Trump says squat..Putin says are process is a joke and eating itself.. Man and daughter poisoned in UK..again silence from Senior Small Hands..
What's up?
The English are not important enough to pay some attention to?
Turkish leaders asking Trump to contemplate their agenda as a long standing allied country..?
What golf is more important?
So far his heavily vetted staff is anything but.. Now all are allies are reacting to another one of his half wiits? Before broad brush sanctions but after a couple of days..oops bad policy.. just like too many others.. He talks trash

Then gets put in his place.. NRA,France, Mexico, Canada, world trade org..China.. does he ever have a plan?

 

[Robert5091]

Non top-Secret Boy Wonder snubs own ambassador - after more money?
http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...bassador-to-mexico-out-of-meeting-with-mexico

President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner did not invite the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico to meetings with top Mexican officials on Wednesday, according to a new report.

A senior U.S. official told The New York Times that Kushner did not invite Ambassador Roberta Jacobson to meetings with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray.

 

[Lupi33x]

Re:

Lup, maybe you can tie it all in for me.. Putin shows videos of bombing Florida.. Trump says squat..Putin says are process is a joke and eating itself.. Man and daughter poisoned in UK..again silence from Senior Small Hands..
What's up?
The English are not important enough to pay some attention to?
Turkish leaders asking Trump to contemplate their agenda as a long standing allied country..?
What golf is more important?
So far his heavily vetted staff is anything but.. Now all are allies are reacting to another one of his half wiits? Before broad brush sanctions but after a couple of days..oops bad policy.. just like too many others.. He talks trash

Then gets put in his place.. NRA,France, Mexico, Canada, world trade org..China.. does he ever have a plan?

You watch too much CNN.
You do realise Trump uses the golf course because its much harder to bug than the White House.

 

[ScienceIsCool]

Re:

..i got few moments to reflect on some old news, i mean the last weak news...

among the more significant was the chinese communist party decision to allow the current china leader to remain the leader for life. the 1st thought was, well, china is officially still a communist state and as such they would be expected to resort to what the western value system considers a total no-no.

the 2nd thought was WHY there was no protest, much less a wide outrage in the west's political and print circles about violating one of the cherished western democratic principles :Question: moreover, the president of the country that appointed itself the word-wide guardian of freedom and democracy praised the chinese decision

wtf is going on with our cherished democratic values ? are they applicable only when the object isn't the main trading partner ? or the hypocrisy of applying the absolute democratic values is limited to the countries the us considers easy to attack or unable to kick back hard ?

i have no idea except i learned to believe the western democratic values are a chump change of geopolitics or, more accurately, the tool of political midgets of all kinds, not just in the west.

In the end, just not that big a deal. China themselves gave declared something along the lines of how they were going to reject the notion of cycling through a handful of leaders every few years in favour of stability and continuity. The subtext is that it's actually more transparent and healthy to bring the power politics out into the open where they can be more easily checked unlike in the west. And they aren't too far wrong. China is reverting back to being Chinese after 100+ years of humiliation by the west. And why not? Their system of mandarins and strict hierarchical civil rank served them well for millennia.

John Swanson

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Re: Re:

Lup, maybe you can tie it all in for me.. Putin shows videos of bombing Florida.. Trump says squat..Putin says are process is a joke and eating itself.. Man and daughter poisoned in UK..again silence from Senior Small Hands..
What's up?
The English are not important enough to pay some attention to?
Turkish leaders asking Trump to contemplate their agenda as a long standing allied country..?
What golf is more important?
So far his heavily vetted staff is anything but.. Now all are allies are reacting to another one of his half wiits? Before broad brush sanctions but after a couple of days..oops bad policy.. just like too many others.. He talks trash

Then gets put in his place.. NRA,France, Mexico, Canada, world trade org..China.. does he ever have a plan?

You watch too much CNN.
You do realise Trump uses the golf course because its much harder to bug than the White House.

ya get that from your other news source, infowars.com?

1/3 of donnie's 'presidency' has been in Florida..all the while he says he's concerned about spending tax payer $.

After only nine months in office, President Trump and family had already spent $147 million on personal travel, amounting to one-and-a-half times as much as President Obama and family spent in the eight years of the latter's presidency.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Re:

Lup, maybe you can tie it all in for me.. Putin shows videos of bombing Florida.. Trump says squat..Putin says are process is a joke and eating itself.. Man and daughter poisoned in UK..again silence from Senior Small Hands..
What's up?
The English are not important enough to pay some attention to?
Turkish leaders asking Trump to contemplate their agenda as a long standing allied country..?
What golf is more important?
So far his heavily vetted staff is anything but.. Now all are allies are reacting to another one of his half wiits? Before broad brush sanctions but after a couple of days..oops bad policy.. just like too many others.. He talks trash

Then gets put in his place.. NRA,France, Mexico, Canada, world trade org..China.. does he ever have a plan?

You do know that the Florida bombing video had nothing to do with Mar-a-Lago right? You do know where CentCom is located right? You do know which General issued the press release about the ~200 Wagner guys (Russian Blackwater types) the US killed in Syria in a fairly large show of force, right? Take a look at the air power that was employed in that action - drones, B-52 bombers, F-15 fighter jets, Apache helicopters and AC-130 gun ships. It's kind of a big deal.

(And both sides have to "sort of" pretend it didn't happen, while still reacting to it)

 

[ScienceIsCool]

Re: Re:

Lup, maybe you can tie it all in for me.. Putin shows videos of bombing Florida.. Trump says squat..Putin says are process is a joke and eating itself.. Man and daughter poisoned in UK..again silence from Senior Small Hands..
What's up?
The English are not important enough to pay some attention to?
Turkish leaders asking Trump to contemplate their agenda as a long standing allied country..?
What golf is more important?
So far his heavily vetted staff is anything but.. Now all are allies are reacting to another one of his half wiits? Before broad brush sanctions but after a couple of days..oops bad policy.. just like too many others.. He talks trash

Then gets put in his place.. NRA,France, Mexico, Canada, world trade org..China.. does he ever have a plan?

You watch too much CNN.
You do realise Trump uses the golf course because its much harder to bug than the White House.

ya get that from your other news source, infowars.com?

1/3 of donnie's 'presidency' has been in Florida..all the while he says he's concerned about spending tax payer $.

After only nine months in office, President Trump and family had already spent $147 million on personal travel, amounting to one-and-a-half times as much as President Obama and family spent in the eight years of the latter's presidency.

That would be so much fun. If it were true. Snopes disagrees, and an actual investigations shows it's not that much more than Obama. Roughly $500,000 per month more. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/president-donald-trump-s-monthly-travel-costs-three-times-higher-than-obama-s-a8131586.html

That, and he's apparently spent 20 days golfing. That's 2 days for every 5 weekends. Hardly seems unreasonable considering he OWNS some golf courses and all.

John Swanson

 

[djpbaltimore]

Re: Re:

Lup, maybe you can tie it all in for me.. Putin shows videos of bombing Florida.. Trump says squat..Putin says are process is a joke and eating itself.. Man and daughter poisoned in UK..again silence from Senior Small Hands..
What's up?
The English are not important enough to pay some attention to?
Turkish leaders asking Trump to contemplate their agenda as a long standing allied country..?
What golf is more important?
So far his heavily vetted staff is anything but.. Now all are allies are reacting to another one of his half wiits? Before broad brush sanctions but after a couple of days..oops bad policy.. just like too many others.. He talks trash

Then gets put in his place.. NRA,France, Mexico, Canada, world trade org..China.. does he ever have a plan?

You do know that the Florida bombing video had nothing to do with Mar-a-Lago right? You do know where CentCom is located right? You do know which General issued the press release about the ~200 Wagner guys (Russian Blackwater types) the US killed in Syria in a fairly large show of force, right? Take a look at the air power that was employed in that action - drones, B-52 bombers, F-15 fighter jets, Apache helicopters and AC-130 gun ships. It's kind of a big deal.

(And both sides have to "sort of" pretend it didn't happen, while still reacting to it)

So, you are saying that nuking Florida is OK, because there is strategic value to doing so? Duly noted....

Maybe Trump complained to Putin through one of all those back channel communication networks that he was trying to set up with the Kremlin.

 

[Lupi33x]

Re: Re:

Lup, maybe you can tie it all in for me.. Putin shows videos of bombing Florida.. Trump says squat..Putin says are process is a joke and eating itself.. Man and daughter poisoned in UK..again silence from Senior Small Hands..
What's up?
The English are not important enough to pay some attention to?
Turkish leaders asking Trump to contemplate their agenda as a long standing allied country..?
What golf is more important?
So far his heavily vetted staff is anything but.. Now all are allies are reacting to another one of his half wiits? Before broad brush sanctions but after a couple of days..oops bad policy.. just like too many others.. He talks trash

Then gets put in his place.. NRA,France, Mexico, Canada, world trade org..China.. does he ever have a plan?

You watch too much CNN.
You do realise Trump uses the golf course because its much harder to bug than the White House.

ya get that from your other news source, infowars.com?

1/3 of donnie's 'presidency' has been in Florida..all the while he says he's concerned about spending tax payer $.

After only nine months in office, President Trump and family had already spent $147 million on personal travel, amounting to one-and-a-half times as much as President Obama and family spent in the eight years of the latter's presidency.

when CNN got busted
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LK9a8AT2b8

little has changed

 

[ScienceIsCool]

Re: Re:

So, you are saying that nuking Florida is OK, because there is strategic value to doing so? Duly noted....

Maybe Trump complained to Putin through one of all those back channel communication networks that he was trying to set up with the Kremlin.

It's more than a little funny that people are getting worked up over an illustration of how a new weapons system works. Where do you think it would be aimed? Trondheim??

So yeah. If you park an ABM system (Aegis ashore - Redzikowo, Poland) 100 km from Kalningrad and 1000 km from Moscow, you're going to provoke a reaction. Considering that the SM-3s can be swapped out for nuclear equipped cruise missiles without detection... I'm not sure the cartoon of Florida getting whacked is the entire message. The message is that balance has been restored. Second, retaliatory strikes are back on the menu even if you think a first strike is possible. In other words, the various think tanks that have been pondering whether a pre-emptive nuclear war is winnable have been (thankfully) put back in their hideous little box.

John Swanson

 

[ToreBear]

That Putin speech was for internal consumption. That they now have weapons to beat the anti-missile system is old news. Like 30 year old news. I don't think current or projected abm systems are able to deal with MIRVs( multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle). Especially not in the numbers Russia could field.

The Nuclear cruise missile was a bit disconcerting. Apparently its the likely originator of Ruthenium-106 that was
detected over Europe last fall. https://www.greenpeace.org/archive-international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/radioactive-cloud-ruthenium-106/blog/60775/

 

[python]

even a single warhead icbm is practically immune against the current technology available...several articles were cited (and linked to) during the height of the norkor testing last year.

neither japan nor the us nor southkor risked to reveal the weakness by actually firing an antimissile. the patriots are useless by their very different function (short range anti-air). the other systems, including aegis etc need to be lucky with their position (or firing dozens of missiles blind hoping one will be lucky). it was and still is one big feel-good misconception - or in the case of pentagon - a money milking tactic to sell the expansive systems with the de facto limited effectiveness. most experts, which i am certainly not, explained the reasons many times...

but what putin presented wasn't only a pr for domestic use...it was a real warning borne of deep as he believes disappointment. that nato moved east hundreds of miles (with all their weapons including the tactical nuclear) while moscow stayed were it was founded 800+ years ago. nato is not a mother theresa org and no one in their right mind will take at a face value that all those am system in poland, rumania etc were ONLY against iran and norkor.

putin no doubt spoke to american public too. and he bloated some...yet what he meant to say was heard. btw, i understand where russia indeed holds a significant lead is lasers. since the 70s and 80s. this i dont think was paibd enough attention to by the clueless western media...

 

[macbindle]

None of the systems you mention are designed to intercept ICBM. There are 3 systems that can, the US GMD, one Russian and the Israeli Arrow system.

Whilst they are not adequate, they do work in principle. This is one of the reasons MIRVs contain decoys.

 

[python]

you are out of date - and some reading comprehension - as i only mentioned specifically 2 systems including a black on white reference that patriots are designed for a non icbm function. if you believe that some systems can intercept an icbm in the actual war setting be my guest. i will refer to the experts which you clearly are trying to pretend to be...

 

[macbindle]

I'm not an expert.

But my brother in law is.

 

[python]

...my grand mother is too, not to mention that if she had some balls she'd be the best ever military expert...

 

[macbindle]

Is your grandmother a Professor of Geodesy too, contracted to various defence organisations to provide expertise in locating objects moving in space? What a coincidence.

You carry on. Unlike you I'm not here to make myself feel better about myself by thinking that I've scored a point.

 

[python]

you claims about my posting reasons are are clearly false...just as your claims about the cred of you relatives on a cycling forum are likely false...

unlike you, i just posted today...i did not dog pile on another poster today about a trivial linguistic matter. i did not claim that my relative is an expert by actually misreading what i wrote... i'l leave it to others to judge if winning Internets was why you chose incessant dog piling with multiple posts on a poster who refused to budge...

 

[macbindle]

No seriously, you carry on. Not interested. Cheers.

 

[python]

Re:

No seriously, you carry on. Not interested. Cheers.

if you are not interested you had a few chances to quit yet you chose to inhance some internet rep of your relatives in stead ....

 

[djpbaltimore]

Re: Re:

So, you are saying that nuking Florida is OK, because there is strategic value to doing so? Duly noted....

Maybe Trump complained to Putin through one of all those back channel communication networks that he was trying to set up with the Kremlin.

It's more than a little funny that people are getting worked up over an illustration of how a new weapons system works. Where do you think it would be aimed? Trondheim??

So yeah. If you park an ABM system (Aegis ashore - Redzikowo, Poland) 100 km from Kalningrad and 1000 km from Moscow, you're going to provoke a reaction. Considering that the SM-3s can be swapped out for nuclear equipped cruise missiles without detection... I'm not sure the cartoon of Florida getting whacked is the entire message. The message is that balance has been restored. Second, retaliatory strikes are back on the menu even if you think a first strike is possible. In other words, the various think tanks that have been pondering whether a pre-emptive nuclear war is winnable have been (thankfully) put back in their hideous little box.

John Swanson

We all know where Russia's nukes would strike, that is precisely why it was unnecessary to be so provocative about that video. It is Trump-like in its lack of subtly.

Agree with you mostly on the rest. Russia has the right to protect itself with nukes according to extant treaties. However, I think the threat to Russia from NATO is overblown. IMO, an attack from NATO would be defensive, not offensive.

 

[python]

as expected, the us tariffs on steel and aluminum went into effect. or more accurately were made official in a special show-like announcement with workers parading their hard hats in the white house...

what's next ? i'd really like to know how the trump advisers lined up their game/strategy, if there is one, to counteract the inevitable pushback from all over the world. to complicate things, mexico and canada were made exempt, albeit temporarily, which only accentuated the typical american approach - negotiating with someone, BUT only with the gun at their had. that is, if the ongoing nafta negotiations wont produce the america-desired outcome, boom-boom, there go the tariffs on canada and mexico...that's what trump said.

unfortunately, i lack the ability to entertain a plausible NEXT turn of events since i am not an expert...

still since i play chess, i always try to guess the next move. in this case, it seems, the trump advisors grand strategy is a bet that the export-driven economies like germany, china and korea will blink first. as they have more to lose in a tit-for-tat race to the bottom. that is, the advisers told trump i recon, they stand to stall their entire exports if they dare to challenge the us....

this line may indeed work, but i think it underestimates the degree of irritation with the american arrogance currently marching across europe and, more importantly, the us own gigantic vulnerabilities. particularly, in the areas like the almost monopoly (with notable exceptions) on weapons exports to the nato...turkey just showed the way. not to mention the europes ability to virtually shut down boing, apple (and several other IT giants) in favour of eurobus, samsung etc...if anyone thinks, that china with its infinite patience and huge resources is going to dance to american tune,know little about their ways...

the voices that it was the americans at large that benefit from cheaper exports aren't prevailing...it is indeed a dangerous race to the bottom that trump just started. we'll see.