2/3 of global trade is done in US dollars. However a lot of that has currency risk, like say Chinese companies paying their Chinese workers in yuan. So if the dollar looses value compared to other currencies, the old contracts can lead to exporters selling their products for less then they are worth. That is not a good situation to be in for a lot of companies.

In other words Northern Rock would be a joke compared to this.

She is a hardcore Communist. Her father was a guerilla leader in the Venezuelan jungle. It was obvious to anybody, that she would betray Trump at the first oppurtunity. However being able to sell oil to the US and pay some money to Trump directly via some Qatari payment scheme is still much better then having full blown sanctions on Venezuela. Rodriguez is also a realists and understands that this is actually an oppurtunity to strengthen the country, if it is played smartly.

Thank god the right wing blesses us with their beautiful architecture like:

or

The Danes arrived on Greenland before the Inuit. They then settled and left after a few centuries, but indigenous is a problematic argument for Greenland being independent.

Europe is not looking at China too much. The entire “no-limits friendship” with Russia is hurting that relationship pretty badly.

If he got Greenland enough time, until the US invades Iran, then it would be fine. Btw Iran war is coming soo. Trump is already moving military assets for it.

The main purpose of the board is to oversee the Gaza ceasefire. So this will probably lead to a bunch of Muslim leaders openly supporting Israel in some votes. To be fair they do not care and many openly do very similar things themself or even took part in it like Egypt. Still the population of the countries does care and mostly supports Palestine.

The ‘board of peace’ so far:

The funny part is that there is a Muslim majority…

There are the National Guard and State Guards, which could do that.

Sure, but there are a lot of countries, which are either cheap enough to retire to or are willing to accept qualified US workers. Also a lot of Americans have some relatively recent migrant background and might apply for citizenship by decent from some countries.

Especially being an IT professional and going to the Netherlands. DAFT visas, which are for entrepreneurs seem to be one of the most common ways to get into the EU.

And, of course, the crooked politicians here in Europe are actually following America more than China in this.

That is much less the case then it might appear. Out of the Top10 largest EV makers three are European(Volkswagen, BMW and Stellantis). When you look at wind, Europe has a few of the largest companies in the world. Europe is also basically the only place even attempting to compete with China in batteries, since Trump cut US support for that industry. There are plenty of more niche industries as well, in which Europe has some very strong companies.

The USD has dropped significantly already. A year ago 1€=1.0279$ today it is 1€=1.1595$. That is a nearly 13% drop in value.

I personally like a lot of the art, which is very clearly Orientalism. Gaudi for example clearly stands on his own, but also obviously imitated Islamic tile art, especially in his early works. Also a lot of Art Nouveau graphic art imitates very clearly Chinese and especially Japanese prints. I also have a hard time seeing it as racist to do so, but sure I guess I am and stuff like this is shit.

In this context it refers to Westerners patronizing Asians and people from the Middle East. It comes from Orient and also is used to describe Western art, which immitates arts from the North Africa, Middle East and Asia. So it depends on the context if it is actually bad.

Maduro was hostile to the EU too. Why would the EU help a Russian ally to stay in power? Taiwan however is a friend.

But actually more important then that is that a lot of other countries dislike China and have territorial conflicts with them. India, Japan and the entire South China Sea conflict come to mind. They are all going to respond no matter what the US does. It is also unlikely to only be a kidnapping, but has to be a full invasion.

Canada is running a pretty strong boycott of US products right now. For example of the Canadians planning a trip to the US in 2025 56% of them cancelled it or went to another destination, which is not the US. Seriously airlines are replanning their flights, due to the massive drop in demand. Something similar is happening with US products and services, but some are hard to replace. However Netflix and Amazon are not.

SEPA is obviously European and France has its own debit card CB, which is commonly accepted in stores and by atms. So it is a matter of creating a few million CB cards for the French who do not have them.

A lot of countries have local debit cards, which work for local shops and allow you to withdraw money. For France that would be Carte Bancaire (CB) for example. The obvious solution would be to link all of them up. Preferably with a common standard to be issued with new cards. There are co branded ones with Visa and MasterCard, so it should be possible.