Yeah, its a little too easy to frame every single tourist by their nationality, but there is truth in these comments. It’s not so much about tourism either, its about the general mentality of certain groups of people towards other peoples and cultures.

And its not like it is at all suprising that people visiting from countries that actively promote ethnic nationalism (Russia, China, Israel) generally tend to act rude and condescending towards ‘lesser’ peoples and cultures.

I am Dutch, and unfortunately yes…Dutch tourists are very stingy.

nottheonion?

Experts warned in advance that a US-Iran war would actually radicalize the regime, break the protest movement and allow the regime to re-establish greater control over Iranian society.

And offcourse to everyone’s complete and astonishing surprise, the experts turned out to be right.

Its not just Trump either. Western media were reprehensibly ignorant of Iranian politics. Most popular media outlets ended up giving a centre stage to monarchist demagogues. You couldn’t even turn on the tv without seeing interviews with ‘Iranians’ calling on the US to bomb Iran, calling Netanyahu a great patron and calling the Europeans cowards for not stepping in.

The thing is, none of these people actually presented the popular opinions of Iranians, despite claiming they did. Most of them had never even set foot in Iran. And those that had included those who’s families held positions in the regime of the Shah and thus fled the country over 40 years ago.

It’s like asking former Ba’athists what they think should be done in Iraq and them answering: the US should bomb the country and appoint the Husseins to help lead the ‘transition to democracy’.

What a joke…

According to the DNB this move has nothing to do with the political climate in the US i.e. Donald Trump.

But I think most Dutchies share in my relive that the bulk of our national gold reserves are now stored in places that are actually safe from foreign interference.

Case closed, Panthera for the win.

Seriously though, Putin can’t back his ass out of the dumpster fire that he himself lit and both Europe and the US have been trying desperately to find a clean and easy way out of this mess literally for years, including throwing him the political lifelines that could’ve gotten him out before it got worse.

The fact that what you’re proposing hasn’t ever been seriously proposed by anyone in the US or EU, is probably because its the absolute dumbest bat%#* insane brain fart of an idea that anyone’s come up with so far…

Just to get this straight: you believe that we should allow Russia to just walk away without so much as a taunt, sticking the EU with the bill of rebuilding a giant gaping hole of a country in the heart of Europe, with the threat that if Russia ever tries anything, we’ll station a non-existent European army, even though we’ve disbanded the organization that’s supposed to command, supply and organize this army, after also excluding its key supplier of weapons, troops and logistics, while hoping he doesn’t nuke us now that we’ve voluntarily broken our nuclear triad, and to just assume till then that the same man who wiped his ass with most of the international treaties that Russia ever signed will actually keep his word and not take advantage of our self-imposed weakness?

Damn, bro… you’re like the spouse lying in the hospital bed with a concussion, swollen face, and broken jaw murmuring: ‘he’s changed, it’s not his fault, I deserved it…’

That is actually a stroke of brilliance.

4 million is a lot of money, but it is also a pathetically low amount if you’re trying to make a dent in European politics

In fact, there are so many leftists in Europe -who would jump at the chance of publicly humiliating Trump- that I honestly believe you could raise 4 million just by starting some sort of kickstarter.

The German government confirmed that this was a deliberate act of aggression by Russia aimed at German citizens and assets, but their response has been tame at best. I doubt this will raise so much as an eyebrow in Russia. And it will certainly invite more Russian aggression.

For years Germany has been reluctant to call out Russian crimes and has been resisting calls to scale up support for Ukraine. I’m no expert, but Russia really crossed a line this time and I feel like Germany should’ve used this moment to respond more publicly and decisively.

For example by sending more troops to the Eastern border, acting against a black fleet tanker or significantly boosting their support for Ukraine (Taurus missiles?).

Here’s the thing: Putin genuinely believes the West is hedonistic and degenerate. His view, which is enforced by the people around him, is that we will avoid war at all costs.

Putin’s logic therefore is that he doesn’t actually have to defeat NATO on the battlefield, but that he simply needs to scare and intimidate us enough for us to break cohesion and back down.

In other words, with every single month that goes by without the EU withdrawing their support, Putin will be tempted to escalate further, hoping with each new provocation that this will will finally be the one that breaks the West’s defiance.

This is laughable offcourse, as many EU countries are directly being threatened by Russia’s aggression and thus have a vested interest not just in defended themselves, but in having Russia choke itself on Ukraine.

In other words, yes Russia’s army can’t stand toe to toe with NATO but Putin’s misguided beliefs and strategic incompetence are nonetheless increasing the chances of this war spilling over into a full scale war between NATO and Russia.

Maybe return the favor?

The EU has pretty advanced cyber capabilities, but we somehow lack the will and/or capability to respond with a massive DDoS of our own?

The last time a CIA director had direct talks with his Russian counterpart, it was to warn the Russians not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The last time before that, it was to warn the Russians not to invade Ukraine.

Russia is presumably behind the incidents in Leipzig and Rome earlier this month, which constitute direct attacks on NATO military assets and are a severe escalation of the conflict.

In addition Russia has placed ballistic missile launchers in Belarus, has started bombing the border crossing between Moldova and Ukraine, has started engaging in routine airspace violations into NATO territory, all while laying the political groundwork for a massive and forced mobilization.

It seems very reasonable that Ratcliffe’s visit is in response to either the recent attacks or new intelligence pointing to further escalation.

I used to be a single man, and I can testify to the accuracy of this statement

You’re looking at an almost perfect representation of the way my bachelor pad looked ‘back in the day’.

Seeing your balls sure brings back some memories…

Find something ‘woke’ and brand it a terrorist organization? Am I paranoid for thinking MAGA might be setting the stage for persecuting certain political groups?

“Over here! Look over here!” “Definitely don’t look over there!”

You’re talking as if MAGA will just disappear the moment Trump gets ousted. It won’t.

MAGA makes up the majority of the Republican party. And their criticism of Trump is not about democratic decline, rampant corruption or ICE, but about inflation, Iran and the general consensus that Trump is not being true to his word.

Far right influences have been steadily gaining ground within the Republican party for over two decades. And by this point the leading ideology within the party is anti-democratic, anti-free speech, racist and imperialist. There are no moderate Republicans just waiting backstage to steer their party back to the way it was.

Instead we have a whole cadre of ideologically motivated crazies who are more than able to carry the project further after Trump is finally ousted.

Ye… Russian and Chinese infiltration are exactly the reason why leftists and centrist blocs in the EU introduced things like the GDPR and Cybersecurity laws.

And why right wing extremists are constantly subverting efforts for more control and regulation.

Just when you thought the fool couldn’t possibly get any dumber…

Leaders around the world are treating the US military defeat against Iran as a given and are planning for a future that does not include the US in any decisive role.

The current response of the nations in the Middle East is telling: plans are being drawn up and security cooperations being forged, while pretty much ignoring the US altogether.

Its likely a precursor for what we’ll see happen with nations surrounding the Sea of Japan and South China Sea in the upcoming months.

The largest, most powerful nation on earth has literally botched this war. Militarily, politically and economically. And as a result we’re now witnessing the US led global world order unravel completely. I think we’ve entered a very scary time.