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It's the same in the UK. Pensioners had their heating allowance removed to plug a £22 bn 'black hole', whilst tonnes of money is pledged to AI. I can imagine th

by bArray 2y ago

It's the same in the UK. Pensioners had their heating allowance removed to plug a £22 bn 'black hole', whilst tonnes of money is pledged to AI. I can imagine the EU is in a similar state.

spwa4 2y ago
Removing AI investments will not plug a 22 bn "black hole". This is 200 million europe wide, and the UK is at best 1/6th of Europe if we're very generous.
- voidr 2y ago
  Your comment is misinformed, you are unfamiliar with the UK context here, but even if your comment would be correct, 200/6 = 33 EUR that would most definitely plug that black hole, however that is not what the comment is about, please look at the actual context before commenting.
- bArray 2y ago
  The point being made is not about removing AI investments. The OP's comment: > I am urprised how much money suddenly is available where other future-critical projects are starved of funding while needing just a fraction of that amount, specifically nuclear fusion. The point is that money is found easily for such projects, whilst other important projects go unfunded due to a supposed lack of money. There is the appearance of dishonesty regarding budget availability.
voidr 2y ago
The UK is also sending eye-watering amounts of money to Ukraine without a problem, while everyone else is pulling out of the project. There was also the plan go give the Chagos islands to a country that is ~2000km away and pay them billions for the privilege of using them. There is always money to chase newspaper headlines.
- freefaler 2y ago
  Many very costly things could happen if you forget the Munich lesson. It's easier to stop Putin there than to let him have it and spend 10x on the next war.
  - voidr 2y ago
    Many very costly things happen if we forget the Afghanistan lesson, where an insane amount money was plowed into a military riddled with corruption that folded without a fight once the US abandoned the area. On paper the Afghan forces were more numerous and better equipped, in reality most of those soldiers collected their pay checks and went home.
    - spwa4 2y ago
      Ukraine's army and soldiers have done everything, above and beyond what could be expected of them, and none "collected their pay checks and went home".
      - voidr 2y ago
        Well except that 200 000+ who did not feel like sacrificing themselves for a media stunt like Kursk or Krynky and decided to desert. Zelensky doesn't know where at least 100bn went, that's over half the amount they were given by the US, we didn't even ask about the EU funds. You can also look at a map and see that we are giving them money and they are losing ground, it's not working.
        spwa4 2y ago
        But where do you get this info? This is bullshit. There are no 200k desertions, not even half that, even in the worst estimates. And because of immigration numbers in Europe ALONE we know for sure there are 1m desertions in Russia, from just the Russians that register as refugees in Europe. There were 100+km traffic jams JUST FROM DESERTERS LEAVING RUSSIA. Let's assume at least double that are in other destinations. That's 15 Russian desertions per Ukrainian if we take your numbers, something like 35 Russians deserting per Ukrainian if we take realistic numbers. I'm fucking trying to hire a Russian deserter. Interviewed him, currently trying to arrange a permit, getting info on what would be involved. For what a shit country it is Russians can be damn well educated, and obviously, are currently available for hire (with caveats of course) in Europe ... frankly at bargain prices even for Europe. There's a, now pretty famous, Russian deserter that was part of Putin's IT team [1]. There's a famous Russian deserter from the Nuclear weapons team [2]. There's desertions of Kremlin insiders [3]. As for the losing ground ... everyone was sure Russia was going to beat the Ukrainian army and government in 3 days. Then it was definitely not going to take 2 weeks, and now Russia's entire army is in shambles, Ukraine is executing areal attacks against Russian fucking air defence with Cessna "rockets", and that works! There's reports, with video of Russia's army having entirely run out of equipment, using golf carts as armored vehicles. And yes, Ukraine works by the general tactic of retreating 100 meters leaving a trap, having Russia sacrifice WAY too much dealing with the trap, retreating another 100 meters. As for the money, aside from the amount quoted being bullshit, the 150 billion dollars that US + EU loaned combined in trade for destroying the Russian army? That's cheap. In fact those amounts are loans, being spent largely in the US, to be repaid by the Ukrainian government. 70% or so is a direct stimulus for the US economy, paid by Ukraine, if they win. It would be cheap even if it was a gift to Ukraine, but it's not. By contrast, just the Russian actions in the Baltic seas, cutting internet cables are estimated to cost 2+ billion. In other words it's not even possible to avoid spending it. And those damages are NOT loans. We will be paying for that, one way or another, out of pocket, nobody will pay anyone back for that. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/russian-defector-sheds-light-on-putin-paranoia-including-secret-train https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/russian-defect... [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dl2pv0yj0o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dl2pv0yj0o [3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/23/putin-adviser-anatoly-chubais-quits-leaves-russia-invasion-ukraine https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/23/putin-adviser-...

by bArray 2y ago

It's the same in the UK. Pensioners had their heating allowance removed to plug a £22 bn 'black hole', whilst tonnes of money is pledged to AI. I can imagine the EU is in a similar state.

spwa4 2y ago

Removing AI investments will not plug a 22 bn "black hole". This is 200 million europe wide, and the UK is at best 1/6th of Europe if we're very generous.

voidr 2y ago
Your comment is misinformed, you are unfamiliar with the UK context here, but even if your comment would be correct, 200/6 = 33 EUR that would most definitely plug that black hole, however that is not what the comment is about, please look at the actual context before commenting.
bArray 2y ago
The point being made is not about removing AI investments. The OP's comment: > I am urprised how much money suddenly is available where other future-critical projects are starved of funding while needing just a fraction of that amount, specifically nuclear fusion. The point is that money is found easily for such projects, whilst other important projects go unfunded due to a supposed lack of money. There is the appearance of dishonesty regarding budget availability.

voidr 2y ago

The UK is also sending eye-watering amounts of money to Ukraine without a problem, while everyone else is pulling out of the project. There was also the plan go give the Chagos islands to a country that is ~2000km away and pay them billions for the privilege of using them. There is always money to chase newspaper headlines.

freefaler 2y ago
Many very costly things could happen if you forget the Munich lesson. It's easier to stop Putin there than to let him have it and spend 10x on the next war.
- voidr 2y ago
  Many very costly things happen if we forget the Afghanistan lesson, where an insane amount money was plowed into a military riddled with corruption that folded without a fight once the US abandoned the area. On paper the Afghan forces were more numerous and better equipped, in reality most of those soldiers collected their pay checks and went home.
  - spwa4 2y ago
    Ukraine's army and soldiers have done everything, above and beyond what could be expected of them, and none "collected their pay checks and went home".
    - voidr 2y ago
      Well except that 200 000+ who did not feel like sacrificing themselves for a media stunt like Kursk or Krynky and decided to desert. Zelensky doesn't know where at least 100bn went, that's over half the amount they were given by the US, we didn't even ask about the EU funds. You can also look at a map and see that we are giving them money and they are losing ground, it's not working.
      - spwa4 2y ago
        But where do you get this info? This is bullshit. There are no 200k desertions, not even half that, even in the worst estimates. And because of immigration numbers in Europe ALONE we know for sure there are 1m desertions in Russia, from just the Russians that register as refugees in Europe. There were 100+km traffic jams JUST FROM DESERTERS LEAVING RUSSIA. Let's assume at least double that are in other destinations. That's 15 Russian desertions per Ukrainian if we take your numbers, something like 35 Russians deserting per Ukrainian if we take realistic numbers. I'm fucking trying to hire a Russian deserter. Interviewed him, currently trying to arrange a permit, getting info on what would be involved. For what a shit country it is Russians can be damn well educated, and obviously, are currently available for hire (with caveats of course) in Europe ... frankly at bargain prices even for Europe. There's a, now pretty famous, Russian deserter that was part of Putin's IT team [1]. There's a famous Russian deserter from the Nuclear weapons team [2]. There's desertions of Kremlin insiders [3]. As for the losing ground ... everyone was sure Russia was going to beat the Ukrainian army and government in 3 days. Then it was definitely not going to take 2 weeks, and now Russia's entire army is in shambles, Ukraine is executing areal attacks against Russian fucking air defence with Cessna "rockets", and that works! There's reports, with video of Russia's army having entirely run out of equipment, using golf carts as armored vehicles. And yes, Ukraine works by the general tactic of retreating 100 meters leaving a trap, having Russia sacrifice WAY too much dealing with the trap, retreating another 100 meters. As for the money, aside from the amount quoted being bullshit, the 150 billion dollars that US + EU loaned combined in trade for destroying the Russian army? That's cheap. In fact those amounts are loans, being spent largely in the US, to be repaid by the Ukrainian government. 70% or so is a direct stimulus for the US economy, paid by Ukraine, if they win. It would be cheap even if it was a gift to Ukraine, but it's not. By contrast, just the Russian actions in the Baltic seas, cutting internet cables are estimated to cost 2+ billion. In other words it's not even possible to avoid spending it. And those damages are NOT loans. We will be paying for that, one way or another, out of pocket, nobody will pay anyone back for that. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/russian-defector-sheds-light-on-putin-paranoia-including-secret-train https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/russian-defect... [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dl2pv0yj0o https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dl2pv0yj0o [3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/23/putin-adviser-anatoly-chubais-quits-leaves-russia-invasion-ukraine https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/23/putin-adviser-...