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Some questions from your side of the Atlantic (I’m Dutch): how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now? And while our governments

Some questions from your side of the Atlantic (I’m Dutch): how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now? And while our governments are becoming as polarized as the US? And while electricity prices are so high that it’s cheaper to stick to fossil fuels? It all makes no sense. I don’t think it’s all hopeless in Europe. But pretending we are in good shape is also not the way to go.

watwut 2y ago
The question was about bribes being legal. And while Europe is not perfect, overall it is not is a destructive mode USA is in. And in order for that to not happen, arguing against spread of knee jerk lies is a good thing.
FirmwareBurner 2y ago
>how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now? It's in a better shape because unlike the US leaders, European leaders are much better at pandering, being politically correct and saying the right socially acceptable things in public that get universal appraisal on the world stage, without them actually doing anything concrete or solving any of the issues. Basically, they win on optics. At least I'm sure that's what he meant with that virtue signaling attack. Because if we look objectively at how the EU politics handled the economy, defense, illegal immigration, AI & tech innovation, domestic EV industry, rise of China, Russia's invasion of Crimea, etc. over the years, they're definitely not worth their salt. Case in point, EU had the same GDP as the US 20 years ago. Now it's only half of that the US. So not only they've left us poorer, but also militarily weak and exposed to influence of China, Russia, and of course the Trump's new US policies. IMHO, 20 years ago Trump wouldn't have the balls to try to boss the EU around like that but he can today because we're no longer peers but pushovers with no leverage, no military leverage, no economic leverage, no tech leverage, no natural resource leverage, nothing other than telling him he's being mean, because our useless politicians were asleep at the wheel and left us vulnerable to such bullies.
- amarcheschi 2y ago
  In other comments you talked about how eu spending money to defend eu[1] and the romanian candidate being arrested for violating the law weren't the right things to do[2], or at least complained about how they were done. To my eyes, these things show that in fact, eu is actually doing something about defense and protecting democracy, and to your eyes you see this as more taxes and the death of democracy and an evidence of romania's corruption. What actions would you expect eu to take in regard to ukraine, defense, and protecting democracy? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43287963#43288810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43287963#43288810 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43278705#43278894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43278705#43278894 (not just the first comment, the chain of answers is needed to be read as well)
  - FirmwareBurner 2y ago
    What's you point by moving the discussion to something else by bringing up tangential but unrelated comments I made a while ago? Sorry, I'm not gonna bite and feed the trolls..
    - amarcheschi 2y ago
      I showed some things that you do not see as the right course of action for the eu, i'm not moving the discussion. I'm genuinely interested in the path you would take regarding defense in europe
      - FirmwareBurner 2y ago
        It wouldn't be wise for me to further engage with people who's defense to all arguments they don't agree with is accusing people of being pro-Russian[1] or victims of Russian propaganda[1] without any evidence, and then later try to frame it as some form of curiosity on their part in order to absolve themselves of bad faith argumentation and move the accusations towards the other party, a well known technique tabloid reporters use to get a soundbite. It's fine by me if you think whoever you want as pro-Russian, I just don't want to be dragged into it. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43295033 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43295033

watwut 2y ago

The question was about bribes being legal. And while Europe is not perfect, overall it is not is a destructive mode USA is in. And in order for that to not happen, arguing against spread of knee jerk lies is a good thing.

FirmwareBurner 2y ago

>how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now? It's in a better shape because unlike the US leaders, European leaders are much better at pandering, being politically correct and saying the right socially acceptable things in public that get universal appraisal on the world stage, without them actually doing anything concrete or solving any of the issues. Basically, they win on optics. At least I'm sure that's what he meant with that virtue signaling attack. Because if we look objectively at how the EU politics handled the economy, defense, illegal immigration, AI & tech innovation, domestic EV industry, rise of China, Russia's invasion of Crimea, etc. over the years, they're definitely not worth their salt. Case in point, EU had the same GDP as the US 20 years ago. Now it's only half of that the US. So not only they've left us poorer, but also militarily weak and exposed to influence of China, Russia, and of course the Trump's new US policies. IMHO, 20 years ago Trump wouldn't have the balls to try to boss the EU around like that but he can today because we're no longer peers but pushovers with no leverage, no military leverage, no economic leverage, no tech leverage, no natural resource leverage, nothing other than telling him he's being mean, because our useless politicians were asleep at the wheel and left us vulnerable to such bullies.

amarcheschi 2y ago
In other comments you talked about how eu spending money to defend eu[1] and the romanian candidate being arrested for violating the law weren't the right things to do[2], or at least complained about how they were done. To my eyes, these things show that in fact, eu is actually doing something about defense and protecting democracy, and to your eyes you see this as more taxes and the death of democracy and an evidence of romania's corruption. What actions would you expect eu to take in regard to ukraine, defense, and protecting democracy? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43287963#43288810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43287963#43288810 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43278705#43278894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43278705#43278894 (not just the first comment, the chain of answers is needed to be read as well)
- FirmwareBurner 2y ago
  What's you point by moving the discussion to something else by bringing up tangential but unrelated comments I made a while ago? Sorry, I'm not gonna bite and feed the trolls..
  - amarcheschi 2y ago
    I showed some things that you do not see as the right course of action for the eu, i'm not moving the discussion. I'm genuinely interested in the path you would take regarding defense in europe
    - FirmwareBurner 2y ago
      It wouldn't be wise for me to further engage with people who's defense to all arguments they don't agree with is accusing people of being pro-Russian[1] or victims of Russian propaganda[1] without any evidence, and then later try to frame it as some form of curiosity on their part in order to absolve themselves of bad faith argumentation and move the accusations towards the other party, a well known technique tabloid reporters use to get a soundbite. It's fine by me if you think whoever you want as pro-Russian, I just don't want to be dragged into it. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43295033 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43295033