I WOULD DIE FOR YOU MY CANDY COATED QUEEN
"would not include American boots on the ground" = would use mercenaries and private contractors for plausible deniability
S tier emojis on this site
I read a couple essays on euro security today that I think are worth sharing
On the role of project ukraine in the mythos of the EU vs European nations. Basically, why are EU-philes still so adamantly pro project ukraine despite the clear writing on the wall?
https://www.compactmag.com/article/why-europe-sacrificed-ukraine/
In this internal contest, Ukraine is merely a pawn: Ukrainians may be motivated by the defense of their own national sovereignty, but in reality, they are being sacrificed to elevate the new lords of Europe and further their quixotic dreams of a European superstate.
The second is by some boomer (I think) milblogger about western wilful ignorance on project ukraine and how western lib politicians are likely to grapple with the project's failure, with particular focus on France and france's role in europe. This essay is wordier and I think the author greatly overestimates the ability of the euros to get out of the American orbit, but I thought the schematic speech for any western leader to give in the wake of obvious Russian victory was bang on.
Forgot to add the link to the second one
https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/france-saves-europe
spoiler
If I were writing a speech for a western leader to be delivered in 2025, it would probably consist of the following.
After the end of the Cold War the West looked forward to peaceful and constructive relationships with the new Russia, and for some time this seemed possible .
However with the arrival of Putin in power it became clear that recovery of the old Soviet territories and further expansion was back on the menu.
Nonetheless the West persisted in trying to maintain peaceful coexistence in spite of Putin’s aggressive and threatening remarks at the Munich Security Conference in 2007, and his attempt to undermine the traditional convention that states can join and leave international organisations as they wish.
However with the arrival of Putin in power it became clear that Moscow had decided on all-out war. No democratic government could have accepted such terms and no parliament would have ratified them.
The war which the West tried so hard to avoid began in February 2022, and has turned into a military disaster for the Russians, because of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian forces and the unstinting and generous support given by democracies around the world. Russia has managed to capture only a quarter of the country at a terrible cost.
However Russia remains a dangerous and unpredictable adversary and the West must now take steps to strengthen its own defences to deter or protect against further Russian aggression.
According to 3 minutes on the internet, Adam once worked for a company that was purchased by reddit a couple years after he left the company. Even by tech startup standards this seems like stolen valor lol
I really hope that these housing developments take off and do well.
I'm less enthusiastic about first nations getting involved in ownership and operation of fossil fuel extraction infrastructure, but I also appreciate that it's easy for me to say that when I'm not living in a remote community with 40% unemployment/limited social services.
Trump is also a fucking warmonger but genocide Joe is just so good at warmongering (and the American electorate is so fucking checked out of foreign policy) that rhetorically this could work
I liked it. It's much narrower in scope than the wire but it's more explicitly acab. The lawyers in the show are frustrating because of how lib they are despite being on the right side of the gun trace task force, but I suspect that's true to life for the type of people that go into that type of law. I thought the last episode was a real payoff compared to others. I also thought the one lawyer's speech about passing the torch was compelling.
The actors that play the cops are really good. Jon bernthal is perfect as the supreme punisher chud. He's got a great fascist, self serving charisma.
All of these characters have more of an arc over the remainder of the series. Don't fall in love with anyone. They're all pretty awful and nobody beats the system.
It's very good and worth watching. Yes it's about cops and yes there are some "good" cops in the show, but really it's about institutional failure and even the "good" cops are bad by human standards.
McNulty is a great father, great guy, 10/10 decision making across the board. Truly a role model for anyone.
Colonialism is an ongoing process, not something that happened In the Forgotten Past, and you are a beneficiary of it