Posts by Arthur Miller7

Gerald Torres84 said:It is spoken as if the nations of Europe are the biggest cowards out there.
Looking at history realistically, they were the greatest barbarians and colonizers (the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy....) with the highest body counts, and the most brutal wars in history were fought right here. I highly doubt things would turn into chaos just because people decided to become TikTokers and pacifists.

I'm with you. Maybe it's not the perfect comparison, but honestly, just look at how crazy sports fans act in different countries...

Terry Green3 said:All five, sure, but we’re going to pay a premium for it.
The average grunt back then didn't get to spend their summers vacationing and enjoying life the way we do now.
Someone has to foot the bill for all this.

It doesn't bother me personally, but like I said, these major powers tend to have unstable governments. You have to maintain a balance so you don't end up facing a massive internal meltdown, similar to what the French dealt with right before World War II.
That'll end up costing you even more in the long run.

Honestly, I think way too many people are out on vacation right now. Just look at United Airlines—they had to scrap 2,200 extra flights out of New York City and Chicago because they can't find enough staff. I wouldn't go calling it a "crisis" just yet, though.

George Robinson43 said:Given how the Putin bots over on Rossiya 1 are constantly hyping up new special operations—like strikes on the Baltic, sabotaging oil infrastructure in the Netherlands, or even the total disappearance of the United Kingdom—I suspect this deployment of 300,000 is merely the opening act!

Could be. And if this really is just phase one, there's a chance this whole war wraps up by winter.

NATO is dropping 300,000 troops into position

bluerider63 said:

We already saw how that went down when they tried to appease Russia by handing over Crimea, and we all saw the mess that left behind. Why on earth would you think Europe should just walk right back into that same trap?

NATO’s already made it clear they aren't stepping in, which honestly is the only kind of help that actually matters, but if they did, we'd be staring down the barrel of WW3. All these sanctions, shipping off weapons, and those big, empty speeches at fancy summits don't really change much on the ground. What else are we supposed to do to make sure we don't screw this up the same way?

So according to you, there's just zero help available? Just let Russia stomp all over them then? If we let them get away with it, things in Donbas aren't gonna stop anytime soon—you can take that to the bank. If you believe that propaganda, fine, but the truth is they’ll just keep pushing as far as they possibly can.

Carol Johnson21 said:No?
And what is this "reality"? Is public opinion in Mexico now entirely pro-Russian? Is that why you’re all so obsessed with when Americans will finally see things clearly? Honestly, I am fascinated by the sheer volume of comments on basically every American news site where Mexicans are lining up to show their support. I try to imagine the reverse: would Americans be this preoccupied with the views of their neighbors, decades after an armed aggression, still obsessively monitoring their pulse?🤷

👍

George Robinson43 said:They have a point. It’s honestly embarrassing. I mean, what kind of salaries are we even talking about here?

Hmm, yeah... apparently it was a "war" back then, but now it’s just a "special operation"... like, seriously, how does anyone not see the difference? 😵

brightheron64 said:Yeah, and then America will surely become the world champion in soccer too.

If you’re planning on hurting someone else, you really ought to think about how that might end up biting you in the backside first... "Call M for murder," as they say...

Fine, go ahead with boycotts and restrictions, but please, put some actual thought into the full strategy and all its consequences instead of just acting on pure impulse. It’s a good thing they haven't come up with a trick to thin out the oxygen in the atmosphere just to subdue the Russians and force them into submission...

The way things are going, it feels like the world is being run by a group of fools who were handed unlimited power by an even larger collection of idiots—whether following the rules of that famous process called "democracy" or the old-fashioned divine right of kings...

Yeah.

I actually got confirmation yesterday down at the gas station. There's plenty of fuel to go around... though it's a shame nobody has engineered an engine that runs on milk yet...

Sanctions aren't gonna fix anything in a week, and this war isn't ending in a week either. We'll see what happens when oil prices tank and everything else drops, or once the EU finds a real alternative to gas. That's when we'll actually see how much capacity Russia has left for any kind of fighting—not just this mess, but whatever comes down the pike in the next few years. Just enough time for their other neighbors to bail on them too. The EU will eventually bounce back from the crisis, but Russia? Stuck under sanctions, weighed down by this special operation, and losing their big EU customer who used to buy cheap gas and oil... man, they're in for it.

George Robinson43 said:Ever since I can remember, I haven't seen this many tourists flooding the area since early June. It is absolutely packed!

It’s not just in America—people are traveling everywhere right now. Airports are a total mess because they're short-staffed, yet the passenger numbers are basically back to pre-pandemic levels. And don't even get me started on hotel prices; they've gone through the roof. My buddy works at a travel agency, and he says renting a car in the US is hitting over $150 a day lately... and you have to book way ahead of time just to get anything.

Seriously, all we ever talk about is how we’re gonna go broke just trying to drive to the grocery store because fuel prices are insane. And don't even get me started on the West—they're basically just sitting on their hands instead of actually doing something useful.

Bjesomar_ said:>>Way harder than it is for a Mexican.
Anyway, quit playing dumb. What's actually easier for you to wrap your head around—Canadian or Mexican?

>>Canadian isn't that far off for me. Why are you even obsessing over these languages? And why don't you see Americans posting on Mexican sites all the time?

Honestly, I think people over here in the States are willing to just freeze if they have to. I mean, if they could handle being locked down for nearly two years, a little bit of winter isn't going to drag anyone out into the streets to protest. Besides, most folks are totally behind Ukraine—you saw it with all those massive donation drives—so they view this as just another way to help them out. As long as we aren't seeing massive layoffs hitting everyone's wallets, they're more than fine with walking through the snow.

wiredseal7 said:Nah, it’s more of an illustration of the state of things in Ukraine—basically how much protection their own citizens actually get from violence (which is supposed to be the police's job). That system should still work, even during a war.

As for everything else—can Mexico handle it? How many far-right groups are there in other EU countries? Honestly, I bet you'd find more neo-fascists in Italy than those so-called Nazis in Ukraine.

Where exactly are you seeing a comparison between Ukraine and Mexico right now? Besides, the Mexican negotiations have hit a dead end anyway.
Those neo-Nazis are arguably more mainstream in Ukraine than they are in most European countries, where a lot of that iconography is banned.

But hey, all that will come to a head once they start the accession talks.

Oh please, in stable nations, parties that deny or undermine sovereignty can be outlawed. Just a hint—that applies in the US too.

Right, because I'm sure Zelenko & co. use perfectly objective criteria to decide who's undermining sovereignty. 🙄
Anyone who isn't pushing for this war against Russia until the last Ukrainian is gone—and wants a compromise instead—just gets labeled "pro-Russian." If questioning official policy is forbidden, then we're just looking at pure one-party rule.

In my neighborhood, some guys taped over the streetlights with Scotch tape... Guess I better call Putin and tell him to do something about it.

ironpuma29 said:It’s not just that the US hasn't stepped in militarily in Ukraine—no country has. Officially, there are no foreign armies there, just volunteers.
The consensus was simply to send weapons, money, and handle the refugee crisis.

If that Russian madman with his nukes threatens total annihilation, everyone holds back.

Ukraine is fighting because they refuse to live under a Russian boot... everyone else helps how they can, and how they're allowed to.

Putin is blackmailing 9 billion people...

A president changing the course of history on this planet... the new reality is that nuclear-armed nations can act however they want toward anyone's territory.
Pandora's box is open.

What’s stopping China from doing the exact same thing... threatening the world while taking Taiwan.
Is anyone actually going to risk Armageddon?!

I don't think so.

Soldiers and civilians will die... while the rest of us plummet economically.

Where were the red lines before? Who was pushing? Who's the fox in all this?!?
Some families argue and find a compromise... then you have those who just beat everyone down—mostly women and kids—and then there are those who just kill everyone... that's Russia.

Well, Putin's policy chose that path.

Russia has been building its network of influence for 30 years... and now the old man decided it's finally time to pull the trigger.

Everything has changed economically for sure, and geopolitically maybe just in parts of Ukraine... plus, new political blocs have formed.

I hope this killing and destruction stops... but it's hard... Russia has enough weaponry to
trample the entire European Union, and I don't see who could stop them...

We all rely on NATO membership, but hypothetically, if Russia actually invaded Lithuania with the same threat... would the world really risk a nuclear war?!
Or Mexico, or the US?

No one is going to defend these tiny states... and that's an opportunity the Kremlin might decide to take at any moment.

The major economic powers like the EU and the USA... they won't touch them.

Look, there's US military presence in Lithuania, so if they invade Lithuania, that's an attack on the USA. Or do you seriously think that when the Russians move, Americans are just gonna hop on a plane and head home? You could absolutely have a conventional conflict on Lithuanian soil. I don't believe the US would immediately start waving nukes around just because this scumbag exists—because the US knows they'd get crushed. And if Putin wants to start a nuclear war, he can do it this very second without needing to step foot in Lithuania. At that point, nobody can do a damn thing.

urbanotter said:

mellownomad7 As I was sitting there thinking about it, I couldn't help but reflect on what was actually said:
I’ve often sat back and wondered what would actually happen if things took a turn like that—you know, if the Italians suddenly decided the administration here in Washington, D.C. was acting like a fascist regime and concluded they had a moral obligation to step in and protect their minority communities living out in California. It’s one of those heavy, hypothetical scenarios that stays in the back of your mind because of how much it would shift the entire geopolitical landscape. If an EU power or a major Western ally felt that kind of direct threat to their people within our borders, we wouldn't just be looking at a diplomatic spat or some heated rhetoric on the news; we'd be looking at a fundamental breakdown of international relations. I remember reading about similar tensions in history books where small shifts in perception led to massive escalations, and it makes you realize how fragile that sense of security really is. It’s a sobering thought to imagine the level of tension that would create between us and a key partner.

Hey there, just wanted to reach out and say hello to everyone.

It seems almost impossible to wrap my head around the idea that one NATO member would actually turn its sights on another NATO ally. I mean, when you really sit back and think about the foundation of the entire alliance, the whole point is mutual defense and stability, isn't it? It feels fundamentally wrong to imagine such a scenario playing out.😉

That would present a massive dilemma for the alliance, much like the friction we see when the Greeks and the Turks go at each other's throats.

The way Erdogan keeps ramping up these threats feels like a lot of noise, especially when you compare it to how much more plausible it would be if the Italians were actually trying to use weapons to protect their minority in California. Even though that community is pretty small, Italian is still an official language there and you see those bilingual street signs everywhere. Honestly, someone like Furio has been part of the ruling majority for years now, so any kind of conflict there would really just be a minor hiccup in the grand scheme of things.
We’re seeing something very similar with the signage situation over in Seattle, and honestly, I haven't noticed anyone making much of a fuss about it. It isn't like people are out there threatening to take a hammer to the boards or causing some kind of massive public outcry. It just feels like a quiet transition, much like how things settled down back when my old neighborhood in Chicago went through a similar rebranding phase years ago.

As far as I can tell, those signs should really be bilingual even in places like Stalingrad; after all, Stalingrad isn't exactly California, and you don't have people living there who grew up with that West Coast mindset.

It’s easy to act like a genius when we're safely tucked inside NATO. But once some other country actually wants that privilege? Man, then we're in deep trouble—our gas prices will skyrocket and everything else will go south because of them...

hollowdriver13 said:https://twitter.com/maria_drutska/st...76088206217222

Just an American woman from Ukraine commenting on the supposed "ban" on Russian.

Look, whenever I was in Kyiv, every single restaurant or bar menu I saw was in Russian. Honestly, I don't think I even saw them in Ukrainian. And then they have the nerve to call people out over this...

Ronald Chavez2 said:The problem is that Europe isn't just paying for its own naivety; it’s paying for its subservience to the big boss across the Atlantic. Despite their own interests, they rush to impose sanctions on Russian oil and gas to punish Russian actions, while simultaneously begging for Saudi Arabian oil and Qatari gas. You have one group acting like leaders, while others—still functioning like vassals in the 21st century—simply follow orders because the boss decided certain suppliers were acceptable, leading them straight into more expensive energy contracts.

Alright, fair point. We're stuck footing the bill for more expensive energy just to keep Big Brother happy. But seriously, how much has the EU actually spent on defense all these years while Big Brother was basically playing bodyguard? And how long have the Germans been sleepwalking through this? Now they're suddenly saying they'll start spending more? Yeah, right. How much money is even left in the piggy bank after relying on the US for everything for all this time?

hollowdriver13 said:People keep pushing this constant doom & gloom narrative about the West, acting like everyone’s about to starve, but honestly, I don't see it playing out in real life at all.
I mean, look at it—even with people feeling the pinch, Americans are still blowing money on vacations, support for Ukraine remains incredibly high, and you see folks donating tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to help out over there. It’s not like we’re seeing massive protests in major US cities because everyone's suddenly starving or their quality of life has completely cratered.
Is a downturn coming?Yeah, definitely.But I think we're underestimating what that actually looks like. We aren't talking about total collapse; we're talking about someone deciding not to upgrade to the newest iPhone this year, or maybe cutting down from four streaming services to three. Plus, I really think people are underselling how much the Russian invasion rattled the average citizen—it shifted our whole threshold for what we're willing to tolerate.

Look, everyone’s situation is different, but I can speak for myself and my circle here—I actually managed to stack up a decent chunk of change during those two years of lockdowns. Seriously, for almost two years, I wasn't spending a dime on anything beyond the absolute essentials—you know, food, rent, the usual boring stuff. So yeah, the savings account definitely grew. Fast forward to now? It's total chaos. Airports are absolutely slammed, and they’re canceling hundreds of flights because there just aren't enough staff to handle it, even though everyone is suddenly dying to travel again. Honestly, if you're someone who actually wants to work, you can find a job in a heartbeat right now. It might get a little rough once winter hits, but from where I'm sitting, it feels like people are blowing through their cash faster than ever before.

Brenda Murphy3 said:What kind of bubble are you living in, man? Seriously, what are you even seeing out there? Every time I turn around, it’s absolute chaos. Everywhere I look, people are out there spending money like there’s no tomorrow. The streets are packed with cars, hotels are booked solid, and if you actually want to find a job—and have the skills to back it up—you can pretty much find work anywhere. Unemployment is basically non-existent right now. And the kicker? All these things are considered "problems" over in the European Union. Give me a break.

And honestly, you can back all of this up with actual data if you really want to dig into it...
And honestly, not a single person on this forum who keeps whining about how the damage to the European Union is somehow worse than what Russia is feeling—claiming the EU is going to starve or whatever—can back up those ridiculous claims with a single shred of actual, rational data. It’s all just pure nonsense. Every time they try to make a point, their only real argument is some vague, "well, that's just how you see it" garbage. No facts, no logic, just vibes and stupidity. 😵🤣 ...for crying out loud...

Who cares about the oil... I thought nobody even ate McDonald's fries anymore anyway.

wiredseal7 said:I haven't really followed the Russian side of things outside of Libya (though I'm sure the coverage is skewed to make them look bad), but the Chinese aren't exactly out there exploiting people. They’ve built a ton of infrastructure across Africa on terms most others wouldn't touch—then people whine about these "debt trap" schemes that never seem to actually materialize.
At the end of the day, they're the only ones actually helping build the kind of infrastructure that a developing continent desperately needs to grow.

Hah! So you "never follow" what Russia does... you can't remember a single Russian occupation, yet somehow you know every single detail about everything Americans did during the Civil War... zero objectivity here, man.