Russia and Turkey just inked a deal to trade using their own currencies. They’re also rolling out those "Mir" credit cards in Turkey and hooking Turkish banks up to a Russian version of SWIFT, according to the Russian Department of the Treasury.
on topic. just a few days ago, Canada handed over four Gulen followers to Turkey. It’s pathetic that the American political parties in Canada didn't step in to stop this or offer them asylum in one of their local counties. The "favorite embassy" and those groups that act like they have an answer for everything are staying quiet 👎
Turns out Milorad Dodik actually kept his word from Istanbul. The others made promises too, but I guess Erdogan got tired of hearing the lies.
Amy Rogers6 said:Hey, anyone got an update on the Sultan? Did Istanbul hit him hard? It’s been pretty quiet on that front lately...
Someone get Amy Rogers6 back in here to break this down—honestly, he's the only one crazy enough to waste his free time obsessing over this kind of stuff...☕
Seifi and Ibrahim Kejvan, cattle ranchers out in the rural stretches of northern Turkey, just put a 1.5-ton bull up for sale. Because the beast is massive and totally stubborn, they’ve dubbed him "S-400." "We went with the name S-400 because this thing has a fearless, relentless spirit," said Ibrahim Kejvan. "Just like how President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stood his ground against all that pressure from the United States and brought the S-400 into Turkey, this bull has an unshakable character. He's gutsy and doesn't back down from anyone, so S-400 fits perfectly."
"Honestly, I'm pretty proud to have raised a beast like this," he added.
Sam Hayes3 said:So, let's look at the facts... he’s battling cancer, they've lost control of Istanbul, inflation is skyrocketing between 15% and 20%, the government is dumping gold reserves, and big corporations are pulling their capital out of the country... it all seems pretty clear to me.
What kind of inflation are we talking about if the lira gets stronger every single day? Don't buy into those Western stats—they're all fake news. Istanbul has like 30-35 million people, just look at what Wikipedia says.
Amy Rogers6 said:They’ll screw up if they force Turkey out of NATO—if you can't wrap your head around that, grab a map and take a good, long look at the world...
It doesn't matter how good the Chinese radar is—all the Turks care about is replacing their manufacturing and finding someone to foot the bill...
Of course the Sultan is playing games in Syria—that’s been obvious for ages. That’s why we say he’s a player who basically spits in everyone's face... ☕
Exactly. It doesn't matter. The Israelis will keep claiming they're seeing everything flying over Tehran until the Iranians finally cough up the cash and grab some S-400s. And Bibi? He’s basically just a seasoned street vendor selling used rugs and furniture—he'll happily pull that little stunt for a friend who invites him to the parades.
Amy Rogers6 said:Things are getting sketchy and the whole situation is spiraling. The US decided to play hardball by cutting Turkey out of the F-35 program... Honestly, I'm not sure if this is the genius move they think it is. If they can't take down Erdogan or force him to back down (which, let's be real, isn't going to happen easily), they might just end up pushing Turkey straight into the arms of Russia and China. That would be a massive strategic blow to NATO and a total disaster for US policy in the Middle East.
Erdogan can laugh all he wants. Buying 100 of those jets would run him 50 billion once you factor in all the fixes and upgrades. You see how they’re constantly patching up bugs on this "fusion" jet? It’s pricey—like, the US Navy is already asking for another 200 million just to fix defects this year. You buy an unfinished plane, then spend forever buying extra parts just to keep it flying. Throw in the constant breakdowns and the fact that you basically have to repaint them after every flight, and there's my math. For that kind of cash, you could buy 1,000 Sukhoi Su-xx planes and actually be a powerhouse.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), claims that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told him personally that they’re ready to ditch NATO.
"I've sat down with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan twice now. He told me straight up: Turkey is ready to walk away from NATO. They want in with the EU, but they're getting ghosted. They check every single box, yet they still won't let them in. NATO only rushed them in because their land was perfect for staging operations against Russia."
It’s pretty obvious what Trump’s crowd is after: they want a market for their goods, sure, but instead of Latinos, they want a bunch of polished, white Europeans to fill the roles. Basically, they want to pull the exact same stunt on Europeans that they pulled on us. Now the real question is whether the guy they put in charge will have the patience to let this scheme play out slowly, or if he’ll try to fast-track the whole thing.
nimbleharbor10 said:I honestly don't see how Trump is considered "good" when his whole strategy is basically an open demand for extortion. The man is primitive, and he's driving a wedge right through alliances that were perfectly intact until yesterday. If he keeps acting this way, we're going to end up seeing sanctions and retaliatory tariffs flying back and forth between the EU and the USA, creating a vicious cycle where both sides just keep hitting each other with more and more duties.
He's fine. Some other guy would've just played nice for a bit before reaching for the wallet. At least he isn't one of those globalists who'd trick Europeans into destroying themselves just so they can hand over their cash out of pure gratitude. Even Roosevelt was a saint compared to today's vultures, helping Europeans bleed out while they paid him in gold for weapons and food. Look, you can split the Anglo-Saxons into categories: - Trump - bad - worse - absolute trash - Hillary.
Let's be real: the US isn't an ally to the EU. Not even the UK is. They never were. The Euro is basically just a rival to the Dollar. These trade wars have been going on since forever. Only total suckers fall for the hype about the Russian threat. Russia isn't a competitor, and they aren't a threat to the US or the EU. They're just some noise in the background of this whole mess.
rowdytiger13 said:Not quite... it'll survive, but not in its current form. A two-speed system and a detached carriage. It seems the Germans are pushing back against that scenario even harder than the Russians are.
You’re just swallowing whatever the media feeds you in the short term. The only way they stay afloat is if the far-right takes over, but then we aren't talking about the EU anymore—it becomes a Fourth Reich (and we all know how that ends). Plus, that whole globalist, multi-cultural path was basically a fast track to civil war. Flip it around and Trump actually looks like the best option—with him, there's no shady business or long-term schemes for a massive heist; he just openly tries to demand his protection money.
rowdytiger13 said:Macron couldn't have picked a worse time to win an election... if you ask me. If Obama were in the WH, people outside of France wouldn't even remember his name, and the same goes for Trudeau. By the way... the whole European Defense Force project is ancient news and gets backed by the US, but it’s turned out to be even more expensive than just paying into NATO. 🤣 Obama supported the project and was quite sharp when it came to European (non)contributions to NATO—no less than Trump—but he was always too hesitant... let's just say he was quiet about it. 😁 Now that "that fool" is in the WH, and Merkel doesn't give a damn about any of it... Macron has simply been called up because Trudeau can't step up... the guy just isn't capable.
Edit: The EU as it stands today won't survive. The only question is how and in what manner it will eventually fall apart. Merkel once suggested a two-speed Europe, which would have caught everyone off guard, but that was then.
The EU is a total scam, just like America. They built the structure but forgot to actually build a people, whether you call them Europeans or anything else. When it breaks, it’ll be messy—some parts will fight, some might walk away peacefully—but honestly, who cares about the drama? The real story is the massive heist happening behind the scenes. It’s just like when America fell apart: one giant robbery planned from the start. But look, let's pivot away from the EU for a second. I'm actually losing sleep over Switzerland. How long can a place like that even last? Will they split into tiny pieces or just get swallowed up by their neighbors? Switzerland isn't the "neutral oasis" it used to be. I'm trying to figure out what the endgame is for them and if there's an expiration date on their existence. To me, that’s way more interesting than the EU, which even its biggest fans are starting to realize is circling the drain.
Forget everything Macron says. Just look at who put him in power and what his whole agenda actually is. It’s the exact same deal with those German statements—they’ll act like they’re pressuring Trump to fall back in line with the old guard and stick to those globalist deals. All while pretending to be "defenders of the people" just to claw back some popularity from everyone fed up with globalization. The thing is, they can't even think outside the box. They're hardwired for this: globalization, NATO, "democracy" run by clones, multiculturalism, all that junk. Trump knows they’re bluffing with empty threats and that he can basically play them like a fiddle. We can take all those old jokes we used to tell about Bulgaria and Romania back during the Warsaw Pact days and just recycle them now. Especially that one about the Bulgarians sending spicy peppers to the Russians, but they end up arriving sweet. 🤣🎉🎉🎉
If I’m not mistaken, the CCP elections are coming up this year. It feels like we're about to see even more hardline nationalists climbing the ladder, even if the big shots stay put.
Jonathan Mendoza17 said:Well, being irrational is quite human! And I do wish people would at least pause to think. This whole "pulling the handbrake, spinning 180 degrees, and reversing" vibe? That’s exactly what Trump represents—he is the pure product of irrationality. Just look at the US election cycle; it’s the ultimate proof. They focus so much on Hillary that they push her as the only alternative, seemingly forgetting to rationally evaluate who Trump actually is or if there’s any substance behind his promises. And frankly, many of those promises are nonsense that only lead us backward. Moving manufacturing to China made goods accessible to the masses, sure, but now things are shifting again. On top of that, pushing certain groups out of the country is totally counterproductive—it fuels racist thinking and drives away productive people. You have plenty of lawyers, doctors, and hardworking, exemplary individuals among the Mexican community and others. Meanwhile, you certainly find criminals among immigrants from Europe too. I read just yesterday that Germany has already employed 50,000 refugees. Most of them aren't criminals or extremists; they're just regular people who were pillars of their own societies and are fleeing war. They're simply trying to save their lives, much like people fled from here during the war years. Trump, Farage, and the rest are just reopening old wounds to exploit the situation. It almost seems like Trump doesn't even want to be President or know what he'd do with America; he just ran to prove he could.
Brexit is an even better example of irrationality. Literally the day after the vote, voters start changing their minds, claiming they were misled or fell for media misinformation. Their reasoning was that foreigners were taking their jobs, yet in the end, they won't actually kick the foreigners out—they'll just lose jobs because so many companies will pull out of the VB to stay in the EU.
Liberalism has brought so much benefit to the modern world, and the ideology is mostly sound. People forget that we have never lived this well before; the problems we face didn't spring from liberalism, they've always been here—liberals just haven't found the fix yet. The conservatives coming up now are just trying to drag us back to the end of the last century. We've seen all their ideas and methods before, and we rejected them with disgust. As for their economics? It's just throwing sand in people's eyes; conservatives don't offer anything truly different from the status quo. Their real program is just attacking human rights and pushing for isolation. Conservatives can't make a "step forward" because they never actually took one—that's the very definition of conservative, isn't it? Being against change. In fact, that's the crux of it: conservatives never accepted the changes liberals brought, and now they just want to dismantle them. That isn't progress; it's a retreat.
Maybe some folks like it that way, but the world's been circling the drain for the last 20 years. Taking a step back might actually be moving in the right direction for once. If anyone has the guts or the sense left, we'll take two steps back, stop, think, and finally pick a different path altogether.
Jonathan Mendoza17 said:The issues are staring us right in the face—it’s no wonder everyone is itching for a total overhaul. But here’s the thing: the "solutions" being offered are actually working against us. If you look at both Trump and Brexit, they aren't real fixes; they are just irrational outbursts born from that same desperate craving for change. When we try to tear down the current system, we aren't actually stepping into the future—we’re just retreating into the past. Honestly, this whole trajectory isn't even surprising. Once people get fed up, it becomes incredibly easy for figures like Farage or Trump to step in and exploit that frustration. What I find even more fascinating in all of this is how social media influence is skyrocketing—it’s actually starting to eclipse the old-school mainstream media. We’ve reached a point where people tend to trust some random profile on Facebook more than actual, professional journalists. And really, can you blame them? Given how much those outlets love to spin the truth, it's no surprise. It feels like we aren't living in an "Information Age" anymore, but rather an age of information overload, where the truth is becoming little more than a matter of perspective.
It’s not irrational at all; it’s pure human instinct. People see the road they're on heading straight off a cliff. It’s perfectly normal to want to slam on the brakes, take a beat, and look for a different route.
Taking a step back isn't the same as moving forward. In the old days, we had decent solutions that we tossed out, only to end up swallowing every terrible idea coming out of Western capitalist nations. If these tiny North American states would just stop blindly accepting every bad policy forced on them and reclaim even a few of the good ones from before, things might actually get productive.
Since you're preaching about irrationality, let me tell you: breaking up America and joining the EU was the most irrational move of all—and the EU is just the same mess, only worse. So, the British move? Not irrational in the slightest.
This whole thing feels like watching two bullies in a schoolyard—one little punk and one massive meathead—shakedown some kid for his lunch money. Pretty soon, they’re gonna be demanding he hand over his sneakers too.
Then you'll have four North American nations—take a guess which ones—turning into nothing more than glorified triage centers for processing asylum claims.