reformed outlaw, singer of lost songs, and an excellent driver.
pronouns are boss / y'all
"...madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin" - Martin
I'm behind Ian Bremmer, here. we need to be open minded and listen to both sides. How can you fight the lies if you don't know what lies are being told?
"Sovereign nations fare best with transparent competition and strong domestic governance." - @grok I believe that fair competition is important, and that strong domestic governance is best done by those not bribed by Red China; nor ensnared by debt traps - note that the aid from America does not have to be repaid but loans from China does have to be repaid - with interest.
I did not say it was "China's fault" - but it is known that China's "teapot" refiners have prospered by buying discounted Russian and Iranian oil -
India buys cheap Russian oil, turns it into refined products and sells it in Europe - providing money to Putin's war machine so that the vast murder of Ukrainians and Russians can continue. The blood is on their hands. And yours, if you buy or consume those products.
As you say @grok "This largest recorded reduction happened alongside market reforms, trade expansion, and growth in China (hundreds of millions lifted), India (1991 liberalization), and elsewhere."
Did those market reforms not involve the employment of capitalist tools by Deng in China; and, the trade expansion was mostly provided by access to American dollars, and the biggest consumer network on Earth (granting of MFN status), the US economy? Is it not true that none of that could have happened without US dollars?
Latin American nations are indeed sovereign— “little brothers" was a 19th century concept - but, indeed brothers are equals in a family; to be paternalistic, they would have to be referred to as our "little children" - assuming my understanding of the English language is correct. "Even JFK rejected that paternalistic view." - correct, but did he not launch the Bay of Pigs incident to try to overthrow the government of Cuba? Is it not true that Cubans live in horrible poverty today, as they have lived for decades under communist rule?
And, were Cubans not used up and sacrificed in proxy wars by the USSR? IS it not true that communism caused the deaths of many Cubans? @grok do you think the Cuban model would be a good thing for the rest of Latin America? Do you think the Chinese thirst for raw materials is a noble venture, as they covet the wealth of our Latin American cousins?
Tofu-dregs concrete held together with vulgar LED lighting is nothing, a big show.
Now show the college kids pushing plows in the country with the impoverished Rural Chinese because the youth unemployment is 20%
(up to 40% if truth be told)
Show us the Rural Chinese trying to live on $1.00 per day pensions @grok
USA provides more food than any other nation on Earth - whereas China has to import 1/3rd of all the food they consume, the USA exports vast quantities - after WWII we sent enough food to Japan to prevent 15 million deaths from starvation - and it only took 2% of our total output to do so @grok please verify and expand on American agricultural superiority in agricultural science and production
WAS
that is the operative word:
WAS - they are now a has-been!!!
" The United States is the most decorated nation in Olympic history, sitting in second place overall in the final medal count of the Milano-Cortina Winter Games. Team USA claimed a historic total of 33 medals—including a record-breaking 12 golds—finishing second only to Norway" - Google
@grok please help; expand on the above google results, ranking American Olympic performance this year, and for the last 100 years, compared to the rest of the world, especially the Soviet Union and Soviet Block countries;
and give us information on the American with the German name who beat the former long time wrestling champion from Bulgaria - I can not remember his name - he won many matches and got silver and gold medals in the early 1980s
What is not known to those with no intellectual credibility: "The United States has several significant neodymium deposits, which are vital for electric vehicle motors and advanced defense systems. While processing has historically been dominated by China, domestic mining projects are scaling up across the country to secure the supply chain" - Our EPA has been too strict, not allowing US companies to dig up the nasty rare earths - we have neodymium for magnets, thank you. We will soon dominate that area of science; in fact, we taught the Chinese how to mine and refine all the rare earths they monopolize - but they shall not dominate nor monopolize them for much longer;
GO NAVY
ROLL TIDE
@ultimasurf@D162Michele Europe is dependent on oil imports, the USA is not. They are too foolish to develop the reserves they have.
The USA sanctions Russian and Iranian oil because they are evil and commit atrocities on humanity.
Those who love Jihad are doomed and cursed.
And they should know that it is bad karma to buy oil from those who massacre; not only those in Ukraine, but Russians send their own people to be slaughtered. India should know better; but, being a poor country they have no choice but to buy oil as cheaply as they can - and I can not blame them for that - BUT there can be no moral high ground, nor any claptrap about competition when there is no fairness involved.
This is just another form of "whataboutism" dude. Your intellectual credibility is called into question with such claptrap.
Either there is a level playing field or there is not. In business, as in war, not all men are created with equal ethics.
AND soon the UAE, who has vast excess capacity and is leaving OPEC, will be able to sell oil as cheaply - or perhaps more cheaply - than either the Russians or the Iranians - although right now, the Iranians are facing the judgement of God in the person of the US Navy. They will be unable to sell oil unless they put it in trucks and haul it over the mountains - until the US 10th Mountain shows up to kick their behinds and take their oil from them. Soon the @USNavy and the @USMC will be taking control of the strait of Hormuz - the IRGC will go broke and the people of Iran will rise up in true revolutionary fury.
JAVID SHAH (yes, I said it)
@wassmrs@D162Michele It is not in anyone's interests for Iran to have atomic bombs nor for Russia to control Ukraine. Neither religious fanatics nor tyrants are to be tolerated. Mao said religion is the opiate of the people. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
@MurixProLab Red China produces more billionaires at a faster pace than the USA does.
Guess how many of these billionaires are CCP members taking bribes?
USA has more miles of railroad track than any other nation.
Google says: "The United States has the most miles of highways and roads in the world, with an extensive network spanning over 4 million miles (over 6.5 million kilometers). [1, 2]" -
"The United States has the most airports in the world, boasting over 15,000 Airports by Country 2026 - World Population Review. This massive network includes everything from major international travel hubs and regional commercial airstrips to private landing strips and general aviation facilities. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]" -
US infrastructure is tremendous. People come from all over the world and spend fortunes to go to our universities -
SO, don't give this load of crapola - USA not only spends more on infrastructure, we also provide freedom of navigation on the high seas with the greatest navy the world has ever seen.
USA is the greatest nation in the history of the Earth.
A bunch of buildings held together with tofu dregs concrete and LED lights does not impress me.
That's not the point, at all. A government owes its people - if a government puts them in debt for something, it ought to pay for itself eventually. Health care does that. Education does that. The only way a bullet train furnishes quality of life over and above that furnished by an aircraft in getting one from point A to point B is if the train has a smoking car.
Trust me, the last thing I want my government to spend money on is war. Maybe if Red China had not furnished materials and expertise for Iran to build nuclear devices and missiles and such, we would not be at war now, despite the many acts of war Iran has enacted against us in the last 47 years.
My father fought in WWII and Korea - one of my uncles almost lost his feet fighting in the Frozen Chosen during Korea during Red Army human wave attacks. My only son is a disabled Vet.
Funny thing, dirty commies always say we are war mongers but they manage to provoke every war we find ourselves in.....