leicsmac

On topic: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g0zg974v1o Denmark's prime minister has told Donald Trump to "stop the threats" about taking over Greenland. Mette Frederiksen said "it makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland", adding: "The US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom". Her remarks come after Katie Miller - the wife of one of Trump's aides, Stephen Miller - tweeted a map of Greenland in the colours of the American flag alongside the word "SOON". It may take more than words, Fr. Frederiksen.

That shouldn't be a relevant question if the real objective is making a better world for the people of those nations, and not being nationalistic, self interested and bullying hypocrites throwing their weight around for their own personal gain, giving our species a bad name... ... that first objective is the right one of the two, right?

I'm pretty sure that he pissed off a lot of people being the autocratic bad hombre he no doubt was (and you'd get similar videos of people celebrating after the leaving of practically any world leader in any nation, given you can't please all or even most of the people all the time as a leader), so it's a safe bet at least a lot of that footage is genuine. However, if being a bad hombre of that type justifies this kind of surgical action on the part of the US, they'd better get their schedule in order for similar behaviour in at least half or maybe more of the nations on the planet (or they're just fvcking hypocrites). Or, alternatively, it doesn't justify such extraordinary and extracurricular action and they've been self interested bombastic sacks of shit violating international law to their own ends when the job is deposing a leader remains, for the most part, that of its own citizens (when such a leader isn't waging an external war, that is). Either way, it doesn't look great.

Wouldn't that be the day... And thus we arrive at the conundrum. If Starmer won't tell Trump that he's acting like a shite, then what leader will? Neither Badenoch nor Farage will - they simp over him more than Starmer does. I think the same is true for anyone in their parties, come to that. Another one for Burnham, maybe? I've long since stopped thinking practically anything those people say and do is tongue in cheek, given what real and genuiney negative events they've wrought so far. Treat what they say seriously until absolutely proven otherwise, I think.

Or simply if they wanted to, from how it appears now. It's certainly a matter of debate, hence me using the word "if" there. The point there though being that the UK could possibly (only possibly, mind you) do more than sit on their hands while a "friend" (really really heavy on the quotation marks there) acts like a bullying douchebag.

All the more reason for Starmer to do what @StanSP suggested above. It's deeply frustrating that, if the UK really is that well respected, that they're not using some of that diplomatic capital to tell the US that, quite frankly, that they're a bunch of fvcknuts right now.

I'd laugh if the situation wasn't so absurdly consequential for all of us.

Maybe Greenland, probably Cuba. Will be somewhere. What was it I said about our species being a disappointment again?

Yes, and yes is the answer to those two statements and IMO it's as obvious as the force of gravity. Their aims, both conceived and blatantly stated, are pretty clear so there's not really much need for nuance here.

Would it really matter if there was or wasn't? Or that the current administration would bother with such justifications instead of simply doing what they want in the name of their own self interest again and again? I'm not sure where the idea that they are interested in any kind of facts and evidence when they can and do make up both on the regular to suit themselves comes from here.

And now he's intimating that he wants to do it again because "no one can stop us'. Presume Cuba is what he's thinking of first up?

I wish I was as sure about that as you are. Does anyone really think that the current US administration really cares about any kind of opinion or backlash outside of their own self interest right now? What, exactly, do they have to fear? This is what happens when sociopaths have more power than anyone else. Very true. The rather dark comfort though is that those self interested pricks cannot conquer forever, because their way if thinking is incompatible with the survival of human civilisation and our species itself. The problem the rest of us face is neutralising them before they take everyone else with them, in a world that seems very beholden to the loudmouths and the self interested, as you say. Can't disagree here, he's taken the wrong line on Trump from the start. That being said, I don't see either Badenoch or Farage taking anything near a better line on him either, given they both actually seem to want closer ties with that repugnant administration.

Good start, would be nice if this team could actually make the most of it tomorrow.

Yeah, only sometimes. There's still decency, and still folks there who act to value something beyond their own line of sight both in space and time. It's just that the voice of the short term self interested destructive is very loud right now.

Additionally, now this has been done, I fear that this won't be the last such intervention in the near future. Trump may try for Greenland or similar, Putin will be emboldened even more in Ukraine and possibly elsewhere, Xi may figure the US won't bother to hassle him on Taiwan. Sometimes, our species really is disappointing.

It's just unfortunate that rather a lot of people aren't making their takes as nuanced as this and stating the above as fact rather than merely opinion. It's also unfortunate that such perception is surpassing fact in the democratic process and therefore policymaking on this matter, as well.

I don't see how anyone stops him other than himself in the longer format matches now, at least for the moment. Both his scoring and his finishing are a class apart, and no situation appears to faze him. Double world champion at the age of 18.

There's always a Tweet.

Moving into ominous form now.

And, of course, the US oil companies will make bank, as they always do when the US engages in extracurricular activity like this. Shame about the future for everyone but them short term and everyone including them long term.

Think the first 6-7 sets will be close and mostly shared and then Littler will up his level as he normally does in such situations and come through.

Yep. Another reason for progressive change, in a lot of ways, across a lot of places.

No disagreement there, the point was that population size doesn't always have relevance when it comes to what a nation does or doesn't do regarding their cleaner energy infrastructure.

You may well be on the money with that, mon ami. Like I said above, I hope that you are.

For the sake of the future of practically everyone, let us hope so. He's certainly got more smarts about him than Trump, which means he could make the whole abuse of power mechanism work more efficiently.