The New Great Game: The U.S. and Europe are the new sick men of the world

There are no human values in wanting one's government to operate within legal constraints?

 

Sorry, Russia's western borders are threatened by NATO, steady encroachment in the decades after Bush, Baker and others promised "not an inch" after the fall of the Berlin wall.

Russia has learned in the last 30 years what the Native American tribes learned centuries ago--the government in Washington speaks with a forked tongue.

 

Ukraine has been shelling the Donbas for the better part of 15 years now. Russia has been seeking diplomatic solutions for all that time. The Minsk Agreement was signed by all in about 2015, and was steadily violated by Kiev. We found out last year that the only reason Germany and others signed the Minsk agreement was to allow Ukraine to be more heavily armed by NATO.

Russia is not practicing imperialism, it is practicing self defense and is entitled. Imperialism and military aggression is what the US has been practicing since 1950. Do you need a list of the countries it has invaded, or would you prefer to ignore it?

 

Wow. You just vomit up any old Russian propaganda and treat it as fact.

Ukraine has been shelling Donbas for 15 years? Got any credible proof for that? Last time I checked there has been shelling in Donbas since 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then several thousand Ukranian civillians have died as a result of this invasion, at the hands of BOTH Russian and Ukranian. The number killed in the 3 years prior to Russia's latest invasion were under 100 in total on both sides.

The Minsk agreements were signed while Russia illegally occupied parts of Ukraine and were never worth the paper they were printed on. Both sides knew it. Russia was in violation from day one by refusing to concede that it had military forces.

Russia is the second largest nuclear power in the world and had, until a bit over a year ago, a very large military. Russia is NOT threatened by other nations banding together to stop Russia invading them. The only threat there is to Russian imperialism. As you have made it clear you are fine with that you have to make up silly claims to defend it. Like I said, amoral to the core.

 

The USA is hemorrhaging money. Military and social costs, and an unwillingness to face the biggest flaw of capitalism: inability to reach a consensus. You do what you do until someone stops you.

We must cut commerce with China by 50% by 2024. Their bond holdings have nearly vanished. IMO, they are planning an attack on Taiwan and are prepared to engage the USA. Chines workers losing jobs, may save our asses. There is a price we will also pay for losing.

We need a Trump 2.0 or whatever you want to call him to drill are drop the price of oil. That will take care of Iran and Russia (and the Saudi’s.

 

Thanks. Not bad for a person with heart disease and kidney disease who has just finished chemotherapy for cancer. I think the problem is that the comment refers to government in the U.S. and Europe. The private sector in both areas is thriving. Criticizing the U.S. federal government is reasonable. I do it every day. It has resulted from self interested voters. The voters deserve what they created.

 

Is 'greedflation' a real thing:

 

At least there is something to stop it, unlike socialism which has government as both the cause and the stopper. Government never controls itself since it has no competition.

We agree here. I would announce to the world that U.S. companies should start finding new locations for its foreign operations. Make it a three year plan. Then outlaw Chinese imports completely.

We just need some common sense.

 

Your overview shows the article to be of no real value, as it is only looks at part of the picture, & ignores other important considerations. For brevity's sake, I will stick to the implication that we should seriously scale back, trying to address Global Warming. This is a nonsense "solution" to the political situation, because it would be catastrophic to pretend like this environmental issue, did not need be dealt with. That's what makes politics challenging, the idea that there are going to be times that the interests of one country will be counter to those of other countries, with which that nation will want to cooperate, on a host of issues. For someone to so ignore facts, to say, look how foolish the West is being-- they should just forget about Climate Change, is giving useless advice, while proving how out of one's depth, is the commenter. FYI, the nations that will suffer the worst environmental impacts, from Climate change, are not Europe & the U.S., but the third world, and these burgeoning economies, using fossil fuels.

 

Non sequitur. The value of the article stands on its own - my overview, observations and opinions add or detract nothing.

Secondly, the authors aren't obligated to cover every issue under the sun. They chose to focus on several important interconnected issues that are well worth contemplating and discussing on their own, and I highlighted a few myself in the OP.

Sorry, but I'm not being impressed with the Climate Hysteria ("catastrophic"!) that you and eco-socialist frauds such as AOC have been peddling, and neither are the countries that are ignoring it. We all know the world isn't going to end in 9 years if we don't give her and her comrades more power, money and control over our lives, and that's what this is really about. It has little to nothing to do with the environment, and as far as developing countries are concerned, if they see the quickest and least expensive route to development and raising their living standards is through the production and consumption of fossil fuels, they will take that route, and if they have to turn to Russia and China because they are being spurned by the eco-socialist Left in the West, then they will turn to Russia and China. What's preposterous is the notion that we should put the Left's latest self-serving "crisis" du jour before everything else, such as our economy, our influence abroad and the well-being of the people and environments in Third World countries because the Leftists in our country would rather have them work with China and Russia's oil industry than us and our oil industry. That's useless advice if I ever saw it, but then again I'm not Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. I'm sure that nonsense is music to their ears.