Nah, we’re not numb. But the fact of the matter is, we can’t change anything and letting him win is not going to work, because what’s the alternative? Being subjugated or attacked at a later state?

Putin should not forget however, that “we”, the EU, also have Nukes and will retaliate, if push comes to shove. Those threats are meaningless either way.

I’m going to get down voted, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Granted, in hindsight the “economic binding” strategy was clearly wrong and a bad call, but at the time “we” believed Putin that he will honor agreements and be a trustworthy partner. And that he will honor Russian economy over territorial things, that do not matter at all for the standing of russia - hell, even back then the consensus was that Russia will utterly fail if they try something stupid, because they “needed” the gas money more, than we needed their gas. And while that downfall will take a few more years, it is inevitable. I admit though, I could not have been more wrong about some things…

It wouldn’t. The U.S. is a big part of NATO, but NATO will live on without the U.S. the European Union has very much the same clauses - even the U.K. would still be part of that.

They probably are afterwards. Most sat pics trained on that have some kind of image recognition stuff running in the background and they flag that. Apparently that’s how that Satan failure was also firstly detected

Edit: I also wouldn’t be so sure about the ICBMs being in the same state as everything else.

It’s not only a political struggle. Working conditions are tremendously better in Europe, Environmental Protection as well. Manufacturing photovoltaics takes a huge pile of chemicals that need to be handled properly to not cause any harm to the environment - China neither cares nor has any other incentives to actually do this properly, which is exactly why they are so cheap. Theres also the issue of poor quality, that if you’re manufacturing something that can have a significant impact on the environment, it should “count” and not be waste 10 years later.

Not only that, China’s subsidies are utterly unfair.

Destroying the environment in one part of the world to “save” a different one due to climate change is just ridiculously stupid and simple minded.

Those controllers are fortunately not what TSMC makes.

I listened to Habecks musings quite often and I pray he’s not going to be Chancellor.

No, I’m not, but the security of Europe is more important than social issues. Apart from that…the Greens have betrayed themselves. https://netzpolitik.org/2024/foto-nachruf-auf-gruene-und-fdp-sie-waren-buergerrechtsparteien/

Oh, believe me…we have that manufacturing capabilities. I live near where parts of Taurus are made… It’s just that there’s no “demand” and the bundeswehr doesn’t have enough money to just order them to stockpile.

That’s actually my reasoning voting for him…Kleineres Übel…and let’s be honest, Scholz never was Chancellor material, Habeck still needs more time and I don’t think he’s got enough support from the greens “realoflügel” to have his back and on top of that, the greens do not have enough support to “make” Chancellor. I hate Merz’ s guts, but unless the SPD finds a different candidate (Pistorius, anyone…? I’d vote in a heartbeat for him and I despise the SPD)…Merz is it, even with the risk of an Afd involvement. So if he sells his mother for Taurus in Ukraine and punish Putins utter madness once and for all…so be it.

Do not forget, the Germans didn’t have Weapons at that time AND there was way less to actually organize - you can fight this! And do not let people tell you, Germans just did go with it.

Minus the fact that most Germans did not have weapons in the Weimarer Republic

Danke, der kommunalwiki Link bzw die Übersicht ist besonders interessant…wusste ich nicht, I stand corrected!

which his party is working with more and more on local and state level.

Please proof that statement. The CDU in Saxony spoke with the AfD, but that’s it.

After 50 Billion in various loans for Ukraine that are shouldered in a big part by Germany…4 Million less per year are “pointless” in lieu of Ukraine getting direct and local production of ammunition and missiles…

So, those 40k North Korean are not going to see the new year? That’s…imagine some catastrophy with 40k deaths…fuck me.

Where has Germany said that? If we are going to have elections in January, it’s highly likely Merz will be chancellor and while I do not agree with the CDU on social and economic issues, rest assured, Ukraine will have Taurus by the end of March and the full permission to use it as they see fit for the war effort.

That’s a valid point, but i think it’s mute. There are pretty much two options, soviet, planned economic style or further open capitalism. The U.S. doesn’t have all resources and the world moves on without the U.S. if it has to. Not only that: Most of the innovation comes from progressive states. If those people just pack up and go somewhere else, things are looking rather bleak for increasing trade. So if there’s nobody to be able to pay for it and nobody to design it…things aren’t going to increase anything, they are going to decrease “all around”.

I mean, “change” per se isn’t necessarily something bad. Meaning, stuff needs to last longer (again) in those cases. Planned Obsolescence is a real thing, that’s however only economical as long as raw materials are relatively cheap. But it would be nice if companies just did that change, instead of being forced in to it…

Short term, though, would be similar to a collapse of civilization.

Would it? Civilization doesn’t depend on bleeding edge high tech. Sure, it depends on tech, but look around who’s making ICs or basic processors that are in machine control panels and all the millions of appliances. AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, Broadcom do the “heavy lifting” in terms of monetary value, but in overall quantity? Samsung, SK Hynix, STMicroelectronics, Infineon, Sony, Renesas and NXP are the ones that make the world go round. Infineon is German, NXP is Dutch, Renesas is Japanese, STMicroelectronics is Swiss. The thing that’s really going to hurt is Foxconn, but they are probably global enough to withstand that. There’s also many, many more local players. BOSCH for example has very high capacities for everything up to 80 Nanometers (Pentium 3/4, Athlon 64…)

Civilization would crack, sure - but i don’t think it would collapse. Society on the other hand…that’s a different paper.