by Trevor » Sun Aug 03, 2025 5:23 pm
There's no feasible way to stop or even meaningfully slow down our debt problem, given how people screamed over a budget cut that amounted to 1/1000th of total federal spending. It's not just the United States. The rest of the world has the same problem. China's debt problem makes ours look small and those are their public numbers; I'd hate to see the actual ones.
I'm not sure how much Russia, China, and Iran are truly coordinating with one another. The idea of draining our missile stockpiles sounds good in theory, but that's also led to rapidly expanding production. Even if not at WWII levels, we still have a significant manufacturing base and produce more high-end products than the Chinese do. What we're doing now might not be sufficient, but it's at least a beginning. It'd have been a lot worse if war with China broke out before Ukraine and we were forced to grapple with these issues under attack.
I also question whether NATO would truly support us in the event of a conflict. Now that Trump's passing his own aid bills for Ukraine, realizing Putin's not going to stop his conquest, Europe's falling back into its usual pattern of letting us do the heavy lifting. I'm sure Trump would like to see them stand up to Russia on their own, because there's no reason why they can't. Even without the U.S., NATO is far stronger, and China is far more dangerous.
Only they can't, whatever their rhetoric might be about self-reliance. Europe likes the idea in the abstract, but when it comes to the serious commitment they'd have to make, including small cuts to their social programs, it's mostly: "Hell, no!" Most countries that have begun a military buildup, even an insufficient one, are in Eastern Europe. Except for Poland, Finland, and the Baltics, their buildup has been moderate at best. For Western Europe, they're barely doing anything at all. Britain and France have about the same level of spending they did in 2021, and it wasn't until last year that Germany began gearing up. 35 years of atrophy won't be easily overcome, and for most, Russia is a distant threat.
Ukraine's slowly falling under the Russian barrage. Russia's losses are at least 50% higher, based off the number of deaths we can confirm by name, but they can afford the losses and Ukraine can't. My heart goes out to them, but I don't think this is a fight they're going to win.
If and when war comes, I consider it a significant possibility that NATO will tell us: "Screw you, you're on your own!" We've gotten fed up with them, and Europe by and large can't stand us. (With partial exceptions) Not that they could provide anything more than symbolic assistance in their current position. China might prop up Russia to keep us distracted, but I suspect it's pointless. If we have to abandon Europe to face China, we will.
There's no feasible way to stop or even meaningfully slow down our debt problem, given how people screamed over a budget cut that amounted to 1/1000th of total federal spending. It's not just the United States. The rest of the world has the same problem. China's debt problem makes ours look small and those are their public numbers; I'd hate to see the actual ones.
I'm not sure how much Russia, China, and Iran are truly coordinating with one another. The idea of draining our missile stockpiles sounds good in theory, but that's also led to rapidly expanding production. Even if not at WWII levels, we still have a significant manufacturing base and produce more high-end products than the Chinese do. What we're doing now might not be sufficient, but it's at least a beginning. It'd have been a lot worse if war with China broke out before Ukraine and we were forced to grapple with these issues under attack.
I also question whether NATO would truly support us in the event of a conflict. Now that Trump's passing his own aid bills for Ukraine, realizing Putin's not going to stop his conquest, Europe's falling back into its usual pattern of letting us do the heavy lifting. I'm sure Trump would like to see them stand up to Russia on their own, because there's no reason why they can't. Even without the U.S., NATO is far stronger, and China is far more dangerous.
Only they can't, whatever their rhetoric might be about self-reliance. Europe likes the idea in the abstract, but when it comes to the serious commitment they'd have to make, including small cuts to their social programs, it's mostly: "Hell, no!" Most countries that have begun a military buildup, even an insufficient one, are in Eastern Europe. Except for Poland, Finland, and the Baltics, their buildup has been moderate at best. For Western Europe, they're barely doing anything at all. Britain and France have about the same level of spending they did in 2021, and it wasn't until last year that Germany began gearing up. 35 years of atrophy won't be easily overcome, and for most, Russia is a distant threat.
Ukraine's slowly falling under the Russian barrage. Russia's losses are at least 50% higher, based off the number of deaths we can confirm by name, but they can afford the losses and Ukraine can't. My heart goes out to them, but I don't think this is a fight they're going to win.
If and when war comes, I consider it a significant possibility that NATO will tell us: "Screw you, you're on your own!" We've gotten fed up with them, and Europe by and large can't stand us. (With partial exceptions) Not that they could provide anything more than symbolic assistance in their current position. China might prop up Russia to keep us distracted, but I suspect it's pointless. If we have to abandon Europe to face China, we will.