America was safest under Clinton with budget surpluses to boot.
The PRC has broken the One China principle a long time ago under Xi when he asserted the PRC as the only China with Taiwan as part of it's territory. Also Taiwan is full of embassies which are just renamed to business development bureaus to keep the CCP from whining. The lack of recognition is a ultimately a problem on paper only. The only reason a country don't recognize Taiwan is because the PRC will diplomatically retaliate.
China's inability to make allies and it's antagonistic stance towards it's neighbours is just making those countries choose the US. Instead of China becoming a better alternative it's instead driving them away and is blaming the US for their own policy mistakes. It's like Putin crying about NATO on it's borders but at the same time giving those old soviet satellite states more and more reasons to join NATO. And then blaming NATO for the consequences of his own bad behaviour.
In my career I've learned there is a difference between what they ask for, and what they'll accept. If a NASA engineer with some crazy specific knowledge and skills offers their services, these rules might suddenly not apply.
They're both bullies. About 26 million people live in Taiwan and have faced political and military bullying from China for decades. And that's not even mentioning Hong Kong, Xinjiang or Tibet. China tries to play friendly because it wants to create a Pax Sinica to replace America. But at the same time is militarily threatening it's neighbours and claiming the territory of other countries as their own.
Even if you make a choice for a lesser evil. It's still evil.
My wife wanted a switch for her birthday since my son is getting older and wants to spend more time playing games. So we waited on the Switch 2 Direct announcement and it was clearly just a cash grab. Even the hardware demo "game" is a digital purchase. The Chat button only works with a subscription. €90,- for a Mario Kart game and expensive upgrades for games you already own.
So Steamdeck it is, the OLED model is a bit pricey, but i've only been hearing good things. And it wil run emulators which is an added boon.
Both the US and China are bullies. So what's the point of this?
Edit: don't bother replying, I'm not buying what you're selling.
Just hire your own crew, undo their work, send them the bill and the fine.
Because it's basically a new currency:
"it would be money, still issued by the ECB, but not taking the aspect of a banknote or a coin"
The problem here is that this requires new digital wallets. The downside also means that governments have even more control and surveillance options on your finances. While currently your normal bank account can be blocked or frozen. They can't really do it on a per payment basis. With the new digital wallets they could, potentially, restrict your use on a per payment basis. So rationing fuel could happen by only allowing someone to spend X digi-Euros on fuel. Also it would be impossible to spend money anonymously like you can do with cash.
There are of course upsides, but giving governments the option to do bad things is more likely to lead governments doing bad things.
They knew instagram was leading mainly teenage girls to commit suicide. But sat on that for years instead of acting on it. I would not be surprised if they targeted sleeping pill ads to users who appear suicidal.
Long long time ago someone wrote on Reddit that the best post-apocalyptic place to stay would just be a small town. With a dentist, a doctor, farmers and builders. Where everybody knows each other. The interdependence of skill and need for cooperation would keep the peace.
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Jimius
joined 1 week ago
A large part of this can be avoided by giving campers an entry time based on the location they have on the campsite. Now it's a free-for-all which means pushing and shoving until it all stagnates.