undefined | Better HN

0 pointschaostheory2y ago0 comments

There’s a difference between a foreign adversary and a foreign ally who’s subsidizing most of your defense.

0 comments

So I guess for most of Europe and the US you would be right. Thankfully that's just a relatively small part of the world though. If anything, all things considered having the US as your adversary is much much more risky. so outside of US vassals/allies, I think picking China as your poison in terms of spyware is the least risky option. China might like to pretend they are on the same level as the US but they absolutely cannot project their strength (or meddle in domestic affairs of other countries ) in any similar way.

chaostheoryOP2y ago

China is actively helping Russia. They’re not neutral, and they’re not simply opportunistic like India. I don’t how much clearer it needs to be aside from China invading Taiwan.

gaoryrt2y ago

exactly

blackoil2y ago

As an individual, most threat I have will be from my own govt. and politicians/police by simple virtue of overlap and the authority they have to mess my life. So given choice, I'll prefer minimum additional info to my govt.

diggan2y ago

For a German, both of those are both foreign adversaries and foreign allies, at the same time. One is not "better" than the other.

chaostheoryOP2y ago

Yes, one is not better than the other until there’s a security issue in Europe that actively threatens the EU. Then miraculously Western Europeans will suddenly remember that the US is an ally. This is exactly why many US voters are growing tired of subsidizing the EU’s defense.

beebeepka2y ago

I guess your media conveniently skips the part where joining NATO means destroying your own long range weapons. This is what they forced Bulgaria to do and they made a very big deal out of it.

1 more reply

mensetmanusman2y ago

Yes, Russia and the US are equivalent.

bestouff2y ago

"Ally". The US has not exactly always been friendly to Europeans.

mardifoufs2y ago

To be fair, there weren't tons of reasons for the US to be friendly with Germany, historically speaking.

chaostheoryOP2y ago

We have subsidized your defense for decades now which is a big reason how entitlements like socialized healthcare was able to work in the EU despite not having the long term birthrates to cover it. It’s a much bigger gift than cheaply produced goods. Also every time there’s a mess in Europe, we have to clean it up without getting paid unlike the CCP with their low cost goods. The cost in blood and taxes would be much easier to swallow for Americans if there was at least some gratitude from the Western Europeans.

dragonwriter2y ago

> We have subsidized your defense for decades now which is a big reason how entitlements like socialized healthcare was able to work in the EU despite not having the long term birthrates to cover it.

No, socialized healthcare works in Europe because its cheaper than the US system, massively so. The US just chooses to waste extra money to assure that large segements of its population lack access to quality healthcare.

1 more reply

diggan2y ago

> Also every time there’s a mess in Europe, we have to clean it up without getting paid

You're too high on your own supply if you really believe this to be the case... The reason Europe has proper healthcare is because the US has a huge army? Give me a break...

Please, start provide some actual backing by numbers of what you're saying if you're gonna try to spread propaganda around here.

1 more reply

rad_gruchalski2y ago

> Also every time there’s a mess in Europe, we have to clean it up without getting paid

No, you don’t have to but you choose to because it’s good for your business.

kkzz992y ago

In my opinion, the US is as much a foreign adversary as China. The US isn't subsidizing defense, its occupation and hegemony.

maxdo2y ago

Oh yeah , and what happened to Europe , when they pray to share more money to Ukraine because EU was eating cheese , drinking beer and not thinking about defense , maybe except Poland . And meanwhile also let corrupt themself and give away their energy market to Russia . Oh well Russia bought lots of weapons on this money to start attacking EU

chaostheoryOP2y ago

One reason Germany has been able to afford more entitlements for its citizens like socialized healthcare is due to the fact that it virtually had no defense expenditures for decades. We can say the same for most of Western Europe. The US has subsidized the defense of the EU for decades.

As for occupation, I wonder what Germany did in the 20th century to merit it?

pelorat2y ago

No one is forcing the USA to keep it's European military bases, and no one is forcing the USA to spend 3.5% GDP on its defense budget. You do that out of your own free will. And you spending that amount of money on military, has no bearing on whether you could have free health care or not, the obstacles to that are purely political.

1 more reply

polotics2y ago

You really have to understand and look at the numbers, and also model the economics of what you're writing about, to get a sense of how wrong you are. May i suggest you start on this big quest by looking up how inflation gets imported and exported?

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

mardifoufs2y ago

chaostheoryOP2y ago

China is actively helping Russia. They’re not neutral, and they’re not simply opportunistic like India. I don’t how much clearer it needs to be aside from China invading Taiwan.

gaoryrt2y ago

exactly

blackoil2y ago

diggan2y ago

For a German, both of those are both foreign adversaries and foreign allies, at the same time. One is not "better" than the other.

chaostheoryOP2y ago

beebeepka2y ago

I guess your media conveniently skips the part where joining NATO means destroying your own long range weapons. This is what they forced Bulgaria to do and they made a very big deal out of it.

1 more reply

mensetmanusman2y ago

Yes, Russia and the US are equivalent.

bestouff2y ago

"Ally". The US has not exactly always been friendly to Europeans.

mardifoufs2y ago

To be fair, there weren't tons of reasons for the US to be friendly with Germany, historically speaking.

chaostheoryOP2y ago

dragonwriter2y ago

> We have subsidized your defense for decades now which is a big reason how entitlements like socialized healthcare was able to work in the EU despite not having the long term birthrates to cover it.

1 more reply

diggan2y ago

> Also every time there’s a mess in Europe, we have to clean it up without getting paid

You're too high on your own supply if you really believe this to be the case... The reason Europe has proper healthcare is because the US has a huge army? Give me a break...

Please, start provide some actual backing by numbers of what you're saying if you're gonna try to spread propaganda around here.

1 more reply

rad_gruchalski2y ago

> Also every time there’s a mess in Europe, we have to clean it up without getting paid

No, you don’t have to but you choose to because it’s good for your business.

kkzz992y ago

In my opinion, the US is as much a foreign adversary as China. The US isn't subsidizing defense, its occupation and hegemony.

maxdo2y ago

chaostheoryOP2y ago

As for occupation, I wonder what Germany did in the 20th century to merit it?

pelorat2y ago

1 more reply

polotics2y ago

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse