Base32

You're the second bloke on the forum to refer to the Ukrainian Army being "stretched thin" while making no reference to the Russian Army being stretched thin, which it is. Almost like you both use the same source material. A lot more Russiam males of fighting age left Russia, than Ukrainian males. A lot more convicts have been pressganged. No foreign workers have been pressganged into the Ukrainian army. List the "major cities" in Donbas which are in "big trouble". Interested in your definition of a "major city". Maybe you are referencing Kostiantynivka, prewar population 67,000, in British terms, a town, comparable to Corby. It was captured in 2014 by seperatists, but then recaptured. Its pretty much a ruin. The biggest is certainly Kramatorsk, pre-war 200,000. Not in danger of falling unless Dobropillia, a small town that had a population of 25,000 prewar, falls to the murderous thugs; that might affect supply lines. But I suspect you are copy pasting from the same source as others, so are rushing now to substantiate your claims.

You have repeatedly posted statements attacking Ukraine whikle pretending to be not supportive of Russia. At best appeasement, but could be something else. Russia gets away with chunks of Ukraine. So you are completely cool about America carving off Greenland and bits of Canada, because, realistically, what can Canada and Denmark do about that.. Or indeed China-Taiwan. North Korea, nuclear armed, could overun Seoul in hours. It is your Russian friends who are the maximalists. All Ukraine wants is to be a country. That's pretty minimal really. You repeatedly denigrate Europe. Europe has HUGE resources. Russia, remember, started out with an economy the size of Italy. Now it has an economy the size of Spain. For instance, Russia has had to decimate its civil economy to get to artillery production of 50 million shells a year. Europe currently produces 6 million a year. But its well on track to exceed Russian production by 2026. And thats thanks to the power of European innovation and guile compared to your favoured lumbering Soviet kleptocracy. And our economies will barely break a sweat. You sound awfully like a defeatist, believing the Kremlin line hook line and sinker. You sit there copy pasting articles written by an ex-Tory minister who has never set foot in Ukraine, and a 20 something Ukrainian jobbing journalist who spends most of her time in London. Looking for anything to support your view, which includes letting Russia win and profit from this. Why do you want Russia to profit from this. By profit, I mean accepting Russia's conquest of parts of Ukraine, and drawing a line under that. Ultimately the things you are demanding from the Ukrainian President are not in his power to give, unless you are a support of the idea of a Dictatorship, which you might do (an unhealthy number of Americans on this site, largely living in Thailand, seem Dictator-enthusiasts). Ukraine has a parliament, which needs a 60% vote, and the rest, to amend their constitution. You don't have much idea what "Peace" means. For you, Ukraine should surrender now to Russia, while secretly planning to attack them again when their back is turned ("A messy peace is not the same as surrender it is a pause, a chance to regroup, rebuild, and outlast an adversary who has just as many vulnerabilities as strengths"). Ukraine, quite rightly, doesn't want some sort of deal that just sets up Russia to attack again. You view that wish as immoral, which is perverse. You champion the strong, while denigrating the weak. Sounding a bit like a Gopnik "Russia Strong". You say Ukrainian forces are "stretched thin". I am curious why you are consistantly failing to point out that the Russian forces are also "stretched thin", being high dependant on press ganged Convicts, North Koreans, Bangladeshis, Africans. Why aren't you exorting the Russians to think again; there are plenty of Russians on this forum to appeal to. But you don't. You expect the Ukrainians to give in, never the Russians, despite your mealy mouthed "but I don't supprt Putin" line. You statements are contradictory. You attack, using your interpretation, Zelensky's demands as looking for "Total Victory", but then suggest that Ukraine could reclaim its territories by other means later on. That's not how treaties work. Zelensky is not looking for "Total Victory" in the manner you frame it. He wants continued recognition of Ukraine's international borders. He doesn't want a peace which means a change in Ukraine's borders. When you cede territory to another nation, what that means is that you change your international borders. For example, Cyprus has never ceded Northern Cyprus. Nor should it. Syria never ceded the Golan Heights. Egypt never ceded the Sinai. Georgia has never ceded Abkhazia and South Ossetia. That doesn't mean the countries involved were forever at war, but it has important implications legally and with respect to sovereignty. For instance, if you were a Brit, looking to retire to Cyprus, if you brought in the north, likely you have no legal title to that property. Its a pretty bad investment when you are sold stolen property. When you cede territory, thats it, there is no further negotiation. This is what Russia wants; the country you claim to not support, in fact, you support their demands 100%. If Ukraine cedes territory, then any future act it carries out to reclaim that lost territory would be seen as an act of war. This is exactly the line Argentina took when it invaded the Falkland Islands. The islands were British, through am internationally recognised treaty. Argentina felt this was wrong, but their act was illegal. After WW2, Germany ceded East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania to Poland and USSR. No attempt was made to reclaim these territories; so you think Germany should have gotten Konigsberg back after the collapse of the SU? So you have mixed up thinking there. Zelensky absolutely wants a ceasefire, which you repeatedly misrepresent, but not at the expense of recognising Russia's conquests. The Americans are proposing a 49-99 year "pause". President Zelensky is unhappy about this, considering it a de facto recognition of Russia's claims, but has not rejected it out of hand (lets see the details). A 99 year pause could be considered alongside a recognition that the Russian occupation is illegal, which has the practical impact of severely sanctioning Russia. It sounds like you want all sanctions to be lifted. You are supporting the maximalist ambitions of Russia while falsely presenting the Ukrainian position (Kremlin bots are the ones talking up "to the last Ukrainian" line). You seem not to want to support the option that Russian should be reminded, continually, that it has committed an illegal act. Why aren't you calling for the demilitarisation of the occupied territories, and replacement of the occupiers with blue helmets of similar, who can supervise a free referendum to see what people in the Donbas want. Let me guess, you are going to say they already had a vote.

Your headline "US and Russia suggest ‘West Bank-style occupation of Ukraine’ is highly misleading, and you should have issued a rebuttal of the vacuous nature of it. There is nothing in the article this is a position proposed by Russia. Every position put forward by Russia is that, consitutionally, Russia regards the occupied territories as part of Russia. Its a position put forward by the Americans. Even if Ukraine were to accept that premise, which they won't, there is no way Russia will accept that. They have already russified millions of Ukrainians. They have bussed in Russian colonisers. You completely ignore the fact that in 1988, Jordan renounced all claims to the West Bank in favour of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.” Its extremely important that the world does not recognise these annexations. By not recognising them, Russia will have great difficulty in raising investment to rehabilitate the areas. They won't be able to sell land to foreign investors, because they have no legal right to the land. That will mean they will either leave these new oblasts to rot. Or, its the Russian state that will pour funds in there, to buy support, like they did in Chechenya. But there is a difference. Chechenya is Russian. Even so, 90% of the money going there is Russian government money. Virtually everyone works for the government, even if that job is not real. The occupied areas of Ukraine cover 4-5 times the population of Chechenya, withc about 4 times the area. Chechenya has sucked about $100bn over that last 20 years of Russian subsidy. Rebuild costs are estimated as over $1 trillion ($1000 billion). The total Russian government budget is $400 bn. It won't be able to raise loans on the international markets. It will probably need to divert 20-25% of the annual budget into this area. Any bonds issued would be illegal. There would be some illegal money going in, but a piffling amount. Russia culd strip mney from the other regions or its budget. But its military is decimated, and we know there are elements of the Russian armed forces not happy about this (viz, how parts of it reacted to the Wagner mutiny). Reducing funds to the poorer parts of the Russia, such as thr Caucasus, would likely hasten the dissolution of the Russian Federation, and increase the threat of civil war, or they could just print money, and get Weimar like inflaton. Putin might not want to give these areas up, but he won't be around forever. Make it too big a cost to bear.

Parris is a fickle correspondant. In March 2022, he ran a headline "Think twice before egging on brave Ukraine" https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/think-twice-before-egging-on-brave-ukraine-fb0lwkvgk Even then, he was calling for compromise with Russia, talking up their capabilties. Then a year later he flips, and attempts historical revisionism We get the usual "I don't support Putin but.....". The Ukrainians have warned this would happen; there would be an uptick in media chit chat talking up the Russians, and carefully denigrating Ukraines, but never the Russians. I notice you criticise the Ukrainian military for its Soviet-style leadership. The same sort of leadership, literally (they went to the same officer school together) is over on the Russian side. They are also committing mistakes. You critique the "Pro-Ukraine" crowd. I like to think of myself as part of the anti-genocidal kletocratic lunacy crowd. Ukraine may not be perfect. Neither was the United Kingdom in 1940; we undoubtedly at the time had an opportunit racist in charge of the country, responsible for one of the greatest disasters of WW1, with a head of state who's close family was in lock step with the Nazis, leading a class-ridden imperialist nation. When Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Jewish-Americans landed on the beaches of Normandy, were they really motivated about defending the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, were they really gung ho to further General Charles de Gaulle's political career. Nope; I think many felt a clear sense of moral duty, that the Nazi menace, directly and indirectly, was a threat to the entire world. You say the so-called "Pro-Ukrainian crowd" bears responsiblity for this "mess" along with Russia. That's like saying if only thre Jewish people had been less Jewish they might have survived, and therefore brought it on themselves. "Mobilisation" is the latest buzz word used by FB generals. Strangely, isn't this conscription. The British had to conscript people in WW1 and WW2, basically because people were not volunteering to go die for King and Country. From late 1940, the upper limit was extended from 40 to 55 because there were not enough recruits. You talk about "10s of millions" of Ukrainian refugees. More deliberate distortion. There are 6.8 million Ukrainian refugees outside of Ukraine, and about 3.5 million displaced in it. You use that to suggest Ukraine isn't prepared to "prepared to go down to hell with them". 90% of those refugees are women. Men between 18 and 60 were not allowed to leave. Do you think during WW2 every able bodied man was on the Western Front, in North Africa, in the jungles around Rangoon? No. Many were Bevin boys. Others, like my Grandfather, were in protected occupations (he wanted to go, but was a foundary foreman). Britain still had an economy to run. It had to pay for the oil. While imports dramatically increased, exports continued, approximately 2:1 by value. Because the British population was not 100% devoted to a war economy, because there were men reluctant to join, or who actually went AWOL (like my Great Uncle, who ended up in court over it) that DOES NOT mean the British population was responsible for Dunkirk, Singapore, Hong Kong, Narvik and other debacles. Britain was losing the war until it suddenly started winning. In part because of the support of allies like the US, but also because of tenacity and guile. In North Africa, the German army was lead by a brilliant General, Erwin Rommel, who had already been blooded in Poland and France. He came up against Montgomery, who wasn't entirely popular with the politicians. Churchill didn't like him, and at one point demoted him because of his constant moaning about the BEF command. Stubbornness? Or the Steel in the Spine of a Nation. Parris frames Zelensky’s refusal to barter away Ukrainian soil as a flaw. But this is not obstinacy; it is the iron principle that a free nation’s borders are not for sale. A leader who trades territory for the mirage of peace doesn’t end a war — he seeds the next one. Compromise Is Not Peace. Your favourite ex-MP toys with the idea that wars “usually” end with concessions. Perhaps — but history also shows that concessions to aggressors are invitations to return. Ask Czechoslovakia, 1938. A Russia rewarded for conquest will not stop at its current gains; it will take them as proof the West’s will can be bent. Putin broke agreements with Georgia, leading to multiple aggressions against its tiny neighbour, who put up a valiant defence, with zero help. Wars might well often end in concessions, but this one demands enduring deterrence over expedient peace. Compromises made under duress risk emboldening Putin, not containing him. The manuac has a clear track record of aggression both against his own people such as Chechenya, where there was near genocide, to his neighbours, such as Georgia. He has broken agreement after agreement. Forget what your favoured biased news sources are telling you, if you can. But American and European resolve remains robust, reflected in sustained military and financial aid. A bold, resolute Ukrainian leader bolsters—not harms—this support by reminding allies why the fight matters. We are told that an unyielding Zelensky could alienate Washington. Yet his moral clarity has been the most potent rallying cry for NATO since the Cold War. If anything, it is faintheartedness in Kyiv — not resolve — that would drain Western support. Leaders who stand firm inspire; leaders who buckle are soon forgotten. I'm sensing the American President is waking up to the geopolitical realities of allowing Putin to profit from his disasterous misadventure. Vance's recent speech to troops in the UK is a powerful indicator of that, and how he has shifted in his views (a really strong shift, compared to his pre-VP positions). Ukrainian opinion polls consistently show strong resistance to territorial concessions without absolute trust in enforcement mechanisms. Parris may cite “some poll” and “his own conversations” with under-25s The Spectator, but broader data reveals deep citizen commitment to safeguarding the nation's integrity—Zelensky reflects that democratic will, not liability. Zelensky’s leadership throughout war has been extraordinary. Recognized internationally as a wartime hero—often compared to Churchill—and invested with confidence by the U.S. public Casting him as a liability dismisses his resilience, character, and the trust he commands at home and abroad. Now, like Churchill, he might be fairly useless when confronted with bread and butter policies, such as his recent inaction and inability to read the room over the corruption issues. Churchill was dumped while the British army was fighting the Japanese still. Parris’s piece mostly focuses on geopolitics, but Zelensky’s record includes difficult domestic reforms—in mid-2025, he faced backlash for signing a law undermining Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies, then swiftly acted to restore their independence following protests. His willingness to correct course under public pressure underscores democratic responsiveness, not weakness. You dress defeatism in the clothes of pragmatism. But in the harsh light of war, that tailoring comes apart at the seams. Zelensky is not dragging Ukraine into danger — danger came uninvited. What he has done is meet it head-on, and in doing so, he has held the line not just for his country, but for the democratic world. Americans would like to tell the world that they could have beaten North Vietnam; a nuclear power against rice farmers. But they didn't. The North Vietnamese were losing until they weren't. Like if Nazi Germany won WW2, the risk is not German or Russian troops goose stepping up Pennsylvania Avenue, but the risk that the idea of a kleptocratic autocracy is the preferred system of government "because it gets sh*t done" becomes legitimised.

https://www.muellershewrote.com/p/exclusive-i-have-ghislaine-maxwells Sex offender status waived in order to facilitate moving to a minimum security prison.

https://local.newsbreak.com/raw-story-2096750/4170905052918-ghislaine-maxwell-cleared-to-leave-prison-on-work-release-report

Based on the last 12 months advance, Russia will succeed in being back to precisely square 1 in November 2026. They will need another 420,000 troops on top of current. Total losses to Russia will be about 2.5 million men, dead or maimed. Ukraine will be 800-1000,000. The reputations of both countries will be changed immeasurably.

Well things like that might happen. In the old days, it would be the industry that sponsored and paid bursaries. And actually it is a thing that many professional societies and the like do offer scholarships based around those areas. But its also worth noting that these STEM, especially S and M, have taking a beating over many years, with many people in the US, especially the older generation, suspicious of people with a high level of education. Science is routinely attacked. Eg the Health Secretary's decision to pull $500 bn in research funding. That is a strong indication for those who might look at biosciences as a career to look at another career. Its not just about "vaccines"; quantum computing is going to be unlocked not by increasingly complex constructions using rare metals and silica, but DNA powered computers. The West's strength over the Eastern cultures is Individualism. Eastern cultures believe strongly in society, which is very laudable, but that stifles the individual. That's nothing to do with communism etc Western societies, almost by design, are more innovative, because of individual. Many of the ideas might be terrible, but history tells us many are not. We can change much more quickly. There is too much talk about reinventing the wheel, about the reindustrialisation of the US, and elsewhere, which seems to be pretty much lots of the tired old factories that were being built 100 years ago. That's not very innovative. That's actually pretty lazy. Its the solution proposed by an old man, and old men have no future, and therefore no vision.

I sincerely believe that "Riclag" is mentally ill. Just an observation. The breakdown appeared to start in May 2024.

Likely in areas that dominate the US economy; the service industries. No point training for an area with no jobs. That doesn't mean reshoring can't happen, but it's a longer process that takes 5-10 years to build the work force needed. You can shortcut the process through immigration, an area that the US, a nation of immigrants, enjoyed an advantage over Europe. Not only a steady pipeline, but also a workforce that is much more mobile than in the EU. The single market ought to mean a mobile workforce, but the opportunities open to a Portugeuse national in Helsinki are a lot different to a New Yorker scouting San Diego. And immigrants by definition are highly mobile; they will go where the work is.

Its was back in the 1970s-80s. It was even worse than convicts and the homeless. Cryosan Inc used to harvest blood from dead Russians, relabel it as from Swedish donors, and flogged it to unsuspecting Canadians. A number of companies have been implicated in the contaminated blood products scandal; Abbott Labs, Armour (Revlon), Koate (Bayer), Hyland (Baxter) and others. In the mid 70s, there were warnings that the crap coming from the US was laden with Hepatitis, but these were ignored. On a personal note, my father, on loan from the British Army, was setting up the Bahraini Defence Forces blood service in the early 80s. The Bahrainis had been persuaded to buy American, rather than setting up a blood donation service; in the Gulf Arab culture, people were reluctant to donate blood. My dad, who was seeing what was happening in the UK NHS, and was getting wind of a new virus, was vociferous in his opposition. His solution was simple; fit, healthy squaddies were to be offered days off for donating blood. Plenty of support for that. So Bahrain escaped that. Many years later, I was researching HIV testing in Saudi Arabia, and discovered quite a significant rate, which was surprising, and a bit of a state secret there. it seems contaminated imported blood products were partially to blame. The US, Czechia, Germany, Austria and Hungary are now the only countries that allow people to sell their blood plasma. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/louisiana-teacher-seeks-survive-inflation-141633014.html https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Blood-Money/Kathleen-McLaughlin/9781797155395

Why is the US the only country that can automate. Chinese car factories are largely automated to the same extent as car factories in the West. For manufacturing, you've got it arse about face. The answer is microfactories, and toss out the obsolete Ford model. Let China invest in massive plants churning out lots of the same thing. Instead, use the 200 years of industrial heritage the West has (lots and lots of largely disused small brick factories), to make products where people live. Invest in additive manufacture, ending the very notion of finished export goods, solving unsustainable demands of shipping. As for Pharma, China is now the sole supplier of 20% of APIs. 60% of APIs in the US come from China and India. 45% of KSMs are now only made in China. Strangely India, while being a major supplier of KSMs, imports 90% of its KSMs for certain drug lines. The US never had much KSM capacity in the first place; what you never had, you can't get back. 60% of what little API capacity it did have has gone, and it was never a major player in that area. China is the source of 40% of antibiotics, followed by India, Switzerland and Italy. In aggregate, about 27% of antibiotics are made in the US. US production of antibiotics is a piffling 5% of the global market. When it comes for the APIs needed for antibiotics, 96% come from China. It is an utter fantasy that the US can ever be self sufficient in medicines. Antibiotics of course have a much bigger application in food production. Typically, the US uses 5.4x more antibiotics per animal than the UK. There must be a really good reason why so much antibiotics are pumped into American cattle. Maybe it makes American beef 5x less expensive that poor old UK. Er, no. US beef producers report gross margins of about 15-25%. British beef is 12%, so the antibiotics are necessary to make those billionaires even more money. If the US weans itself off livestock antibiotics, that probably would be welcomed by all consumers, no matter what their ideology. But profitability will be hit, probably cut in half, which will hit a lot of people in the pocket, as they try and find money for their cable tv, gym memberships, a new car every 2 years etc. Of course, things could be reshored. Building a pharma plant takes 10 years. Perhaps cuts in redtape, lowering safety standards, could cut that in half, but patients have got to accept the risk of worse quality drugs than the Indians for a while. And you've still got to train a new workforce that doesn't exist, exacerbated by a sharp reduction of elimination of new H1bs. The last time a politician had a brainwave in simplifying a vital part of the supply chain, we got new variant CJD, which might still be a ticking timb bomb in the 90% of the UK population that was exposed. And Americans ought not be smug. Before then, someone thought it would be marvellous to harvest the homeless and convicts for their blood, to produce blood products. Result was a blood supply highly contaminated with retroviruses with zero screening. COVID showed the reality when it comes to healthcare. Around the world, nations thought that a war footing was the answer to step up things. Get Ford, GM, Dyson, Banbcock, all the cleverness of the F1 teams would transform the industry forever. I honestly expected it. But there was one problem. Not a single doctor was going to risk their patients with some shonky bit of kit put together by a bloke the previous week who was mounting tyres on a Ford Fiesta.

Looks like everyone attacked the messenger. Probably didn't bother reading the article. The article was an interview with Dennis Woodside, former CEO of Motorola Mobility, until parent Google sold it to Lenovo. The article realates to market research commiss ioned by the company that suggested Motorola could grab significant share in the US against Apple and Samsung, with a "Made in USA". Within a year, they had to shut down their Texas factory, producing the then flagship Moto X phone, and shift production overseas. Woodside claims the issue Motorola faced in Texas was a combination of a skills shortage in the area, plus an inability to retain employees, diluting the experience within the company. The Fort Worth factory was intended to be an assembly line, taking subcomponants sourced overseas, but offering customisation of product more suited to a US customer base than the imported Apple and Samsung one size fits all model. Poor sales and a long supply chain meant the phone was not profitable. Sales were one fifth to one tenth of where they needed to be for break even. Customers, it turned out, did not value "Made in USA" that highly, put that above technical features, price performance etc. Notably, Woodside noted that Motorola faced competition for employees in the service industries; food and retail. He also noted that the device being assembled had a large number of very small components, that US workers found difficult to deal with. The article cites conservative think tank, the Cato Institute (I remember it being conservative because PJ O'Rourke was with them) https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2024-08/Globalization Survey_2024.pdf The summer 2024 survey quoted: Which seems to support the suppostion that its generally very challenging in the US to recruit people into an industry that largely demands hand assembly (the intricate parts in a phone). US Labor Dept stats in 2023 suggested 12.5-12.7million workers in US manufacturing. The article contrasts manufacturing labour shortages in the US with a surplus of manufacturing labour in China. The CSIS is quoted, a think tank described as bipartisan, but rates by some sources as "lean left", pointing out that vocational training strategy in the US is something left to the State level, whereas China makes vocational training a national priority, and this enables the development of a workforce at scale (my observation is that in the US, states are set up to compete against each other, rather than competing against the world, a hangover from a past industrial age that is no longer true). Some respondants challenge this article, by cherry picked examples, adopting a Corbynista approach (he had a magic money tree, they have a magic skills tree). They are deliberately spreading a false agenda to support false news. Every year, since the US was founded, companies have created factories, companies have shuttered factories. Layoffs are as part of the industrial landscape as recruitment. Lets go through the cited examples. Abbott; Abbott Labs, a company that profited from the COVID pandemic in selling knowingly inaccurate COVID tests, will create 300 jobs in manufacturing and R&D at two plants, as part of a $500m investment. There will be 100 new jobs in Texas and 200 in Illinois. This is part of an expansion of their US transfusion business. Between 2020 and 2025, the company (according to their transcript and filings) an average of $1 billion each year into US manufacturing and $2 billion in R&D (mostly M&A and cashing in on COVID), so once you get away from the headline, it looks like they have cut investment in the US massively. The good news is they are creating some new jobs, but I doubt any of this is to do with tariffs, and its more to do with the commoditization of their previous big money earner, the CGMs that people are sticking on their arms; these are mostly made overseas. Commodization of diabetes products means products now are competing purely on price. Globally, Abbott employs 149,000 people. Each year, the company on average creates about 1700 new jobs. Apple; Apple had previously said they were investing $500m over the next 4 years. This was announced months before the tariffs, but to be fair, they were likely anticipating these. Apple are several times over much bigger than Abbott. The last time Apple announced one of these US investment deals was in early 2021, then it was $430 billion over the next 4-5 years. On the face of it, adjusting for inflation, investment is flat. the take away is that while tariffs are not necessarily encouraging Apple to invest more in US manufacturing, they don't seem, yet, enough to dissuade such investment. The Corning deal is a continuation of a deal first announced in early 2024. Its pretty normal. It would have happened, tariffs or no tariffs, as Apple builds a long term strategic relationship with Corning. Chobani; scraping the barrel here. Greek yoghurt manufacture, $1.2 billion for 1000 jobs. Seems making the money for making milk products goes further, in jobs creation, than advanced medical devices and cutting edge AI servers. Or course, the US isn't really importing much yoghurt from anywhere. Its a $12 billion market in the US. About $100m in yoghurt virtually all from France and Canada is imported, so a miniscule part of the market. Not a tariff success story, once you take the leftist CBS report apart. Cra-Z-Art; This is a regional chain of arts and crafts store, turnover about $25m a year. This increase in its US manufacturing capacity by 50% is part of a programme of investment that started in 2021, during the Biden years as it happened, but I'm sure nothing to do with that President. The CEO is claiming the latest move is tariffs drivem expanding sq footage of manufacturing from 1 million to 1.5 million sq feet. The company is the largest manufacturer of pencils, which I'm sure is a double digit growing market. While the company had increased US capacity, at the same same time, this US capacity is utterly dwarfed by its expansion of non-US manufacturing, through the acquisition of Swiss company, Joker AG, which has substantive Chinese and Hong Kong facilities. I see a company hedging its bets. Johnson & Johnson; $55bn into US manufacturing over the next 4 years, up 25% compared to the previous 4 years. Inflation adjusted, a decent increase in investment. But lets not forget they have offered $6.5 bn in compensation for their cancer causing talc, probably will need to increase that. This is part of a multu year investment programme that started in 2017, so its a policy not really driven by tariffs but by tax policy for obvious reasons. Tariffs are going to cost them $400m this year. The CEO noted that the 2017 tax policies have been a far more effective driver of investment than tariffs are. Now, China is a net importer of US medical products, the tariffs war has resulted in JnJ losing out in China, not the US. Honda. Its shifting production from Japan to Indiana. Currently their Civic Hybrid model is produced in both countries. The company wouldn't divulge why except that "the company's policy since its foundation that we produce cars where the demand is". However, company spokesmen claimed its nothing to do with tariffs. Honda saw a 59% profit decline, with Japan sales tanking. In fact, other CIvics have not been sold in Japan since 2010. Its not a very popular model there. Hyundai; Now is the time to reflect how far Hyundai has come. It started making knock offs of Jeeps from scrap metal. By the 1970s, it was bringing over British Leyland engineers in an effort to basically make the Hyundai Pony into a Morris Marina. Now Americans are begging it to give them jobs. The thrust of their investment is $21bn over the next 3 years, doubling their total US investment. A major part of that is to build a furnace in Lousiana, which the the company describes as giving them the ability to recycle the scrap metal that is abundant in the US (a bit harsh to describe Fords and Chevrolets), as part of their strategy of total domination of the US market (so creating jobs in order for someone else to lose theirs). Who would have thought; it wasn't so long ago that Hyundais were regarded as the crappest machines on the road (Hyundai Accent? Steller, which was a rebodied old Cortina). The main difference between a Ford being driven out of the market and Hyundai taking over, is that Ford profits stay in America. Hyundai profits go to Seoul. IBM. Didn't know they were still about. But is it s a big investment of $150bn, mostly in Quantum computing. Probably not huge number of jobs, and many, ironically, will be H1bs. I'd say this is driven by Project Stargate, which is where the US government said it was going to support a consortium of American-Arab banks build new infrastructure to support a massive AI project, which is essentially data harvesting on a gargantuan scale (if they actually get it to work), which will make the Chinese government's efforts to digitize and effectively monitor their citizens, look tifling. Still, its what people wanted. As part of this, the FDA is seeking Congessional authority to access all medical records. Apparently, they say, they need this data to test medical device apps for "accuracy" and are assuring you they won't use the data for anything else. I'm actually in favour of this, essentially establishing a national whole genome database, that can be used by doctors for the purposes of allowing would be parents to have informed choices, right through to determining what sort of job bests suits you, to looking at how the end for you will be, and what you can do about that. Merck; Big Pharma Merck (Jib jabs etc) is using $1bn to build a plant to make the cancer immunotherapy, Keytruda, for the US market. Keytruda blocks PD-L1, the latest miracle biomarker. For this drug, they have taken a mouse antibody, and mutated it to resemble a human antibody, then they inject this into you. To get this drug, you have to undergo testing with the Dako test, not any other test, otherwise, you can't be reimbused. A year's treatment costs $150k. The story here is that after 10 years, Keytruda's patents are about to expire, and if will face off-patent, and cheaper, alternatives. The tariffs might have, partly, driven this move, but its not good news for the patient. They'll still be paying $150k as long as Merck can get away with it. The $1bn shores up profits for the shareholders, before drug armagaddon. NVIDIA; for the first time ever, making chips and super computers in the US. This is the only significant story of the lot. But what you are seeing with AI will NOT be US or Chinese or anyone dominating the space. Because of data leaks, expect the raising of electronic borders. Keeping your data is critical. Its bad for competition, because there won't be any. Expect the rise of mega corporations that have fingers in everyone's lives. A Bladerunner type future, wuth the Tyrell Corporation running everything, including your virtual sex doll. "The engines of the world's AI infrastructure" is false; that infrastructure won't be hosting Chinese data, European data, African data.AI with American data will be fairly useless for Chinese and Japanese markets and vice versa. What will free us from this upcoming tyranny is someone who can render electronic firewalls obsolete. This will be the negative consequences of the Novecene until the machines take over. Roche; a big deal. Butone thing to note, with these Pharma deals, a lot depends on the FDA's ability to regulate. Its not just like building a new car factory. So Roche has issued a veiled threat, "the totality of our $50-billion investment is dependent on the current policy environment in the US and will be reassessed if legislation or regulations were implemented that would harm our industry's ability to operate and innovate in America". This is a heavy hint that it wants the President to make it easier for drugs and vaccines to be approved. This is in stark difference with a general feeling that, for instance, COVID-19 vaccines have undergone insufficient testing, before, according to some, being forced on the US population, perhaps causing uncessary injury and death. From a jobs point of view, Roche already has 25,000 US employees and 13 US manufacturing sites. The $50bn is a big number, but is expected to add 400 jobs to the US. TSMC; Asian . Like NVIDIA, TSMC is doing a superb job of cupping the balls of the US, and stroking its shaft.. TSMC is said to be doing this, because by saying it will build some kind of US presence, it will get complete exemption on all imported chips. Like Roche, though, this company is warning the US government; any more changes in policy, and it will pull its Arizona investment "New import restrictions could jeopardize current U.S. leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the U.S., including TSMC Arizona's significant investment plan in Phoenix" From WARNTracker

But USAF F35s use Dutch and British parts; withold spare parts to NATO allies while expecting the reciprical would occur. This is a fantasy spouted by the Crypto-Stalinists inhabiting this forum (members with obstensibly conservative credentials, while secretly harbouring hard, old school left wing beliefs (that would make Jez Corbyn blanch)), given away by their incessant defence of the Communist in the Kremlin. They resort to calling people, including genuine conservatives, who disagree with them as "lefties" "leftists". Classic Stalinist deflection. The American government will not do what you expect.

But we have to deal with the hoardes of psychotic mutants Everyone thought WW2 would be thought with chemical weapons. These were used extensively, by both sides. But not really, at least on a large scale, in WW2. While the Allied troops were initially equipped into battle with gasmasks (the British had theirs in a chest rig) they soon ditched than. But Germany kept theirs to the very end, afraid of an Allied Lewisite attack. Yet Germany maintained a really extensive capability at Munster (home of the Panzer trainig schools). The reason was that Germany was afraid of retaliation; likely not out of a concern for the general populace, but because their army was heavily dependant on horse drawn transport. Would the arrest of Putin automatically result in a nuclear war? Why? Russia would know there would be a retaliation. Soviet doctrine acknowledged that Western tactical weapons were far more accurate than Soviet weapons, hence their approach was to use strategic weapons only. But while they might ensure a collapse of NATO/free world command and control, they knew enough about the Western approach, which allowed commanders to use their own initiative under certain circumstances (Royal Navy letters of last resort) in a way Soviet commanders could not generally. Arrest warrants for Serving Heads of States do represent diplomatic difficulties. Ordinarily, given his record, if the American President was not President, he would not qualify for a UK ETA, certainly in the 12 months after conviction. UK visa policy doesn't specify particular offences. Offences resulting in any incarceration are effectively not spent for a period of 5 years for certain visa types; visa officers are given mandatory instruction based on a sliding scale depending on the length of sentence (but not the nature of the offence). I had to deal with this in getting a visa for my wife, who had committed an offence in Malaysia resulting in time (ultimately it was not an issue, and I was glad not to have followed the advice of some forum members and a UK-based Thai visa specialist to lie). But none of that applies to Heads of State and Members of Government. They receive diplomatic visas. Hence the President of Brazil can visit the UK, as did Nelson Mandela. The US granted Gerry Adams, a convicted terrorist, a 48 hour visa to visit the US, despite British protests. ICJ rulings state that heads of state are immune for all acts performed during their time in power, including torture, genocide, and crimes against humanity. Of course, that can't over ride sovereignty. The UK House of Lords determined that extra-judicial killings could not be considered "official acts" when thinking about Pinochet, when Spain wanted to extradite him. The International Law Commission has developed draft articles on the immunities of heads of state. Article 7 removes immunities for crimes such as genocide, torture, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, and forced disappearance. These draft articles reject the view of the ICJ on this matter and approve of the decision of the UK House of Lords on Pinochet. However, the exceptions contained in the ILC draft articles do not extend to corruption or human rights abuses which do not rise to the level of crimes against humanity. Both the US and EU have enacted legislation removing immunities for acts of corruption and human rights abuses, such as th Maginsky Act. Relating Pinochet, a country could submit a extradition request to the US for Putin. He has certainly broken the national legislation of any number of countries. The US is obliged to consider the request, and ultimately the President would decide, and likely reject, so it would be purely symbolic. But symbolism is all that is needed. Putin needs to not only consider the reach of the ICC, but also the reach of all the countries he has offended, where there are extradition arrangements. Quite obviously, Serbia is a signatory to the ICC. Russia considers itself Kith and Kin to Serbia. If Serbia arrested Putin, would Russia nuke Serbia? I doubt it. I don't think the nuclear threat is what you think it is, unless you listen too much to the deranged journalists inhabiting Russian TV, nor, on the flipside, the lunatics in the West, promising to turn the entire Middle East into a parking lot/glass (delete as required). The example George W Bush was raised. There is not ICC or interpol warrant against him. However, in 2011, he called off a visit to Switzerland because apparently the Centre for Constitutional Rights, was going to issue a warrant for his arrest (due to alleged abuses in Cuba), which the Swiss government is legally obliged to act on. https://www.ecchr.eu/en/case/criminal-complaint-against-bush/ But he has continued to travel, mostly to Subsaharan Africa, like Botswana in 2017.

Looking to exchange land. The venue is likely not the American President's choice. Its the choice of some incompetant, because they sacked all the seasoned State Department strategists, who was aske to "thinking out of the box". We saw it in the Johnson government, the same sort of thinking, and too much listening to grifters from outside of government. The previous week they were proposing nudie beaches in Gaza. They've latched onto this idea that: 1. Ukraine is not a real country. This is taken as fact. The high posting Crypto-Stalinists on this forum (those who present themselves as "Conservative Thinkers" but are in fact instinctual apologists for the Communist running Russia) have vociferously argued for this point, copy pasting/plagiarising Kremlin talking points and presenting it as their own. Some of these muppets actually believe it. 2. If Ukraine isn't a real country, then it doesn't have real borders. If it doesn't have real borders, then the borders can be anywhere. This is Balfour thinking. Some bright spark will remember from High School that these were discussions about the fate of so-called fake countries. They saw the movie. 3. The war is just about land, it can't be about sovereignty. because Ukraine is not a real country. So peace will ensue if they just swapsie land. Ukraine will get Kursk because Youtubers are telling them Kursk of full of lovely Ukrainian speaking babuskas. Ukraine will give up whole Oblasts, occupied and unoccupied, because, the same Youtubers tell them they are full of people who hate Ukrainians, so why do you want them. 4. The same half wit clever clogs will be thinking isn't it amazing if they have talks in Alaska, because isn't some Youtuber telling us it used to be Russian. Clever clogs then believes if America metaphorically suck's Putin's cock by suggesting the sale of Alaska made Russia Great Again, because, depending on Wiki, Russia sold Alaska to America to outwit Great Britain, giving away Kursk would therefore will be some amazing powerplay to outwit the European Union, and cement a new US-Russian global hegemony. The Half Wit played this out on Risk (available from all good game shops) and it works 3 out of 5 times. On Sid Meier's Civilization, the Zulus kept popping to spoil things.

Prosecutors will wait the long term. The evidence to date is that those with an arrest warrant are either turned over, or their lives are immeasurably and unpleasantly affected by the mere existence of such a warrant. https://theconversation.com/putin-may-not-outrun-the-warrant-for-his-arrest-history-shows-that-several-leaders-on-the-run-eventually-face-charges-in-court-204890 Probably not so much Putin but all the minorish functionaries who start to sing when facing 50 years in a 3x3m room. Serbia was going to be all hardman with the arrest of Milosevic and his gang, but eventually complied once they realised that national interested trumped defence of those animals. Russia can't isolate itself forever. Its not some backward, semi-agarian hermit kingdom like North Korea. They all know what happened after Stalin. All superloyal until the old bastard croaked, then there were the purges, brilliantly sent up by Armando Iannucci. The thing about authoritarians is to stay in power, they've got to keep giving jobs to the boys. And one day they run out of those jobs. Putin is probably extremely nervous of getting ill; not directly out of personal health reasons (though possibly ultimately so), but because the opportunity that could create for a palace coup.

Along with plastering sensitive internal photos of factories of drone factories all over the internet, now this. Are they idiots? Loose Lips obviously not a well known expression in Russia. So the Ford-Sollers plant is now repurposed to crank out Iranian designed drones. Since 2015, the engine plant had been cranking out Duratec 4-cylinder engines. In 2022, Ford sold its 49% stake in the plant to Sollers, with a buyback clause by 2027 if the situation changed. Sollers is left with a grim product range; some cack looking rehashed UZA 4x4s and the Atlant Transit lookalike and generic Chinese/Japanese style Argo minivan (actually a Chinese JAC's Sunray N25 and N35 van). Given their only assembly line is now making Islamic Republic drone engines, I suppose they are just gluing badges on Chinese vans. Maybe not even that. Handy corporate drone footage of the main assembly building.

Just a poll on a notoriously hard left new channel, so nothing to see. https://bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3lvzbcfity22u

This could have been soooo big https://trumpburger.shop/ Opened the chain in 2020. No doubt the Crypto-Stalinists on the forum will welcome the incarceration, and deportation of the owner, because he's Lebanese, and surely that means Hezbollah were running burger franchises in the US, and voting Republican. A common claim is that all illegal immigrants are also voting, plus they are all hardened murderous killers. Who do drugs and fiddle with kiddies.

Climbdown on gold expected. Someone made a lot of money. Other people lost a lot of money/ https://lenews.ch/2025/08/09/trump-tariff-u-turn-triggered-by-swiss-gold-refiners-request-for-guidance/ https://www.marketscreener.com/news/gold-futures-fall-from-record-high-as-white-house-expected-to-issue-clarification-on-bullion-tariffs-ce7c5edddc8cf322

Got your application form in yet?

Sharp satire. How many here are putting their hand up and saying the joined, out of patriotic duty. I'm sure there are oppotunities outside the US. Remember, you are under no obligation to click "Play".

Or do what's best for Ukraine. Russia is the aggressor here. As it stands, they gain from an act of aggression. The latest "leaked" terms are 1. lifting of sanctions 2. gradual normalisation of trade 3. freezing current status of the occupied Ukrainian lands for 99 years, 4. no assurance against Ukrainian NATO membership 5. no assurance against a halt in US supply of military equipment to Ukraine. What will happen is that 2 of the points will be agreed upon, some watering down of 1 of the points, and outright rejection of 2 of the point. No minutes will be kept, no independant observers of the talks allowed. The talks will conclude more quickly than expected, allowing for some discussion on leisure developments in the Russian capital. Russia only wants the US involved in talks because it is afraid if Europe is in the room, they will lie, and Vlad can be utterly trusted in everything; his word is his bond, as Arthur used to say. This will be presented to Ukraine as the best deal they are going to get, they they are going to have to give up more sovereignty, and its all their fault if they hesitate.

It seems someone inside the DHS is working to undermine and besmerch agents with the commissioning of this kind of artwork inspired by a previous era. Volksturm recruitment poster, appealing to father and son. ICE Agents are receive a starting salary of $90,000. So you can be in your 70s, 80s, sign up now. Half the forum disappears to make hay. Which might be why Dean Cain signed up. I can't anything he has done since that Superman gig Steven Seagal became a copper, then gained a lot of weight eating all those Vegan Twinkies he likes, when the acting gig in the US dried up, then became a Russian, finding work in some pretty bad Euro-thrillers. Wonder what James Woods, Kevin Sorbo and Randy Quaid are upto these days......