Flyguy330

Stick your guns up yer bum. Ireland is a neutral country.

You mean Ireland would have to pay to take it? Not sure that 50quid would suffice. Just did a rough calculation on the 15 Billion saving by UK on getting out of Ireland - that'd bring the defense spending up to 3%. A number that Starmer is hoping to reach by 2030 (by upping UK taxes I presume). This is a serious Win Win for Ireland and the UK. The only losers are about 100K hardline Ulster Loyalists - fk 'em. I should write to Trump with this idea. He'd probably make me Chancellor Of Reunification (COR). I'm pretty sure he could twist Starmers arm to do it if he gets the notion. Problem solved! (800 year old one). Oh, and by the way - I wonder how much of the 'defense' budget is actually blown on keeping NI 'under control' (eh, defense, y'know) instead of having those same guns and squaddies over in Ukraine pointing at the REAL enemy!

Wait a minute, wait a minute! I've got an idea! Last year the UK spent 54 Billion Pounds on defense. In the same year the UK 'subsidized' Northern Ireland to the tune of 15 BILLION Pounds (that's Billion - with a B). Give Ireland back to the Irish, put the savings in your defense budget, you might even have enough left over to keep your pensioners from freezing to death.

There's growing enthusiasm for the Trump adminstration to audit the Fort Knox Gold Reserves. It seems likely to happen, and probably should. If it goes ahead there are 3 possible outcomes; 1. The Gold is all there at 999 fineness. 2. The Gold is low quality (995 fineness or less) - maybe even fake gold plated tungsten. 3. There is NO gold (it having been sold off years ago). In scenarios 2 & 3 there will be panic in world currency markets, especially in scenario 3. If the Dollar is revealed to have had zero backing (yes, the USD Gold Standard was dropped, but not the Gold Reserves backing) it's value will plunge. All of you Yanks living in Thailand on USD will see your USD wealth obliterated instantly. Thanks to Trump. My gut feeling is the Gold is NOT in Fort Knox, or is fake/low qual. So if the audit goes ahead - hang onto your hats. Get ready to flee Thailand.

I have to agree with the posters who predict a coup in the USA. Trump is moving too fast, saying too many stupid things, and alienating too many allies. I wouldn't be in the least surprised if someone close to him bumps him off in the near future.

No, I'm not an economist, but I'll have a go; I guess the answer is that China has been in a process of industrialisation over the last 35 years. They were using tariffs to shelter their growing industries in a low demand domestic economy, and prevent a monstrous trade deficit. Whereas the US is a post-industrial nation, where they've already shipped out their heavy industries. It'll take time to rebuild them to service huge domestic demand, but that seems to be the intent. In the short term the demand for the products will remain high in the US, so the effect will be shortages, and higher prices for quite a few years. The EU is pretty self sufficient in food supply and can do without foreign imports, at least in the staples. The imposition of tariffs on Canada will stifle the supply of fertilizer into the US (or at least making it much more expensive). Canada supplies something like 70% of fertilizer to the US. Food prices will rise as a result. I think I'd argue otherwise! It all depends on the trade balance between countries, and the ability to satisfy domestic demand without imports. I'm happy to be proven wrong. I'm actually fascinated to see what will happen. I'm running out of popcorn! No tariffs (yet) on that.

Trump does seem to have this obsession with Tariffs. Put a Tariff on everybody else and it will solve all your trade issues! Most Economists reject his plan, saying it will blowback on US consumers and pump their cost of living higher. So where did Trump get this idea from? David McWilliams is an Irish economist, journalist and radio presenter. He has made a rather good podcast which explains the source of Trump's idea very entertainingly. It's definitely worth a listen - you'll learn a lot. Hint: Remember Trump going on about Mount McKinley, and how it's name should never have been changed? How is this connected to tariffs? Listen and learn! https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/trump-tariffs-the-gold-rush-the-mckinley-playbook/id1462649946?i=1000689257374

Turkey colluded in the rise of ISIS in Syria by allowing foreign jihadists free passage. Like that bitch Begum and her little bitch friends (may they burn in hell). Under Erdogan Turkey is a proto Islamist state. Turkey deserves to be whacked actually. He plays both sides, like a typical islamist always does. NATO ally my ar5e. That's why the debate about defending him from Russia was contentious. Nobody in Europe fancies burning for Erdogan.

Oh sure. Continue throwing men into the meat grinder - why not, got loads to spare eh?! That's not leadership. That's sheer arrogance. I remember as a kid watching UK TV shows about Soviet strategy for the defeat of Europe in a conventional war. It was all about vast mechanised ranks of the Red Army sweeping in out of the East, with no hope of Europe stopping them, except by resorting to nukes, and then game over for everyone. We believed it. It was terrifying. Now look what we've seen. The 'blitzkrieg' that was meant to defeat puny Kiev in 3 days has ground on for 3 years. No all defeating mechanised Red Army - their tanks only looked spectacular in how high the turrets could fly. They ground to a halt and took to the trenches. They have no answer to drone warfare. It's all a pathetic shadow of what was hyped. Russia has gained ground, but lost respect as a super power. Yes, he's a pariah now - and sure, his remaining support will come from Brics, but with them too the RESPECT they had for the Russian army in the past has surely faded. They've seen it reduced to a farce. China has had territorial disputes with Russia for years. They aren't necessarily best buddies forever. And never forget the Wagner episode. That almost ended it.

For a long time I liked Putin. He seemed to be one of the sanest leaders in the world. Watch his Oliver Stone interview and you can see why. Remember how Russia handled the World Cup in 2018? Brits were interviewed expressing trepidation before going there for the games. After they got there they were full of praise for the friendly reception they got, and the efficiency of how it was all run. There was a huge opportunity to improve relations with Russia in that moment. It was Russia that obliterated ISIS in Syria in Dec 2017, when the US was egging the jihadists on because they fitted the the US main agenda to unseat Assad (at the demand of Netanyahu). Assad was a secular leader - ISIS were rabid Jihadists, out to murder all non muslims. Putin did what the US couldn't/wouldn't, he defeated ISIS in Syria, all credit to him. You might remember things got even more tense then when Turkish jets shot down some Russian helicopters in Syria at the end of the conflict, killing Russian pilots and soldiers. There was instant panic - the debate in The West was whether NATO allies should step up to fight for Turkey when the inevitable Russian retaliation occurred. There was talk of what that would lead to - rapid escalation to nuclear war with Russia was strongly predicted. Then a pic came out showing Erdogan and Putin shaking hands and smiling. Putin kept a cool head and brought us back from the brink. Can you imagine what would have happened if the boot had been on the other foot? Would the Yanks have restrained themselves? I really doubt it. They'd have retaliated, whatever the outcome. So I gave Putin a lot of credit for calmness in the face of Western/NATO provocation. That's why I was shocked and depressed when I saw him invade Ukraine. Whatever the provocation, he should never have fallen into the trap laid by NATO (under direction of the US). He blew it. He lost the head. I lost my respect for him. His army has been defeated and degraded, and he is now a pariah in much of the world. All part of the plan no doubt. Such a pity.

As I said - and you didn't read - the Malaysian Gov pulled the initial offer because applications crashed - nobody wanted it. It was 5hit. The ultra wealthy didn't get rich by being mugs like you imagine they are. Toodle-oo.

IMHO the latest pronouncements from Trump/Vance are indeed a wake-up call to Europe and NATO. And I think it's a good thing too. Here's why. Post WW2, the beginning of the Cold War, and NATO formation, the Hegemony of the USA has defined politics in The West. The USA was very enthusiastic to see itself as the worlds SuperPower, and was ready to spend blood and treasure to maintain a claim to that throne. There was plenty of money to be made too, not to mention power projection over its allies as well as its enemies. As a result what did the world get? Decades of proxy wars, nuclear standoff, American expansionism, and global terrorism fed by US policies in the ME. With the fall of the Soviet Union, America consolidated its global hegemony and enjoyed the spoils it brought. There was little or no complaint from the US establishment about the costs back then, it was all part of the money-go-round the MIC was riding high on. Some of you pointed to the 'bloated' social security system Europe set up. Well YES! They did! As a young man I looked at the poverty and deprivation and decay in the US and wondered how the richest nation in the world could suffer it. My seniors simply pointed out that Europe spent money on social services, and the US spent its money on guns and bombs, and built big jails for their poor. As long as Big Business and the Military Industrial Complex thrived, keeping the elites wealthy, and US Hegemony unchallenged - to hell with those bums. But lately - probably starting with Covid, and US defeat in Afghanistan - Americans have woken up to whats been going on around them, they've suffered economically, seen military disaster, and had wokeism shoved down their throats. They've finally said 'enough', and - like him or not - believed in Trump's promises as the solution to their woes. So they voted for THAT PROMISE en masse. Now he's delivering exactly what they voted for. Massive Change. Trump's promise to Make America Great Again *may* improve a lot of things back home for Americans. But it will come at the cost of America's Hegemony in the wider world. We see it now in his attitude to NATO, and how he treats his 'allies' in Europe. We see it in his demands on their military spending, and his expressed aims of grabbing the resources he needs for his plans at home. So the Post WW2 order is coming to an end, and yes it's a good thing, because instead of The West being a junior partner, tied to American Hegemony (a role they've become all too comfortable with) they will now have to stand on their own feet, and cut the umbilical to the US. That means, yes, more spending on military preparedness - but not necessarily at the levels Trump has demanded, because The West will in future be able to ignore America's demands for involvement in its war mongering around the globe. No more Libya's, no more Iraq's or Afghanistans, no war with Iran (an American/Israli obsession). Europe can determine its own place in the world, and let America go to hell, as it should. America (under Trump, and probably his immediate successors) will claim victory, wallow in their home spent wealth (for a while), and gradually withdraw into the old isolationism they enjoyed pre WW1. There'll be a chance of global peace at last. It will eventually dawn on the US that they have become largely irrelevant in the Great Game as China and BRICS become the new SuperPowers. The US will only be 'important' because it has a nuclear arsenal - which it won't use. Nobody will be interested in invading a dormant nuthouse. Meanwhile Europe will grow up and improve its own national defenses, a European Defence Force is highly likely, and another good thing too. As for the threat from Russia - I believe that without a bellicose USA pulling the strings things will settle down a lot between Europe and Russia, and anyway, after its performance in Ukraine the Russian military has shown itself to be a complete paper tiger, being tied down to 'trench warfare' for nearly 3 years by a country with a fraction of its population. So carry on Trumpy, break their balls, focus on building your beach resorts in Palestine. Good luck with that.

Digi Nomad was pushing the Malaysian Visas program post Covid as being a great new deal. It was a 5hit deal actually, and so bad the Malaysian Gov finally admitted so, pulled it, and went back to the drawing board.

'Ocasio-Cortez urged Democrats to “blow this place up.” (The Senate). Mere RHETORIC of course.... https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/05/senate-democrats-trump-musk-resistance-012557

In addition to propping up far-left corporate media outlets like Politico and the BBC with taxpayer funds, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has funneled half a billion dollars to a secretive non-governmental organization operating a global news propaganda matrix. WikiLeaks published the bombshell report in the overnight hours that shows the massive taxpayer-funded state propaganda network - operating as a shady NGO - called "Internews Network": USAID has pushed nearly half a billion dollars ($472.6m) through a secretive US government financed NGO, "Internews Network" (IN), which has "worked with" 4,291 media outlets, producing in one year 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and "training" over 9000 journalists (2023 figures). IN has also supported social media censorship initiatives. The operation claims "offices" in over 30 countries, including main offices in US, London, Paris and regional HQs in Kiev, Bangkok and Nairobi. It is headed up by Jeanne Bourgault, who pays herself $451k a year. Bourgault worked out of the US embassy in Moscow during the early 1990s, where she was in charge of a $250m budget, and in other revolts or conflicts at critical times, before formally rotating out of six years at USAID to IN. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/usaid-funded-massive-global-state-propaganda-news-matrix-nearly-billion-people-reach