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#1
Off the Record / Re: The EU thread
Last post by Razgovory - Today at 12:10:38 AMIf you want to drop large ordonnance at range you will probably need something heavy.
#2
Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...
Last post by Bauer - Today at 12:07:16 AMSo is there any chance the gripen can work for Canada? I'd love to see a partnership like that, but it seems pretty hard to move on from the F35 at this stage.
#3
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by Razgovory - Today at 12:07:11 AMQuote from: Zoupa on November 18, 2025, 10:56:26 PMIt's in the Palestine thread.Quote from: Razgovory on November 18, 2025, 10:12:08 PMOh see, I was heavily criticized for thinking he had strong ties to France.
You were?
I have both passports.
#4
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by Tamas - November 18, 2025, 11:37:49 PMQuote from: Jacob on November 18, 2025, 06:38:51 PMYeah... I believe conscription is probably a positive social force (barring massively abusive systems like what the Russians apparently have), though I feel a bit hypocritical saying so since I wasn't conscripted myself.
My best friend at the time went into the army as a conscript, a lean, non-smoking 18 years old. Came out 9 months later an overweight chain smoker. Plus all the other stories I heard. Fuck that. I am sure nostalgia made it out to be a great thing for people who never left their town\village for more than a day except when they were in the army.
I accept it may be a necessary institution but the last time it was used it was meant to keep a constant mass army by rotating the youth, robbing 1-2 years of their lives. Bringing that back feels unnecessary. A shorter bout to make sure there is some training, plus a more robust voluntary reserve force, that would make more sense to me.
#5
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by Jacob - November 18, 2025, 11:02:09 PMQuote from: Razgovory on November 18, 2025, 10:12:08 PMOh see, I was heavily criticized for thinking he had strong ties to France.
By whom?
#6
Off the Record / Re: The EU thread
Last post by Zoupa - November 18, 2025, 11:01:36 PM10 ton drones lol. Are we in the 90s? These things will be blown out of the sky on day 1 against a peer adversary. There's a reason Bayraktar videos disappeared after the 1st month of the war. There's a reason Ukraine never requested the Reaper drones from the US.
#7
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by Zoupa - November 18, 2025, 10:56:26 PMQuote from: Razgovory on November 18, 2025, 10:12:08 PMOh see, I was heavily criticized for thinking he had strong ties to France.
You were?
I have both passports.
#8
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by Razgovory - November 18, 2025, 10:12:08 PMOh see, I was heavily criticized for thinking he had strong ties to France.
#9
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by Grey Fox - November 18, 2025, 09:54:25 PMHe is now, wasn't always.
#10
Off the Record / Re: The China Thread
Last post by Sheilbh - November 18, 2025, 09:48:39 PMInteresting via WSJ reporter - Goldman Sachs have upgraded long-term GDP of China because of increased exports. But their analysis suggests this will reduce, not increase, the rest of the world's GDP because the displacement of manufacturing will outweigh positives from cheaper goods:
There may be global growth in a purely arithmetic sense of Chinese and Indian growth being larger than the hit to the rest of the world's but it's certainly not going to create positive feedback loops improving other countries' growths (at least in the short-term).
And this is the strategy from China. Xi's pursued a policy of "dual circulation" to increase global dependeency on Chinese industry, while increasing Chinese self-sufficiency.
As I was saying in the Brexit I think part of the reason we are moving to increasingly zero-sum politics is that we are living in an increasingly zero-sum world and this seems like a very strong example of this and also fundamentally different from the assumptions of 1990s style globalising free trade - I think similarly to Tamas' thread on the politics of the late 90s etc just being dead, this is a big part of why. The alternatives are probably accept de-industialisation, dependency and disinflationary pressures - or try to fight it, which is likely to be inflationary and require fiscal support (in a very constrained post-covid fiscal environment).
(Again the choice, especially in Europe, to piss away a decade of low inflation and low rates on harsh austerity measures and internal devaluation as opposed to building domestic demand and spending on capital projects was an absolute catastrophe.)
There may be global growth in a purely arithmetic sense of Chinese and Indian growth being larger than the hit to the rest of the world's but it's certainly not going to create positive feedback loops improving other countries' growths (at least in the short-term).
And this is the strategy from China. Xi's pursued a policy of "dual circulation" to increase global dependeency on Chinese industry, while increasing Chinese self-sufficiency.
As I was saying in the Brexit I think part of the reason we are moving to increasingly zero-sum politics is that we are living in an increasingly zero-sum world and this seems like a very strong example of this and also fundamentally different from the assumptions of 1990s style globalising free trade - I think similarly to Tamas' thread on the politics of the late 90s etc just being dead, this is a big part of why. The alternatives are probably accept de-industialisation, dependency and disinflationary pressures - or try to fight it, which is likely to be inflationary and require fiscal support (in a very constrained post-covid fiscal environment).
(Again the choice, especially in Europe, to piss away a decade of low inflation and low rates on harsh austerity measures and internal devaluation as opposed to building domestic demand and spending on capital projects was an absolute catastrophe.)