Greenland!

[SAnd]

On a lighter side...
Maybe Trump is playing the long game.
If climate change heats the continental USA up excessively we would have someplace that might be cooler to migrate to. It also has a large potential of natural thermal energy to make USA less dependant on oil.

[HoneyBadger]

Someone send me this article the other day, and I think this is spot on:

A few interesting points, but also some really silly alarmism. NATO breakup would certainly be devastating if it played out this way. I would much prefer a peaceful withdraw from NATO and no military actions against our friends. Losing our basing and access in European countries would be devastating. European countries rearming and having real militaries to defend themselves..... sounds like a good long term goal honestly, and it's what our National Security Strategy published last month calls for. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-conten...y-Strategy.pdf) If you haven't read it, perhaps taking a peek at the NSS will shed some light on some of the things happening in the Caribbean and South America (and I bet Mexico is next).

I think I said this earlier in the thread (or maybe the Iran thread) but the Bretton-Woods era is coming to an end and the US is trying to get out of the business of playing world police and providing free trade and nuclear umbrellas to all of our friends. We've done this for decades at great cost. Was it beneficial? For most of that period, yes. It helped grow the US into the unprecedented superpower that we are now. But China has also weaponized these things against us, taking advantage in every way to make themselves stronger and their miliary and economy show it. Something interesting about the concept of withdrawing from globalism is that the US is primed and in a position that no other country on Earth is: in complete isolation, we can clothe, feed, and power ourselves, while also sustaining a tech base, manufacturing base, and having a healthy demographic curve to power our economy. Australia, Canada, and Russia (if you include the territory they've captured from Ukraine) are the only other nations that are net exporters of food and energy. Would our economy suffer? Would our quality of life change? Absolutely - but less so than everyone else.

In HoneyBadger's opinion, is complete isolationism the best grand strategy for the US? No, but in a world where everyone is isolated, the US is uniquely situated to come out on top. Meanwhile, China (and many others) would struggle with mass starvation and industrial/economic collapse.

[ruthabagah]

A few interesting points, but also some really silly alarmism. NATO breakup would certainly be devastating if it played out this way. I would much prefer a peaceful withdraw from NATO and no military actions against our friends. Losing our basing and access in European countries would be devastating. European countries rearming and having real militaries to defend themselves..... sounds like a good long term goal honestly, and it's what our National Security Strategy published last month calls for. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-conten...y-Strategy.pdf) If you haven't read it, perhaps taking a peek at the NSS will shed some light on some of the things happening in the Caribbean and South America (and I bet Mexico is next).

I think I said this earlier in the thread (or maybe the Iran thread) but the Bretton-Woods era is coming to an end and the US is trying to get out of the business of playing world police and providing free trade and nuclear umbrellas to all of our friends. We've done this for decades at great cost. Was it beneficial? For most of that period, yes. It helped grow the US into the unprecedented superpower that we are now. But China has also weaponized these things against us, taking advantage in every way to make themselves stronger and their miliary and economy show it. Something interesting about the concept of withdrawing from globalism is that the US is primed and in a position that no other country on Earth is: in complete isolation, we can clothe, feed, and power ourselves, while also sustaining a tech base, manufacturing base, and having a healthy demographic curve to power our economy. Australia, Canada, and Russia (if you include the territory they've captured from Ukraine) are the only other nations that are net exporters of food and energy. Would our economy suffer? Would our quality of life change? Absolutely - but less so than everyone else.

In HoneyBadger's opinion, is complete isolationism the best grand strategy for the US? No, but in a world where everyone is isolated, the US is uniquely situated to come out on top. Meanwhile, China (and many others) would struggle with mass starvation and industrial/economic collapse.

Did you pulled this from grok?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HoneyBadger]

Did you pulled this from grok?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I asked grok for current import/export data. The response is my own, based somewhat on the books "Accidental Superpower" and "Absent Superpower" by Peter Zeihan.