@moonbus saidXi doesn't care because China has been future proofing its economy. There was a time when China was putting up coal fired power plants at the rate of one per week. That was 20 years ago. As of 2025 China only uses 55% of coal generated electricity. The rest is renewable. China is replacing fossil fuel generated electricity at an accelerated rate, where 85% of new electrical generation is renewable.
Nonsense. China does not need America, and neither does Russia. Do you think Xi cares if his economy tanks? Not one bit. He does not worry about getting reelected if three hundred million Chinese are out of work. Neither does Putin.
Look at the car industry, the EV market.
Do you remember who the leader in that field was? America, with Tesla and Elon Musk, but while he thought to get close to Trump and play culture war politics, China just said build baby build. Chances are your next vehicle will be Chinese and you will fill it up with electricity you captured off your roof and stored in batteries that gave you absolute independence from large utility companies.
But the drill baby drill crowd will have you believe that true independence only comes from crude......SMH
@paradox4 saidMaybe we should think about being fair to the non-American taxpayers, seeing how prices are skyrocketing because roughly half of the American taxpayers voted for Trump and are therefore complicit in this nonsense.
I'm no fan of Trump, but what's fair is fair.
Maybe we should think about being "fair" to the American taxpayer. Every time the state of Israel goes to war with one of its neighbors, the US jumps in with military support, arms shipments, and everything else on the planet. I didn't see the state of Israel lifting a finger to help America during desert storm, operation Iraq ...[text shortened]... , but Israel does little or nothing for America. This doesn't look like much of an "alliance" to me.
@paradox4 saidWow! What historical ignorance!
I'm no fan of Trump, but what's fair is fair.
Maybe we should think about being "fair" to the American taxpayer. Every time the state of Israel goes to war with one of its neighbors, the US jumps in with military support, arms shipments, and everything else on the planet. I didn't see the state of Israel lifting a finger to help America during desert storm, operation Iraq ...[text shortened]... , but Israel does little or nothing for America. This doesn't look like much of an "alliance" to me.
===I didn't see the state of Israel lifting a finger to help America during desert storm, operation Iraq freedom, or our long campaign in Afghanistan. ===
Israel was specifically asked by the US to stay out of those wars - on the (astute) theory that Israeli participation would upset the other Arab allies of the US.
Israel sustained scores of scud missile hits in the 1991 war for example and, despite this incredible provocation, did not counterattack because the US asked it not to.
I'm not going to start with a laundry list of how the US benefits from having Israel as an ally (you can Google it yourself) except to say that a bulwark against Islamic extremism benefits everyone on the world (except the Islamic extremists, I suppose).
@AThousandYoung saidRight.
Let us keep in mind that Iran is the country that got Carter defeated and Reagan elected. He even paid them for their support. They know how to play the election game.
And you know why the Iranian revolutionaries had such contempt for Carter?
Because he was weak.
Carter once said that the number one goal of his administration was to get the embassy hostages released. Do you not see how incredibly weak that sounds, coming from a world superpower?
Thugs don't respect someone they can push around.
@kmax87 saidThis is a topic for a different thread, but it is truly amazing how the Chinese can get stuff done. California's rail project has been on ice for 2 decades due to bureaucratic red tape. And basically, building anything new takes 2 decades. The Second Avenue subway project in New York is decades old and decades more to go.
Xi doesn't care because China has been future proofing its economy. There was a time when China was putting up coal fired power plants at the rate of one per week. That was 20 years ago. As of 2025 China only uses 55% of coal generated electricity. The rest is renewable. China is replacing fossil fuel generated electricity at an accelerated rate, where 85% of new electrical ge ...[text shortened]... e drill baby drill crowd will have you believe that true independence only comes from crude......SMH
And it's not a matter of democracy vs. autocracy. The US used to be able to build things. We built the interstate highway system in a few years. Now it takes decades to build one damned bridge.
We've mired ourselves in a mess of bureaucracy. That's why our infrastructure is getting old and weak.
@sh76 saidOf course, if it wasn't for our lavish support for Israel and acceptance of their oppression of the Palestinians, we wouldn't have any major issue with "Islamic extremists".
Wow! What historical ignorance!
===I didn't see the state of Israel lifting a finger to help America during desert storm, operation Iraq freedom, or our long campaign in Afghanistan. ===
Israel was specifically asked by the US to stay out of those wars - on the (astute) theory that Israeli participation would upset the other Arab allies of the US.
Israel sustained score ...[text shortened]... against Islamic extremism benefits everyone on the world (except the Islamic extremists, I suppose).
And, just like that, Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/17/iran-war-hormuz-strait-israel-lebanon-ceasefire.html
Sure, they have a nice fig leaf that they can use (the Lebanon ceasefire) to explain the about-face.
But it's obvious that the IRGC suddenly realizing that blockades can go both ways contributed to the back-down.
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@sh76 saidA strange reading since Iran had initially reopened the Strait when the ceasefire was announced only to close it again when Israel bombed central Beirut killing many civilians.
And, just like that, Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/17/iran-war-hormuz-strait-israel-lebanon-ceasefire.html
Sure, they have a nice fig leaf that they can use (the Lebanon ceasefire) to explain the about-face.
But it's obvious that the IRGC suddenly realizing that blockades can go both ways contributed to the back-down.
And there's been no announcement that the US blockade doesn't remain in effect.
@no1marauder saidget up to date...hormuz is fully open...Trump wins again!
A strange reading since Iran had initially reopened the Strait when the ceasefire was announced only to close it again when Israel bombed central Beirut killing many civilians.
And there's been no announcement that the US blockade doesn't remain in effect.
@Mott-The-Hoople saidIt's open because there's a ceasefire in Lebanon; Hezbollah wins again!
get up to date...hormuz is fully open...Trump wins again!
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@Mott-The-Hoople saidThanks for getting us back to where we were before, while making the wallets of every American a few hundred dollars lighter along the way.
get up to date...hormuz is fully open...Trump wins again!
@sh76 saidThe blockade didn't do anything.
And, just like that, Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/17/iran-war-hormuz-strait-israel-lebanon-ceasefire.html
Sure, they have a nice fig leaf that they can use (the Lebanon ceasefire) to explain the about-face.
But it's obvious that the IRGC suddenly realizing that blockades can go both ways contributed to the back-down.
@wildgrass saidGreat. Thank you for your contribution. Maybe if youall stop buying all that junk and rubbish at Walmart, and stop eating McDonalds and other junk food, you will be both healthier and wealthier. The money is better spent by the US govt trying to rid of the world of the evils of Islam.
Thanks for getting us back to where we were before, while making the wallets of every American a few hundred dollars lighter along the way.
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@Rajk999 saidThe Taliban sat patiently and waited out 20 years of US hunting them and occupation of their territory in Afghanistan, and then easily resumed power.
Great. Thank you for your contribution. Maybe if youall stop buying all that junk and rubbish at Walmart, and stop eating McDonalds and other junk food, you will be both healthier and wealthier. The money is better spent by the US govt trying to rid of the world of the evils of Islam.
The cost was $2.3 trillion. It's absurd to argue that money was well spent.
You are only pretending when you say that these wars are doing anything to root out evil. If anything, they seem to contribute to it.
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@wildgrass saidFrom my point of view, the money was well spent. I am happy when Islam is kept down. You are more concerned with your own personal taxes, and disposable income, than with world security.
The Taliban sat patiently and waited out 20 years of US hunting them and occupation of their territory in Afghanistan, and then easily resumed power.
The cost was $2.3 trillion. It's absurd to argue that money was well spent.
You are only pretending when you say that these wars are doing anything to root out evil. If anything, they seem to contribute to it.
Maybe in VietNam the US should have either gone in their with full force and finish the job rather than beat around the bush. Maybe in Afganistan they should have killed out a few more terrorists quickly with some proper bombs and withdrawn earlier, instead of messing around for 20 years.
There are too many rules for war. War should be quick and decisive. The enemy should be hit with the biggest bombs possible. Then people like you will be happy and less of your tax payers money will be wasted. However in Iran the stakes are different. Here we have an enemy with nuclear ambitions who has vowed to destroy the US and Israel. They are different scenarios.