Trump is doing a Ukraine on Taiwan. And it exposes a startling new level of US weakness

https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/china/trump-china-taiwan-ukraine-putin-xi-jinping-arms-sales-b2982951.html

89 points · 20 comments · view on lemmy.world

20 Comments

jackintosh@feddit.nl · 13 pts · 83d (1 reply)

Europe then supported Ukraine and it seems to be going okay. Perhaps Japan and Korea can pick up the slack from US for Taiwan.

mojofrododojo@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 82d

it's a hard stretch; the distance between Japan/Korea and Taiwan means the Chinese can blockade the islands easily. And if Korea really steps up support, it'd be easy for Xi to tell kim to start fuckery.

I'm very depressed about these turns of events.

Also, our stores of patriots and precision guided munitions are already disturbingly low from the iran debacle (strangely, Israel isn't shooting off nearly as much of their stores - fuckers).

Objection@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 82d

The US president is taking on his country’s policy of “strategic ambiguity” over the delicate standing of Taiwan, which China claims as its own, by tilting towards Beijing.

In Asia and Australasia, this attitude has caused quiet consternation, with Washington’s traditional friends seeking backroom reassurances from the Trump administration that he is not shifting away from the US’s well-established defence commitments.

Excuse me? "Well-established defense commitments" and "strategic ambiguity" are not terms that belong together, lol. The US has no "well-established defence commitments" to Taiwan, that's literally the meaning of "strategic ambiguity." "Well-established ambiguous commitments" is a new one for me.

Of course the news weeps for the momentary suspension of arms sales. Every time something risks public funds going to bombs, the pundits line up to explain how bad it is. Somehow not sending someone weapons is framed as "doing a Ukraine on Taiwan," as though sending weapons to everyone is the default and it's some kind of offense to not do so. If by some miracle the US ever stops sending arms to Israel or Saudi Arabia, I look forward to hearing about how whoever's in charge is "doing a Ukraine on" them. Think of how many lives would have been saved, of only the US had "done a Ukraine on" Pol Pot or Al Qaida.

Utterly absurd framing from start to finish.

RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world · -20 pts · 83d (17 replies)

But the United States is not weak

Trump is making us weak

There is a difference

Archangel1313@lemmy.ca · 38 pts · 83d (9 replies)

Except the United States chose him to be president. And even if you weren't one of those people that voted for him...more Americans did, than didn't.

That's pretty fuckin' weak.

homes@piefed.world · 6 pts · 83d

And even if you weren't one of those people that voted for him...more Americans did, than didn't.

Almost but not quite. Although Trump did win the popular vote this time, he only got 49.8% of the vote. Harris got less, of course, and the remainder went to 3rd-party candidates.

13igTyme@piefed.social · 4 pts · 83d (6 replies)

If you count those that didn't vote at all, the less people voted for him than didn't.

If you count people that can't vote for reasons or are children. Then most didn't.

77m out of 330m pop. 23% of Americans are ruining the lives of 253 million others.

Archangel1313@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 83d (3 replies)

And they just let it happen.

mycodesucks@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 83d (1 reply)

Yeah. People who don't care aren't some magical panacea that makes it okay. They're just as bad as the MAGAs. Representative government comes with a responsibility to be informed and make good decisions for your representatives. NOT doing so is a shirking of collective responsibility - it's not a magic pool filled with redemption.

Ioughttamow@fedia.io · 2 pts · 83d

Not all didn’t care though… there are ACTIVE campaigns to disenfranchise voters, especially in red states. Can’t be having “urban” folks having representation

13igTyme@piefed.social · 1 pts · 83d

"Fuck them kids." - Archangel1313

justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io · 2 pts · 83d (1 reply)

The people that didn't vote, vote for the person who won.

13igTyme@piefed.social · 1 pts · 83d

True, which is why I was also talking about those that can't vote. Like the youth.

nosuchanon@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 82d

There’s a good chance fElon Musk helped tamper with the votes.

Rothe@piefed.social · 19 pts · 83d

Trump makes the United States weak. If Trump makes the United States weak, then the United States is weak. It is not a difficult sentence to parse.

AppleTea@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 83d (4 replies)

Aside from the reserve currency, what are our strengths?

RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world · -10 pts · 83d (3 replies)

We can feed ourselves and export oil simultaneously. No other big country can do that. (Except Russia and the have none of the rest of these)

The constitution still holds

No belligerent powers on our borders

Despite what is being done, our education system is solid

femtek@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 83d
justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io · 1 pts · 83d
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AppleTea@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 82d

Arbitrary combination of two different metrics. The second one is becoming less and less important. The 21st century is increasingly meeting its energy needs with renewables, not petrol.

Britain's parliamentary charter also still holds. Not exactly an indication of strength or relevance on the world stage.

Kinda ignores that being the belligerent power on other people's boarders comes with its own set of consequences...

and lol

BilboBargains@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 82d

Anal sex makes your whole week