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From Dec 26:
"Since President Trump decided to pull U.S. troops from northern Syria, Russians have been moving into the territory abandoned by the Americans. On Thursday, Russian troops took over an air base that had been controlled by U.S. forces near Raqqa—the onetime capital of the Islamic State. The Russians, who are allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have also occupied former U.S. airbases in Qamishli and Tabqa in recent weeks. Trump announced in October that the U.S. was withdrawing from Syria ahead of a Turkish incursion into Kurdish areas."
From June 3:
"Trump over the weekend had raised the prospect of expanding the G7, whose members are the world’s most advanced economies, to once again include Russia, which had been expelled in 2014 following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region."
2016:
Trump said Putin did "an amazing job of taking the mantle" when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump broke with US policy and suggested he was OK if Russia kept the Ukrainian territory.
2017:
In a shocking move during the early months of his presidency, Trump shared highly classified intelligence with two senior Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting in May 2017. The intelligence, which was about ISIS, was sensitive enough that it could have exposed a vulnerable source. The unplanned disclosure by Trump rattled even many of his Republican allies.
2020:
The President was repeatedly told during in-person briefings and in written intelligence reports in 2019 and 2020 that the US government believed Russia paid bounties to Afghan militants to kill Americans, according to CNN and other outlets. Despite being given this information, Trump did not publicly condemn Russia or take any retaliatory actions. Trump has denied receiving any briefings on the topic.
Sept 4:
President Donald Trump on Friday declined to condemn Russia over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, even though leaders from around the world, as well as other Trump administration officials, have pinned the blame on the country
With the exception of Trump pulling the US military out of Syria, everything on your list are things Trump has said or refrained from saying, and not actual policies or actions. I readily admit that Trump oftentimes says outrageous things, or he doesn't phrase things in the most elegant or delicate way. I think it is one of his major shortcomings. But I look to actions- what he has done, and he has not done anything that advantages Russia.
We can have a debate over the wisdom of pulling US forces out of Syria. I admit I don't like the way he did it, pulling the rug out from under our Kurdish allies. But he did it to disengage the US out of the middle east. He has been consistent for many years in his opposition to wars for "regime change". He thinks we have wasted thousands of lives, and trillions of dollars, on endless wars- and most Americans agree with him. Russia has been an ally of the Assad regime for 50 years. They have had a naval base at Latakia for decades. The airbase that we used and was taken over by the Russians after we withdrew did not give the Russians any advantage they didn't previously have. Trump didn't withdraw from Syria to give the Russians an airbase- he withdrew from Syria to disengage the US militarily from endless wars.
In other words, Germans are doing it right, because the American waste of energy is unsustainable.
American? How about the Chinese? Or India? Those countries are all set to be doubling or even tripling their energy consumption over the next few decades. India alone has 1.5bn people. You think they're not going to all want air conditioning as they become more affluent, given India's hot and humid climate?
If you think Americans are the problem wasting too much energy, how about you divert some of your criticism towards ASIA.
Last edited by minnomaboidenapolis; 09-15-2020 at 07:03 PM..
German energy prices are like 7 times higher than ours per KW. We have larger homes, bigger families, we use more A/C. Germans live very frugally, in part because high energy prices are mandated by the German government in order to try to get people to use less energy, it’s coercive. Only the rich can afford to use energy like Americans.
This. What so many on the left and lovers of "green" energy don't realize is that it's expensiveto rely strictly on renewables, in 2020, that could change in the distant future. But for now, renewables are no match for coal/oil and certainly not for nuclear (which IS clean and renewable, and should be our focus).
I've been to Europe many times and it's insane how weak and underpowered their washing machines, vacuum cleaners, etc are all in the name of "energy frugality." European brand dishwashers, until recently, had no drying features because of German energy laws! The climate in Europe also allows less reliance on A/C in summer but in many regions of the US it's impossible to live without A/C, so also keep that in mind.
No, they actually are not.
Germany is busy building LNG receiving stations. If you think it is a waste of money, you are alone. https://germanlng.com/german-lng-terminal/
Huh?! Your reply does not refer to what I had said. Your link does not contradict my saying that pipelines are more efficient in transporting gas/oil.
This. What so many on the left and lovers of "green" energy don't realize is that it's expensiveto rely strictly on renewables, in 2020, that could change in the distant future. But for now, renewables are no match for coal/oil and certainly not for nuclear (which IS clean and renewable, and should be our focus).
I've been to Europe many times and it's insane how weak and underpowered their washing machines, vacuum cleaners, etc are all in the name of "energy frugality." European brand dishwashers, until recently, had no drying features because of German energy laws! The climate in Europe also allows less reliance on A/C in summer but in many regions of the US it's impossible to live without A/C, so also keep that in mind.
How are European washing machines underpowered when they spin at 1600 rpm and wash at 95°C?!
I only know of power limits for vacuum cleaners, and that is a good thing because many of them were overpowered in the past.
There was no German law on dish washers, nor would a German law have applied to European brands.
The European world of appliances is simply different from the American one. Dish washers and also laundry driers are much less popular here than in the US.
The same goes for A/C. I live in Portugal and I only have a portable fan, which I only turn on when the heat is above 40C/105F.
American? How about the Chinese? Or India? Those countries are all set to be doubling or even tripling their energy consumption over the next few decades. India alone has 1.5bn people. You think they're not going to all want air conditioning as they become more affluent, given India's hot and humid climate?
If you think Americans are the problem wasting too much energy, how about you divert some of your criticism towards ASIA.
It is not about countries but about people. I.e. per capita values matter. Since China has 4.5x as many people as the US, they can use 4x as much energy as a country and they would still use less energy per capita.
And that is only theory, in reality the Chinese and Indians are far from that, more like one third: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ion_per_capita
And even with that ranking one has to keep in mind that most citizens in China use even less per capita because the country has so much industry, which uses a higher share of energy compared to Europe or the US for instance.
German energy prices are like 7 times higher than ours per KW. We have larger homes, bigger families, we use more A/C. Germans live very frugally, in part because high energy prices are mandated by the German government in order to try to get people to use less energy, it’s coercive. Only the rich can afford to use energy like Americans.
I wouldn’t call it “frugally”. I would say they live efficiently and that runs in their blood because it’s smart.
Trump angered Putin by trying to ruin the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would allow Russian gas to be sold to Germany.
Trump argued that Germany can't trust Russia to supply its energy as Russia is a geopolitical adversary to Germany and its allies. Trump tried to get Germany to buy US gas instead of Russian gas from a company that Putin is heavily invested in (and if you believe the mainstream propaganda media, Trump is supposedly a lapdog of Putin).
Germany was angered and rebuffed Trump.
Now, several key German politicians including Merkel are saying that relying more on Russia for energy is a bad idea and are saying that they may push to cancel it.
Isn't that the way these people are, if a Republican president, especially Trump, says something, then they must be against it. Don't think it thru, just knee-jerk disagree with any position that Trump takes.
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