SpankyMcFarland

These days I wonder if that’s different. For many of them, anyway.

They sure do and they will become ever more grotesque. Trump’s behaviour is not going to normalize.

So imagine a King Andy. How would he have united the country? It’s just such antiquated hogwash. Our de facto head of state, the GG, should be chosen better too. The PM should have no direct hand in it.

The alternative is leadership chosen by merit not birth. That is a better system for the modern world.

Says somebody from a country that does nothing but interfere abroad.

Trump had to compromise with Xi, to put it mildly. Let’s see if that makes him more reasonable or more vengeful with us.

One good thing about foreign suppliers is that they don’t usually have a stranglehold over the politics of the purchase process and can be negotiated with by the government, up to and including cancellation. By contrast, with a local consortium you may have to abandon hope of control over the ultimate price as it multiplies. Longer term, I would worry whether South Korea can stay independent of Chinese influence and would prefer the Germans from that point of view.

Will anybody actually defend Trump’s unhinged statements any more? Increasingly, we just hear whataboutery from his supporters: “Oh, look what your side did sometime somewhere”. It’s only going to get worse for them.

And now the enemy is Nigeria! https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/01/trump-nigeria-christian-persecution Whatever happened to America First and isolationism?

Well now, more or less peacefully and they do face discrimination as I am sure you know more about than I do. Saying they live peacefully is a bit of a tell there. Many Palestinian citizens of Israel are not happy with how they are treated. https://imeu.org/resources/palestine-101/fact-sheet-palestinian-citizens-of-israel/229

This video gives me some comfort for the short-term future. However, I fear China is like the Soviet Union in 1941 or the North in 1861. Better leaders will be found in the army as the war progresses. China’s scale is the fundamental problem. Nobody has faced a manufacturing giant quite like this. In a longer war an opponent would run the risk of running out of drones and the rest.

Trump has a special hostility to Canada. The real problem isn’t north of the border. Poilievre should not pretend that it is.

The two contenders seem to be different in what they do? https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/the-mix/analyst-says-ottawa-should-pick-german-sub-builder-over-south-korean-rival-11409949 Anyway good to see movement. We need so much more of this.

Every Western country needs to learn from Japan’s example on rare earths. They’ve been weaning themselves off China’s supply for over a decade. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/20/rare-earths-japan-more-prepared-than-most-for-chinas-mineral-squeeze.html And it’s good to see Canada and Australia co-operating on critical minerals too. https://www.industry.gov.au/news/australia-and-canada-strengthen-partnership-critical-minerals

I know nothing about the military side of things and I’ll readily admit there have been many false dawns there but I draw comfort from this recent assessment by Paul Warburg:

I don’t mean to sound negative about Paul McCartney. His melodies have defined my life. What a blessing that two such incredibly talented artists should live beside each other, meet and work together for so long. It’s the combination, the light and dark, sweet and sour, that made the Beatles so special. Ringo and George and the other George were brilliant too. Like Seinfeld or The Sopranos, the stars aligned and everything went right.

I remember a journalist following up a story about McCartney that seemed credible at first until it was alleged that Paul had bought somebody a pint. Then he knew it wasn’t true. Unlike Lennon, McCartney was always the businessman, obsessed with making money and very careful about spending it. One reason he fell out with Brian Epstein was because of all the money Epstein failed to make on merchandising in the United States.

I would never have linked or compared these two people. There you are.

Sorry, can you give me a bit more background here? I am truly, madly, deeply clueless on these matters. Are these people at home or business or both or what?

Well, I’ll say one thing for Jolie. She has a lovely face. I was surprised she has stayed on in federal politics.

Given the animosity between you I fear not too many would be able to live there at first. One sees the same problem in many tribal wars. That’s no excuse for stealing though.

I am in favour of a Palestinian state there. There could be some land concessions near the Israeli border but nothing like the current situation.

My dog couldn’t tolerate cats, or most dogs either, but she was South African.

My last post on Ashton. The guy needs some style points. There’s such a thing as too authentic. Trim the beard way down, get a new wardrobe, speed up the delivery and put some variety of tone and volume into it. Energize! You’re welcome.

I am sure Xi has studied that parallel closely. The Japanese were behind America in technological advancement and had a smaller industrial base. This is more like multiple Japans. In nearly every research field, Chinese scientists, increasingly based in China, are making great strides. They are way beyond plastic tat for Walmart. The number of elite engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs in the country is staggering. In many sectors they have caught up and in some they are already ahead. The DeepSeek and TikTok stories should be a wake up call to everybody. These transitions are often not apparent until they are conspicuous and way too late to do anything about, particularly in a country as opaque to outsiders as China. Don’t be misled by the poverty of the country overall or the terrible incompetence of its tyrannical government. China’s workers have succeeded despite these formidable obstacles. China may not even have to go to war to take Taiwan. For example, America needs to start rare earth mining in earnest pronto and ask its remaining friends to do the same. That particular weapon is by no means permanently off the table no matter what poor old Trump likes to think after this week. And then there are America’s financial vulnerabilities. We have awakened a sleeping giant and America will need all the help it can muster to contain this challenge. It is also my hope that Chinese workers will start raising their voices to demand a fairer share of the immense wealth they have created. Ironically, their ‘socialist’ government has seriously short-changed them in that regard. At this stage, Xi’s obituary would be an item read with considerable relief by many. The thing is that I don’t want to be right about this. A Xi-run China running the world and entering Sauron-like into every tiny matter in every country would be a nightmare. But I believe it’s quite likely.