u/Endymion_Mallorn — Endymion_Mallorn

There's one thing you need to think about - isolationism is still popular in the USA.

So, is this going to be a wedge, along with Massie?

If US support is the only thing that can cause Ukraine to win, then it's pretty certain with our current leadership that it won't happen.

I'm going to assume that it'll be somewhere in the range of 'strongarming'. With China, the government was afraid of a direct conflict. With most of Europe, I'm willing to guess that they don't have those same fears, so it will be very interesting.

Unfortunately, the answer is no. But at the moment, all that normal folks can do is hope to be the least screwed. Something must give and soon, we can only hope it breaks in the direction of peace.

Good. It should remain illegal.

If it was guaranteed to be annihilation, I think I could accept it. The problem is, it's not a guarantee. People might live, and they might not even get radiation poisoning. That leaves them alive in a wasteland. That's the issue. Death is preferable to a life of suffering.

It wasn't even a full Leeroy Jenkins. He always went in for full, unrelenting DPS and would go until he was dead unless protected. This was barely poking the (Pooh) bear, and then running like hell the moment it doesn't look great. The full Leeroy would be a full embargo backed by the Coast Guard.

So basically we're admitting that we lost the trade war, and the whole world is going to belong to China. Isn't that swell.

Time to remove de minimus.

That's how it should go, yes.

Absolutely not. If we're going to be on the aggressive path, we need to stay the course. There are demands in place. Either they're met, or it keeps going - up to and including a complete embargo on Chinese goods, while we continue to discuss the situations with HK and Taiwan ROC separately.

Of all the moves he could make now, this would be the worst. If you want to apply brutish tactics and force, you must be prepared to maintain that force until either you accomplish the stated goals or you've been so completely drained that you have to fold.

The USA is in neither position. This isn't a gesture of magnanimity. This is just proof that he's already made money off it somehow.

This is exactly what I was about to say.

I enjoyed parts of Persepolis when I read it the first time. Mind you, that was at the same time for me that In The Shadow of No Towers was still too painful, and I had tried to engage with Maus. I need to go back to it.

She is basically right about people, in my experience.

The people absolutely do. It's the government that's the biggest problem. Same with Russia and the USA. Frankly, most people on Earth probably just want their work, their bread, and their circuses, and to be left alone outside of that. But there's a problem - their government stands between us, and sets down rules that oppose those things - like the issues I brought up, among others. I care that they're oppressive and censorious. I also feel that way about the US federal government, and European governments too.

I don't hate the people - I try not to really hate anybody. I just don't want their government's enforced morals having an impact on the media I enjoy.

I don't mind that. If they stop importing our movies, we can also block their companies from overtaking domestic film companies. And we can stop importing their cultural values and limitations.

Free Tibet. Free the Uygher Muslim community, free Hong Kong, free Taiwan ROC.

Cool, now make sure those products can get into American hands at a fair market price.

That's about 40 years too long.

On one hand, it is a lot of revenue lost. On the other, it's also a lot of resources freed up for Americans that would otherwise have been used by foreign tourists. As long as the supply remains the same and the demand drops, prices should get reduced as well. That's what people understand.

What they don't understand is that companies expect this to be temporary, and they'd rather have losses they can write off, rather than smaller profits that their investors will be upset about.