What the EU doesn’t have, at least in the short/medium term, is energy. That industrial base needs (a lot of) energy. Russia was able to supply this cheaply, while the US is charging an arm and a leg. Of course in the long run, renewables can help keep that energy production local, but that means developing closer ties with China. And right now the US is trying to throw up walls to prevent other countries from accessing China’s renewable energy products.

The EU does indeed have a significantly larger potential industrial base than Russia. But that also requires coordination, intentional action, and long-term planning. So far the EU hasn’t seemed capable of doing these things but who knows, maybe Trump has been the wake-up call Europeans need.

I also hope Trump has shown Europeans that the US is the bigger threat to European sovereignty than Russia. And this will be true after Trump is gone, it’s not a one-time thing (Biden did things hostile to European sovereignty but that goes under the radar because he was more supportive of Ukraine). But yeah, if the EU makes some coordinated effort to build military defenses, they shouldn’t have a problem protecting their sovereignty against Russia. And that assumes Russia wants to try and military conquer parts of Europe, which I do not believe but even if I did, a more robust, domestic EU military would be enough to prevent an attack even if that was Russia’s intention.

The US is Europe’s fake friend - with or without Trump - and it frustrates me to no end that Europeans can’t see it.

I think because, as cruel as the blockade is, legally there are exceptions allowed for food and medicine. For now at least.

Sanctions and blockades have always been sold as an attack against the government and not the people. That’s of course a complete lie - sanctions are meant to make the people suffer enough that they rise up against their government (or so the aggressor hopes).

But this is much more blatant. The ghouls in the Trump admin are openly stating they want to harm the people. They want to create a humanitarian crisis, create suffering, and kill people, all so the Cuban government sees this suffering and decides that capitulating is better than seeing their people die. Truly evil stuff.

The IOF is accepting it because they know it is a significant undercount.

I think last time around, the US was signaling - directly or indirectly - that they were “just” targeting nuclear sites and so long as Iran didn’t “overreact”, then the US would just leave it at that.

The attack that the US/Israel seem to be preparing for appears to be much more substantial and brutal. Closing the Strait is a huge deal, but Iran needs to be willing to use it.

I’m assuming a significant part of the reason for the unprovoked attack on Venezuela and forcing them into a neo-colonial relationship - forcing them to route their oil through the US system - was to try and prevent an oil price shock to Americans in the event of a major attack on Iran and the closure of the Strait.

Cuba’s government is elected by the people. Their elections are objectively more democratic than what the US has. If every member of the current government stepped down and new elections were held, more or less the same people would be elected. The Cuban people proudly support socialism and anti-imperialism, and any fair election will reflect that (which is why Cuba has the government it has).

But I suspect Rubio et al already know that. When he says he wants “regime change”, what he means is he wants the current elected, democratic government to step down and in it’s place, Rubio will act as viceroy and for the country to operate as an undemocratic colony of the US.

One place in the lemmyverse that’s been able to buck US-defaultism a bit is the news mega thread on Hexbear. That was done by seeking out and elevating news and voices that are explicitly not in the US (and the Global North, more broadly). But even then, you need both people who are actively seeking non-US perspectives AND people who have those perspectives and are willing to invest their time. I’m not sure how to replicate this more broadly in the lemmyverse, but it’s worth noting where it’s worked and what was done.

That is 100% what happened.

This is like when my mom (who is on a diet) complains that I don’t throw out the ice cream sandwiches in my freezer before she comes over to visit.

A profession where I’m sure it’s beneficial to be very rigid…

I wouldn’t call politely asking the administration to talk it out as “active resistance”.

I think Walz is a nice guy, but he is absolutely not the leader needed for this moment.

That looks pretty great, actually.

If you tolerate this, then your children will be next.

I pay for a Proton account already, this is a great suggestion, I’m going to look into this (can’t believe I forgot this)

My videos already sync to iCloud. My concern is if the cops were to get into my phone, they could just go to the Photos app and delete it from the device and my iCloud account.

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OP’s photo is my favorite, so I will have to mention my second favorite (though calling it a “favorite” feels off).

This photo was taken in 2003 in Iraq. This man is comforting his son. They are being held in an American camp. IIRC to this day we don’t know what happened to these two.

I think if I had to explain the last 25 years to a time-traveler, this would be the one photo I would choose.

I played that Star Wars a little bit back in the day; I liked it but it seemed fairly complex.

IIRC government recommendations can impact the composition of school lunches.

Unclear what he means at this point, my hunch is it means allowing for a larger US military presence in Greenland but no transfer of ownership, watching a live interview with Trump now and he’s definitely avoiding any implication that Greenland will be “owned” by the US.