I repeat: kidnapping?

I’m glad we have you to tell us what is and isn’t culture worth preserving; we were at real risk of having a diversity of opinion for a moment there.

Kidnapping?

Obama’s been gone almost a decade at this point and we still have yet to pass this bill because the government always backs down at the last minute in the face of threats from the US that it would “force” US companies to not do business with us. The Dáil (parliament) supports the bill but the cabinet shoots it down. So you’re not wrong to be cynical, but every time Israel commits some fresh outrage the pressure grows for the government to pass it or risk losing the next election.

To be specific, Ireland isn’t in Schengen because the UK isn’t in Schengen and we’re trying to keep the border as non-bordery as possible.

Note: by having the USA abstain from that UN vote right at the end of his presidency, Obama made it possible (ie legal) for us to do this.

If we were targeting Israel specifically, we would run afoul of all sorts of EU regulations since external trade policy falls under EU competency. HOWEVER, because there is a UN resolution specifically identifying the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories as illegal occuptions under international law, it’s possible for us to pass a law that doesn’t specifically target Israel by name, but rather target any territory that is illegally occupied.

If Brussels takes issue with the ban and tries to fine us for some trumped-up reason like arguing that we’re exceeding our reserved competencies, that would initiate legal proceedings which would give us standing to counter and argue that we are only meeting our international obligations as outlined by the UN, and furthermore that the EU-Israel trade deal has a boilerplate clause requiring Israel to meet certain human rights criteria or the entire trade deal goes kaput.

Basically if the EU takes us to court over this, we’ll be able to force the argument to be over whether Israel is violating human rights, at which point (because judges are not politicians) the court will almost certainly side with us, which would THEN put Brussels into the legal position where they’re OBLIGED to ban these goods EU-wide.

Because Brussels knows this, they’re likely to try and avoid initiating proceedings, turning a blind eye. However a lack of consequences for us would embolden other EU members to copy us. Basically it’s a rock and a hard place for Brussels.

Just pointing this out so that people see that UN votes DO matter.

Like, extra rights, you mean? Because lots of countries recognize animal rights.

I don’t think history supports that prediction. Far more likely that America will follow the trajectory of post-USSR Russia. Not as extreme of course, but I think the normalization of open kleptocracy is already on display.

Evidently not, since some voters thought (and still think!) that the solution was to elect Trump. That’s evidently where the bar is, as determined by the voters.

Worse than Trump? No.

Same thing as you, me and everyone else here, I’d wager. Nothing. Welcome to social media.

The headline is a cold take but the article goes in-depth into all the ways the FSB is aware of how China is probing Russia (for example, approaching disillusioned Russian scientists with access to classified tech, and employing academics to study cultural links between current regions of Russia and historic China, such as Outer Manchuria) as well as discussing long-term strategic considerations for all sides like how climate change will make Russia’s northern coast an attractive option for China to transport goods to sell in Europe, and old quotes by Trump about how his priority is to court Russia to “un-unite” it from China. There’s a lot in it, honestly, as the document (which the NYT received from hackers and consulted various intelligence agencies as to its veracity) is pretty detailed, apparently. It also mentions that China is studying the war in Ukraine as it figures out what would best counter Western military tech in the 21st century.

Thanos was right

Step One of imperialistic expansionism is to pretend that nothing in your national history is problematic.

I know, that’s why the word “free” was wrong

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“Free”?

We all choose makey-uppy things to believe in, through which we interpret the purpose of our own existence. There’s no objective reason to be kind to strangers beyond what we can get out of it - there are plenty of billionaires in the world to prove that selfishness and greed is a valid life strategy - but we CHOOSE to BELIEVE in made-up concepts like fairness and love, because it makes most of us happier to live that way. I see no reason to look down my nose at people who choose a few more made-up concepts to believe in than I do. I’m only bothered by the people who are pig-headed about it, incapable of accepting that people believe in different things than they do… and that category includes people who say “faith is idiocy”.

Doubling the already over the top european military budget isn’t going to fix any of the things in your first list.

Can I ask you to expand on that thought?

Judging by the video, the Russians seem to have placed barriers around the supports as buffers against this exact sort of thing. The explosion’s centre seems to be at one of these barriers rather than at the support itself. It’ll take another drone to go through that hole and hit the support, I think. Of course, I’m no expert - I’m just trying to interpret what I’m seeing.