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On January 21 2026 01:30 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
To be fair to Trump and moreso fair to the USA and its hard-working, tax paying citizens both Canada and Denmark have been unable to defend themselves for a very long time. They live under the largesse of the USA.
The USA/Trump no longer wishes to foot the bill for the military defence of the far north. They are playing hardball with both Canada and Greenland. meh.
This is the same bullshit as "the UK writes a cheque to the EU for £350 million every week" that successfully got the UK to crater their own economy. The rest of the world has been subsidizing the US's economy by buying our weapons, stabilizing our currency, and importing our goods with little to no barriers. Since some fucking idiots in flyover country thought Pedophile-in-Chief would release the Epstein files he's in by voting for him, now that's all going to evaporate.
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well turns out Trump is right as usual. should have invested into defense instead of those failed commie adjacent programs everybody hates and that are anti-GDP - like healthcare!
all so HE cannot invade you. but if he does you will like it anyway of course, because if you are Trump they let you do it.
stop playing hard to get little girl - I will want you even more! allegedly.
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Jimmy, as usual, drops by, doesn't read anything anyone wrote after his last spill of words around these parts and re-iterates dull propaganda and leaves.
Who does Denmark and Canada need protection from?
It's a pretty simple question, weird how no one using this "they need to start paying for it" folks can never answer it.
USA decided to spend insane amounts of money on it's military, no one forced or asked them to, Denmark and most other similar NATO countries that don't have plausible threats against them followed the same pattern, around 2 % spending until the end of cold war, dipping down to around 1 % and fluctuating until 2022 and going back up after that.
No one asked USA to spend 5 % in 2010, there was no threat that would justify it, USA wanted to be the world police and it's citizens have been paying for it because they bought the propaganda.
If USA followed the same pattern EU countries did they could cover providing socialized healthcare for every American by taking the extra 2-4 % over those years, they'd have 5 carriers instead of 12 and they could only end the world 30 times over instead of 200, but USA decided to spend what they did, and no one should be asked to subsidize this.
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On January 21 2026 01:30 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
To be fair to Trump and moreso fair to the USA and its hard-working, tax paying citizens both Canada and Denmark have been unable to defend themselves for a very long time. They live under the largesse of the USA.
The USA/Trump no longer wishes to foot the bill for the military defence of the far north. They are playing hardball with both Canada and Greenland. meh.
The idea that "might-makes-right" imperialists will spend less on military if everyone else spends more is insane and empirically wrong. The military spending of other NATO members went through the roof in the past few years, mostly due to Russia, did that translate to the US lowering it? Just weeks ago Trump 'truthed' that he wants to increase the military budget by 50%.
Secondly, obviously no one is relying on the US for defense right now, both Canada and Denmark are aware that if they were attacked tomorrow, the US is more likely to swoop in to grab a piece of the loot than to help, same as they've been trying in Ukraine with muh mineral rights.
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also invading is the easy part. it's holding things together where things get tricky. and very, very expensive.
Americans should know, so should Canucks still wearing their Ameriboo blinders.
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On January 20 2026 23:35 LightSpectra wrote:Show nested quote +On January 20 2026 23:30 Copymizer wrote:
Trump has got to give up on his vanity Greenland take over plan. The only support he got is from his sick billionaire friends. The rest just think its stupid, and we can actually see through his lies and weak arguments. I'm still not entirely clear if he's doing this because he needs a distraction from his utter failure of a domestic policy that even Republicans hate/the Epstein files that he's all over and breaking the law by not releasing, or because he thinks he's going to die soon and thinks some big annexation is going to be his legacy instead of "yet another failed neocon president".
Do the original Epstein files even exist anymore? The DOJ and FBI are its custodians, and both institutions are under Trump's full control. The idea that destroying damaging documents somehow breaks Trump's moral code but daily Borgia-level corruption, attempting to steal an election, trafficking minors and grabbing women by the pussy don't break it - that's nonsensical to me. The guy that altered a hurricane trajectory with a sharpie to attempt to win an argument, that guy has so much respect for the preservation of accurate information that he would choose to let evidence against him stay around despite it being under his control? Nah
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He reportedly does not have full control over the DOJ and FBI, the overwhelming majority of the rank and file are nonpartisan and willing to whistleblow if someone is ordering to do something illegal. Bondi and Patel can still just order certain investigations/cases quashed by fiat but they don't seem to be able to just throw all the Epstein files in the garbage. That's why they're still trickling out, poorly redacted.
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The very important part to remember is that Bondi and Patel are, above all else, incompetent morons and only reason why they are in their positions instead of anyone remotely capable is their unyielding loyalty to Trump.
The other important fact to remember is that Trump is more then willing to throw anyone under the bus, the files have been entered into evidence, there are records and ways of protecting these kind of sensitive files and I doubt that there is such uniformity among the rank and file that they are willing to risk being the ones thrown under the bus if they straight up start destroying shit.
I'd wager a guess that a lot of the worse shit has been destroyed and they paid a lot of attention to try and avoid detection on those, but I don't think they are sure that there are no copies anywhere, so they are in a bind. Some of the files are parts of state cases that the federal people might not even have access to, so that's another thing, a lot of the things that came out came from the New York case I believe.
Also, there are millions of documents and files, and given how every step of the "disclosure" so far has been marked by utter incompetence they are desperately trying to make it all go away.
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On January 21 2026 02:08 Doublemint wrote:
also invading is the easy part. it's holding things together where things get tricky. and very, very expensive.
Americans should know, so should Canucks still wearing their Ameriboo blinders.
He doesn't actually want to administer these conquests. He'll make superficial narcissistic demands like renaming the country to something with "Trump" in it, recognizing him as their monarch/leader, and claiming some valuable real estate to sell to some billionaires. Otherwise they'll largely be left to their own devices (save some colonists probably).
It'll make more sense to Canadians/Europeans to accept the terms than break entirely with the US and declare a military conflict they can't win.
NATO is a dead institution walking.
EDIT: You guys might want to push for Trump to annex Taiwan?
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Canada/EU cannot give in to Trump's bullying because if they do he will demand more. And then some more. Then some more still. Also any politician that agrees to his tantrums will be finished domestically.
Also I hope against hope that the US military will know better than agree to go against their current allies.
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On January 21 2026 04:24 PoulsenB wrote:
Canada/EU cannot give in to Trump's bullying because if they do he will demand more. And then some more. Then some more still.
Also I hope against hope that the US military will know better than agree to go against their current allies.
Perhaps you've never heard about a funny little thing called "lesser evilism" and its buddy "harm mitigation"?
Of course Canada and the EU MUST give in to Trump's bullying, because the alternative is immediately worse for everyone.
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United States44173 Posts
On January 21 2026 04:28 GreenHorizons wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2026 04:24 PoulsenB wrote:
Canada/EU cannot give in to Trump's bullying because if they do he will demand more. And then some more. Then some more still.
Also I hope against hope that the US military will know better than agree to go against their current allies. Perhaps you've never heard about a funny little thing called "lesser evilism" and it's buddy "harm mitigation"? Of course Canada and the EU MUST give in to Trump's bullying, because the alternative is immediately worse for everyone.
Ah yes, because Trump is in two man winner takes all race against megaTrump and if you don’t work with Trump then you’re implicitly supporting megaTrump. Another winner. I am very smart.
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Maybe a bloody and long civil war in the USA would not be so bad for Europe.
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On January 21 2026 01:30 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
To be fair to Trump and moreso fair to the USA and its hard-working, tax paying citizens both Canada and Denmark have been unable to defend themselves for a very long time. They live under the largesse of the USA.
The USA/Trump no longer wishes to foot the bill for the military defence of the far north. They are playing hardball with both Canada and Greenland. meh.
The only country Canada and Greenland need protection from is the US. You're basically saying that the US is a mobster running a protection racket.
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On January 21 2026 04:16 GreenHorizons wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2026 02:08 Doublemint wrote:
also invading is the easy part. it's holding things together where things get tricky. and very, very expensive.
Americans should know, so should Canucks still wearing their Ameriboo blinders. He doesn't actually want to administer these conquests. He'll make superficial narcissistic demands like renaming the country to something with "Trump" in it, recognizing him as their monarch/leader, and claiming some valuable real estate to sell to some billionaires. Otherwise they'll largely be left to their own devices (save some colonists probably). It'll make more sense to Canadians/Europeans to accept the terms than break entirely with the US and declare a military conflict they can't win. NATO is a dead institution walking. EDIT: You guys might want to push for Trump to annex Taiwan?
"Lesser evilism" is specifically an electoral strategy, and it's really just a cynical rephrase of "vote for the best candidate that has a realistic chance of winning". Of course, you already knew that and are making a bad faith argument since you can't help yourself. It must be some kind of psychological compulsion to give your opinion knowing nobody cares about it.
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On January 21 2026 04:43 maybenexttime wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2026 01:30 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
To be fair to Trump and moreso fair to the USA and its hard-working, tax paying citizens both Canada and Denmark have been unable to defend themselves for a very long time. They live under the largesse of the USA.
The USA/Trump no longer wishes to foot the bill for the military defence of the far north. They are playing hardball with both Canada and Greenland. meh. The only country Canada and Greenland need protection from is the US. You're basically saying that the US is a mobster running a protection racket. ...
It is.
Trump is running US international 'diplomacy' like a mob protection racket.
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Making a deal with Trump could also be seen as just realism or realpolitik if political leaders believe that Trump can't be stopped and that resistance would cause much more damage. After all, lofty ideals about human rights, rule-based world order, international cooperation, and so on have been repeatedly called out as outdated humanitarian bullshit. Defending those when it would incur cost has been unpopular for a decade at least.
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GH, serious question.
Is there a country on this earth that is not evil?
Is there a population that has a choice that is not picking the lesser evil?
I can see you are in a loop where you manage to boil everything we talk about around here to this concept, so I'm wondering if there is any proof of any other concept being in existence.
If there isn't, then why even bring it up? We might as well talk about farting rainbows and shitting cotton candy.
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On January 21 2026 04:28 GreenHorizons wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2026 04:24 PoulsenB wrote:
Canada/EU cannot give in to Trump's bullying because if they do he will demand more. And then some more. Then some more still.
Also I hope against hope that the US military will know better than agree to go against their current allies. Perhaps you've never heard about a funny little thing called "lesser evilism" and its buddy "harm mitigation"? Of course Canada and the EU MUST give in to Trump's bullying, because the alternative is immediately worse for everyone.
And there you go, you gone completely deluded. You threat us of what? Leaving NATO? You will leave it either way, Trump will make sure of that. You are now considered here unrelable. Here is your "reality check", EU "must" nothing. Right now nobody counts on US cooperation here in Europe anymore, at least not for upcomming 3 long years. Your only cards now are tariffs, and this card is worn out more and more.
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On January 21 2026 00:53 Jankisa wrote:Show nested quote +On January 20 2026 23:23 Gorsameth wrote:
Jankisa I don't think you understand how diplomacy works.
Rutte's job is keeping NATO intact and making sure Ukraine gets the support it needs. He is, and should, be fine with kissing Trumps ass with obvious (to everyone but Trump) bullshit if it keeps American weapons flowing into Ukraine. And when Trump does another 180 and threatens to cut them off its his job to go back in placating Trump until he changes his mind, again. And come back next week to do it again.
That's his job, it shouldn't have to be but America chose to elect a man child so there he is.
Rutte telling the US to fuck off and Trump to gargle Putin's balls doesn't help Ukraine, it does the opposite.
The world is living on the hope that the US is still somewhat of a democracy, that there will be someone after Trump and the person after Trump is likely to be slightly less insane then Trump is.
The US is and will remain an unreliable ally and the EU has to divest itself from America more but Trump is singularly unhinged.
Vance would still be terrible and do horrible things to the people of the US, but he would be better internationally then Trump, simply by virtue of not being a raving demented old orangutan.
Diplomacy is about not burning bridges.
You can cut contact with a psycho friend and most likely never see them again. The world isn't able to ignore America, no matter how much we wish we could. I'm very much aware how diplomacy works, you, on the other hand don't seem to have a good grasp on what it achieved with Trump so far. I'd love for you to prove me wrong, so, please, let me know what exactly did Rutte's rectal mountaineering achieve? You seem to think that USA is giving weapons to Ukraine. One of the first things that Trump did was to stop aid to Ukraine. All the weapons flowing to Ukraine are paid for by EU, none of them comes out of USA's pocket and Rutte's ass kissing had no effect on that, either way. Trump, as authoritarian as he is, won't go against military industrial complex, and cutting off weapon sales to Ukraine would be stupid even by his measure. Him going after Greenland is a direct threat to NATO, by fellating him Rutte is choosing sides, despite almost every other NATO member voicing everything from concern to outright hostility to these territorial pretensions from Trump, he is still kissing his ass and writing in a way that a 14 year old teenager writes to his girlfriend. If you are OK with that as a Dutch person OK, but me, as a citizen of a small NATO country, I feel he's doing an incredibly shitty job of being the leader of NATO, and if he continues with this along with others he will be the last president of NATO, because NATO won't exist after Trump seizes Greenland. If Rutte took a normal stance, something akin to Slotenberg, who was tip toeing around Trump but never called him daddy old told him he can't wait to see him I'd be fine, that is diplomacy, this is being a terrible leader who doesn't even have an excuse of achieving something with his spinelessness. What has Rutte achieved? Every time Trump comes out of a phone call with Putin and shouts how Ukraine should give Russia everything 'or else' Trump gets turned around (sofar).
You say Trump wouldn't go against the military industrial complex and forbid selling of weapons to be used in Ukraine but we're talking about Trump here. He expects everyone, including them, to bend the knee to him. A lot of his bullshit has already driven countries away from just relying on the US for arms production.
Trumps threat to use a 'kill switch' for the F35's if countries defied him really drove that point home (tho Europe is embarrassingly slow in scaling up their own arms production).
As for Rutte choosing sides, remember we only get partial messages of him and Trump, no one else is leaking what he is saying to the rest of NATO. And that is the main issue in trying to have a discussion about this, we're all mostly ignorant of what is actually happening but all those talks are confidential, if the man child isn't sharing them with the world.
I get your opinion, and I to wish the world stood up to Trump more and told the US to eat shit. But there are a lot of considerations that high level politicians need to be mindful of and the sad reality is that Europe is not read to stand on its own.
No one wants to throw the dice on hoping the military stages a coup and defies Trump is he actually orders to take Greenland by force or get into an actual fight with the US.
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EPT
