- US negotiators told Ukraine US could shutoff Starlink if minerals deal not reached
- SpaceX-owned satellite internet service vital for Ukraine
- Zelenskiy says U.S. and Ukraine working on an agreement
From world police to mafia protection racket.
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c/im248andthisisdeep
No
we did impeach him for extorting ukraine last time.
Let’s do it again! Let’s make sure nobody can break his record for impeachments.
Time for the UK government to make good on all that money we spent rescuing OneWeb…
the weird cube man has been dicking around the Ukrainians over his satellite service since before he got involved in the election he just won. if you look into the history of spacex, a meeting with russia looms large in its early history. i personally think he’s been a kremlin asset since 2004, at least.
He may have been a russian asset since 2004 (I don’t know either way) but it certainly was nothing to do with that SpaceX meeting. He went there to try and buy Russian rocket engines, they told him to pound sand. He was forced to do it the hard way and hire a team and they designed what are now the Falcon 9 engines.
I don’t understand why people keep making stuff up (not just this post, it’s one of many), he’s evil enough on the actual facts
I see it as an extension of the myth of American purity and external corruption. “This person is evil, some outside power must have compromising info on them.” “Immigrants are violent criminals preying on innocent americans.”
These attitudes ignore the reality that bad people can come from anywhere. There are plenty of villians with very mundane origin stories. What matters is if everyone else has the will and ability to keep bad people in check and hold them accountable.
The grifters in charge need no other motivation than a sense of superiority and an opportunity to make a buck.
What matters is if everyone else has the will and ability to keep bad people in check and hold them accountable.
Well said.
The grifters in charge need no other motivation than a sense of superiority and an opportunity to make a buck.
That’s why corruption is an issue in every political system that we’ve tried, that contains more than a few thousand people.
Always seems like the people who want to be in power, shouldn’t be…and those that should want nothing to do with it…
I’ve had the great fortune to visit and live among other peoples in their countries (primarily the Baltics, Russia proper and Belorus) many years ago (first when Eesti still used the ruble, and then later again when she used those beautiful Eesti Kroon), when the people of those countries had much to tell me about their lives and cultures. I then had to return to the states, where knowing these things was frowned upon heavily, because they weren’t US-centric stories.
I’ve lived outside US borders just perhaps long enough to be able to disdain US exceptionalism, and understand that its head hasn’t been cowed enough yet for its population to understand humility relative to the much older and wiser world.
It’s very sad that I have to live to see it, especially with Canada and Mexico as our neighbors, but it seemed inevitable decades ago, so I’ll watch grimly as the country I was born in is made to fucking reckon… if it ever even learns to understand that fact.
For what it’s worth, plenty of us who have lived here our entire lives reject US exceptionalism, protestant work ethic, etc.
Makes me wonder if this was Musk’s plan all along - make Starlink indispensible and then leverage it against Ukraine when the time came.
You can do directed WiFi with pretty long range. But you have to set up both transmitter and receiver antenna, and you’ll want to tune the direction of both antenna since radio waves don’t travel in a straight line along the surface of the Earth. Bit of a faff really.
Long-range Wi-Fi - Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_Wi-Fi
The point is that they can’t set up a receiver. Modern warfare uses a lot of land.
*will.
The space Nazis are here.
Jesus fucking christ. If you do this, and exploit Ukraine while they are literally under the gun, the US will be dead to the rest of the western world.
I cannot express how hard you can go fuck yourselves.
The literal rest of my life will be spent trying to fuck over America and Americans. Fuck you.
oh my apologies! I’ll personally see to stopping it myself.
Come on doc, you’ve gotta help us, we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!
what? you want more? i can turn the socialized healthcare lever on as well. there it is! right there.
its so simple!
any other changes you think you want? i can grab a magic wand, if that will make you feel better.
Oh yes of course, the whole world has of course been watching the mass protests and general strike being organized with baited breath, oh wait.
what do you think I can do personally? on some level that would satisfy you?
what would you do in my situation? just one person.
tell us, mighty canadian of war! one who knows all answers! who rights all wrongs with his witless rage!
oh won’t the angry canadian man save us with his wisdom??
Vote. In every election. In the primaries. The city you live in. The school council. And convince everyone you know to vote, too. Protest. Strike. Make people you know angry about what’s happening so they are motivated to stir shit up. You still can change things, but you are right: you can’t do it alone. So find as many people you can who can do it with you. Time is running out.
you’re saying things I already know. but I appreciate your dedication! and agree with your sentiment.
American here: hard agree. This is all insane, but it’s predictable, and they told us about it ahead of time, and people still fucking voted for it. We shat the bed, now we must lie in it.
I’m probably gonna try to leave the country and renounce my citizenship at some point, particularly if the next few months are as catastrophic as I think they’ll be.
I was planning a holiday in the US this or next year, but decided not to proceed with it. I’d rather go anywhere else now really. Currently for me Russia = India = China = North Korea = USA now. Plenty of european countries I’d rather throw my money at.
Come visit us in Canada! It’s beautiful here. Better come fast before Trump decides to invade us for our oil and minerals though. I expect it’ll be much less beautiful after that, and we won’t have as much time to spend with you while waging a guerilla resistance.
That’s a bit of an extreme take. Surely you can see some differences between them…
That’s true, the spellings are very different.
But otherwise they’re all countries ruled by petty men trying to project their power and rob their neighbours of their resources, liberty, and lives.
I feel this. I would love to see Russia, China and India…but there’s not a chance that I would knowingly give my money to those regimes. Not even through participating in their economy for half a week.
Are you one of those Galician offspring ‘canadians’?
You sound really upset in a fanatical mentally unstable kind of way.
🤣You sound like a Putin supporting little bitch.
haha a butthurt Canadian. Bet your ukro ancestors moved there in 1945 https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/09/27/ejel-s27.html
the fuck does Galicia have to do with this?
Not Spain obviously, ukranian SS division Galicia.
I see you’re not familiar with Canadian history and its consequences.Sigh, that cliché non-argument again.
Won’t even bother explaing that to you since it’s over your head.
And I can simply do this:https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030005003
Gie it up, you’re no match
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Liberation_Army
We are on topic of the Nazis collaboration in Europe, here you go dear
LOL do you think your cheap whataboutism teaches me something new?
Plenty countries had a few nazi collaborators. even Russia.
Some a lot like ukraine, and the baltics.
Some straight up joined the nazis like Finland Romania, Bulgaria.But to keep going on the changed topic of Russian nazis (since you nicely spun it that way) it should be no surprise the Russian nazis are all fighting for the Banderites.
And the irony that the west supported and whitewashed the racist and fascist POS Navalny.
Hated in Russia, known for the later forbidden Russian marches and running a video ad of him shooting a muslim ‘cockroach’.I wonder why the super duper free and neutral press never mentioned anything about this?
Here the brave hero is a ‘freedom activist with rugged good looks’, ‘warrior for democratic values’.
🤡
A well funded argument that displays the vast cappacity of your reasoning and intelect
I see you are not familiar with anything, considering your complete non sequitur nonsense spouting.
bye bot
ah i’m familiar with galicia the precursor to poland. i’mma have to do some readind
The literal rest of my life will be spent trying to fuck over America and Americans.
As an American, I’d just like to say we absolutely deserve this.
No we don’t. Trump deserves to be kicked to the curb, but Americans are absolutely fine, if a bit short sighted.
A country is not its leadership, it’s the people. And it’s incredibly hard for the people to replace their leadership outside of election season, and even then, there’s a lot of pressure to make poor choices on your ballot.
it’s incredibly hard for the people to replace their leadership outside of election season
What have you tried? Have you written any letters? Protested? Marched? Gone on strike?
There’s a whole lot of defeatism in your comment and I’m getting major “we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas” vibes.
letters aren’t going to do anything, neither will striking.
The current System does not legally give many ways to impeach an elected official.
It is impossible to legally remove a president from power outside of election season without the legislative branch.
Furthermore, there is no federal level system in place to allow for a recall of anyone in the legislative branch, some states have successfully implemented state level recall laws to revoke their elected officials but this is not a universal thing). Disciplinary functions in the legislative branch is predominantly decided by the branches themselves, which works fine if you have a functional branch, but if you have a branch that really doesn’t care then no punishments get done
The most the everyday citizen can really do is:
- if you are in a state that has an elected official that is being toxic/against what your state actually wants, try to encourage a state recall petition (if you are in one of the 36(12 of which need specific actions to occur to trigger it) states that allow for it AND something has occurred that was ground for your states requirements for it)
- try to add such a system to your state if one does not exist (which would likely have to be on the ballot as well so would take awhile)
- or further educate yourself on what is going to be available on the 2026 midterms and vote accordingly.
I don’t think there is much else anyone can immediately do that might actually get anything done.
I’m in a red state with GOP reps. I really don’t think any of those will go anywhere.
And not sure what going on strike would accomplish. My company isn’t based in the US, my boss isn’t American (and likes Trump), and 2/3 of my team are outside of the US anyway. I like my company and my boss, and going on strike would just get me fired for no reason. Why would I do that? My company didn’t donate to him or anything, so how would pissing my boss off accomplish anything?
The only effective measures I have would put my family at risk, and those have a remote chance of working. Why would I do that? It’s illogical, especially when the chances of Trump actually becoming a dictator are slim to none.
I’m not going to screw up my life just for some internet cred. I’ll do what I did in the last three elections: vote against him and urge those around me to do the same. Not that it matters, because the Republican will always win my state and district, but it’s something.
The most effective use of my time is to largely ignore him. Anything else is illogical IMO.
Sure, but does the rest of the world?
All Amerikans deserve this and worse because they sit at home and complain online while a literal textbook definition of a coup is happening to their country. The country that literally screeches at the top of its lungs about the second amendment and right to have a gun “in case of a tyrannical government”. Not a single shot fired. No protests, just complaints. Y’all gave up your country without a fight.
I understand your feelings, and I share them. Let’s stay strong and united, refusing to let fear or hatred divide us. Remember, we have allies in America who stand against extremism and are working tirelessly to promote justice and equality. There is a growing movement of brave activists, judges, and everyday Americans who are standing up against these challenges. It’s crucial that we support them and let them know they are not alone. Together we are stronger.
You can find an overview of the current resistance in yesterday’s post on Substack: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/ten-reasons-for-optimism
As someone who didn’t vote for the Cheeto Nazi, thank you for the nuance.
That said, comment OP and anyone reading this - please boycott and sanction the US! Starving the billionaire leeches and smacking government into pretending they have an iota of decorum or sense is necessary, and any outside influence on that is helpful.
I’m with you. Fuck this shit.
I think a global boycott on US-made goods + services is necessary. Trump can only do this because the US is such a powerhouse.
As an American, I’d like the boycott to be more targeted. But yes, every company that licks the boots of this obviously fascist regime should see no more sales. I don’t have a full list, but it includes at least Meta, Alphabet (Google), and Amazon.
We don’t really make anything though, aside from software I guess.
That is already happening in Canada. Those imperialists threatening annexation was finally what brought us Canadians together on something lol
Has there been any progress on dropping tarrifs between provinces?
Ottawa announced yesterday that they’ll be dropping more than half of federal internal trade barriers.
I think I heard something about easing trade barriers between Ontario and I think it was either Saskatchewan or Manitoba.
Just relax and let trump continue destroying the USA. He’s doing putin’s work and fucking us all, Europeans and Americans alike.
Would be nice to see global sanctions against the US. Not realistic, but I hope all countries are moving towards significantly reducing American reliance. It’ll be a slow process, but needs to be done.
Honestly sanctions agains companies like these that can be weaponized politically sounds very reasonable.
They are national security threat in the true meaning of the word.
If they forcibly colonize Ukraine in response to Russia’s war, I hope that literally every single person around the world takes it upon themselves to spit in every American’s food, that’s how much I’ll want them to go fuck themselves.
Pariah fucking scum.
Please, everyone else quickly develop options other than the US. We’re going to need a minute to sort this mess out. :(((((((
