So are you joking now or where you joking before?
I am not joking. Sure I agree with you that the 51th state stuff is indeed not serious. The fact that some might think it is serious shows you what we are dealing with.
However, the US is not benign. It is ruthless and will act for its interests. The shift in its outlook and its foreign policies reflect its recognition that it is not as powerful relatively speaking in the world as it was after WWII.
It took some times after the fall of the Soviet Union to change the course. But it has been changing.
The US has not been declining(?) but the rest are not so easy to deal with now that they have risen.
Either is Canada. Just talk to the farmers and ranchers. They know what is coming. Canada supplies all their potash. Just wait. This isn’t going to be pretty for either nation and now, not only have we made Canada mad, we have alienated the rest of our friends. I tend to agree with Carville. Let Trump crumble under the weight of his own policies.
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You really believe Canada is going to hurt the US? Canada has geared their economical system to serve the US. Why? Anglo sphere unity? Neighborly necessity? That was a bad choice by Canada.
Certainly now they must show some teeth but if this really devolves then Canada is done.
Yes I do. The United States and Canada have been symbiotic for decades. Everything has been intertwined. They provide feed for our cattle, potash for our crops, electricity for our cities, water for our crops. They could send pollutants down our rivers from their mines and block rivers from running. This could get nasty. Sure the United States could attack them and win, most likely, but who wants to fight that war? After all we have a President that only wants peace (Snark). Everything Canada has that they supply to the United States other countries, like China, will be glad to take. Trump is driving Mexico and Canada right into the Chinese arms and that, would be a travesty.
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You are choosing to ignore reality–which is why you are NOT calling yourself a realist. You are, IMO, in the same non-reality occupied by RFK Jr.
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The Klutz only hurts you and everyone else.
Straight with you…fiction brought to life, ill-conceived fiction. You are trying to figure out bull.
so what do you think? what is bull? he is threatening tariffs and will back off for good? Yes in that perspective Trump really does not know what he is doing. But do you really believe that? Trump 1 is not the same as Trump 2. He has prepared for what he wants to do and for what the US needs to do.
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It is klutzy stuff. We are sinking economically.
The proposed tax cut will cause a recession. We need higher corporate tax cuts. The rest of this stuff is just garbage to get wealthy people another feed at the trough.
This is just misdirection of the issue. Canada is not going to run into the arms of the chinese because the US will not let them, and Canada will abide once more not because they want or don’t want to but because it has to.
Why does it have to?
It is not just China. Everyone other country in the world that wants Canadian business import and export can have it. The new PM will rush it to them.
You are imagining things that do not exist. Does not matter who said it to you.
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Not really. Oh sure, the US carries a big economic stick, but all we seem to be doing with it is hitting ourselves in the head. What was once a strong economy appears to be headed toward a recession just before the midterm elections. If repubs lose one or both of the House and Senate, trumponomics comes to a standstill.
Trump is fat, approaching 80, and is a lame duck president. I’m guessing the policy of Canada (and the Western world I think) is to string him along with minor concessions and if necessary take the pain for a couple of years. Most likely this administration will self-destruct as from what I’ve seen they don’t seem particularly competent.
The rational response to becoming less powerful is to form alliances, not go it alone.
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The unexpected happened.
The USD is independently traded. Meaning it does not have to ever return to the US. We expect to see the USD global reserve as pent-up buying power for US goods. It is not. Since so many countries trade in dollars the dollar can go to them just as quickly.
Canada or whoever can trade in USD without us.
You can’t really believe that? Can the United States keep Canada from trading with China? I don’t think so. If a country is raising tariffs on you for 250% are you just going to take it or are you going to find another partner?
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Uhm. let me suggest that you consider, deeply, the emotional message Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
This slogan is not about gender, it is about the ancient highly evolved (or God endowed if you wish) biological mechanism seen from tiny primitive creatures up through us advanced intelligent beings that treats treacherous use of power as more heinous than murder. It is where pseudo -realist pontificating mostly fails, because humans are not rational about betrayal. Breaking rather than respecting agreements, and betraying old friends….
Trump never learned that, it seems.
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Geez, kinda sounds like Canada is in an abusive relationship.
Canada will no doubt seek out more stable alliances.
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He is prepared for what he wants to do. He spent his 4 years off productively. Sadly, it’s all about what is best for him, and nothing to do what is best for us. He learned from his mistakes from his first term. His personal quest for power, riches and attention is all he seems to be focused on.
IP
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The existence of NATO is what keeps Russia from being a threat. Get rid of it and all the formerly SU states will be recaptured by Russia - and even more civilians will be murdered in the process.
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Like the Europeans did in the 19th century? Look at what this had culminated to": WWI and then WWII.
In both cases the US tried to be isolationist. How did that work out?
In contrast, since WWII the US created NATO and supported the Common Market/EU. The result is an unprecedented 70 years of peace in Western Europe and the creation of a European block that has largely worked in tandem with the US in foreign policy.
WWI and WWII demonstrated that it is virtually impossible for the US to isolate itself from a major European war in the modern era. The best option is for the US to actively prevent war by creating economic alliances and economic interdependencies between nations that make it against any nation’s best interests to start a conflict.
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