Ideology bleeds into intelligence assessments and strategy in the US these days
It’s very alarming of course. But I am tired of noting that.
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Thread
This is, the entire thread, is of course much more than alarming. It should be the only thing talked about on the news in all European countries for a week or least. This is devastatingly significant.
https://x.com/PedderSophie/status/1996845983691591693
They mean AfD, National Front, Truth and Justice Party in Poland and Orban’s party.
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https://x.com/carlbildt/status/1996873164014383544
https://x.com/carlbildt/status/1996855580468674617
Russia is not mentioned at all by way, just European democracies as “subverting democracy” but that the growth of parties like AfD, Sverigedemokratarna, Truth and Justice Party, National Front etc; “gives us hope”.
Sounds like a nausea inducing and unreadable document.
You should read it.
It’s very enlightening.
More like enraging..
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Fascists crying about the subversion of democracy. You couldn’t make this stuff up. We are so fucked.
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There is a deluge of bad news coming from the US. Here’s some more:
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I suppose this has been said a fair few times before by many people, including me, but I fear that we are now long past the point of no return for the US. And also to our relations with it, which I think and fear will only gradually get colder and colder but also hostile.
And then I am talking about worse things than threatening Greenland…
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I agree, but most Europeans are in denial about it.
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They won’t be for very long.
This makes what Newsom did in California all the more necessary, to balance Republican cheating. I don’t like it and it’s a dirty game.
The Supreme Court is definitely not independent, but is in Trump’s pocket. This is yet another example.
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It might be the making of Europe though
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Imagine if the Reform Party were in power in the UK, and their xenophobic agenda was largely unchecked so the outright racist and overtly nasty elements were coming to the fore.
Then imagine if, on the other side of the Atlantic, there was a moderate President who, while obviously being American with all that brings, was also intent on adding the sort of social policies for the benefit of the American people that would be considered very normal in Western Europe.
In a sliding doors moment, this could be the reality for both nations at the next election. Let’s keep going…
America would be looking at the UK and would be quite concerned about their friend. They would be wondering what the hell is going on with Farage and Reform and it would be awkward as you like, diplomatically.
Meanwhile, on the ground in the UK not everyone voted for Reform. It would be wrong of America to assume the whole of the UK was Farage-ian in its outlook.
In fact, in the hypothetical situation I am laying out, most people in the UK did not vote for Reform, even though they are in power. The democratic system had some flaws, such that a monstrous party/leader could come to power with only a minority of people voting for it. Ugh.
Under such conditions, many people in the UK would be doing their utmost to provide opposition to Reform, with the goal of getting them out of power at the next possible opportunity. Those people would want America to know that this is not the best of British, that we stand for better than this, and we look forward to ejecting this aberration at the first opportunity.
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If that was the case america would just do what they normally do and assassinate said politcal leader as they have a history of doing .
And meanwhile, in the real world, Europe needs to form a strong independent deterrent as soon as possible. The post World War Two order has largely gone, and even if it comes back again, somewhat, it will never be the same.
America had a cold war, and a good run at being the world’s policeman (mostly for exploitation, just like all the great global powers that came before).
Now it seems to be thinking more in terms of hemispheres. Leave China to their patch. Russia can carve out what they like. Our main concern will be this hemisphere. (I’m not saying I agree, but that’s the way it seems to be going).
So where does that leave Europe?
Europe is a huge bloc. Trade, wealth, way of life, democracy, rule of law, culture… to my mind, at its best, Europe is a shining light.
Protect that! Have as many friends as possible. But make sure you’ve got a bloody big stick, too, just in case.
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So are most Americans
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To be fair, the Supreme Court’s interest in denying black people representation has predated the emergence of Trump. Like many decisions from this court the argument put forth is absolutely indefensible short of “we want to” yet the outcome was no less predictable given their position on the VRA.
Kagan’s dissent is well worth reading
“[T]his Court reverses that judgment based on its perusal, over a holiday weekend, of a cold paper record. We are a higher court than the District Court, but we are not a better one when it comes to making such a fact-based decision. That is why we are supposed to use a clear-error standard of review—why we are supposed to uphold the District Court’s decision that race-based line-drawing occurred (even if we would have ruled differently) so long as it is plausible. Without so much as a word about that standard, this Court today announces that Texas may run next year’s elections with a map the District Court found to have violated all our oft-repeated strictures about the use of race in districting. Today’s order disrespects the work of a District Court that did everything one could ask to carry out its charge—that put aside every consideration except getting the issue before it right. And today’s order disserves the millions of Texans whom the District Court found were assigned to their new districts based on their race. Because this Court’s precedents and our Constitution demand better, I respectfully dissent.”
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Well said Elena Kagan. Could do with 2-3 more like her on that court.
The way the chips fell for Trump to stack the court was galling. I also thought RBG was too self indulgent in hanging on, and in the end that was an unnecessary own goal.
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There are no end of things people will point to as markers for how the Dems lost sight of what actually mattered, but I think in history the support RBG got for refusing to step down, and the reasons for that support (you dont get to tell a woman what to do anymore), will go down as the biggest miss.
The value of representation was always supposed to be that it produced more representative outcomes, but this was the perfect illustration of how we stopped caring about outcomes and focused on representation being the outcome in itself and valued the symbolism of it above actually achieving good shit.
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