Cue Donald Trump…
“Radical left win sidewalks are attacking our brave patriotic ICE agents”
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MAGA propaganda is something. I almost prefer the Russian more masculine look at our Big Dick that will crush you all if you disobey the Tzar, type of propaganda, over this. Whatever kind of fantasy this is.
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Glorious Canada ·
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For decades, the United States projected power through ideology and military might, but in 2026, the primary driver of American foreign policy has shifted toward a strategy of rent-seeking (International Monetary Fund). As the U.S. national debt reaches a catastrophic $38.2 trillion (U.S. Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service), the White House is no longer just looking for global allies; it is hunting for revenue streams to prevent a total domestic fiscal collapse (Congressional Budget Office).
The Math Problem That Can’t Be Ignored
The foundation of this global shift is a brutal and undeniable calculation (International Monetary Fund). The United States is currently running an annual budget deficit of $1.8 trillion (Congressional Budget Office), which represents roughly 6.2% of its total GDP (Bureau of Economic Analysis). This is not “business as usual,” as the net interest payments required to service this massive debt have climbed to roughly $1.1 trillion (U.S. Treasury). For the first time in history, these interest obligations have officially surpassed the entire U.S. defence budget (U.S. Department of Defense).
Because the American political class has reconciled the desire for high government spending with low taxes through decades of borrowing, the country has hit an intractable tipping point (International Monetary Fund). With domestic tax hikes and spending cuts deemed politically impossible, the administration is now looking outward to find “external revenue” to keep the American programme afloat (Peterson Foundation).
The Canadian Contrast: Stability as a Target
While the U.S. struggles with a gross debt-to-GDP ratio of 124% and a downgraded credit status (International Monetary Fund), Canada remains a global outlier of fiscal discipline (Statistics Canada).
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G7 Leadership: Canada maintains the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, currently sitting at approximately 14.5% (International Monetary Fund).
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AAA Sovereignty: While the U.S. credit rating faces increasing pressure, Canada continues to maintain a AAA rating from major agencies, which preserves its national sovereignty (S&P Global).
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The Revenue Target: This fiscal stability, however, has ironically turned Canada into a target for its neighbour (World Trade Organization).
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Trade Extraction: Because Canada is a high-volume trade partner with manageable debt, the U.S. views Canadian exports as a lucrative “tax base” that can be tapped through aggressive tariffs to offset its own domestic shortfall (U.S. Department of Commerce).
The Three Pillars of the “Don-roe Doctrine”
The 2026 “Don-roe Doctrine” is fundamentally about resource extraction rather than regional security (U.S. Department of State). Each major move by the administration is a calculated attempt to restock a depleted U.S. Treasury:
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Venezuela (The Oil Grab): The seizure of Venezuelan oil rents—estimated at 50 to 60 million barrels of crude—is a direct move to capture energy wealth for the U.S. Treasury rather than local development (U.S. Energy Information Administration).
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Greenland (Strategic Assets): Annexation threats are driven by Greenland’s massive deposits of rare earth minerals and its control over emerging Arctic shipping routes (U.S. Geological Survey). These serve as non-financial forms of leverage designed to maintain U.S. power as “Dollar Dominance” faces global skepticism (Federal Reserve).
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Trade Wars (The Tariff Tax): Tariffs have transitioned from trade protection tools to primary revenue tools (U.S. Customs and Border Protection). By targeting partners like Canada, the U.S. is attempting to extract the funds necessary to cover its interest obligations without asking American voters for more money (Congressional Budget Office).
The Final Verdict
The only shield currently protecting the U.S. from the full consequences of its fiscal profligacy is the global status of the U.S. Dollar (Federal Reserve Bank of New York). However, the world is now witnessing a superpower transitioning into a opportunistic foreign policy (World Bank). This is a coordinated exploitation of smaller powers by a larger power to pay for the debts of the past (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development).
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Starmer, his money-hungry intelligence and military chiefs and right wing fanatics like Farage will be soberly applauding your thoughts here and the fact you have so eagerly swallowed all the disinformation they have pumped out since the end of the Cold War. Russia is not the threat to Europe and never has been since Perestroika. It is the manner in which the West and Europe in particular has isolated Russia and failed to engage with it as a fellow European country that has led to the fortress mentality in Moscow. It is Europe’s boycotting of Russian attempts to join Nato and the EU, while expanding Nato’s reach to virtually every country sharing a border with Russia in complete contravention of post soviet agreements, that has created tensions.
Russia has patiently stood by as Europe has allowed itself to be flooded with US military bases equipped with nuclear weapons pointed directly at Moscow. Ukraine was the red line, which they gave Nato ample warning about but were ignored. Russia has zero plans for expansion in Europe, not even past the Donbas. And why? Because it’s only recently handed back the half of Europe which almost bankrupted it. They aren’t thinking, hey, let’s give it another shot when a sliver of land in Ukraine has taken four years to take. Russia is the biggest country on the planet, with the most natural resources and doesn’t NEED any more territory. Instead it is looking eastwards, striking agreements with China and building a BRICS powerhouse from which we will be excluded.
On the other hand you have America declaring it intends to rule over the entire western hemisphere, abducting presidents of sovereign nations, stealing their oil and threatening to invade and annex Nato allies like Canada and Greenland. Additionally, it has launched a national security policy declaring it’s willingness to intervene in European political structure, declaring the end of our civilisation unless we comply with US immigration, racial, technological and regulatory standards. It has crippled Europe with arbitrary trade tariff penalties.
The irony of the russophobia that dinosaurs like Starmer promote is that Trump himself is turning to Russia and offering to sacrifice the Donbas in return for access to Russian assets. He sees vast natural resources and temperate territory to be exploited and artic shipping routes to the east. Europe just ignores this and gets on it’s knees to a Washington that doesn’t give a fig for Europe and never has.
As far as threats go, you are looking in entirely the wrong direction. Our entire westward gazing foreign policy since WW2 has been the typically misguided imperialism promoted by wealthy elites that relies on subjugation to American power. Now the chickens are coming home to roost and we brits don’t even have the EU to protect us.
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Whose next door neighbour? Because technically speaking given the existence of Alaska, Russia is already the next door neighbour…
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Russia is our neighbour and the european country that sacrificed 26m people to defeat the nazis. Ever since, it has been crapped on from a very great height by the very nations it protected from being overrun, led of course by the British and the greedy financial industry elites who drive foreign policy. It was ever thus wherever we have screwed up nations with our colonialist ideas.
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No offence, but if someone has swallowed disinformation it’s you. The Russian regime is fascist to its very core, run by a ruthless dictator. Less than a decade ago, Europe was in bed with Putin buying oil and gas. The situation has changed precisely because of the latter’s actions. Not because of some elaborate disinformation scheme carried out by the US. Sweden and Finland didn’t suddenly join NATO after 45 years of Cold War because they fell for US propaganda.
Putin and Russia are a very real and a very dangerous threat.
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fuck me…
you dont half post some shite!
go and read about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact!
or how Stalin wouldnt allow the RAF to refuel in Russia after dropping aid to the Poles during the German occupation.
then come back and talk to us
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There is an interesting divide between Russ-amour and Russ-phobia demographics. It seems that there is a generation that was born in the shadow of WWII that espouses Russia and see it as force to balance the would be US world hegemony. This seem born more out of European indignation as it was brought to the realization of it irrelevance post war.
Those that were born between the 60-90s seem to have a Russ-phobia outlook but even there there is a group that gravitates to Russia - this is understandably a consequence of the cold war.
Those born from the 90s onward largely don’t care one way or the other and if they actually even “see” Russia, they see it as just another random country.
I’ll say it again, the biggest threat to doomsday is a Russia/China conflict. Europe will continue to flail around in its own self importance and the US will play in its own backyard. Eventually China, and it’s vast population, will eye the resources of Russia with wanton eyes.
Ultimately, Russia is on questionable moral footing - should a meagre 100 M have access to such vast resource when so billions go without? The squeeze will be on!
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There is also the critical question of being informed and having some modidcum of critical thinking skills.
If you know anything at all about politics, you were an adult in 2014, and see the development in conjunction with history; it’s simply not allowed to not “know”.
Personally, I don’t know anyone who is “Russophobic” (a modern propaganda term coined by Russian media a very few years ago), I have Russian friends unlike most, I think. Tomorrow I literally have a planned video meeting with a Russian friend in Uzbhekhistan.
But his imperial apologia is just so far off into fascist tankie realms, that it is unforgivable.
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RedGed- is that Liverpool red, or hammer and sickle red? 
Obviously this is a very serious subject. My tuppence worth is that Russia, under Putin, is an authoritarian-fascist state that has been waging asymmetrical warfare on the west for decades, before deciding to expand westwards as they think might is right.
To the west, America, certainly under the current President, is proving to be an unreliable ally at best, with the sort of authoritarian tendencies we’ve seen from Vlad. Putin is worse, and has done much worse, but America seems to be on a similar sort of path and hopefully it will course correct. The piece above, about grabbing assets and future revenue streams from other countries, to service the vast national debt, was very informative.
Edit
Arguably, early on after the fall of the iron curtain, there was an opportunity for good relations. Gorbachev was a gentleman, but then Yeltsin was a drunk, whereas Putin is a dyed-in-the-wool authoritarian-fascist.
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I agree with much of your analysis and t is for these kinds of reasons that China and Russia have signed such close, mutually beneficial alliances recently. I don’t agree that a Russia/China conflict is the most likely flashpoint for the same reason Russia and the US aren’t going to be at war, namely because it would be a nuclear conflagration that nobody can win.
Instead, they will do deals that benefit themselves. Russia’s population is 140m and whether they deserve all those resources is something you could ask about many countries. Do billions of others deserve it more enters the philosophical realm. I think historical boundaries are important to global stability whether it’s Russia or Greeland.
Russia has a strongman policy but is it an offensive one or defensive? Even Farage concedes that Russia feels it is a target. Putin is an autocrat, no doubt, but he has an extraordinarily high support among the Russian people because from the ashes of the USSR he has has created a burgeoning economic powerhouse, designed to be entirely self-sufficient, in order to defeat the endless sanctions and aggression from the West. I’m no huge fan of some of his methods but as a leader he is highly skilled and that’s why he’s so hated among Western elites.
I’m not some raging Red (except for LFC), I just see things in a dispassionate way and get frustrated when people swallow disinformation doled out by western politicians, who in their own way are just as autocratic. Looked inwards and do you see a UK government promoting civil and human rights?
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They are until they are not - Russia had no qualms about invading Ukraine - twice even.
The issue with China is that they are not that romantic about Russia and couldn’t care less about it’s culture. Hawks in China are already viewing Greater China as a goal to aim for - so lets see how long the borders on the eastern front hold…
The foolishness of Russia is they eschewed diplomacy and integration with the Europe and embraced instead a banana republic mentality - a failed state with only the bomb between it and complete irrelevance.
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The Ukraine debacle was so avoidable though. Don’t join Nato and allow a US military base that gives the West a first strike option in a nuclear conflict. Simple, but Biden, Johnson and Zelensky refused. Of course, war is disgusting and I’ve seen plenty of it from close quarters but I don’t think Russia goes to war with any enthusiasm. But after losing 26m people in WW2 it swore it would never be threatened again. Just like we did.
Post war Russia applied to join Nato and be part of a peace alliance but was turned down. The same happened when it applied to join the EU. That’s not a country eschewing diplomacy, it’s one that in Boris Johnson’s words ‘will always be our enemy’.
Faced with that kind of rhetoric and the knowledge that Western policy has always been the breakup of Russia to feast on it’s riches, can you blame Russians for being wary?
Interesting point about China and it’s borders but I think the belt and road initiative with Russia points to how it views Russia. China has never been aggressive, no matter what the West promotes.
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Russian policy is offensive, not defensive. The case for Russia being defensive is like the case for the ICE shooter, bravely stopping a domestic terrorist with no other option but to shoot her three times in the face, saving his own life and that of his colleagues too.
Even Farage? He’s a twerp. Trump-light. His messaging should be taken seriously to the degree in which it is connecting to a certain bloc of voters. The main parties should study why, and learn from it. But Farage is no good.
Russia, economic powerhouse? I think 11th in the world. Similar to Italy, something like that.
Endless sanctions? Stop invading other countries then. Over 100,000 dead Ukrainians is appalling, and he’s lucky it’s only sanctions, as the west should deservedly provide many more military resources to Ukraine to inflict much greater damage on Russia, as they defend themselves.
My conclusion?
I don’t have as strong feelings as Magnus, but you are not a dispassionate observer, and the way you see Russia is misguided.
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Seems there is a need for a general reminder (I put the guy on ignore, first time ever, but I cannot cope with a Pro Russian Tankie narrative on this forum this late into their exceptionally brutal war of actual conquest!) Particularly not when I for years meticulously tracked it, fucking posted much of it here on the forum, and know for a fact that his so called opinion contained multiple lies taken from Russian propaganda, that has been debunked a million times over.
It is beyond disrespectful to push that fucking Russia apoligia when it has been debunked countless times before, including by Russian sources I have posted on this forum. So fucking worthless responding to such people that have decided tooth and nail,that they want to be ignorant and cheer for the most brutal imperial power and push " all Russia wanted was Donbas", long debunked lies.
So I don’t know what the guy has posted since I told him to go to hell.
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Agree totally on ICE and all Trump’s militias. That shooting was disgusting. Murder.
And of course, Farage is a dangerous idiot.
When commenting on Russia’s economy I was looking more at the timescale from where it was at the end of the eighties to where it is now. All economists agree it has been a remarkable turnaround.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I’m always respectful of that and never try to shut people down. I also don’t respond to personal insults and hysteria (not you). I don’t support the Russian invasion of Ukraine either. It is a tragedy as only the innocent die from both countries. But I think geopolitical arguments need to examine all sides.
You mention Ukraine’s 100,000 dead but what about Iraq, Gaza, Afghanistan where Western aggression has caused deaths on unimaginable scale? There’s no goodies and baddies in this arena and Britain, above all others, has no right to lecture on colonialism.
Good discussion though.
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Russia never applied to join NATO or the EU. It was floated at various times, but your description is not accurate.
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