Absolutely. Applies to Oz too; spending money on US defence products is lunacy.
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Fair enough on the Poland knowledge. I was probably too simplistic in just considering the geography. Poland is potentially vulnerable to Russian expansion (not as much as the Baltic states) and as such, being a good sized country, if it had nuclear weapons to defend itself against itās close neighbor to the east, it would be a huge deterrent.
But I didnāt factor Polish pro-Russian sentiment into the equation.
Thatās what makes all of this so infuriating. America has veered off course quite dramatically, but the issue is global as plenty of countries are going that way in their own way, or have a sizable portion of the population in sync with the extreme right. It makes the issue that much more difficult to tackle.
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Iām not sure that the latter is correct at least in the middle east/ Mediterranean. The collapse started prior to the shift to Iron and was due to a variety of issues including droughts, famine, mass migration, pirating, earthquakes, pandemics and loss of established trade routes to bring in the raw materials needed.
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France has nukes and the next President could be Bardella with LePen pulling the strings. I donāt think anyone knows where these stand on world politics except having a strong degree of contempt for the EU (not that they would pull out imo).
France has been a fairly decent country since the war with fairly responsible, reasonable and stable Presidents. The Rassemblement Nationale (RN) has many unsavoury factions (as do Les Republicans (LR) at the moment and they look set to prop up the RN).
It is surely a worry and Iām hoping someone decent comes to the forefront.
It as if the roots of the RN have been forgotten and they and the LR are taking that old ground.
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Iām Eurocentric! 
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Aye and then the relative abundance of the raw materials required to make iron meant that highly quality weapons were more accessible than had been. It became an equalizer and so when combined with the factors you describe that already existed it meant the conditions were in place for smaller groups within a bronze age empire to rise up in opposition.
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Lack of trade creates impoverishment!
The generational split is interesting
https://x.com/narrenhut/status/2039009109211549805?s=20
There is likely a social media and news consumption angle here that younger people are exposed to more critical information about Israelās conduct than the older generation saw from mainstream media. But younger jews have also grown up with an Israel that has picked sides in US domestic politics and that reframes a lot of it as well
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The vast majority are not that impacted regarding internal political movements. I used too think so also but it is far less (probably) in reality. The mass poles are pretty steady, India and China, and pretty much most other places - including Russia, Africa and Asia. The issue is Europe and the US as they learn how to live with less.
Pam Bondi and Tulsi Gabbard on the bubble
Trump considering dumping Pam Bondi and Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi - going to depend how well she finds election fraud due to foreign interference (China ? Iran ?)
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Pam Bondi - possible replacement Lee Zeldin, currently EPA administrator
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Some of the reporting on Bondi suggest sheās already been told and she already has a made up position to move into, similar to Noem, so it doesnāt look like the start of a revolving door. Any remaining credibility that department held onto, will be thrown out the window by whoever he manages to squeeze in there.
Just saw on The tv that Bondi is defo out. Todd Blanche interim. My thought as to reason for this is that Bondi is scheduled to sit before the justice committee on April 14.
Most transparent president ever!
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Itās taken a while but he is starting his sackings again. Remember his entire first term was a revolving door. I thought that might have stopped with these people being absolute sycophants unlike the ones in the first term who some at least had a record of government at the being at least but nope.
Expect a revolving door the lower his figures go.
Yeah in his first term he ran into people who had lines they werent willing to cross and tried to redirect him and they all eventually got fired for giving him answers he didnt like. This time around he is 100% staffed by sycophants but practically he is running into some of the same issues because his expectations are impossible. He is running into issues where you cannot bluster your way through them and so even a sycophant like Bondi cannot make the Epstein files go away
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Am surprised it has taken this long for him to realise Bondi is a complete moron.
Have started following several US Lawtubers over the last couple of years and pretty much the entire legal profession in the US says she is beyond useless
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As state AG for Florida she was responsible for dropping the fraud case into Trump University. She did that shortly after receiving a big donation from Trump for her reelection campaign (itself a nuts thing that the head law enforcement officer for a state would be elected by the people). That is literally her qualificationsā¦an unremarkable legal career highlighted by earning what was more of a political position than a position earned from her legal bonafides. It was appropriate that the only Dem who voted to confirm her was Fetterman, not just because she is a political hack, but because she is not remotely prepared for the role.
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Now that is a strange one. How does a complete and utter moron recognise a complete moron?
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probably signed the most water tight NDA known to man
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Trump keeps ducking and diving to evade justice. Will the Epstein truth come out with regard to his involvement? Or will he die first?
Iām honestly not sure what I would bet on there.