Some European politicians are dismayed that the European Union did not drive a harder bargain, but facing the threat of a damaging trade war, officials say they had little choice.

Archive - https://archive.is/4M8vb

  • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    Ven der Leyen is a conservative. She’s doing what all conservatives do when facing Trump.

    What I don’t get is why the EU hasn’t sacked her.

  • Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    Limp-wristed bitch babies. In 2024, the EU was the biggest trading partner of the US and China was the 4th. China got Trump to back down, the EU could have done the same. But the EU is headed by do-nothing-status-quo conservatives, so of course they backed down, they can’t do anything but to capitulate when it comes to the economy or their ratings.

  • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    So many people, businesses, and countries have given Trump BJs to stay in his favour and all it does it show him he can come back and bully them again for more.

    But I’m sure it’ll work out this time.

  • Skiluros@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    A deal with America isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. A large part of American society consists of criminals, degenerates and corrupt nihilists.

    While there are many sane Americans, my experience living in the US suggests they unfortunately don’t have what it takes to implement real anti-corruption reforms, judicial reform and rehabilitation/internment programs for degenerates.

    They are too well off to do anything (until it’s too late) and are generally unwilling to think outside the box of local provincial orthodoxy. They will always come up with excuses to do nothing.

    • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I wouldn’t say a large part. I mean we have what, the worlds largest % of the population in prison or something. Most of them are only criminals by the local definition, and wouldn’t be criminals elsewhere. So we got that going for us.

      • Skiluros@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        I meant criminals in the ethical sense, not necessarily in the judicial sense. Compare how the American judiciary treated the Sackler Cartel verses “Chapo” Guzman of CDS.

        Mind you, this is of course not unique to the US. What is unique is that many Americans openly defend such corruption (while also parroting some copytext provided by Sackler Cartel lawyers). That’s what I meant by degeneracy.

        • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          I don’t know many rral people who defend corruption. It’s just the people who are trying to get media attention mostly. So poloticians, influencers, newsertainment people, that sort. On lemmy of course you have liberals who will defend corrupt democrats as the better of two evils. But lemmy doesn’t really represent the country.

          • Skiluros@sh.itjust.works
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            14 hours ago

            I would strongly disagree. Polemicists and public demagoguery is of course present in the US, but that’s not really what I am discussing. I will give you another example.

            Mandatory arbitration in B2C contexts. Objectively speaking this an American-style corruption scheme to limit the ability of individuals to use the legal system and force them to use a corporate run kangaroo court system that’s not too different from the USSR or CCP China.

            Many Americans will reflexively defend any criticism of corruption in the judicial system often employing rote copytext that is widely promoted by regular people (not just influencers). In this particular context one example of common copytext would be “we are a nation of contracts” (which is of course false) but there are other variations as well.

            These aren’t small exceptions. This sort of support for crime and corruption is very prevalent among the US public.

            Mind you, this is not meant as an anti-American statement. From my perspective, one isn’t doing anyone a favour by sweeping key problems under the rug and pretending they don’t exist. I also say similar thing to my American friends about my own country.

            I would prefer if the US was in the democratic camp of nations. But personally I think it’s already too late for that. I hope I am wrong.

            • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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              7 hours ago

              I don’t know who you are talking to, but I have never heard a real person face to face say “we are a nation of contracts”. Only tv newsertainment. The only defense I have heard for arbitration was a half-hearted mention that the courts are already jammed.

              As for corruption of the judicial system, that was one of the major points of the black lives matter protests. The judicial system give cops preference, allowing them to continue to brutalize minorities.

              Here is a gallop poll showing faith in the judicial system at 35%. https://news.gallup.com/poll/653897/americans-pass-judgment-courts.aspx

              I’ve been in the jury room, before 2020 even when faith in the system really took a nose dive. One guy wouldn’t vote to convict no matter what because he didn’t believe any part of the system was fair. Others openly expressed how thier lack of faith in the system was impacting thier deliberations. Keep in mind, judges will tell people that both of those actions are illegal and can get you put in jail. No one turned them in or even objected to those opinions.

              Most people have come to the realization that the government, especially the judicial system, doesn’t work for the people. They work for the corporations.

              The only defenders a person is likely to meet are the ones who profit from the system. People with stock portfolios and such. And even among those many agree the system isn’t fair to people.

              • Skiluros@sh.itjust.works
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                5 hours ago

                I will admit the “nation of contracts” piece is not from a IRL convo, it was a forum convo. That being said I’ve definitely encountered very similar polemics in face to face conversations in the US.

                The level of skepticism of oligarchs and government corruption in the US is far less than in any country I’ve lived in (I’ve lived in 5 countries across North America, Europe and Asia, I’ve also visited another ~25 countries, some multiple times).

                I am not saying there is no skepticism of either the judiciary or the oligarchic system, but a lot of people (note I never said a plurality or majority, I used the word “large”) actively and aggressively promote oligarchic polemics, corruption and criminality.

                In other countries, you almost never have situations (IRL) where someone talks about the constitution or freedom of speech or any such concepts in a random manner. You can have conversation about such topics, but these are defined and focused discussions. In the US, as foreigner, you get the impression and that everyone and their mother claims to be constitutional expert. And the “free speech supporter” polemics (the ones I’ve heard IRL, not internet or media stuff) are extremely shallow, bordering on childish.

                And the polemics outbursts almost always leverage standardized copytext. This is very noticeable if you are foreigner and you travel across the US and talk to different people in different environments.

                It is not my intention to “shit on the US”, not at all. But it also not reasonable for me to deny my real experience in the US (not one location, I’ve been to maybe ~20 states or so).

  • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    So they went with what in the short term appeared to be the better of two evils. Ignoring the long term always works out. But I don’t blame them I guess. They didn’t creat this mess, and they just want to stall to see where it goes.

  • defunct_punk@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    E.U. officials offered a simple response. The situation could have become a disaster, setting off an all-out trade war

    A bad thing for the 1% on both sides and a the best long-term outcome for the 99%. “Global trade” exists to keep a few thousand people around the world happy and rich and you worse off for it.