OlympicsFan

I don’t see Israel splitting from the US, even if the US would openly criticize them. I also think the US has a pretty good relation with Jordan?

Still he doesn’t seem fine with Nord Stream 2?

China too ... North Korea? Iran? Afghanistan? UK? Probably a long list ...

I don’t like to say this, but I think Trump has a point. Social media sites should be held accountable for helping to spread hate speech. Of course a consequence would be that many of Trump‘s tweets would have to be deleted.

How are they messing up his memory? If people „blame“ this on him, then it is their fault. I have no clue who this guy was and what he did, but if someone holds him accountable for something that he had no influence on, then it is just stupid.

You need to calm down and get a clear head. As Long as you are only saying this nonsense on a forum like this, it isn’t a problem, but I hope you don’t voice those opinions in public.

Thanks for the laugh ... The American democracy is in a pretty bad state, but still far better than the Chinese „democracy“ ever was. Also: 1) What value does an apology have when it is a forced apology? 2) So the policeman should apologize before he was even found guilty/before there was any chance to determine whether his actions were the reason for the victim‘s death? I get why people think that this is the „most effective and efficient“ solution in states like China or Saudi Arabia (this reminds me of Khashoggi‘s family members publicly „forgiving“ his killers and therefore allowing the state not to sentence them to death, after receiving multiple million dollars worth of compensation by the state ...), but in western countries it usually doesn’t work like this.

1) In the future meat produced in the lab will be cheaper than traditional meat. 2) It would greatly help with climate change. 3) It would also greatly help with preventing future possible pandemics. If western countries keep pumping their animals full with antibiotics, then it is only a matter of time until a pandemic will start in a western country.

Are you on the streets protesting?

Will be interesting to see which way the UK goes after leaving the EU. I think they could follow the american/canadian lead (concerning genetically modified food) closely. I also wouldn't call products like the one i mentioned crap. I believe that the future of animal products belongs to products produced in a lab, it would solve a lot of problems.

Not sure why you think that populous countries should have advantages in technology and research, but many countries that are doing great in those areas are rather small countries (Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Israel, Ireland, Finland, Singapore, the Netherlands). I also don't think that you can trust the official death stats in the US. I saw some stat today that in many states there have been far more pneumonia deaths than usual those last couple of months. For example in Indiana there were 2149 pneumonia deaths, while the five year average is 384. In Illinois there were 3984 pneumonia deaths, while the five year average is 782, and so on ... Either you believe that this is a coincidence unrelated to coronavirus or you have to assume that the deaths are massively undercounted in the US. I think a conservative guess for the real number of deaths would be 150 000.

I don't know what characterizes a show that is suited for a "nice late night watch" for you, but i enjoyed the first season a lot. I don't remember the last time i was so impressed by season 1 of any show. I think the actor who portrayed Shaun did a great job and i liked that Shaun wasn't depicted as some super-genius who never makes a mistake.

So hopefully not for long ... wouldn't mind if everyone would stop eating dairy + there is actually a way to produce dairy products in a laboratory. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/science/lab-grown-milk.html I think New Zealand will be find if they can keep attracting super-rich like Peter Thiel ...

So far i have only watched season 1 of "The Good Doctor" and i can definitely recommend it. The same is true for the first 6 seasons of "New Girl", although it went a bit downhill after the first 2 seasons.

I feel like we are back at the beginning. My point was that judging a countries response before the pandemic is over doesn’t make much sense. Sweden might have the highest fatality rate, but who is to say that it will stay that way? I also think you can’t just go by fatality rates and ignore the economic part. Let’s say country A goes into full lockdown, 100 people die, but the economy loses 100 billion dollars, which leads to cuts in the health care system and over the next 10 years 20000 people who could have been saved by a better health care system die. Country B (with the same population size and the same GDP) doesn’t go into lockdown, 10000 people die, but the economy only loses 10 billion dollars and therefore there aren’t any cuts in the health care system. Which country did a better job in your opinion? The problem is that humans overestimate immediate dangers while they underestimate future dangers, otherwise only few people would regularly smoke/drink alcohol/eat unhealthy food. The politicians had to react accordingly, because otherwise they would have been unelectable in the future. Sadly politicians in many countries nowadays do what is best for their chances of getting reelected and not what is best for the country in the long run, it is somewhat the same with CEO‘s. They get judged and paid based on the current performance of their company, not based on how ready for the future their company is.

Not sure if that would be the best way to go, but looking at history (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan) I am pretty confident to say that if the US really wanted to help foreign countries, then their way of doing it has proven to be not very successful, so it might be time for a different strategy.

Without a doubt many African people think like that, but at the same time I think that there are many places where people would be more appreciative and I think in some cases European countries would have a better access thanks to the common language. I just hope that African countries don’t get the short end of the stick when dealing with China. Today a lot of African countries are still exploited by big companies from all over the world (for example look at what Exxon just recently did in Guyana), but it has to be mentioned that big western companies couldn’t exploit those countries if there wouldn’t be greedy local politicians who are willing to sell out their own country for their personal benefit.

I think that this isn’t true for all western countries. In 2017 the US paid 35 billion dollars of foreign aid and among the top 10 recipients were 7 African nations. GB paid 18 billion dollars in foreign aid and among the top 10 recipients there were 5 African countries. On the other hand Germany paid 25 billion dollars in foreign aid and among the 10 recipients there was only one African country (Morroco), while the top recipient was India with 1 billion dollars and China was 3rd with 700 million dollars. The EU paid more than 16 billion dollars in foreign aid and among the top 10 recipients were only 2 African countries (Morocco and Tunisia). Funnily enough the top recipient was Turkey with 2.6 billion dollars. I guess due to the colonial history some European countries are more hesitant to tell African countries what to do, China doesn’t have that Problem.

Ok, but when you judge someone‘s actions, it would maybe make sense to know what the goal is.

In Germany there are also tons of People From Poland/Romania doing those jobs. GB could decide that those jobs have to be done by unemployed people who would otherwise lose their benefits. Of course only if they are in the physical condition to do that. If you hire local people, you have to pay higher wages. I think Italy is discussing giving citizenship to illegal immigrants who are willing to do those jobs. Recently I also saw a documentary about illegal African immigrants in Almeria, Spain. They only earn 10 € or so a day. The question is what would happen to the prizes if those people would be payed minimum wage?

I think there is a difference ... I think it is safe to say that those students are far more qualified than your normal immigrant, I am also not sure how long they plan to stay.

What I find interesting is China‘s global strategy. How many wars did the US start to gain influence? China doesn’t need that, they „gained control“ over Africa without having to lead any wars.

1) Is the pandemic already over? If not, then maybe it would make sense to wait with judgement until it is over. 2) I think saving as many lives as possible is important for most governments, but I think you can‘t just look at the fatality rates, you also have to look at the economy.

The situation in Brazil (and South America in general) is looking pretty bad. Also the UK, the US and Russia are not doing a very Good Job. You have to wonder whether that has anything to do with the „mindset“ of their political leaders. Brazil is a great country with amazing potential, but I am not sure that the way they are currently on is the right way for them.

Why is it safe to say that?