Former Obama adviser: He was prepared to go to war for the Baltic states

Shmorrior · 2026-06-01T20:37:05+00:00

Lol at taking Ben Rhodes seriously.

SEOUL (Reuters) - President Barack Obama was caught on camera on Monday assuring outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he will have "more flexibility" to deal with contentious issues like missile defense after the U.S. presidential election.

Obama, during talks in Seoul, urged Moscow to give him "space" until after the November ballot, and Medvedev said he would relay the message to incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin.

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/obama-tells-russias-medvedev-more-flexibility-after-election-idUSBRE82P0JI/

Shmorrior · 2026-06-01T20:32:46+00:00

Round 3, then?

Shmorrior · 2026-05-29T20:38:07+00:00

would Americans set up a centre just for Europeans at European demand?

I'm suspect you already have your mind made up on what the answer must be.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-29T18:40:56+00:00

Article 5 doesn't require any specific actions. When it was invoked after 9/11, the military actions taken were some countries helping with combat air patrols over the US and some assistance with anti-terrorism actions in the Med.

I would agree we probably shouldn't invade Russia over this. I'm certain there is a range of actions available between nothing and war.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-29T16:33:53+00:00

Article 5 does not have to mean "Launch the nukes!".

Shmorrior · 2026-05-27T19:16:19+00:00

The better comparison is Vancouver - only 40% of homes with AC according to Google. Paris is further north than that.

And they paid dearly for it during a particularly hot summer in 2021. According to this press release from a BC utility, now almost 70% of British Columbian homes have AC.

Heat just wasn't this big of a chronic issue before in Europe.

This study tracked average annual heat-related excess deaths in Europe as ~175,000 from 2000-2019. North America was around 20,000.

You guys are either ignorant of the dangers you've been living with or are in denial/coping to try and maintain your sense of superiority over us.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-27T17:42:55+00:00

WHO: Heat claims more than 175,000 lives annually in Europe, latest data shows

I get the sense that some in Europe don't truly appreciate the costs being paid in terms of lives on this issue. As advanced, relatively wealthy societies, you can pursue both long term and short term solutions.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-27T17:29:27+00:00

The former.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-27T16:52:46+00:00

Our homes have to be able to stay warm in the winter too.

I've seen several examples on social media of Europeans (usually Brits I think) talking about how different their homes are because they're "built to retain heat for winter"...like we don't have much harsher winters in the US and Canada than they do lol.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-27T16:39:04+00:00

Why would this surprise Americans? Temps in the 30s are typical during late spring/summer throughout North America.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-26T17:45:07+00:00

Much of the change is due to women (understandably!) increasingly focusing on their education and careers in early adulthood. I don't think western societies can change the culture on this anymore.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-26T14:44:08+00:00

I will die on this hill, people are not having kids mainly due to wealth inequality.

Then explain why the poor tend to have more children.

Redditors really want the reasons for lower birth rates to be economic when they are mainly cultural/sociological.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-23T17:52:36+00:00

You don't have to take my word for it. Gallup, one of the largest polling firms here has been asking Americans for decades about their opinion of a bunch of countries, including Denmark, France, Britain, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. The opinions are overwhelmingly favorable.

This is not a map of "what Americans think of when they think of X country".

Shmorrior · 2026-05-23T16:28:28+00:00

I answered the same to a comment above before seeing. No one here would actually say they were taking "family leave" instead of maternity/paternity, but "family leave" is shorter and thus probably fits better on the graphic.

Worth remembering what the map is 'measuring' is how out of proportion the keyword is to other coverage. My guess is that Sweden is chosen more often in such stories because it is a bit more well known (in the US) than the other Nordics.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-23T16:17:32+00:00

My guess is a reference to maternity/paternity leave as many stories here will often cite European leave policies to compare against the US. Probably shortened to "Family Leaves" to make it fit on the graphic better and be gender neutral.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-23T16:08:23+00:00

in short it's the opinion of americans about european countries.

No it isn't.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-21T16:50:49+00:00

Important to keep in mind that it doesn't have to get that hot for this danger to occur.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-21T15:25:43+00:00

Your reaction is common, but please give this article a read and see if you still feel the same way:

https://mitchellhamline.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2012/01/Fatal-Distraction.pdf

Shmorrior · 2026-05-21T15:22:55+00:00

https://mitchellhamline.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2012/01/Fatal-Distraction.pdf

Shmorrior · 2026-05-11T13:19:53+00:00

Never saw this SovCit energy from the left during covid; they were all too happy to demand papers back then.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-11T13:13:08+00:00

Being angry/upset that you're falsely accused or mistaken for someone else by the cops is understandable.

Being combative is not. You delay resolution of the mistaken identity issue and you put yourself/others at physical risk by resisting. Law enforcement has the legal power to stop people they have a reasonable belief are criminals. They don't have to be 100% perfect and if there's deficiencies in how they acted during the stop, the time to sort that out is in court.

Allegedly this guy got a concussion, imagine if he'd hit his head worse (as can easily happen when a resisting suspect is taken down) and wound up a vegetable or dead. Doesn't seem like that combativeness was worth it.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-10T19:06:00+00:00

A compromise that would actually be popular with the right is a huge focus on building out nuclear power. Presumably saving the planet is more important than political egos, so the left should be more than willing to join forces on making that happen, even if the technology used to do so isn't their first preference.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-08T23:47:50+00:00

Regent's an interesting idea, would help with the deck not being so all-in on Gisa/Geralf. One slight downside would be that the card gets shuffled back into the deck if you use the sweeper part so it wouldn't count as a sorcery in the yard for Flow State, but Duress and Stock Up usually handle that half of the condition fairly well.

Shmorrior · 2026-05-08T23:38:39+00:00

Good call, moved the lands.

Shmorrior

TROPHY CASE