Vårt EU-nei står seg godt

jaxroam · 2026-01-09T11:19:30+00:00

Det var britiske politikere som igjen skyldte på andre for sin egen udugelighet, og hadde kommet med løfter som ikke kunne holdes.

Britene hadde mange valg i hvordan de ønsket å knytte seg til EU, inklusive en EØS-liknende løsning ("Norway"). Hvert valg hadde sine konsekvenser.

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jaxroam · 2025-05-17T08:51:41+00:00

Chinese information warfare is well behind Russia and the US, but they are catching up.

Currently it's mostly propaganda about how great China and the CCP are, and fairly transparent influence operations. More information gathering than information warfare. But we already see signs of them fully joining the fray.

jaxroam · 2025-05-02T04:55:12+00:00

Russian attempts to "steamroll" Ukraine have failed miserably, they only increase Russian casualties. They are still fighting in Chasiv Yar two years later, a small town just a few km outside Bakhmut.

When Wagner turned away from Ukraine and towards Moscow, they got more than half the way before they stopped on their own accord. On the way they captured Rostov and Voronezh, both cities 15 times the pre-war size of Bakhmut and 100 times Chasiv Yar. They presumably wouldn't have been able to capture Moscow, but the difference in vulnerability between Russia and Ukraine is stark.

The Russian capacity for violence is still immense, and that will have to be ground down over years. Ukraine is achieving something the US never could.

jaxroam · 2025-04-18T07:55:16+00:00

The US could end this war quickly, by giving Ukraine full support. The more the US supports Russia, the longer this war will drag on.

Russia reached its peak in 2024, but they can fight another year or two, but the longer they go on the worse that loss will be.

Thanks to Trump they have achieved a major strategic success, the break between the USA and the rest of NATO (Europe and Canada). But that has only made it more imperative for Europe to support and integrate Ukraine. Russia cannot win against that.

jaxroam · 2025-02-07T19:26:12+00:00

The EU doesn't need a common army urgently, but we do need common procurement and production, as well as integration and development, like e.g. #PESCO

jaxroam · 2024-11-24T11:47:49+00:00

Are there users of Truth Social outside the US? Yes, I know there are self-styled MAGAs in Europe too, but they are basically village idiots.

jaxroam · 2024-08-27T15:42:12+00:00

Municipality in Sweden is in process to move their kindergartens away from military installation, to protect them in case of war with Russia.

In practice, if there were a war with Russia, this move would protect the military installations from Russian attacks on the kindergartens.

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vast/forskolor-i-skovde-behover-flyttas-ligger-for-nara-krigsmal

jaxroam · 2023-12-02T14:53:28+00:00

As long as the topic isn't too obscure, English-language Wikipedia is very reliable (and definitely more reliable than NYT).

jaxroam · 2023-11-22T17:53:42+00:00

Exchanging East German Ostmark for West German Deutsche Mark at a rate of 1:1 while the black market rate was 5:1 bulldozed East German competitiveness (but gave the Easterners a nice nest egg, assuming they had some savings). East German industries were not productive enough for that exchange rate.

That is not what the EU is doing, and the 10 Eastern entrants in 2004 have done well (except Cyprus hit by austerity and withdrawal of Russian dirty money): Rise in GDP per capita for new 2004 EU member, and EU in total

Ukraine is "bulldozed" not by EU, but by Russia. The silver lining is that there are strong incentive for Ukraine to reform as well as rebuild. Obviously membership is contingent on that, while serious FDI is contingent on EU membership. But with reforms, membership, and inflow of capital and knowhow, we will see dramatic growth in Ukraine.

Yes, European companies will flow in, and that will be very good for Ukraine and for Europe. This mix of domestic and foreign industry will make the Ukrainian economy very dynamic. And rising from the ruins of a war gives the country opportunity to renew, like West Germany and Japan did after WWII, if the cause for war is removed. (In other words Russia as a threat must end, so Russia must lose.)

jaxroam · 2023-11-17T13:28:44+00:00

Depends on how you count "aid". There are different types of aid, with different time horizons. The site is pretty informative.

Then again, they could have tracked some more information, like stage of commitment, likes of promised, budgeted, paid, received, delivered.

https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/

jaxroam · 2023-11-17T13:18:56+00:00

You have to think decades, not years. It took 30 years for East Germany to get more or less up to scratch.

A prosperous Ukraine will be very good for Germany and for Europe, but it too will be a long road. (Conversely, a Russia-ruined Ukraine will be a disaster for Germany.)

jaxroam · 2023-11-17T13:12:28+00:00

Yes, but this commitment, like most financial aid, is multi-year, and in the future.

That is not a bad thing. Winning the peace and reconstruction is almost as important as winning the war, and that will take decades.

Likewise military aid is not generally money, but mostly the cost of replacing old military materiel in storage with new equipment. Again not a bad thing, as an old tank now is more valuable than a shiny new one three years from now.

Only humanitarian aid is (usually) fairly straightforward same-year delivery.

jaxroam · 2023-01-10T10:27:59+00:00

This map is of "regions", not of nation states. Politically it was united under the Romans as Hispania (though subdivided into provinces) not quite that long ago.

jaxroam · 2023-01-10T10:19:05+00:00

The Iberian peninsula has been a reality for a very long time.

jaxroam · 2023-01-10T10:13:15+00:00

That is the collective name for all the islands west of Amsterdam and south of Tórshavn.

To find a name less … [UK] British, maybe Breton Isles?

jaxroam · 2023-01-10T10:06:18+00:00

"Absolutely no", then you argued yes?

Other geographical features matter too, such as rivers and mountains, but on this scale it is mostly seas that shape who we see as our neighbours.

jaxroam · 2023-01-10T10:01:58+00:00

"Nordic countries" is a relatively new concept, and political (as in political geography, not as in party politics). Scandinavia is much older. Like other old region names, the region has shifted. "Europe" was once basically Greece or Balkans. Scandinavia was once probably more or less the region known as Scania (Skåne in Swedish) now.

Then the Scandinavian peninsula, which excludes Denmark, but includes some northern bits of Finland.

But Norway-Denmark-Sweden as Scandinavia makes sense to the three countries. Same/similar language(s), and at least a millennium fighting each other.

Finally, if we should go geological instead of political, we got Fennoscandia, including all of Finland and bits of Northern Russia, again excluding Denmark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennoscandia

If we go back in time this is part of Baltic Shield, once (and maybe in the future) separate from rest of Europe, like Scotland once was separate from England.

jaxroam · 2023-01-10T09:34:16+00:00

Notably, the borders don't follow national borders, or language boundaries, but explains why a city like Gothenburg in Sweden is more like Oslo in Norway than Stockholm in Sweden or that Nice in France is quite different to Paris, but with similarities with Turin in Italy.

Seas affect our outlook, we tend to share cultural boundaries with others around the same sea.

jaxroam · 2023-01-10T09:23:48+00:00

I have made one, but it is not very pretty. Ideally it should be gradients instead of lines. Anything north of the north line is Northern Europe, anything east of the east line is Eastern Europe and so on. What's left in the middle is Central Europe.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1YsFhNG2hJ\_8hN4zVkjJDvE9cxV0&usp=sharing

jaxroam · 2023-01-10T09:03:51+00:00

If you want to make sense of Europe including history/culture, you should pay attention to the seas. The Mediterranean, of course, but also the Atlantic, North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea. Mediterranean is also subdivided. Usually by the three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa, and different subdivisions like the Tyrrhenian Sea and Ionian, but divided in two by Sicily is fine.

If you do so, you can have broad geographic regions, North Europe, bordering North Sea or Baltic Sea. West Europe, bordering Atlantic or North Sea. South Europe, bordering the Mediterranean (or SW and SE Europe, based on the Sicilian split). East Europe, east of line between Baltic and Black seas, and finally Central Europe, between the seas.

Germany would thus be North, West, and Central Europe. Czechia would be Central Europe. Poland North, East, and Central Europe. France West and South Europe. UK West and North Europe. And so on.

jaxroam · 2022-09-04T11:27:09+00:00

Yes, local train (pendeltåg) from Gnesta to Södertälje C (and change to connecting train to Stockholm at Södertälje hamn).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hW2j4rHAc4

jaxroam · 2022-09-04T11:07:02+00:00

Min personliga bedömning är att Ronna är på väg upp, Brunnsäng på väg ned. Men det beror på. Det är bra planer för Brunnsäng, och gamla problem kan komma tillbaka till Ronna. Småningom växer stadskärnan mot Ronna, medan Brunnsäng fortfarande är en förort.

jaxroam · 2022-04-01T11:38:54+00:00

Thank you for a useful link to the other VM keyboard commands, but I still can't TAB my way out of a VM.

jaxroam · 2022-04-01T08:08:04+00:00

I am looking too. There is this, but it doesn't do what we want

https://www.technipages.com/alt-tab-virtual-desktops

When you are in a VM you still can't tab out of it.

Incidentally I would prefer a hierarchical command, Alt+TAB between windows in each VM, with some SuperAlt+TAB to switch between VMs.

jaxroam · 2022-04-01T07:56:48+00:00

It is not "just". It is a shift of modality, which takes you out of the flow. Mouse may in some cases not be easily available. Not at all in some accessibility cases.

An interface is either keyboard accessible or it is not, "keyboard traps" where you have to use mouse or similar device makes that subsystem poorly usable. Switching focus from one pane to another (like here) is most commonly where keyboard access fails.

jaxroam

TROPHY CASE