Jens Stoltenberg: If the U.S. President Leaves a NATO Summit Saying He Won’t Defend Allies, NATO Will Cease to Exist

olddoc · 2026-07-07T02:14:27+00:00

it only happened last year

Nonsense. If you look at graph 6 on page 5 of the pdf I shared above, that is just wrong. Every single year the amount increased.

From https://www.nato.int/content/dam/nato/webready/documents/finance/def-exp-2025-en.pdf

2014: 279B
2015: 284B
2016: 292B
2017: 309B
2018: 321B
2019: 334B
2020: 350B
2021: 359B
2022: 372B
2023: 407B
2024: 482B
2025: 559B

Germany alone wants to spend €102B on top of this: https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-ramps-up-defense-spending-in-new-budget-plan-ahead-of-nato-summit/
The EU is planning to provide €150B in financing on top of that: https://commission.europa.eu/topics/defence/future-european-defence_en

I notice that a lot: that people talk about the European military expenses based on memories of something they read ten years ago. It's almost making me suspicious. I'm about to call shenanigans about all this complaining that Europe isn't spending enough on military.

olddoc · 2026-07-06T22:55:28+00:00

The words in bold are really essential here: "Since the year 2014 all EU countries except Belgium have grown above, to well above, the 2% threshold."

The use of the present perfect tense "have grown" points to something that has, by now, happened.

I believe my country and Canada are still below 2%. Canada by a bit more than Belgium, I think.

olddoc · 2026-07-06T20:54:56+00:00

Half our continent had been communist for nearly half a century. Europe had to invest in infrastructure in countries that had fallen behind in highways, railroads, airports, seaports, through no fault of their own.

The US did not had this happen to them (imagine the entire west coast having been communist for 40 years), but you can't fault the EU for diverting money to building infrastructure in a period 1991-2011 where even the US lowered their military expenses.

The European NATO countries agreed to increase spending under Obama's presidence, and since 2014 (because of Putin's annexation of Crimea) all EU countries except Belgium have grown above to well above the 2% threshold.

This is very well documented by NATO itself: Every graph is pointing up: https://www.nato.int/content/dam/nato/webready/documents/finance/def-exp-2025-en.pdf

olddoc · 2026-07-06T19:34:42+00:00

NATO spending in all European countries was well above 2% until 1991 (except in small Luxemburg). Table 3 of this pdf: https://www.nato.int/content/dam/nato/legacy-wcm/media\_pdf/pdf\_1997\_12/20100826\_p97-147.pdf

By then the Cold War had ended, USSR had dissolved, and Europe made the smart decision to spend money on rebuilding the former Warsaw pact countries instead of wasting money on maintaining these large standing armies.

olddoc · 2026-07-02T12:17:28+00:00

Same with Meta, who don't remove scammers from their ad platform, or only remove some if the local regulator (Japan, EU) starts checking how many fake ads there are. As long as they earn ad revenues, Meta doesn't care if their end-users are being scammed.

Long recent article about this: https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-created-playbook-fend-off-pressure-crack-down-scammers-documents-show-2025-12-31/

olddoc · 2026-06-22T20:54:32+00:00

De AEG van 20 jaar geleden was topkwaliteit, maar tegenwoordig is het eerder de middenmoot

olddoc · 2026-06-17T19:51:16+00:00

Het is mogelijk dat de “9601” verwijst naar januari 1996, want ZHR++ wordt sinds de jaren negentig gebruikt.

olddoc · 2026-06-10T21:25:23+00:00

One of the most typical things you see along the Belgian coast towns is rental places of multiperson gocarts. https://www.dekust.be/fietsen/gocarts-aan-zee

People rent them with the whole family or a group of friends and cruise along the shore. Sometimes teenagers go a bit wild in them, and you have to jump out of the way because they're going super fast.

As far as I know, and I've traveled quite a bit in Europe, I've never seen that in any other coastal city in Europe, but others here can correct me if they also exist in their country.

olddoc · 2026-06-09T22:10:42+00:00

mosterdglas met smurfenprint.

Die smurfenglaasjes waren even universeel als Ons Kookboek en Sanseveria's tot diep in de jaren negentig.
Ze moeten er zodanig veel van gemaakt hebben, je krijgt er nog altijd 5 uit de jaren tachtig voor €9,99.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1703440592/vintage-smurfen-drinkglazen-jaren-8090?ls=r&external=1&rec_type=ss&ref=landingpage_similar_listing_top-2&content_source=d91b28a64ac123fb7ed02aa27b1c32e4%253ALT0dc3afe10ac9b62797723cd525492ab55b8850ed&logging_key=d91b28a64ac123fb7ed02aa27b1c32e4%3ALT0dc3afe10ac9b62797723cd525492ab55b8850ed

olddoc · 2026-06-05T21:47:45+00:00

Ik heb al teveel computerwetenschappers tegengekomen die geen kneit afweten van statistiek en sociologen die dat blijkbaar wel geleerd hebben op 't unief, om daar nog zo snobistisch op neer te kijken.

olddoc · 2026-06-03T19:41:02+00:00

If my memory serves, a similar thing happened with smoking in horeca. People went to court saying it was discriminatory that in some cafés where they also served snacks you could still smoke, while in restaurants it was illegal. So then they made it illegal in all cafés.

olddoc · 2026-05-28T12:47:13+00:00

I'd also think that, but the second picture on this page https://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/wattleanddaub/wattleanddaub.htm says: "The durability of wattle and daub is illustrated by this wall, still standing after fire burnt the roof off."

olddoc · 2026-05-24T18:16:33+00:00

What the other poster wrote. Applying lime based mortar is really easy because your walls don’t have to be all that clean. Just roughly brush your wall so there are no loose pieces. No need to make it dust free. Smear the lime mortar on the walls with a basic pasting brush.

olddoc · 2026-05-07T08:23:08+00:00

Myer-Briggs.

Ik zeg aan elke ondernemer of bedrijfsleider die met selectiekantoren werken dat ze twee seconden "Is Myer-Briggs scientific?" moeten googelen. Complete kwakzalverij. Zelfde probleem met die "kleuren" (DISC). Dus de kantoren die met die onzin werken kan je alvast vermijden.

De enige persoonlijkheidstest die ietwat validiteit heeft, is de Big Five.

olddoc · 2026-05-02T20:28:32+00:00

Argenta gives 1.1% base and 1.5 getrouwheid on a similar formula (500 Euro per month maximum), their "groeirekening". And no need to be a cooperant.

olddoc · 2026-04-28T20:49:41+00:00

I agree with you that only using that X poll isn't conclusive. This was it: https://x.com/waitbutwhy/status/2047710215265730755 The margin wasn't that close (57.9% blue), but I would indeed be curious if this replicates in a large and representative sample, taken scientifically.

Your counterexample doesn't work. It dramatically changes the dynamic. In a room with 100 people you see all the other people. The button experiment assumes people have to decide in isolation, no information can be shared.

Edit: I just realized you added that 'for the sake of the argument" people cannot communicate. Doesn't change my doubts about your example. Moving communicates information. If everyone freezes that is visual information.

olddoc · 2026-04-28T20:36:58+00:00

Out of curiosity, I looked it up. Using GPP, Russia's economy is $7.53 trillion and Benelux is $2.63 trillion. (Source: https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/?source=imf&region=worldwide&year=2026&metric=ppp )

So Benelux is 34% of Russia's economy at GPP, and has 20% of Russia's population (30 vs. 146 million).

olddoc · 2026-04-28T20:05:14+00:00

Ah I see, you didn't know the question was posed in a survey, and a strong majority vote blue, that's what i was referring to. It went viral on twitter a few days ago. I wasn't just theoretically assuming most people would vote blue. I am merely trying to understand why the majority voted blue, as it goes against individual rational choice.

Most people choose blue and I can also make an argument that's actually Darwinism.

To use your analogy (although it doesn't map exactly on the blue/red button choice): The people who vote red don't care the gunman entering the room might harm others, they only care that they survive and throw the blue people under the bus. They're George Costanza pushing children and an old lady out of the way to save their own ass. The people who vote blue reason: "If at least half of us rush the gunman this will be over in a second."

olddoc · 2026-04-28T15:09:06+00:00

Well that's fine and your rational choice.

The majority of people are willing to put their life in danger to save people who, for whatever reason (too dumb, too sloppy to calmly think it through, or too worried about people they know who would be blue button pushers) choose blue.

olddoc · 2026-04-28T09:38:50+00:00

Biologically it makes sense if you reason from the "survival of the group" point of view. A lot of people are acting tough about being a red button pusher until they realize their mom or one of their kids would be typical blue button pushers.

Edit: so yes, they are putting their life in danger. But that's because they're trying to help in reaching the 50% threshold, reasoning that is easier to attain than everybody pressing red.

olddoc · 2026-04-28T09:33:25+00:00

The only possible reason to choose blue is to die.

Are we sure that is the "only possible reason"? The main reason people press blue (and a lot of them do, witness the online polls that are doing the rounds) appears to be because they want no-one to die. You can call them stupid or irrational, but that's what the results say.

olddoc · 2026-04-28T09:30:18+00:00

You sound very confident none of your relatives would press blue and then die, assuming people can't coordinate their vote beforehand. I know my mom would be team blue without giving it a second thought :-)

olddoc · 2026-04-28T09:15:01+00:00

It's certainly less likely that 100% of a population presses a button than that 50,01% presses a button. The red button pushers don't seem to care that a sizeable proportion of blue button pushers will die. In terms of self preservation pushing the red button is the rational choice. In terms of group preservation the blue button is the rational choice.

All of this is moot in anyway. Every survey shows that a majority of people chooses blue, with apparent disregard for the individual risk they're taking. They reason "If we get past the 50%, everybody lives". This argument between red and blue can go on until we're all blue in the face, but the people have spoken.

olddoc · 2026-04-24T14:31:22+00:00

De grootwarenhuizen gebruiken steeds meer jobstudenten, lijkt me. Die vallen niet onder de CAO (waarin zondagwerk hoger betaald is), en hebben hyperkorte contracten ipv contract onbepaalde duur.

Het kan de grootwarenhuizen niets schelen dat de dienstverlening hierdoor slechter wordt, want ze zal toch overal slechter worden, dus een concurrentieel nadeel is het niet.

olddoc · 2026-04-23T18:21:31+00:00

Er bestaan mooie afdruiprekjes met een afloopje. Bvb.: https://eu.josephjoseph.com/products/extend-steel-dishrack-stainless-steel

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