Politics & Stuff

[cosmicway 1,323]

Just now, Vesper said:

China has no claim on the Solomon Islands

where are you seeing they want to invade them?

 

It's not far and it's the place from where you can take good aim at Australia.
The Japanese tried hard.
The Chinese at this stage are trying to talk the government of these islands into giving them some naval bases.

[Vesper 28,787]

13 minutes ago, cosmicway said:

It's not far and it's the place from where you can take good aim at Australia.
The Japanese tried hard.
The Chinese at this stage are trying to talk the government of these islands into giving them some naval bases.

in other words, you just made it up

China is NOT seeking to invade the Solomon Islands

and it IS far away from China

there are large amount of sovereign nations in between the two

 

the qualitative level of discourse on this forum at times is just horrific

falsehoods, obfuscation, non germane ramblings, and utter batshittery walk hand in hand with demonstrably proven facts and/or valid points that are actually worthy of debate, with all tossed out as equals, thus making a mockery of rational discussion

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Vesper

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

 

Edited 3 hours ago by NikkiCFC

[Vesper 28,787]

Musk appears to pressure Trump on Cabinet and tariffs, irking advisers

Elon Musk, the billionaire who has become Donald Trump’s “first buddy,” appeared to publicly pressure the president-elect on economic policy and a key Cabinet pick.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/16/elon-musk-trump-treasury-tariffs/

Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire who has become President-elect Donald Trump’s “first buddy,” appeared to publicly pressure Trump on economic policy and a key Cabinet appointment Saturday.

In a Saturday morning post on X, the social network he owns and runs, Musk praised a foreign leader’s decision to cut tariffs — the same import taxes that Trump wants to raise to the highest level in a century. Several hours later, Musk posted that Howard Lutnick, Trump’s co-transition chair, would be a better choice than hedge fund executive Scott Bessent for treasury secretary.

“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change,” Musk posted. “Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another.” He encouraged his nearly 205 million followers to weigh in, too.

Musk’s endorsement of Lutnick is likely to exacerbate the substantial confusion and even fear in Trump’s orbit about the central role Musk appears to be playing in personnel and policy decisions for the new administration.Follow

The president’s allies were grateful to have had Musk’s financial and political backing during the campaign, but his growing influence has irritated some of Trump’s backers. Several people in Trump’s circle expressed astonishment Saturday that Musk would publicly push for his choice for a crucial economic role while the president-elect was still weighing his decision.

“People are not happy,” said one person in contact with campaign officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to reflect private conversations. This person said the statements suggested Musk was acting as a “co-president” and potentially overstepping his new role in Trump’s orbit.

Musk, who spent more than $100 million in support of Trump’s campaign, has been by Trump’s side since he was elected the 47th president of the United States, appearing on calls with foreign leaders, sitting in on transition meetings and appearing on the golf course with the president-elect’s grandchildren at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. Musk has also spent substantial time with Lutnick at Mar-a-Lago in the days since the election.

Musk and Trump still appear to be close: Musk, Lutnick and several top Trump aides traveled with the president-elect from Florida to New York to attend a UFC fight at Madison Square Garden on Saturday evening. But Musk’s constant presence and increasingly public input have started to grate on transition officials who feel he is radically unfamiliar with the ways of Washington, according to people familiar with the dynamics.

Musk has publicly praised many of Trump’s choices. But his support of Lutnick before any public announcement — and his call to crowdsource opinions on the matter — marked a less deferential approach to Trump’s staffing decisions.

Bessent and Lutnick have been jockeying for the role of treasury secretary over the past week, with allies of each candidate potshotting the other to transition officials. Lutnick has asked Trump to pick him for the role, while Bessent met with Trump to interview for the Cabinet post at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, though no final decision on the appointment has yet to be announced. Bessent has reaffirmed his commitment to Trump’s agenda several times in the last week, publishing a Fox News opinion piece about the importance of tariffs and a Wall Street Journal op-ed bashing economists who doubted Trump’s record.

That behind-the-scenes maneuvering spilled fully into public view Saturday with Musk’s tweet and a follow-up X post from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for health secretary, supporting Lutnick. Presidential picks for Cabinet positions do not generally publicly weigh in on the choices for other posts before those decisions are made.

The backroom jostling between Bessent’s and Lutnick’s allies also continued Saturday morning, when Trump was presented with information that Lutnick was a major donor to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, according to people familiar with the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal discussions.

A person familiar with Lutnick and Trump’s relationship dismissed any attempt to cast doubt on the financier’s loyalty to Trump, noting that Lutnick’s political donations have long been scrutinized and that his relationship with Clinton arose out of their work rebuilding New York City post-9/11, when Clinton was serving in the Senate.

“It’s a friendly joke between them,” said the person. “Howard’s friends with the Clintons and friends with Trump. I mean Tulsi [Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence] was a Democrat until yesterday. This isn’t a big deal.”

Still, the impasse over the senior economic position has led some Trump officials to speculate whether he may turn to a third candidate. Trump trade adviser Robert E. Lighthizer, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee) and Apollo Global Management chief executive Marc Rowan have been floated as potential alternatives to the squabbling Bessent and Lutnick, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Although he didn’t expressly indicate that he was contradicting Trump, Musk on Saturday also publicly praised Argentine President Javier Milei’s decision to slash tariffs.

“Good move,” Musk wrote on X in reaction to a post about Milei “SLASHING IMPORT TAXES.”

Milei, a libertarian who has been embraced by other far-right world leaders, has also been embraced by Trump’s conservative circles. At a recent America First Policy Institute gala at Mar-a-Lago — where Musk and Trump were photographed with Milei — the Argentine president praised Musk, saying X is helping to “save humanity.”

Musk endorsed Trump shortly after the former president was wounded in an attempted assassination at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, and spent the remainder of the campaign season investing heavily into helping him win the election.

After the election, Trump announced plans to create a “Department of Government Efficiency,” an outside body to advise the White House, led by Musk and entrepreneur turned conservative firebrand Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump on Saturday announced that he’s picked Chris Wright, a fracking firm CEO, to lead the Energy Department. He also announced that he intends to appoint attorney Will Scharf to be White House staff secretary. Scharf was one of the lawyers who represented Trump in his presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court.

[Vesper 28,787]

1 minute ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

the full FT article

Biden allows Ukraine to strike Russia with US-made long-range missiles

Outgoing president makes big policy shift after North Korean soldiers are deployed in the war

 

https://www.ft.com/content/cc565d8e-e5c2-4b04-9b61-b05fb8edcb49

 

The US-made Army Tactical Missile System, which Ukraine is now expected to use on targets inside Russia © Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy

US President Joe Biden has authorised Ukraine to launch limited strikes into Russia using US-made long-range missiles, in a big policy shift before the end of his White House term in January, two people familiar with the decision said.

 

The move by Biden comes in response to the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine, and after a barrage of new strikes by Moscow on Ukrainian cities at the weekend.

 

Tuesday will mark the 1,000th day of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

 

The US-made long-range missiles are likely to be first used by Ukraine to target Russian and North Korean forces in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops seized territory during the summer, according to people briefed on the matter.

 

Biden has allowed Ukraine to use HIMARS — the American High Mobility Artillery Rocket System — to strike targets inside Russia.

 

But he has long resisted authorising Kyiv to launch strikes within Russia using US-made long-range missiles known as the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, on the grounds that it could escalate tensions with Moscow.

 

ATACMS missiles have a range of up to 300 kilometres, or 190 miles. He is now dropping those objections more than two months before he leaves office to make way for Donald Trump.

 

The Republican is sceptical of additional military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to bring a swift end to the war — without saying how exactly he would do it.

 

The White House declined to comment. The Pentagon declined to respond to a request for comment.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday noted media reports “talking about the fact that we have received permission” to use American ATACMS missiles inside Russia, although he did not confirm Biden’s decision.

 

Zelenskyy has pleaded for months for the US and other partner countries to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of western-made, long-range weapons inside Russia.

 

He has argued that cross-border strikes with the American ATACMS, British Storm Shadow and French Scalp missiles were necessary to hit Moscow’s forces before they could launch new attacks on Ukrainian targets, including critical infrastructure.

 

“Two countries are against us, against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said on Friday, referring to Russia and North Korea. “We would very much like to be granted the ability to use long-range weapons against military targets on Russia’s territory.”

 

Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defence minister, said the use of ATACMS missiles would allow Kyiv to set its sights on “high value targets” and “potentially disrupt Russian operations”.

 

“There are targets which can only be addressed by high payload missiles such as ATACMS or equivalent aerial missiles. This is, of course, a decision giving Ukraine troops a chance, though as with many previous decisions coming after a significant and extremely painful delay.”

 

Biden’s decision to allow the Ukrainians to use ATACMS missiles followed the deployment early last month of 12,000 North Korean troops to Russia.

 

This was the first foray into the war by a foreign military and a major expansion of North Korea’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Pyongyang had previously provided Moscow with hundreds of ballistic missiles and millions of artillery shells. In exchange, Moscow has provided Pyongyang with military technologies to help with its missile programmes and money, a senior Ukrainian official said.

 

In recent weeks, Russia has massed some 50,000 troops, including 10,000 North Korean soldiers, ahead of an anticipated offensive in its Kursk region to retake about 600 sq km of territory held by Ukrainian forces since their incursion in August.

 

A Ukrainian intelligence assessment shared with the Financial Times revealed that North Korea has supplied Russia with long-range rocket and artillery weapons, including 50 domestically made 170mm M1989 self-propelled howitzers and 20 updated 240mm multiple launch rocket systems.

 

Some of these weapons have been moved to the Kursk region for the planned assault involving North Korean troops.

 

“Even if limited to the Kursk region, ATACMS missiles put at risk high value Russian systems, assembly areas, logistics, command and control,” said Michael Kofman, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US think-tank.

 

“They may enable Ukraine to hold on to Kursk for longer and raise the costs to North Korea for its involvement in the war.”

 

Bill Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine, said Biden’s decision makes “Ukraine stronger and increases the odds of a just end to the war”. “The decision may also unlock British and French missiles. Possibly even German,” he added.

 

Russia has not yet responded Biden’s decision.

 

In September, President Vladimir Putin suggested Ukrainian use of western-made missiles against Russian targets would mean “the direct involvement of Nato countries, the US, and the EU . . . It would mean they are at war with Russia — and if that’s the case, we will make the corresponding decisions.”

 

Russian military bloggers close to the Kremlin responded on Telegram with fury and frustration to Biden’s decision.

 

Rybar, a channel with more than 1.3mn subscribers, said the threat of ATACMS missiles would force Russian command and control centres, air defences and airfields further from the front lines. 

 

When asked about the escalatory risk from Biden’s policy shift, António Guterres, UN secretary-general, told reporters at the G20 in Rio de Janeiro: “We have a very consistent position regarding escalation in the Ukrainian war. We want peace . . . in line with the UN charter and international law.”

[cosmicway 1,323]

26 minutes ago, Vesper said:

in other words, you just made it up

China is NOT seeking to invade the Solomon Islands

and it IS far away from China

there are large amount of sovereign nations in between the two

 

the qualitative level of discourse on this forum at times is just horrific

falsehoods, obfuscation, non germane ramblings, and utter batshittery walk hand in hand with demonstrably proven facts and/or valid points that are actually worthy of debate, with all tossed out as equals, thus making a mockery of rational discussion

 

It's not far.
They don't go there with channel ferries. They have carriers, nuclear subs.
Their first try is of course through political influence.

[Vesper 28,787]

Just now, cosmicway said:

It's not far.

false

no clue why you insist on clutching to this

London is closer to Kabul, Afghanistan than Shanghai, China (coastal btw) is to the Solomon Islands

 

[Vesper 28,787]

laughable that you think China is on for invading the Solomon islands

it was a false claim

you have offered zero evidence backing it up

and are now, as is so typical of you

trying to drag the convo off the rails with another false claim regarding proximity