“What changed with the German Minister of Defense, and why did it change so fast?”

December 23, 2025

Act 1: “Europe’s last peaceful summer.” Russia may attack NATO sooner than expected – Nexta, Nov 17 2025

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the past summer may have been “the last peaceful one” for Europe.

“We always assumed that a Russian attack on NATO could happen in 2029. But now we’re hearing assessments pointing to possible escalation as early as 2028, and some military historians even believe we have already lived through the last peaceful summer,” the minister said.

Act 2: Pistorius cools NATO rhetoric — there will be no Third World War – Nexta, Dec 23 2025

Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius has distanced himself from alarmism within NATO. In an interview with Die Zeit, he said he does not believe in a scenario of a full-scale war between Russia and the Alliance.

He was commenting on remarks by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who said the Alliance must be prepared for a war “on the scale experienced by our grandfathers and great-grandfathers”.

Pistorius responded bluntly, saying this was most likely a figurative exaggeration. “I do not believe in such a scenario. In my view, Putin does not intend to wage a full-scale global war against NATO.”

Brian McDonald asks:

Just last month, Boris Pistorius warned a German newspaper that Europe may already have seen its last peaceful summer and that Russia and NATO could be at war next year.

Now he says there will be no Third World War and that talk of a NATO–Russia conflict is “figurative exaggeration.”

What changed, and why did it change so fast?

One Dimitry Medvedev asks a similar question:

The ‘European peacemakers’ are surprising. Pistorius said he doesn’t believe war will break out between NATO and Russia, and Stubb admitted our country has no interest in attacking alliance members.
So, what happened? Sobering up or have the Christmas holidays simply begun?

My answer to both is: Tulsi Gabbard

DNI Tulsi Gabbard @DNIGabbard – 21:02 utc · Dec 20, 2025

No, this is a lie and propaganda @Reuters is willingly pushing on behalf of warmongers who want to undermine President Trump’s tireless efforts to end this bloody war that has resulted in more than a million casualties on both sides.

Dangerously, you are promoting this false narrative to block President Trump’s peace effort, and fomenting hysteria and fear among the people to get them to support the escalation of war, which is what NATO and the EU really want in order to pull the United States military directly into war with Russia.

The truth is the US intelligence community has briefed policymakers, including the Democrat HPSCI member quoted by Reuters, that US Intelligence assesses that Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with NATO. It also assesses that, as the last few years have shown, Russia’s battlefield performance indicates it does not currently have the capability to conquer and occupy all of Ukraine, let alone Europe.

The master called and the poodles winced but found their place.

Posted by b on December 23, 2025 at 18:00 UTC | Permalink

Comments

b asks: “What changed with the German Minister of Defense, and why did it change so fast?
A following question:
What changed with TrumpTeamTrix trade war with China, and why capitulate so fast????
[ The U$ just lost another war:]
The Kobeissi Letter

BREAKING: The US announces that tariffs on Chinese semiconductors will be 0% until 2027.Dec 23, 2025 · 2:11 PM UTC

https://nitter.net/KobeissiLetter/status/2003468580416029043

Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 24 2025 0:55 utc | 101

Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 24 2025 0:55 utc | 100
——————————————————————————
Yeah, that needs a much better explanation that just “TACO”.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 1:07 utc | 102

This may be more accurate from Reuters about the latest TACO

US delays announcement of China chip tariffs until 2027

President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday said it will slap tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports over Beijing’s “unreasonable” pursuit of chip industry dominance, but would delay the action until June 2027

I still say the threat that shall not be named is the China shutoff of military rare earths…..how much left in pipeline?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 24 2025 1:14 utc | 103

Jams O’Donnell@48……unlike front line Boulder 404 meat burgers, Russia gives a free pass to the Ukie oligarchy, taking care of business, making sure ones partners are safely ensconced in far off places……….neat trick……gentry taking care if gentry, the level of love shown, off the charts…..well, bags of coal for Ukie grunts this Christmas I suppose, they may even get to cook up some Russian Crab Salad……..

Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Dec 24 2025 1:18 utc | 104

This may be more accurate from Reuters about the latest TACO US delays announcement of China chip tariffs until 2027
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 24 2025 1:14 utc | 102
—————————————————————————————-
From that article:

“China’s targeting of the semiconductor industry for dominance is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce and thus is actionable,” the U.S. Trade Representative said in its release.

OK, so someone please riddle me this:
Taking the assertion above as true—that China in fact is striving for dominance in this industry—since when is this a crime? or a violation of international trade law?

Foist of all: doesn’t the U.S. strive for this very same dominance? In which case I suppose it’s just a case of “might makes right”: OK for us to be the king of the hill but not for anyone else.

But seriously: where is it written into international trade law that Thou Shalt Not Attempt to Dominate a Particular Industry? This strikes me as absurd on its face. Of course every nation wants to excel in some way. Is there actually some provision of trade law (or even the commonly-accepted terms of trade) that prohibits this?

Yes, yes, I know all about “unfair trade practices”. But that wasn’t the allegation (although it may be the unstated reason); it was simply that “China want to be top dog in chips. China bad!”.

George “color me naive” the Zeroth

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 1:26 utc | 105

@ Top Dog George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 1:26 utc | 104….grin

I challenge the base assumption of Top Dog being a desire of China….it is a narrative being pushed by the West.
I assess China desire being to not be jackbooted by empire. They want to be able to support themselves and operate freely in a multilateral world.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 24 2025 1:43 utc | 106

Laurence | Dec 23 2025 23:34 utc | 88—

Natalya is a Russian citizen whose two sons served in the SMO and survived and is a frequent commentator at my substack and is more patriotic than Putin.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:02 utc | 107

@105

China’s intent on “chip technology” seems to me to be not dependent on the US/west for AI/GPU chips, and not to depend on west for AI models. China’s DeepSeek AI is much cheaper to train and run over a datacenter than US leaders.

Note the US is dependent on TSMC in Taiwan for dense integration on silicon, who is dependent on Netherlands lithography machines,

China’s massive STEM educational throughput suggests that China lead in many technical areas! Aligned with Russia and India the sky is the limit!

Posted by: paddy | Dec 24 2025 2:02 utc | 108

psychohistorian | Dec 24 2025 0:18 utc | 97—

One could say the killing of heretics began with Jesus; but as a “Christian” thing, that took off with Augustine of Hippo in the late 300s into the early 400s, who like Bacon–who advocated genocide for his brand of heretics–is hailed as a great philosopher and human–a Saint.

Here’s something I came across that ought to make good bedtime reading, Journey to the West.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:12 utc | 109

Nothing about Trump’s [wanton] violations of the Ten Commandments or other pertinent items of current interest. IMO, her appearance was to apply damage control to Trump’s gross unconstitutional illegalities.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 23 2025 21:57 utc | 73
========I suppose you are the expert, but I believe Tulsi has always been an outspoken Christian—outspoken concerning her Christian beliefs. She has the right to express her opinion of Islam. No one is obligated to like another religion. For instance, I do not like the Jewish religion, its precepts and belief system. Its god.

Moses was not a Christian and the Ten Commandments are not really part of Christianity.

Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 2:13 utc | 110

I see a possible bait & switch, its not Russia they want to militarise for – its their former African colonies they want to reconquer, especially France. If they cant get Russian resources, the uppity African states are next best sources. While stirring up hate against Russia, stirring up ‘manufactured consent’ to re-militarise over the next x years, they are planning campaigns in their former colonies, but keeping the Ukraine war going, will hopefully weaken Russia enough, so it will be unable to support their African friends.

Posted by: Rain | Dec 24 2025 2:13 utc | 111

Karlofi @ 106

Thank you for supporting Natalya

Posted by: Bingo | Dec 24 2025 2:17 utc | 112

But seriously: where is it written into international trade law that Thou Shalt Not Attempt to Dominate a Particular Industry? This strikes me as absurd on its face. Of course every nation wants to excel in some way. Is there actually some provision of trade law (or even the commonly-accepted terms of trade) that prohibits this? Yes, yes, I know all about “unfair trade practices”. But that wasn’t the allegation (although it may be the unstated reason); it was simply that “China want to be top dog in chips. China bad!”.
Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 1:26 utc | 104
I guess someone is having a panic attack. First the West tried to kill Huawei’s 5G. Huawei survived. Then the US forced the Dutch ASML to stop delivering high-end chip making equipment to China. China went and designed its very own high-end chip making machine. China just recently presented its prototype to the world. And China refused to buy those pesky US-made Nvidia chips which had been specially designed, and produced, for sale to China (…and only to China…), citing quality and security concerns.
Another monopoly going down the drain – one that the US thought securely in Western hands. Another set of unintended consequences.

Posted by: Martina | Dec 24 2025 2:18 utc | 113

Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 2:20 utc | 114

more patriotic than Putin.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:02 utc | 106

You’ve verified that.

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 2:21 utc | 115

psychohistorian | Dec 24 2025 1:14 utc | 102—

Trump, then Biden followed by Trump again forbade China to have access to advanced chip making technologies and a host of other tech goodies. But now that China has mastered them and will soon produce 2nm chips, Trump is trying to make nice as is suggested here, The View From Singapore: Former FM George Yeo (Yang Rongwen)

I hope China sends one of its carrier task groups for a freedom of navigation cruise to the Caribbean. And I’ll bet there’re a host of antsy Venezuelan FPV operators licking their chops in anticipation for some sort of US invasion. IMO, such an assault will be so bad the Empire won’t be able to evacuate its fallen.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:25 utc | 116

Until the last sentence this is very close to spot on. Western European nations are NOT “poodles” of America. Not even close!! This is slander of America.
The opposite is partially accurate. America is often subservient to the European “allies.’ This is why Trump is hated. He insists that we be responsible and treated as equals. Western Europeans are used to running roughshod over us.
Ending the war with Russia is the most important foreign policy objective in our history. It Trumps everything. No pun intended. Our national security policy defines it as a core interest.
As to the change in rhetoric, Westerberg Europe is about to have to start bearing significant risks and costs associated with this. Hence we are observing more nuanced policy posositions from them.
If this ends the war, it’s acceptable. Such slander of America is very unhelpful. Obvuously we are going to have to pay reparations to Russia. We MUST end the war with Russia.

Posted by: B.Poster | Dec 24 2025 2:27 utc | 117

Laurence | Dec 24 2025 2:21 utc | 114—

Through over two years of conversation, the sharing of Russian media articles, and POVs on what and who runs the world–yes, I’m as confirmed as I need to be. And we do agree and disagree and provide our reasons for our positions.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:30 utc | 118

Re 104, ““China’s targeting of the semiconductor industry for dominance is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce and thus is actionable,” the U.S. Trade Representative said in its release. ”===============I laughed out loud when I read that.Where to begin?“Actionable” where/how/under what law?That someone actually put this petulance in writing is incredible!!
Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 2:20 utc | 113
===========================================
Well, yeah, where to begin?

Seriously: I would like someone who actually knows something about this topic—international trade law and conventions—to confirm whether there’s any basis in reality for making such a complaint, that another country wants to “dominate” the semiconductor industry (or any other sector for that matter).

Dumping? Yep, that’s “actionable”. Same with intellectual property theft, slave labor practices, excessive state subsidies, etc., etc. But these aren’t what’s being complained about here, just that “they want to dominate!”.

So what the fuck if they do want to dominate? (And yes, @psychohistorian, I tend to agree with you that this may be a total misrepresentation of what the aims of the Chinese are: they may well just want to achieve self-sufficiency in electronics, given that semiconductors are vital to, among other things, their EV production. But of course, we really have no way of knowing whether or not this is actually true, do we? Unless we want to engage in the kind of airy handwaving analysis that, say, LoveDonbass engages in. I’m unwilling to make all those assumptions myself.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 2:31 utc | 119

Posted by: Vragtes | Dec 23 2025 19:29 utc |

27I just don’t buy into the fiction that

(a) the US is seeking peace in Ukraine and

(b) that there is a meaningful division between the US and the EU.

They both want to destroy the Russian Federation and China. If the US seriously wanted to end the war, given that they started it and are keeping it going with their intelligence resources, weapons etc, they could stop it at once. Whatever the broke EU wanted. Don’t be taken in by the false moves.

<= I think the reasons for promoting backing down from (a) and (b) is a strategic step designed to sneak war into the backdoor with purpose to defeat Russia and then China. Probably it has been computed that Russia’s success in keeping its economy going while the Russian economy is both sanctioned and blockaded is directly related to its military and MIC which are strengthening because of the prospect of having to take on NATO, Uk, and USA all at once.. The computation is that sanctions are not destroying the Russian economy because Russia has transitioned to a wartime economy. Convince Russia to revert back to its oligarch controlled peacetime economy so sanctions and blockades can achieve the desired impacts.

So changed policy may be to hoodwink Russia into relaxing its MIC and demilitarizing while the western alliances (NATO, EU, and European __) are distributing their military strength buildups among the NATO states with purpose to keep such build ups secret but in plain view. When distributed in small groups and Hidden in plain view the global extent and purpose of military build ups are not obvious.. The idea is: Russia will demilitarize because it cannot fully grasp the extent nor see that these isolated build ups are interrelated and once it changes its economy it will crash and burn. Do everything in small groups and distribute the groups globally.

Then one day all of the distributed built up forces will assemble into one well armed and well trained army under one command and collectively they will surprise attack Russia.. A related but somewhat different additional reason for the change is to down regulated growing citizen resistance.. [Perhaps public opinion polls have just been released and Merz’s approval ratings are now approaching single percentage digits due in no small part to the German public’s resistance to fighting a war that Germany has no existential stake in quote by Refinnejenna @77]in nearly every western nation the citizens are more and more demanding their nation state leaders avoid war and not to spend taxpayer money on foreign activities or military things. Don’t forget the Western nations are working on Bio weapons and they need more time to develop and produce them for wartime. I also think the Recent Switch by Turkey (tossing out its S400s and and Russia’s attack on a Turkey ship) means WWIII is about to start..

So by hiding the preparation for war they can tell their citizens no war is planned and hopefully at the same time convince Russia all is well they need not fear.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Dec 23 2025 20:53 utc | 54WW3 is more likely than ever. <=agree..

Posted by: snake | Dec 24 2025 2:32 utc | 120

The way Ukrainian army fortified the places they occupy makes it extremely difficult for any army to launch frontal attacks without incurring massive losses! Ukraine had 8 years to prepare guided by NATO. Furthermore an all out attack will end up killing millions of Russian speaking populations which Putin wants to avoid. But an attack on Europe will free him of such constraints! Besides the tranny army of European states has absolutely no chance of standing on their own against the Russian army, which has now been battle tested! Apart from these facts, Russia genuinely does not want a wider war.

Posted by: Horus | Dec 24 2025 2:32 utc | 121

more patriotic than Putin.Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:02 utc | 106

You’ve verified that.
Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 2:21 utc | 114
————————————————————————-
You have some evidence to the contrary?
Jesus Fucking Christ, the level of nitpicking and backstabbing and sniping and antagonizing and spreading FUD and just plain god-damned bickering here is fucking unbelievable …

Have you nothing better to do with your time?

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 2:34 utc | 122

Jane | Dec 24 2025 2:13 utc | 109—

Thanks for your reply. Since the Christian Bible incorporates the Ten Commandments, IMO it’s very much a part of the Christian religion as it’s also part of Islam. Now, did you take the time to read her speech? I linked to it.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:35 utc | 123

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:30 utc | 117

Your discipline in replying to such pathetic b/s is remarkable; I couldn’t agree more with George the Zeroth in #121.

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 2:36 utc | 124

Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 24 2025 0:55 utc | 100

#####

China just achieved its Manhattan Project moment when it comes to semiconductors. Their Ultraviolet lithography machines are cutting edge and they will own the semiconductor business going forward because they will bring the machines to scale and make them affordable.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 2:37 utc | 125

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 2:31 utc | 118

#####

It’s not hand-waving. It is a conviction after research and deliberation. One misses 100% of the shots they don’t take. I will shoot and risk a miss, hoping to spur a conversation that can challenge my conclusions.

I do a lot of research before I make an inference.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 2:40 utc | 126

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 2:37 utc | 124

Excellent! Guess ASML is no longer “The world’s supplier to the semiconductor industry” (ASML claim).

Yet I still find west European (especially the German) arrogance towards China appalling on a staggering level. It’s this typical west-German mentality which is used to laughing at anybody who challenges Western technological “leadership”. These idiots are still laughing, cognitively unable to grasp what’s happening.

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 2:44 utc | 127

more patriotic than Putin.Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:02 utc | 106

You’ve verified that.
Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 2:21 utc | 114
————————————————————————-
You have some evidence to the contrary?
Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 2:34 utc | 121

You have some evidence? Do you even know what you’re bitching about?

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 2:58 utc | 128

These idiots are still laughing, cognitively unable to grasp what’s happening.
Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 2:44 utc | 126
more patriotic than Putin.Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:02 utc | 106You’ve verified that.
Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 2:21 utc | 114
————————————————————————-
You have some evidence to the contrary?
Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 2:34 utc | 121

This is getting interesting — if not anywhere in particular.

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 3:04 utc | 129

You have some evidence? Do you even know what you’re bitching about?
Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 2:58 utc | 127
===================================================
Yes, if you want to be obtuse about it: I’m bitching about your carping and sniping and cavalling and … just general shit-stirring.

If you have some evidence, lay your cards on the table. Otherwise just STFU.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 3:04 utc | 130

The Russian Federation covers seven time zones …
Posted by: ChalkLine | Dec 23 2025 18:28 utc | 8

***************

Make that eleven!

Posted by: General Factotum | Dec 24 2025 3:07 utc | 131

It’s not hand-waving. It is a conviction after research and deliberation. One misses 100% of the shots they don’t take. I will shoot and risk a miss, hoping to spur a conversation that can challenge my conclusions. I do a lot of research before I make an inference.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 2:40 utc | 125
====================================================
I certainly don’t mean to say that you don’t do your research or that you’re not an intelligent person.

But you do have a propensity towards … making sweeping generalizations that aren’t testable by any means (“China is <x>”, “Russia is <y>”), or making predictions that would require the world’s most accurate crystal ball. That’s what I mean by hand-waving. I think you know what I’m referring to here.

No biggie, though; carry on.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 3:09 utc | 132

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 2:44 utc | 126

#####

ASML was the leader 6 months ago, but China has now catapulted ahead, and the US ordering ASML to stop selling to China has been an own goal, as it provided the motivation for China to develop its own lithography machines.

Once the Chinese figure out how to make something (anything), they start manufacturing at scale, which brings prices down. People should be selling their stock in ASML because the future of that firm is not looking too bright.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 3:18 utc | 133

If you have some evidence, lay your cards on the table. Otherwise just STFU.
Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 3:04 utc | 129

You have no idea what you’re “carping and sniping and cavalling” about. That’s what’s evident.

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 3:19 utc | 134

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 3:09 utc | 131

#####

I am not bothered, but I do know my audience. Most people don’t do a fraction of the research that I do, and laying out detailed academic cases on MoA would be a poor use of my time.

I also have a deep appreciation for rhetoric, which I utilize as much as possible when writing for public consumption.

The “sweeping generalizations” are meant to pique interest, perhaps even some hatred towards me. Either way, all attention is good attention when it comes to spreading or developing ideas.

If I write a generalization and it doesn’t pass your smell test, tell me to make my case to support my claims. I would enjoy that. A conversation is better than a proclamation, IMO.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 3:22 utc | 135

Gee, yesterday I thought the Russians were eating themselves to stop the war; like some sort of collective ouroboros.

Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Dec 24 2025 3:32 utc | 136

Posted by: Laurence

@Laurence: Is there any argument in your posts, or merely posture?

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 3:33 utc | 137

If I write a generalization and it doesn’t pass your smell test, tell me to make my case to support my claims. I would enjoy that. A conversation is better than a proclamation, IMO.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 3:22 utc | 134
=================================================
Will do.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 24 2025 3:35 utc | 138

Things definitely not on my bingo card:

Natalya is a Russian citizen whose two sons served in the SMO and survived and is a frequent commentator at my substack and is more patriotic than Putin.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:02 utc | 106

Karlofi @ 106
Thank you for supporting Natalya

Posted by: Bingo | Dec 24 2025 2:17 utc | 111

Ho. ho. ho.

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 3:37 utc | 139

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 3:18 utc | 132

Speaking of stocks and other assets…

Hello from Germany, where the brain drain is accelerating. More and more skilled workers are thinking about leaving the country. Acc to a new survey, 44% of STEM professionals in Germany can imagine moving abroad – a much higher share than in other countries. https://t.co/NkIP7sXgs1 — Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner)

+++

The precious-metals melt-up is accelerating w/#Gold, #Platinum and #Silver have all hit new all-time highs, while #Palladium is also climbing due to supply disruptions in major producer South Africa. https://t.co/pFhtygx44C — Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner)

The plebs should not consider these assets a safe haven. Touched on this before: controlled rise of inflation is the only way forward for the FED, the ECB and the BoE. While the system does not make hedging verboten, it simply taxes it until only institutions or the wealthy can afford the luxury. The public is meant to trust the process, not outsmart it…

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 3:47 utc | 140

Moses was not a Christian and the Ten Commandments are not really part of Christianity.
Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 2:13 utc | 109

❝17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.❞ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2010&version=KJV

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 4:13 utc | 141

@ Jane | Dec 24 2025 2:13 utc | 109

Tulsi is a practicing Hindu of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. She is an action-oriented yogi, a karma yogi.

Her father, of European and Samoan ancestry, raised catholic, and her mother, born in the usa midwest, converted to Hinduism while living in Hawaii. They raised their children in this tradition. Tulsi is named after a sacred Hindu plant.

Posted by: suzab | Dec 24 2025 4:20 utc | 142

Germany to fine men up to €1,000 for ignoring new military service questionnaire
Berlin, Dec. 24 – Young men in Germany who ignore newly detailed requirements tied to the country’s revamped military service system could face significant fines. Failure to complete a mandatory questionnaire or providing false information may result in penalties of up to €1,000 ($1,175), a spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Defense said Tuesday.
The new military service framework is set to begin in 2026. As early as January, the first cohort of 18-year-olds will receive a questionnaire as part of a renewed registration process. While participation is voluntary for women, men are required by law to complete the form. Noncompliance will be treated as an administrative offense.
In addition, young men will once again be obligated to appear for a medical and fitness examination. According to the ministry, those who miss an assigned appointment without justification may be brought in by police authorities. The Bundeswehr’s military police, known as the Feldjäger, are not expected to be involved in such cases. (epd)

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 4:22 utc | 143

Industry warns Germany is losing ground internationally

Berlin, Dec. 24 — Germany faces the risk of economic decline and could lose international competitiveness unless structural reforms are implemented without delay, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) warned on Tuesday.

DIHK President Peter Adrian told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that without addressing long-standing structural challenges and pursuing the right reform agenda, Germany had little chance of returning to sustainable and robust economic growth. Continued stagnation or only weak growth, he said, would leave the country falling behind internationally. At the same time, the federal government was losing the fiscal room it needed to manage its budget effectively. “We therefore must, without exception, align all signals consistently toward economic growth,” Adrian said.

Germany’s economy has been in a prolonged period of weakness for several years, with no significant recovery expected in the coming year. Peter Leibinger, president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), recently described the country’s industrial base as being “in free fall.”

“In industry alone, we have lost another 170,000 jobs over the past year,” Adrian said. Capital investment in equipment has fallen back to 2015 levels, amounting to what he described as a lost decade for investment. Willingness to invest, he added, is a key indicator of confidence and expectations for future development, and those expectations are now “more than bleak.”

From Adrian’s perspective, Germany’s investment conditions are no longer internationally competitive. He cited high energy costs affecting basic materials industries, as well as pressures in the automotive and supplier sectors. A third critical area is mechanical engineering, which depends heavily on industrial investment, trade policy, and is increasingly affected by international disruptions, including higher U.S. tariffs. Particularly burdensome for German companies, Adrian said, are the country’s high labor costs.

Adrian acknowledged that the current center-left coalition government intends to initiate change, but said its internal structure makes decisive reform difficult. If the chancellor and his cabinet succeed in implementing reforms to social welfare systems, including changes to the citizen’s income program, and achieve a tangible breakthrough in reducing bureaucracy, he said, it could trigger a shift in business sentiment. (dpa)

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 4:32 utc | 144

Trillions of dollars of unexploited wealth in Russia, and Trump wants America (which includes his family) in on developing it. Which makes sense, otherwise China would nearly automatically get the lion’s share, and on terms favorable to them due to the lack of competition from the EU and the USA.

Posted by: Babel-17 | Dec 24 2025 4:47 utc | 145

The war is continuing the way it has been going since the start. It has been much slower than I would have ever imagined, but the result has never been in question. The unconditional surrender of Ukraine.
Any reasonable person has been aware of this, all along.
So where does it leave the leaders, who have condemned millions to die, and spent trillions for – nothing – ?
Can we please have heads rolling?
And this time prominent politicians – for a change!

Posted by: g wiltek | Dec 24 2025 4:50 utc | 146

Posted by: Babel-17 | Dec 24 2025 4:47 utc | 144

Should add that this is not a matter of loyalty or betrayal. It’s business! Nations are not partners in a love relationship; they are actors pursuing interests. China itself has long allowed extensive Japanese (yes — Men behind the Sun: “friendship is friendship, history is history”) and American economic activity on its territory. That was never even considered disloyalty, but as pragmatism.

There is no rational reason for Xi Jinping to demand that Russia become an exclusive Chinese sphere of economic influence, or to deny Putin the option of inviting competing capital and technology from any country. On the contrary, competition improves terms. Beijing understands this perfectly well.

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 4:55 utc | 147

Since the Christian Bible incorporates the Ten Commandments, IMO it’s very much a part of the Christian religion as it’s also part of Islam. Now, did you take the time to read her speech? I linked to it.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:35 utc | 122
===================
Many Christians think it is/was a huge mistake to incorporate the Old Testament into the new Christian Bible. This is not a fringe viewpoint. And I agree with them. The Old Testament is about the Jews and their hate- and fear-based religion with its exhortations to slaughter competing tribes—-it represents much of what Jesus Christ targeted when he tried to reform Judaism.
It is interesting to pay attention to the lyrics of certain Christmas carols (not the “jolly old England” ones). For instance, listen to the words of “O Come, O Come, Emanuel (and ransom captive Israel)”; or “O Holy Night . . .Long lay the world in sin and error pining ‘Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth . . .” What do you think those lyrics refer to? Just a few little examples.
I have read Tulsi’s speech and I see nothing much wrong with it. Her discussion makes it quite clear, by inference, what she thinks the Islamist ideology is. Is she wrong? Many who post here have said the same thing: that the Islamist ideology is to establish a worldwide caliph, and many Islamists, or Muslims, whatever, do wish to establish sharia law in US communities.

I think an as great, or greater, danger to the Republic might be posed by the Zionists’ obsession to do the same thing, but not using the word “caliph” (Zionist imperialism—again, not a fringe concept). But of course, working for Trump, Tulsi cannot mention the Zionist threat to the Republic. Of course many Jews, such as the Chabad crowd, wish to and do replace US law and customs with their own, in closed communities, and support the Gaza genocide and the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
If Israel goes down the drain, Israelis will want to come here. Many already are already doing so. Then we will have an even bigger Jewish problem here.

Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 5:17 utc | 148

Re Tulsi’s religious belief, she has said this: “Each and every one of us, whether we call ourselves a Muslim, a Christian, a Hindu or any other designation, we each have this intrinsic opportunity to cultivate our own personal loving relationship with God.”

Her comments, in her recent speech, about Islamist ideology seem to mean that in her opinion Islamist ideology is a political ideology that is not about “our own personal relationship with God.”

Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 5:28 utc | 149

The Bundeswehr “questionnaire” they’re getting so excited about effectively is a mandatory form, gamified as far as bureaucrats can gamify, and that on a mediocre level. Guess Russia did that long before the SMO started, just part of the usual Gosuslugi service offerings.

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 5:31 utc | 150

Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 5:17 utc | 148

❝17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.❞ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2010&version=KJV

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 5:51 utc | 151

Re: Commandments..

Musa (Moses) was a prophet, like Noah, Adam, Isa (Jesus), Mohammad, and Aaron.

He delivered revelation as Mohammad did. Direct instructions from God.
There have been many prophets over thousands of years, but they all brought the same basic messages.

Monotheism, no killing, peace, and cordial social relationships (no adultery, no stealing, no toxic emotions like envy).

Musa long predated Christianity, but as Isa and Musa were both prophets of the same God, it stands to reason that Musa’s messages would not have been opposed by Isa.

What we call Christianity today was created by the Romans; it is not based on revelation, it is based on occasionally contradicting gospel reports.

Many of the Western Christian traditions were borrowed from conquered pagan civilizations in order to speed up their integration into the Empire.

It’s not a coincidence that everywhere the Europeans spread colonialism, they spread Christianity. South America, Asia, Africa.

Render unto Caesar and all that. Perfect for pacifying the masses.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 5:57 utc | 152

Parisian guy@76

Recently Trump replaced the US ambassadors worldwide with his people.
Some of the EU “elite” and “leaders” speak more freely and sensibly since.
IMHO the US deep state hold over it’s puppets and it’s overall position weakened.

Posted by: ArmChairGeneral | Dec 24 2025 6:01 utc | 153

George the Zeroth@119

The US wants to dominate.
China wants to be prosperous, does not care about domination or about the US, happens to steamroll the US domination as a side effect.
The US does not like that, resorts to pseudoarguments and attempts to undermine China.

Posted by: ArmChairGeneral | Dec 24 2025 6:54 utc | 154

Tulsi Gabbard’s assessment is as useless as it was for her assessment on Iran a few months ago. Russia will not attack Europe but NATO will directly attack Russia, rather soon than later. NATO is under full control of the US, nothing can be done or said without their prior approval. The smokescreen that they disperse as of the US and NATO are 2 separate things is only for the wishful thinkers who are trembling with the prospect of war. How do we need to interpret the attacks on Russian tankers otherwise than a preparation for the US war against Venezuela. It is similar to the attacks on Russia’s airfields deep in Russia in preparation of bombing Iran. There is a war ongoing, do not forget that. How does it come that after 1 year of Trump Ukraine still has weapons? Because it is a NATO army that gets it daily feed from NATO. Why does Russia goes along in this theatre of peace talks. Because the longer this drags on the better they will be prepared for the eventual clash. The assessment that Russia will not attack Europe because they can not even defeat Ukraine on the battlefield is in fact more dangerous than saying Russia will attack Europe. It is likely the prevailing thought in NATO and therefore the US, namely that they can easily destroy Russia if they want. It is this delusion that is most dangerous. And for the European poodles, the US will ultimately do whatever Europe wants. If you look at the GBP per PPP of Europe and ‘affiliates’ is bigger than the US GBP per PPP, and that is certainly for Trump the only thing that counts. The main issue is that Europe has a lot of voices, which is in fact a good thing because it is not one leader that can drag them in all kinds of adventurers like we have in the US.

Posted by: hubert | Dec 24 2025 7:07 utc | 155

I don’t get this shit about dominating chip industry, soon everything the west makes will go to data centers so wanting or not the rest of us will have to buy Chinese. This includes state institutions, the army and banks.
Of course other ramifications are that users will keep their old machines and eliminate the cancer that Windows o/s is and the west will lose all the spyware edge applied by intel (management engine) & amd (platform security processor). We will all run Zaoxin with Deepin in the future lol

Posted by: 667 | Dec 24 2025 7:11 utc | 156

The US troops in Germany are there to keep the Germans down (i.e. avoiding that they come back to their old demons). “Keeping the US in, Russia out and Germany down”…

Posted by: Asian Frog | Dec 24 2025 7:43 utc | 157

Femi Akomolafe’s latest article:
Europe: The Self-Inflicted Collapse of a Civilization

https://www.modernghana.com/news/1458927/europe-the-self-inflicted-collapse-of-a-civiliza.html

Posted by: Menz | Dec 24 2025 7:46 utc | 158

Lots of talk here recently about either Russia invading nato countries or nato invading Russia. I wondered exactly what level of resources, troop commitment etc would be required, so I spent some time with DeepSeek trying to get to the bottom of it.

The simple answer is there are not enough resources on either side to consider a land battle to take and hold land, for either party. If it isn’t possible, then it won’t/ can’t happen.

Then we have the nuclear question: imagine (in some bizarre, alternate universe where nato can field 3 or 4 million soldiers at the drop of a hat), that nato does invade Russia (defensively, obviously – nato is a defence partnership, and would never attack anyone!). And having attacked Russia, starts to win. Then what happens? MAD happens. The world ends, and all life as we know it ceases to exist. Same if Russia invades nato countries. It’s a silly proposition, so it will not happen. Can we have a bit less of the hystrionic doom-mongering?

Merry Christmas to b and all: relax, and be happy. And to Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 3:37 utc | 139 I offer this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pSe5x29_ANg

Posted by: Occasional poster | Dec 24 2025 7:48 utc | 159

One reason why the Germans and French leaders are backpedalling from their previous war calls is probably the gigantic middle finger their youth have displayed in social media. Nobody, I mean nobody, is moron enough to go to the Eastern front to fight the Russians.

Posted by: Asian Frog | Dec 24 2025 7:53 utc | 160

Occasional poster | Dec 24 2025 7:48 utc | 159

🍴

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 7:55 utc | 161

IMHO all these people know full well they are lying but aren’t quite able to judge how much they can get away with.

In many ways it’s amazing how little pushback they get.

Posted by: Tel | Dec 24 2025 8:02 utc | 162

The deserter (Boris Vian, 1954) with original ending :

THE DESERTER
Mister President
I am writing you a letter
That you will read perhaps
If you have the time
I have just received
My call-up papers
To go to the war
Before Wednesday night

Mister President
I do not want to do it
I am not on this earth
To kill poor people
It is not to offend you
That I must tell you this
But I must tell you
That I have made my decision
I am deserting

When I was taken prisoner
My father, he died
My brother was taken
And my children also
My mother has suffered so much
That she is in her grave
And laughs at the storms
My wife’s life was broken
And I weep for her

Tomorrow, early morning
I will shut my door
On the dead men’s faces
I’ll trample the memories
I will go on the roads
I’ll beg for my life
Far from the prisons
Far from the humiliations
And far from the wars

And if you pursue me
Tell your policemen
That I will not be unarmed
That I will know how to defend myself.

Posted by: Asian Frog | Dec 24 2025 8:04 utc | 163

Posted by: Asian Frog | Dec 24 2025 7:43 utc | 158

Not only that. There is some confusion regarding German ambitions, thanks to media laziness, NATO bolstering, and conflating active-duty personnel, projections and actually poolable reserves. “Germany plans 400,000 [or even 480k] soldiers” just sounds better than “Germany is still struggling to reach 203,000 [active-duty troops]”. I was about to full-quote Article 3 (2), Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, which enforces a hard limit of 345k troops, but it’s not needed. German gov already has a very rough time putting its money where its mouth is anyways.

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 8:06 utc | 164

Before you believe that something has changed, you should go and read Larry Johnson’s latest piece at sonar21.com which features the famous Russian pranksters, Vovan and Lexus, latest conversation with two members of Biden’s team. I don’t think that the Russians would fall for the fake about-turn in the rhetorics of the European war mongers. They are only trying another deceit like the Minsk betrayals. It’s obvious.

Posted by: Steve | Dec 24 2025 8:07 utc | 165

As a Brit who does not support the ruling regime, I’d be quite happy with Russia successfully conquering Europe.
No more EU scum.
To visit Europe you’d only need to speak Russian.
As part of the Russian Federation their economies would actually experience growth, so would be able to buy lots of stuff from Britain.

Posted by: Truthsayer | Dec 24 2025 8:09 utc | 166

My guess as to what changed is that the Euroclear deal fell through. Instead of securitizing Russian money for debt now the politicians will have to break the bad news to their voters. Ukraine fortunately turned 45 billion Euros of retrievable debt into 90 billion that will only be paid in case of victory aka never. Germany is simmering.
The (pensioner) voter base of the ruling party as well as the younger AfD voters see the writing on the wall. Young voters have to pay for 4 pensioners each, social security, refugees, energy transition, housing and also will have to sacrifice one or two earning years to the draft.
I talked to some local politician over a Glühwein yesterday, he was totally at a loss and frustrated. All the recipes and the party line he tried to sell don’t ring true anymore even for the believers, a reset is due. As an idealist German he said “but we can’t let Putin get away with that” and “We have to help poor Ukraine”.. at which point he was entirely out of ideas. At least he remembered the Russian red lines document from right before the invasion (Oct 2021?). He also remembered Brandt and Bahr.
I guess the idea of forcing Russia is being removed from the cards now – guess Cold War is making a comeback here.Stop the panic, Biedermeier it is.

Posted by: SOS | Dec 24 2025 8:59 utc | 167

@g wiltek | Dec 24 2025 4:50 utc | 146

Thank you for expressing my opinion more precisely than I could do myself. I agree 100%

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 24 2025 9:01 utc | 168

Posted by: Asian Frog | Dec 24 2025 8:04 utc | 163
————————
The last verse looks somewhat distorted. From the original song:
“Monsieur le président. Si vous me poursuivez, Prévenez vos gendarmes Que je n’aurai pas d’armes Et qu’ils pourront tirer. “
…I will be unarmed and they will be able to shoot.

Posted by: scc | Dec 24 2025 9:04 utc | 169

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 4:32 utc | 144
[…]

Essentially, ambitious imbeciles controlled from Washington took the German federal State with the acquiescence of German voters and elites and proceeded to weaken Germany and make Russia larger and stronger, not because they wanted, of course they wanted the opposite, but because they are outright imbeciles whose policies backfire on their faces.

Which wouldn’t matter if they were running their own businesses, but that it matters a lot because their policies are State policies so they backfire on our businesses and our workers.

One of those imbeciles is now the proud butler of the UN general assembly, placed there like a horse is placed in a paddock, in order to continue living ‘la vida loca’ in NY despite being an outright imbecile.

But, we have to wait until pensions and other benefits for our retirees are negatively affected by all those imbecilic policies before German voters kick the imbeciles out and bring on the harsh solution, the bitter pill, the chemotherapy, i.e. the far right into the control of the federal state. The far-right that turned Germany into a vassal nation in the past century, is playing the role of savior this century.

Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Dec 24 2025 9:04 utc | 170

“I will be unarmed and they will be able to shoot./Posted by: scc | Dec 24 2025 9:04 utc | 169”

The original by Boris Vian is what I posted (“I will NOT be unharmed and I will defend myself”). However, at that time, those words were controversial (to say the least) so the first sung versions had the ending modified.

Posted by: Asian Frog | Dec 24 2025 9:09 utc | 171

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 4:32 utc | 144
—————-
“Germany faces the risk of economic decline and could lose international competitiveness unless structural reforms are implemented without delay, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) warned on Tuesday.”

I wonder what type of structural reform they have in mind…

Posted by: scc | Dec 24 2025 9:11 utc | 172

Maybe as we all love n-point plans it’s time to draft one Russia could actually accede to?

Ceasefire
Russia gets all the current territories in entirety
Unaligned status of Ukraine
Ukrainian defense army, 250k total, limited long range systems
No nukes for Ukraine
EU support for air defense
No foreign troops or advisors on Ukrainian soil
A new INF treaty
A treaty on drones (range, payload, inspection) even though barely enforceable
EU guarantees rights of Russian minority in Ukraine
EU may send police troops with light arms and no drones
mutual Non-agression pact
UKR is free to join Schengen and Euro but no military EU pacts
Neutral status of Odessa
NP Zaporiszhia to Russia, energy deliveries to UKR guaranteed
Economic partnership with Russia if desired
War crime tribunals
OSCE/UN monitored elections in Ukraine
UKR law against foreign interference
no NATO extension going forward
EU/US civil reconstruction (for US buy-in)

The tricky part would be to get a promise from the US for not stationing troops in Ukraine. The next hot spot would be Kazakhstan and Armenia then – with the benefit that logistics there would be much harder

Posted by: SOS | Dec 24 2025 9:15 utc | 173

unharmed >> That I will not be unarmed

Posted by: Asian Frog | Dec 24 2025 9:15 utc | 174

Babel-17 | Dec 24 2025 4:47 utc | 145
*** Trillions of dollars of unexploited wealth in Russia, and Trump wants America (which includes his family) in on developing it. Which makes sense, otherwise China would nearly automatically get the lion’s share, and on terms favorable to them due to the lack of competition from the EU and the USA.***

So absolutely everything and everyone must be exploited.
All with “for-sale” price tags attached.
Everywhere on the planet, and off it as well.
Just feel that wonderful neoliberalism !!!!
Surely it’s the ultimate religious cult…..
Debt-money, debt-money, debt-money. The only value.

Incidentally — just what are Trump/Israel or the shitshow in Brussels offering Russia in return for these coveted resources, other than threats of violent asset-stripping?

Putin is also neoliberal. So, unfortunately, he seems to regard that as acceptable behaviour.
A better President would respond quite differently to such Western threats. But if there was such a President, then stupid and vain though they are, the Western capitalists and politicial excrescences would never dare to make such threats in the first place.

Posted by: Cynic | Dec 24 2025 9:15 utc | 175

As a Brit who does not support the ruling regime, I’d be quite happy with Russia successfully conquering Europe. No more EU scum.To visit Europe you’d only need to speak Russian.As part of the Russian Federation their economies would actually experience growth, so would be able to buy lots of stuff from Britain.
Posted by: Truthsayer | Dec 24 2025 8:09 utc | 166

But how many Brits could struggle with another language besides English?

Posted by: tucenz | Dec 24 2025 9:18 utc | 176

@667 | Dec 24 2025 7:11 utc | 156

Of course other ramifications are that users will keep their old machines and eliminate the cancer that Windows o/s is and the west will lose all the spyware edge applied by intel (management engine) & amd (platform security processor).

Indeed. I have a machine running Windows 10 still after Microsoft “security updates” ended in October. You could argue that Windows 10 is now finally stable :-).

Microsoft keep nagging me I must “upgrade” to Windows 11, but at the same time they tell me I can’t do that because that machine doesn’t have the TPM 2.0 spy chip. The machine is perfectly fine, so the only possible upgrade path without buying new hardware that I don’t need and don’t want is in fact installing a Linux distro and wipe out Windows. That is easy for me to do since I already use Linux Kubuntu on another machine.

The reason why Microsoft is strong-arming users in this way is to enforce their new business model with “everything in the cloud” where the Windows users are no longer customers, but rather the product that Microsoft is selling for ads. In this model all software is subscription based rather than owned. I.e. they are trying to enforce lock-in and domination, similar to what the US is baselessly accusing China of trying to do.

More and more Windows users are realizing this, the net effect is a long term downward trend in Windows market share. Interestingly, there are free and very user friendly alternatives (like for example Linux Mint) that are perfectly fine replacements for 95% of Windows users. The diversification away from Windows is likely to continue and possibly accelerate. I consider that an important aspect of the ongoing fall of the Empire.

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 24 2025 9:34 utc | 177

To me EU bigwigs just ignored the truth of the matter – that Russia had no intentions of an all out war with Europe – so the EU bigwigs could find funding for the Neo-Nazi dictatorship that’s running Ukraine right now – I don’t think Trump wanted a war with Russia a country that possesses ample nukes and in a squeeze would probably have launched them – so the EU changed its tact to steal Russian assets held in Brussels – but that hasn’t panned out either – so the EU bigwigs are going to steal the money from the European public purse.

I think the Trump admin realises that Russia has all but won the conflict with Ukraine, and for now it wants to concentrate on other acts of terrorism and piracy – such as with Venezuela – its more than likely that Trump has sent down word to his Nato minions via its mouthpieces, that Russia doesn’t want a war with Nato – and its more than likely that Trump and Putin have some joint adventures in the pipeline ( asset stripping the Arctic etc) and that’s why Trump is pushing the no Nato war with Russia line.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 24 2025 9:42 utc | 178

Posted by: Truthsayer | Dec 24 2025 8:09 utc | 166
“would be able to buy lots of stuff from Britain. ”

And then we (UK) would want to join too and then f*** it all up and then leave again. (Not that the EU as constructed didn’t need f***ing up).

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 9:59 utc | 179

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:12 utc | 109
Wrong on both counts – Augustine was not the beginner of the killing of heretics, nor a genocider.
The execution of the heretic Priscillian and his followers, ordered by the usurper Magnus Maximus, c. 385, preceded the condemnation of the Donatists – against whom Augustine had campaigned – as heretical in 408. The Church did not invoke civil authority to punish heretics and the Pope and many bishops protested against the execution (see “Priscilian” and “Priscillianism” on WikipediA. Priscillian is prominent in Buñuel’s film La Voie lactée of 1969). Augustine, too, did not want the killing of heretics, as stressed in the following excerpts from “Lacking Love or Conveying Love? The Fundamental Roots of the Donatists and Augustine’s Nuanced Treatment of Them”, by Jae-Eun Park, in Reformed Theological Review, Vol.72 No. 2 (2013):
“Augustine strongly emphasized ‘purity of motives’ when using force towards the Donatists.”
“Augustine’s treatment of the Donatists was not based on a destructive or punitive coercion, but on a therapeutic coercion or a nurtureable discipline.”
“Augustine stated plainly a detailed principle of persecution as follows: ‘no capital punishment was imposed upon it . . . Christian gentleness might be observed, but a pecuniary fine was ordained, and sentence of exile was pronounced’.”
Augustine protested the treatment of the Donatists by the Roman authorities (“Donatism”, WikipediA).

Posted by: Alberto | Dec 24 2025 10:03 utc | 180

What information sources have helped you to develop this perspective?
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 0:40 utc | 100small true facts with no apparent meaning, having percolated in mainstream or ukrainian media since May 2024, plus Bayesian analysis

Posted by: Parisian Guy | Dec 24 2025 10:11 utc | 181

Posted by: Menz | Dec 24 2025 7:46 utc | 158

“What happened in Berlin was not a peace conference. It was a wake, though the mourners had not yet realized whose corpse it was.”
https://www.modernghana.com/news/1458927/europe-the-self-inflicted-collapse-of-a-civiliza.html

Good stuff

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 10:19 utc | 182

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 2:37 utc | 125

China just achieved its Manhattan Project moment when it comes to semiconductors. Their Ultraviolet lithography machines are cutting edge and they will own the semiconductor business going forward because they will bring the machines to scale and make them affordable.

<=the Chinese success in UV lithography equipment is the lesson that should teach Trump that war, blockade, sanction, and use of force have been replaced by open source competition. The route to global supremacy is no longer war, blockades, sanctions, genocides, etc. but instead, to survive, nations need open source economies. Nations need to refuse to enforce copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. Nations should destroy as fast as possible the monopoly powers the too big too fail monopoly owners now depend on. The new route to success is open-source research, open source development and highly competitive and inventive ways to efficiently produce the products R&D make possible.

Profits in this new global environment need to be reinvested in the industries that produced them <- not distributed to owners. Which means that which is produced will benefit everyone instead of the the few.

IMO, unless the R&D and production industries are conducted in a fully open source environment the USA governed America will never catch up to China’s growing lead in just about everything.

Americans need the USA to change the department of war, into the department of research, discovery and competition and to convert the overseas military bases into research facilities.

Posted by: snake | Dec 24 2025 10:50 utc | 183

the ultraviolet chines machine IS NOT cutting edge at the moment

Posted by: Parisian Guy | Dec 24 2025 10:58 utc | 184

Posted by: Parisian Guy | Dec 24 2025 10:58 utc | 185

Your post would have been useful if you had provided an explanation or a link.

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 11:04 utc | 185

Two police officers have died, and two others are hospitalized in serious condition from the IED explosion on Yasenevaya Street in Moscow City.

An unknown individual threw the IED inside the police car, but eyewitnesses report that they saw two flee from the crime scene.

Posted by: Fredrick | Dec 24 2025 11:23 utc | 186

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 11:04 utc | 185
—-
Here you are (in German): https://www.heise.de/news/Bericht-China-soll-funktionierendes-EUV-Lithografie-System-haben-11121872.html
Basically, their EUV machine is so far only in the prototype stage and it will, I assume, take a couple more years until it’s sufficiently precise and performant before they can actually throw out modern chips. Eventually, they will certainly succeed, but it isn’t for now.

Posted by: Verdant | Dec 24 2025 11:57 utc | 187

Today in the Geopolitical theater , the new successful comedy : “Nobody’s gonna pay for it” !

EU and NATO (Together) : We wanna pursue the politic by other means !
Medvedev : Do you have those “other means” you are bragging about ?
NATO : Well …
EU : … It’s complicated !
Tulsi : We won’t provide !
Pistorius : Ach ! Scheiße ! Can we still have Poland ?
Donald Trump and Donald Tusk : What about no ?

Posted by: Savonarole | Dec 24 2025 11:58 utc | 188

Americans need the USA to change the department of war, into the department of research, discovery and competition and to convert the overseas military bases into research facilities.
Posted by: snake | Dec 24 2025 10:50 utc | 183

I am absolutely certain that we do not want any more “US BioLabs” around the world.
Just send them home.

Posted by: MAKK | Dec 24 2025 12:09 utc | 189

@snake | Dec 24 2025 10:50 utc.

Well-done, Snake. It’s going to take a good long while for those realizations to sink in. I’m not sure what form they’ll take here in the US; after all, we’re quite different culturally from China.

But change we must, or we’ll continue to devolve.

Stated on the positive, there may well be cultural traits of the US that would actually give us an advantage with respect to rate and direction of this adaptation. Individualism, mobility, wide stretches of highly fertile land that’s under-populated, lots of dead towns awaiting new, re-vitalizing products and businesses that embrace notions like “circular economy” and “disintermediation” and so forth have significant promise.

But those conversations are just beginning, and we are still wasting enormous amounts of “seed corn” on failed strategies. The attempt to subjugate Latin America has to potential to be yet another multi-decade mis-allocation and fanning-(more)-hatred-for-US adventure.

Meantime, please continue to introduce alternative methods that can work bottom-up. I advocate for “bottom-up” because – for many more years to come – that’s where what remains of our agency (e.g. volition and capacity for change) resides.

Cheers.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 12:26 utc | 190

Posted by: Naive | Dec 23 2025 20:46 utc | 51 — and following

Pistorius before changing his mind, had a phone call with Naryshkin.

fool “…The new head of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND, foreign intelligence service) Martin Jager held a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin last week, according to the WDR Investigativ portal…”

Why would a spy chief speak with a defense/war minister? ???

? Is there any confirmation other than from MSM???

Posted by: ghiwen | Dec 24 2025 12:28 utc | 191

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 24 2025 9:34 utc | 177
I am using Mint since 2015 because it is convenient, it never brakes and the devs do not take money from Israel.
If you are not a gamer (although Vulcan now runs almost everything AND you can play games in dedicated virtual machines…i have windows XP,7,10 and 11 for retro and modern gaming) and not using some Adobe products there are zero reasons to stay with Microsoft. I am using unix and Linux at work with open source alternatives to everything, the only grievance i have is that there isn’t a program equivalent to notepad++
True love between two humans can only exist between a drummer and a bassist, true love between a human and a machine can only exist between a user and a fully riced Linux desktop.

Posted by: 667 | Dec 24 2025 12:43 utc | 192

Putin specifically said they would not conquer Europe if a war breaks out. They will destroy it and there will be nobody left to make peace with.

Posted by: Goldhoarder | Dec 24 2025 12:45 utc | 193

@Snake:

To sketch out this “bottom up” premise a bit more, allow me to set out a few pet perspectives:

a. An economy’s main job is to provide the household with what it needs to prosper

b. Most of the stuff households use doesn’t need much more “technology advancement”; we already know how to do, already have suitable tools, materials, technique to do what households need

c. The pendulum of centralized-production has swung too far toward the center. Centralization can’t do resource reclamation, build-to-last, repair-in-place sort of things well, and those are key traits of long-term sustainable production, and key traits of returning “leisure” time to the individual

d. The centralized economy is delivering highly-stressed, overloaded, rat-wheel-consumption behaviors that actively prevent people from thinking and reading and relating to others outside the realm of immediate, practical work-doing. To grow, you need time to think, learn, discuss, make, test, evolve. Takes time, and we don’t have the time to do it

e. Technology has already delivered enough performance as to endow us with said “leisure” time, and yet … we don’t have it. Why not?

I posit that there’s a set of economic relationships, centered mainly on the local, supplemented by the national/global supply chains (chips, motors, etc. … stuff that can’t yet be made on small-scale basis efficiently) that can deliver a decent income that’s relatively immune to attack from economic predators.

Underlying those local trading relationships is a set of products that:

a. meet most household needs
b. enjoy a defensible advantage from centralized players _because those products are designed to maximize / leverage the advantages of local_. That’s where resource reclamation, re-use, refurb, repair becomes crucial. It’s darned hard for the centralized model to do that, and waaay easier for the distributed model to do it.

Now let’s bring in your notion of a ground-swell of innovation, education, engagement-in-all-things-creative that you advocated for. That’ll be some time coming if we bet on top-down help getting that job done. Much better to do it bottom-up.

How do you deliver the education, the emotional support (this is big-time emotional work, right?), the relationship-building (trading and personal, trust-building, etc.), the people (whom you don’t currently know), the products, and the acumen to start and run a local business? Need all that stuff, right?

There are some strategic tools yet-to-be-built which could possibly do those things.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 12:46 utc | 194

She’s just playing her role.
Deceitful and sanctimonious.
There is no way the US want peace.
Profiting from wars and being merchants of death is all they have.
THEY are the instigators of this conflict together with their UK poodles.
Coincidentally both separating themselves now from EU, even bigger poodles that have done what master told them.
Like in WW2 Europe will be at war while the US profits and reaps the rewards.
That is also the point of these Euro ‘leaders’ remarks.
If you look at the wording: ‘no full scale war’ ‘no global war’ ‘no war with the alliance/NATO’ doesn’t mean peace.
It most likely means war in Europe without US/UK
All the scaremongering and aggressive Euro behaviour can be the build-up to a pre-emptive attack on Russia.
I believe the majority of the plebs are already on board with this insane act of war after years of massive propaganda.
Europe starting the war would conveniently mean art 5 is not valid.
Leaving the ‘peacemaker’ US and UK out of it.

If two fish are fighting in a river, a long-legged Englishman/American has just passed by

Posted by: Ed Bernays | Dec 24 2025 12:50 utc | 195

Posted by: 667 | Dec 24 2025 12:43 utc | 192
—-

I’ve never used Notepad++, but Kate is an excellent editor. It’s a KDE application but should also work nicely on other desktops.
As for retro gaming, there’s also Wine, Lutris, DOSBox, and several home computer emulators (Atari, Amiga etc.).
I play most games through Steam/Proton though, as it’s by far the easiest and fastest solution.
Sorry for off-topic 😉

Posted by: Verdant | Dec 24 2025 12:56 utc | 196

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 5:57 utc | 152

Christopher Hitchens was the best at calling Islam out as the “worst of the worst”. Let him have the last word…

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u6cpNhMx_AE

Posted by: Fool Me Twice | Dec 24 2025 13:12 utc | 197

Posted by: Verdant | Dec 24 2025 11:57 utc | 187

Thank you! I need to go for more context, but the subjunctive-laden Heise piece is begging for it: China may now possess a functioning EUV lithography system, of course with the whole vertical supply chain it requires like Trumpf precision lasers and Zeiss precision optics.

The article can be read much like a victory nostalgia of Western hubris: Look how clever we were, look how tightly we controlled our crown jewels, look how shocked we are that the other side noticed! The article and some comments unintentionally document the moment where boasting about technological dominance morphed into strategic self-harm, now implicitly crying foul hiding behind a hit piece. If only somebody had warned!

For decades, the West treated advanced tech dominance as a lever of control. Export bans, sanctions, and tech embargoes were sold as political precision instruments — remember late-90s’ Internet Explorer EXPORT version with laughable 40-bit crypto? In reality, these political restrictions were a starter pistol for the rest of the world. If you tell a great power that it may never buy something again, you guarantee it will eventually do it itself instead, no matter the cost or timeline – see Russia and Su-57 avionics.

Now, there is some strange timing in all this, roughly coinciding with Peak Covid around 2020/21 turning into sinophobia, which accelerated Western decoupling attempts, which in turn coincided neatly with what looks like Peak Innovation and perhaps even turned into “Peak ASML” by 2025. The big architectural leaps in CPUs and GPUs to date were already locked in by 2020. Since then, progress has been real but less visible, also constrained by power density, thermals, and fabrication realities rather than a lack of ideas.

This may explain why recent annual keynotes from Nvidia, Intel, AMD, and Apple feel rather unimpressive. The days of jaw-dropping demos seem gone.

China (like Russia before) did not just absorb pressure, it returned it. Export controls on rare earths and other critical materials reminded everyone, even Donald Trump, Ursula von der Leyen and Friedrich Merz, that fabrication does not begin at the wafer and its toolchain, but at the mining and processing stages. Western globalized supply chains were deliberately amputated by shortsighted Western policy.

Nvidia’s ongoing market bubble drive currently makes the West look like the unchallenged behemoth of innovation, because of an AI gold rush that soaks up capacity quicker than anyone can come around to questioning the whole premise (thanks also in part to Intel being full of itself which led to the premature end of Gensinger’s tenure). The market distorted itself.

And thus we end up here: half-broken supply chains, mirrored export controls, architectures living off 5-year-old design bets taken from the drawer and adjusted to new supply chain realities, tiny incremental gains marketed as huge breakthroughs, and an AI bubble disguising the absence of real new hardware design breakthroughs.

While the article claims “2028” and makes it sound unrealistic, we can safely bet that by 2030 China will deliver a CPU and a GPU that is faster and more energy-efficient than whatever the U.S.-quad will have to offer; and, for benchmark’s sake, “Can it run Windows 10 and Photoshop?” will be answered with a big grin “Sure!”

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 13:34 utc | 198

Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 2:13 utc | 110

Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 5:17 utc | 148

One can agree or disagree but that doesn’t change the fact that the 10 commandments together with the whole Old Testament is very solidly incorporated in Christianity.

IIRC it’s not like you can choose to accept those parts of the religion you like. You’ve got to swallow all its camels.

(The best thing IMO is to abandon religion altogether. Sorry for the OT and opening Pandora’s box)

Posted by: Avtonom | Dec 24 2025 13:37 utc | 199

Sorry for off-topic again:

ZH: Governments In The West Turn Their Sights On VPNs As They Escalate Assault On Online Privacy/Anonymity
“Even in Russia, it is not punishable to bypass illegal websites with a VPN,” Lund told Danish broadcaster DR, pointing out that the proposed Danish law could go further than measures seen in more authoritarian states.

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 13:55 utc | 200

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