Spyke

Oh no…it gets better.

He also lifted sanctions on Russian oil, thus giving money to the country that is sending troops and arms that are fighting against US backed operations in Ukraine, and also supplying Iran with weapons.

229
Mniotreply
programming.dev

If only he could be as sympathetic and intelligent as The Gang.

10
8oow3291dreply
feddit.dk

At this point I am not even sure whether Trump wants Ukraine to win.

31
lemmy.world

He just wants it to go away. No, I don’t think he wants Ukraine to win at all, he’d hand it all to Putin yesterday if he could. I think there are a few operating braincells in the administration that are preventing him from doing so, whatever the reasons are.

73
erusuoyerareply
sh.itjust.works

whatever the reasons are.

The US politicians use taxpayer money to fund the weapons that get sent to Ukraine. The US weapons manufacturers get that money. The US weapons manufacturers pay the US politicians. No great mystery. Not disagreeing with arming Ukraine, just wish it wasn't a necessity.

45

Not anymore. Trump stopped founding weapon to Ukraine. All support is from Europe now. Trump is a traitor.

3

He wants distractions to keep himself and his loyal family out of prison.

11

US policy in regards to Ukraine is to bog Russia down. Same thing as when they were fighting in Afghanistan. The longer this conflict goes on, the better for US foreign policy objectives (and weapons manufacturers).

7

He never did want Ukraine to win. Either he gets the rare minerals from Ukraine, or he does things in a way to make his BFF Putin owe him one.

5

He wants profit and power. I dont think he cares what happens in order for him to get it. The world is just like one of his companies. You fire people, you treat them badly, anything to get what you want from the entire thing.

3
lemmy.world

Please point to a time when Trump did anything that didn’t benefit Russia

There’s your answer about whether or not he wants Ukraine to win

2
lemmy.world

It could only be more 1984 if there were no war but the government made up lies, took lives, and wrote articles about it anyway.

10
smeenzreply
lemmy.nz

But then Ukraine went and blew up a bunch of Russian oil processing and storage facilities, effectively stopping russia from being able to sell

So..now there's less oil overall and Iran can charge even more.

1
lemmy.world

I don’t think people realize how fucked we are with the strait closed and refineries being targeted. This isn’t just a dollar or few more at the pump and higher average food costs. There is a real likelihood of energy rationing, temperature death, starvation (at least in poorer countries), and economic depression levels of fucked. This isn’t “buy an EV and you’re good” kind of situation. Goods are going to be unaffordable and solar panels will be nowhere to be found. Refineries take years to rebuild. Trump is raping, pillaging, and bankrupting us for his ego and his insider traders.

2
AA5Breply
lemmy.world

All true, but where are the headlines of Chinese companies setting up second and third shifts to crank out as many as possible solar panels and EVs to take advantage of this? Good for their profits == good for our environment

2

almost like the only real objective was to help russia and its allies

we know trump is a traitor this is no surprise. don't forget to vote Dem in november

1
Kairosreply
lemmy.today

The real author has said trump is illiterate

96
village604reply
adultswim.fan

It's clearly evident anytime he reads something outloud. Most of his pronunciation issues around his first term were caused by him struggling to read a prompter and not comprehending what the words he just strung together mean.

That and the start of dementia.

48

Also he is very vain. His eyesight is terrible, has been for years. But he refuses to wear glasses. They set the autoprompter to a very large font, which means he easily loses his place. He often mistakes words and then tries to cover with all sorts of nonsense.

There are some pictures out there of him wearing glasses, but he tries to hide it as much as possible.

Imagine looking like that and still being vain, that's impressive actually. Same with that ridiculous "hair" he has and that famous picture when it was windy. Just buy a fucking wig man, the pig is rich enough and this just fuck my shit up hairdue is not fooling anyone.

13
lemmy.world

What a play.

Also I have a question. Maybe somebody can answer.

How the fuck is it that any country can impose all these rules on other countries?

So I knew a guy from Iran.

From Instagram. He made 3d printable models (really unique and interesting ones with the theme of dead head moths, tigers, other moths. Skulls. here is a link to a few pictures of ones I printed. https://imgur.com/a/uI3CnA1 )

Anyway. I chatted with him a bit. I suggested some filaments. And he disclosed he was from Iran.

That's when I learned of some crazy shit.

He told me he couldn't get the filament because it's no one will ship filament to Iran except some sellers in China.

1 roll of filament ($25) is almost equivalent to a Full months income there for most people.

He said he had some off brand Chinese printer because no one else would ship him one.

And that the U.S bans other countries from doing business with Iran.

I asked him about how he learned his 3d skills. Said he was a medical device engineer as his day job. Said he often worked 12 hr shifts.

He made way more designing his 3d art models and selling the model files. He has a patreon like a lot of designers. So he makes like $700 USD a month through that, which is way more than he could make as a medical engineer in Iran.

He also told me no one in Iran is allowed to use PayPal. So it's been hard to sell his art internationally.

He was married and had a kid.

A few months ago his Instagram was deleted. I don't know what happened.
I don't know if he and his family are okay.

I don't know anything else.

I worry about him all the time. He's just some artist. You know? Just like anyone else. Just trying to survive and give the world his art. And idk. I just think about how fucked all this is.

83

I tracked down his patreon and showed activity about a month ago. So maybe he just doesn't have Instagram anymore. I will try to reach out to him on patreon.

23

Thanks for sharing this story. The care you feel for him comes through strongly in your comment. I appreciate being able to have a small insight into the life of one Iranian person; it's not much, but I've found this kind of thing to be a helpful way to anchor my concern around the current conflict in compassion for my fellow humans, rather than disconnected geopolitics.

I think this story will stick with me. I wonder whether the weight of your worry will feel a little lighter now that you're not the only person carrying it. I hope he and his family are doing okay. I hope he is able to someday see a world where his art can reach more people like you.

22
zarkanianreply
sh.itjust.works

This is due to a bunch of big, powerful countries teaming up and bullying everybody else.

Why do you think it's such a big deal if Iran has nuclear weapons? After all, the US has nuclear weapons. Russia has nuclear weapons. Israel has nuclear weapons. So why can't Iran have nuclear weapons?

Because if Iran had nuclear weapons, then those big and powerful nations might have to give Iran a seat at the table. It wouldn't be so easy pushing Iran around anymore, because if you pointed nuclear missiles at Iran, you'd have nuclear missiles pointing right back at you.

Personally, I don't think that any country should have nukes. They're too dangerous. I think that all countries should be working towards mutual nuclear disarmament. This can be done through treaties and so on. But if any country is allowed to have them, then every country should be allowed to have them.

20
AA5Breply
lemmy.world

That’s a really dangerous thought. Certainly no nation should have nukes, but increasing the number who have them just makes it more likely they’ll be used. Civilizational survival is more important than fairness here.

We survived the Cold War because of “Mutually Assured Destruction” and no one in their right mind would let this happen. But it came down to one person disobeying an order at least once. It would be insane to trust the survival of civilization on this assumption

It would be “mad” to multiply the number of ways we can destroy ourselves and believe MAD will save us

2

The US should be working towards disarmament, and they've been going in the opposite direction. It's hypocritical for the US to demand that other nations not have nukes when they're stockpiling them.

5
daanniireply
lemmy.world

You know the fucked up secondary thing about this was I was telling my mom about him and how I was worried if something happened to him. And she was more concerned I was probably talking to a terrorist.

Right.

So he spends all this time designing models and building a following just to ..I guess talk to random Americans about filament But is covertly trying to do a terrorism ?

I'm still angry about that.

18

Well, he's Iranian. Aren't they all terrorists? That's what we've been hearing for the last half century.

I hope you find your friend safe.

9

My mother once asked me how I knew the people I was playing CS:Source with weren’t all pedophiles. I was 18 at the time.

Moms can be dumb.

5

While the US is certainly to blame for that to a large extent, a lot of them problems are also home made.

5

I guess the "pro sanctions" argument would be that countries have very few ways to influence each other: political pressure (asking nicely), economic pressure (sanctions to make the country poor), and military pressure (bombs). And that hey at least it's not bombs (until it is).

But just like with bombs, sanctions will always hurt a ton of people who were just trying to live their lives and did not want to be part of the conflict.

I hope your friend gets by OK.

4
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Not like they're gonna get money for nothing and chicks for free.

17
Sundrayreply
lemmus.org

I'd ask them myself but they're so far away from me.

4

I hear the Strait of Hormuz is getting a long needed vacation. Trump is making the Arabian peninsula great again!

9

"Strait" meaning "narrow, confining": it's a narrow passage through a body of water. See also "straitjacket", a narrow and confining jacket.

5

If this war has any silver lining, it's teaching a couple people how to spell "strait"

3

I just assumed Americans actually spelled it as 'straight'

1
Lemmayngreply
lemmy.world

No way, Donald Trump is a foreign asset?!

Donald "Russia, if you're listening" Trump?

Donald "My Putin" Trump?

Donald "No puppet, no puppet, you're the puppet!" Trump?

That Donald Trump?

21
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

He doesn't even have to be a foreign asset to be not working for Americans. Personally, I believe he's working entirely for his own personal benefit, and the benefit of his family and some friends.

The level of graft is unprecedented in the US.

19

Those two are not mutually exclusive, doing what Putin wants him to do in exchange for the proof of some shady thing he did not surfacing would still be for his personal benefit.

4
lemmy.ml

He is definitely working for Americans. Just not Americans like you and me. Ever notice how a lot of American billionaires seem super chill with everything he's doing?

5
Avicennareply
programming.dev

One has to wonder how much money they made just of the crypto grift. Everything Trump has done from day one has been to funnel money from regular people's pockets into billionaires' pockets, including him self and every tech oligarch that bent the knee.

9

I just found out that Barron has a net worth of $150 million, primarily because of crypto scams.

7

Step 1: Remove EV Tax Credit Step 2: Spike Oil Prices Step 3: Put extra tax on EVs

Now you make people get EVs AND pay you for the pleasure. Extra points if you invest your stocks right to capitalize on both the spike in oil and the raised demand of EVs! So much winning! (But not for the Average American)

22

My go-to response when my more conservative relatives complain about the cost of anything is "are we great again yet?"

They don't complain around me anymore, which means they've internalized my response by now

20

Makes sense if you're being paid off by the people who sell oil. High oil prices is good if you sell oil.

17
lemmy.today

And fucked all AI and chip related businesses because Ukraine and the middle east are the main sources of helium.

They also made China angry... Lithium for batteries, rare earth for magnets and optics.

Any other way to kick your own balls?

16
chaogomureply
lemmy.world

There's the new Donut Labs solidstate battery.

They claim that it doesn't use Lithium or Cobalt.

They're releasing specific third part tests that show they have something different, but we still don't have verification of the energy density or cycle life claims. Which are the two most important claims.

5
chiliedoggreply
lemmy.world

The third party is one that publishes the test you pay them to publish and nothing else. There's no details on the chemistry, density, or even verification that the different battery packs for the different tests are the same chemistry.

8
boonhetreply
sopuli.xyz

They also shifted their next test video drop from Monday to Wednesday. They're doing it on April 1st.

Maybe the battery is actually powered by their sense of humour.

Going to be hard to take anything seriously until they show all the tests being done on one single battery cell or pack.

3
baggachipzreply
sh.itjust.works

Even IF it works, it doesn’t mean shit if they can’t manufacture at scale.

1

Ah, I can actually say something here.

The charge/discharge profiles of the tested cells all have a matching signature.

So they likely have the same construction, but again, we don't know the energy density or cycle life.

1
glitch1985reply
lemmy.world

Yet. Still have 3 more years unless the cholesterol does it's thing.

7
mrmanagerreply
lemmy.today

I dont know if societies will be very happy with three more years under Trump. He is doing so many chaotic things.

2
lemmy.ml

on the one hand, everyone hates him, but on the other hand, billions of people are thrilled about him destabilising America

2

Is that really true? Have you talked to Trump supporters and they are happy with this?

It just seems that no ordinary person is winning with Trump...

Ah you meant other countries probably. Yeah I can see that.

1

Idk man there were a lot of wars and a lot of dumb rulers. He's certainly up there on the power/intelligence ratio leaderboard for a head of State though

1

The guy is used to failing upward and has now reached the highest position. There is no failing upward from being POTUS.

13
lemmy.zip

"raised oil for Americans" no bro, the rest of the world don't exist, only USA, Trump and the Democrats.

12
lemmy.world

Depends on what team you're on. But he's definitely never played for team America.

8

i think his understanding of team america comes from the movie team america and no one bothered to tell him that's not an educational video.

2

You guys really are winning. :)

Make sure to be grateful every day and say thank you.

12

By limiting themselves to legitimate military targets. Examples of non-acceptable targets include schools, hospitals, and entire countries that have done nothing to you.

5

Now ask yourself how he managed to bankrupt - amongst other things - a casino. A fucking casino, money printing machines!

5

He also lifted measures on Russian oil, and the higher gas prices are making electric cars even more attractive. The result is that among the few winners in this war are his old friends Putin and Musk.

4

On the deeper level he's driving up value of renewable power. But I doubt the idea ever crossed his mind

4
lemmy.world

Before be dropped the first bomb: What did US intelligence service tell him the odds of reigniting the protests from January was?

The decision to start the war must be judged from what was known before it started.

3

Yes I very much do think they care. The CIA would say something like "we belive that it's 52% likely that protests would resume" and pentagon would say that "it would use up this many bombs, casualties would be in the range of x per week." This is their job, they are not politically appointed, they are well funded and as Maduro kidnapping shows they are reasonably good at what they do.

I'm certain every president would take the same action based on some number given by CIA and Pentagon and their personal risk apetite. Maybe Biden would have required 70% and 1 casuality while Trump would accept 40% and 10, we don't know. But every one of them would have tried at some risk/reward ratio.

2

Don't forget the alienation of our allies, and loss of national prestige on the world stage.

2

According to Scott Bessent (Treasury secretary), Iran will be selling the oil for USD which the US will promptly freeze. Iran knows to not sell in USD, but in case it didn't, I does now.

1
piefed.social

[Edit: Foiks, please ignore this comment. It was uninformed and dumb.]

Um, in the spirit of "what's good for the goose is good for the gander," lifting sanctions on Iranian oil does not make Iran any money at all. It just lowers prices in the country implementing the tariffs, the USA. The tariffs are the dumb idea, lifting them is good, even in this case.

(I know there are circumstances where tariffs are good. This does not seem to be one of them.)

1

You seem to be conflating sanctions and tariffs. Are you sure you know what you are talking about?

9
Fatalreply
piefed.social

Um. Lifting the sanctions lets tankers carrying Iranian oil sell it on the global market and then turn around and buy more from Iran. How does that not make Iran money?

5

Sorry to @jonathan and you. The original reports were about tariffs, but that makes little sense. You are both absolutely right.

2

Thanks for source did not realize it was also Iranian oil as every headline (including this one) only mentions Russia.

2
lemmy.world

Trump did illegally bomb Iran. Iran closed the strait Trump lifted the Restrictions

The only untrue part is that Trump authored art of the deal. It was ghost written and according to the author Trump literally didn’t give any input

24

It is oversimplified, but what is not accurate there?

16