I don’t look at it is taking care of the unemployed.

Ireland has punched above its weight for centuries in producing cultural works. This is Ireland investing in its arts community directly by having its struggling artists be able to spend more time making art instead of other jobs.

A thriving arts scene creates prestige for the country, provides amenities to the local population, and increases tourism.

Why are you putting the decisions of others on me?

I’m not denying the slavery. I’m stating what the decisions are that are influencing choosing the UAE as a vacation destination.

The issue seems to come from visiting places that are likely to have police shoot and/or arrest you for not speaking the local language.

Or he got a bribe from the first bridge owner.

China may not be perceived as a military threat, but it is credibly an economic threat. China is returning to a state where Europe has difficulty conducting trade with China as China will only accept natural resources for trade. That can be dangerous for an economy with a large safety net, declining productivity, and little in terms of natural resources.

The EU is comprised of sovereign entities, but those entities have chosen to give up certain competencies to the Union for various benefits. The EU already handles trade diplomacy and monetary policy through democratic institutions; it isn’t that hard to imagine that could also take on competencies related to defense.

The EU also could share the competency of defense with the various nations. After all, there are other countries which have sub national entities that have their own militaries.

The complaints about the arms industry/the cost of war has been around since recorded history.

AI server farms has only been around for a few years.

I had a guy buy me two drinks at an expensive Vegas bar. He didn’t really even want to talk.

You chose to write a response in a different language than the rest of the thread then critique my translation.

It isn’t a contradiction but clarification. Your response implies a binary truth where only one statement can be correct. I’m noting that both statements can be correct at the same time.

Before you try to think I’m going to argue otherwise, cartel violence doesn’t justify an American military response.

The current administration may be trying to manufacture consent for a military operation, but cartel violence in Mexico has been an issue for decades. This has included the assassination of Mexican politicians.

It is the reason why Microsoft was able to gimp the Internet for so long with Internet Explorer. Companies couldn’t make money off of the browser, so Microsoft made a browser that helped defend the Windows monopoly.

Except during seismic events.

Depends on the sand.

That’s also generally more the geotechnical engineer’s call.

I’m a structural engineer. It is part of the job.

I’ve been mostly right.

I wished I worked out more right now. My problem is that I’m spending more and more spoons on my job and I don’t have enough remaining to exercise.

Do you know the deaths that happened post World War I? Do you know the deaths that happened in World War I on the scale compared to what was before?

You seem focused a lot on “America bad” and I can’t argue that an American led international order was bloodless, but the lack of a power is going to lead to increased conflict. After all, if it wasn’t for the USA, why wouldn’t Venezuela invade Guyana?

Trump has made the American Empire caustic to the international order in part because he is leading the charge to discard the international order for something else.

I feel like the issue at hand is that revolutionaries want to promise a better tomorrow without building a non-American world order without acknowledging that the various wars between the world wars are only going to amplify and that many of the intermediate powers don’t share the same political end goals.

And you just talked past the crux of my argument where a shrinking American presence can lead to war without addressing it.

Maduro said that he would invade another country. He probably would have done it if it wasn’t for a rapid American diplomatic response, the one before his kidnapping.

Borders will be in flux and those borders in flux will lead to war and death.