The speeches against the USA, slightly disguised, rained heavily in Davos, and Canada’s was sensible \u2013 yes, their geographical location gives them the opportunity to discuss trade instead of war, but that opportunity is not available to Finland, the Baltics, and Ukraine, as they need weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The very strong shaking in Japan is, according to some, China’s doing. Got an interesting link from B\u00f6rjesson at Bluesky, which he apparently made himself and sold to Bloomberg, and if you google around a bit, China’s strategy is to try to put strong pressure on Japan right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is interesting in this context that the USA\/Trump told Japan to sit down when they tried to show their support for Taiwan \u2013 does anyone have an explanation for that since the prevailing consensus is that the USA makes all its moves in order to counter China. If a country then assists with that \u2013 why do they get a red card from the USA?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since we know that Buffet has parked his cash in Japanese yen, is there anything indicating that the USA doesn’t mind if China goes hard on Japan so that the capital returns to the USA, as it is even more unstable in Japan than in the USA, after China ensured that it became so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that the USA, as a thank you for that, went hard against Japan’s attempt to support Taiwan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thoughts on that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since I am firmly cemented in my belief that the USA does what is good for them now, I do not see it as an impossibility at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One absolute way not to tackle the current world order is for Europe to instead run to China and ask for their help \u2013 then our national pride dies a sudden death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My ten-point list in the previous post assumes, of course, that Europe feels that we can manage without teachers in the classroom, but it’s not very spectacular, just requires us to do exactly what the USA and China have done and put Europe first \u2013 which is what we have chosen our political leaders and EU politicians to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one has chosen them to put China, the USA, or Russia first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Macron used his speech for just that unfortunately \u2013 more trade with China he thought was appropriate to discuss in Davos. I have gained a little more respect for Macron as he stood firm against Russia, but running to China benefits no one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK has just allowed China to build a huge embassy in London, and Canada just made a big deal with China and something else that I have lost track of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China is the enemy who has helped Russia help themselves to produce large quantities of weapons, they have provided a functioning digital battlefield, they give Russia satellite surveillance resources, and they have ensured that North Korea has kept Putin afloat with enormous amounts of weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, China has made sure to get paid well, but if they had not assisted Russia at all, that country would have been in serious trouble now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, Europe still buys a lot from Russia even if it is starting to tighten up, and then we sell the components Russia needs for its arms industry, which they buy with the EUR we have just paid them for what we have just bought from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But China has done much more than that \u2013 they are an active part in the war and handle some rear functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I maintain that the USA will do what is good for the USA in the future, apparently they feel strong enough not to feel the need to build a coalition against China, which I thought would result from this \u2013 and that’s why I suspect that Russia, China, and the USA have a loose agreement where all three want a weak Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump’s plan for Greenland is quite simple \u2013 exploit the existing agreements and strengthen Greenland militarily without Europe being able to say anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If he wants, they will surely start buying up land in Greenland for exploitation and then over time buy their way to the permits without Denmark being able to do much \u2013 do not underestimate the power of bribes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greenland seems to be on their radar now anyway, and I understand why \u2013 “rare earth minerals” which have become the collective term for what is needed in the ground for industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the USA soon makes a big move in Africa and snatches it right in front of our eyes \u2013 that’s what I would do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelensky has repeatedly asked Europe to wake up \u2013 yes, we in Europe have a long and fine tradition of doing nothing, hoping for the best, and then getting run over, Lex 1940.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were completely unable to handle the Yugoslav crisis ourselves, and the USA had to sort it out for us, BUT these were the symptoms of the disease after the Cold War where the USA and the Soviet Union actively worked to pacify us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I said, Italy was wavering, and according to the Italians here at work, both the USA and the Soviet Union divided Italy, which is why they have been the number one banana republic for all these years and countless funny Italian stories beyond the Norwegian ones. Now they are starting to get their act together under Meloni, and I understand that they do quite a bit of business worldwide even though they are incredibly difficult to deal with \u2013 my Sicilian boss has a moral compass made of spaghetti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Zelensky has spoken out clearly and said that Europe has done nothing for 4 years, which is somewhat of a record. He is not entirely wrong because we have reached a point where sitting politicians have awarded huge contracts to the arms industry for outrageously expensive weapon platforms in a situation where drones for a few hundred bucks outperform them every day of the week, but the bribes are too attractive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We need a tangible deployable defense force of 3 million points \u2013 that’s what the man in Ukraine who knows exactly what is needed says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the tough questions, the EU is completely incapable of making the tough decisions so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mid-segment needs to organize itself as Carney says – you can quickly see that it will be the EU, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and a few others who are closest relatives, with another ring of countries willing to approach us \u2013 this is a good group but we must offer security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
USA’s big mistake was to go after Denmark, if they had googled SAS and Postnord, they would have understood that it is equivalent to national insolvency to try to negotiate with Denmark, but now they did it and we thank the gods for that mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2008, the USA managed to make the PIIGS the scapegoats for that crash without shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But today, Europe is united in a different way than in 2008, and in the case of Greenland, we suddenly showed something new \u2013 we no longer stab each other in the back and are not the friends who betray, even though the Germans immediately went home on the next flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Countries like Iceland and Greenland cannot be expected to defend themselves as they have a population of four but are now strategically important for the USA, China, and Russia \u2013 and if the EU\/Europe wants to maintain its relevance, we may have to send troops there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, I’m not an economist so the speculation below is probably at a very low level, but if the EU manages to stand up to the USA by setting some boundaries, and if we don’t let Russia deliver its black swan to Europe – isn’t there a possibility that the financial sector sees it as a strength this time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Europe is apparently the third largest holder of US government debt, for example, and if we want the USA to take the full hit in the upcoming financial crash, we should start dumping it at the right time, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because if the EUR is seen as a safe haven when things get rough and the EU provides security, then capital will flow to us instead of to the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It won’t flow to China, those who have tried to buy Chinese government debt know it’s tricky, and capital has probably already started to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would prefer to see a united USA+EU against Russia+China, but since 2022 the USA has shown a strong willingness to not let things go too bad for Russia, so security-wise we are on a collision course with them – what’s good for the USA is not good for Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now it’s clear that the USA is trying to stir up financial turmoil in Europe just in time for the financial crash, as the latest rounds of tariff threats have been directed towards us and not China. Russia has been exempted the whole time, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Europe can also stop buying from China and bring back manufacturing, and we can exclusively buy our raw materials\/natural resources from Greenland, Canada, and Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forgot about Ukraine, which also has rich black soil under its feet with everything we need + an incredibly strong industry and entrepreneurial culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How long do you think the BRIICS and China will survive if no one buys their products?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everything has a limit, but has it been reached yet – and can it be reached, or is the EU infinitely flexible?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China and Russia will fight us tooth and nail, we’ll have to wait and see what the USA does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, onto point two – the Ukraine war has already boosted the arms industry and Europe has risen. What you are seeing now is the embryo of the EU putting on a team jersey and trying to uphold an international rule-based order by arming ourselves so that when we say stop, the despots understand that continuing means JDAMS – can we get there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the EU is a mosaic of countries, it suggests that it could work – no single person can make decisions without them being voted on, provided that the EU doesn’t become completely centralized with a strong leader at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One point worth making – if you have no power, you can’t protect your friends, or yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or maybe extremist parties in Europe will rise to power and then we’ll decide to colonize Africa again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway – what an absolutely golden opportunity to bring in Ukraine, Iceland, Canada, and Moldova into the EU and then start building up our own production within the union. These countries have all the natural resources we could possibly need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have already turned towards Africa – Angola, for example, and that’s the right decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only really tough decision Europe needs to make is to support Ukraine to the hilt – currently, Zelensky has announced that some kind of peace deal is in the works with the USA, which is highly unfortunate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if Ukraine believes it’s the best option on the table, then maybe Europe hasn’t shown its unequivocal support for Ukraine in action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least, that’s what Zelensky is saying now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n