CAVOK

Playing right into the US hands. They'd love to see the EU disappear so that they can bully the individual countries even harder. Don't be daft. The way to fight is to make the EU stronger, not to surrender to Washington/ Beijing/ Moscow.

We're still going to need lots of US military equipment for a long time, so agreeing to that wasn't too bad IMHO. As for the investment we'll have to see. What's the time frame? Perhaps we'll see a little more sane US after the midterms?

But yeah, this isn't a win for the EU by any means. It might be less bad for the smaller countries that might have been subjected to the Thailand deal if they had been alone though. But that's not how the far right and Russia funded anti-eu brigade will frame it.

It's pretty far from a win. It's backing down to a bully because you know a fight would hurt you both badly, and that you still need the help of this bully against another.

Shit sucks, but that's where we are now.

I think the EU is hoping for the mid-terms and that the Democrats take over the house of representatives. With any luck they'll start doing their job again, and repeal these tariffs that Trump doesnt really have the mandate to set. It should be the house, yet somehow...

The EU gets time to move away from the US and build their own alternatives with reliable allies.

But yes, this isn't the US of old where mutual benefit was the goal. This is "the US gets whatever it can take and fuck everybody else".

As far as I understand it, no. It's just American consumers that gets taxed. Sucks for EU businesses though because all their products will be 15% more expensive.

This might be a good time to remind people to #buyeuropean

You should. It's an interesting article. Not sure why it got voted down.

Europe avoiding the worst hit while it takes steps to de-risk its economies, ie don't see the US as a reliable trading partner.

Ok? Then where is it? Give me a Facebook that isn't shit. I want to connect to a small group of friends, share photos and stories and not be "profiled".

People i haven't met should not be able to see anything I post, even if we share friends. I'd make it so you'd have to connect with NFC or something before they could see your stuff.

This influencer crap would not exist there. Nor should it anywhere, but that's just my opinion.

No. But if you give women the choice you have to create the conditions that having a baby is the best option.

Assuming the freedom to choose, I don't think those conditions exist. I think that people that want children will have them, and people that don't won't. I think the new normal is a lower nativity.

It is, if you give women the choice.

In countries where women get to choose, nativity goes down. In Bangladesh the nativity dropped with improved living standards. There's a great video about it.

So the latter two can still be improved.

All three are vastly superior in most of the west compared to most of Africa, yet women in most, if not all, African countries have more kids than western women. Do you honestly think that's because they're happier? Women in Afghanistan have more babies than women in the nordics. Do you think it's better to be a women in Afghanistan?

My argument

Your argument makes no sense. Living standards are abhorrent in Afghanistan and fantastic in the nordics, generally speaking. It's not about the living standards.

You think having a newborn is a "vacation"? Oh dear.

Having a baby is risky for a woman, physically, financially, emotionally. Perhaps the outlook of the world isn't great either. Combine that with women realising that they have choices, that they don't have to have children, and you get the decline.