20% is a staggering number! It’s no wonder that integration is a hot topic there.
Norwegian women (or perhaps men?) being too lazy in bed
Surely you must mean men 
Maybe the alcohol consumption is to blame?
Like many countries, the USA is a great place if you are reasonably successful, never have a serious health issue, have little empathy for others, and don’t mind the fact that you are generally surrounded by people that are struggling or very poor.
My experience in the US is that people have a lot of empathy, generally more than in Europe, and I say that mainly because they express it through their individual actions, it’s not a theoretical concept to be handled by others.
There is nowhere I’d rather be if I had a serious health issue than the US, particularly if it were cancer. Germany (specifically) is not bad in this regard, but for some types of disease the US is better.
In the US I’m surrounded by people with a good standard of living, and an opportunity to make it better if they want to do so. Many or most take that opportunity. I’ve spent time in areas of the US where some people don’t live as well (the Deep South comes to mind) but the solution there is fairly simple: leave and do something more productive elsewhere. I’ve also spent time in areas of Europe where the majority of people are flat broke and there is little they can do about it due to political and social barriers that don’t exist to the same extent in the US.
As mentioned I think people of notably low intelligence or (even more so) people who are lazy might do better in Europe. Empathy for the far greater number of people who don’t have those characteristics (and who don’t do particularly well in Europe) motivates me to prefer a meritocracy versus a system in which few have economic opportunity, most can’t pursue their dreams with any great success, and every move means interaction with a bureaucrat. This also saves the greater good in creating a growing economy.
Lazy and stupid people absolutely love all forms of socialism and communism. I am not saying all people who call themselves socialists are lazy or stupid, obviously, but those who are definitely love those systems.
This is a huge reason for the persistence of these systems. You are mathematically guaranteed that 50% will be below average IQ The other big one is the creation of a privileged ruling class. This method has been honed to perfection by every half competent left wing dictator, Lenin onwards. It also makes these systems very hard to dismantle; the Czechs for example were successfully reverted (they were never “properly processed”, in the 1947-1989 time frame) while Russia, having had 100+ years of “processing” would be absolutely impossible to revert while hanging together in any form as a country.
This method has been honed to perfection by every half competent left wing dictator, Lenin onwards. It also makes these systems very hard to dismantle
Fairly obviously so.
What you’ve seen in the US over the past few years is the emergence of that trend, our current illustrious leader (when he can stay awake) fits the mold perfectly. What I hope and expect you’re about to see is a democratically propelled reset, at least to some degree, because real change in the US is only an election away and always has been.
Whether Europeans are worried about paying their own defense bills under a new Federal administration is by comparison not terribly important to me. In the end, Europe will regardless get what it deserves and earns, positive or negative.
As long as we know where we stand when it comes to defence. If USA wants to quit NATO, well we will have to deal with it.
It is better than not being sure whether USA is friend or foe.
The US won’t quit NATO, because participation is largely in US interests, nor does making others become responsible for themselves represent unfriendly behavior. The US will (and should) make others pay their fair share. One now-proven way to do that is to threaten to quit.
We’ve been through this before, the time for supporting post-war limitations on western European defense capability is over, and the US recognizing it is friendly and respectful behavior. From the European side, the time of taking and criticizing US military capability simultaneously is over, and ending that behavior is friendly and respectful towards the US.
So you think it is respectful of your allies for an ex president and prospective future president of the USA to encourage Russia to invade traditional allies, whilst at the same time saying how much he respects Putin as a man he could do business with, and considers the invasion of Ukraine justified.??
These same allies BTW are the ones who have supported the US military in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan to name but a few.
Trump is a rude and ruthless business man. Everything he say and do must be seen in that light. Fortunately he is mostly all mouth and no action, but he is good at setting the stage for his blind followers and other weirdos to do the action for him. Putin is a highly intelligent warlord and despot (not an extremely successful warlord, but still). Trump would certainly like to “do business” with Putin, because that’s all Trump knows after all. Putin on the other hand would use the first opportunity to put a bullet between his eyes. Just think about it. What kind of “business” is Trump going to do with Putin that in any shape or form will benefit Putin? Invade Poland and hand it over to Putin?
The scary thing is that Trump is mindbogglingly ignorant in all things regarding international politics. The good thing is he is close to 100% hot air and no substance.
The scary thing is that Trump is mindbogglingly ignorant in all things regarding international politics. The good thing is he is close to 100% hot air and no substance.
Yes, and therefore I was happy to see that during his term as president he initially surrounded himself with extremely capable and intelligent people from industry and the military. Who then ran out in despair. So who’s willing to contain the guy during his next term?
If only the dems had used the time to position better candidates than Biden. OK, some extreme wishful thinking; maybe there is some cunning plan to launch a fresh candidate at the right time. There are some pretty smart people out there, right in his cabinet.
So you think it is respectful of your allies for an ex president and prospective future president of the USA to encourage Russia to invade traditional allies
I don’t think anybody has done that, or anything like that. What I do think is that Europe is now facing the reality of Russia, relatively poor local economics brought on by government policy, lack of reasonable and responsible defense planning and so on, is scared of that reality and is looking simultaneously for a scapegoat, for help, and for face saving. But I think Europe will reap what it has sowed regardless, because local policy and local priorities have a much greater effect than anything any outsider can or will do.
