We're All Doomed!™ (the Conquest, War, Famine, and Death Thread)

[Cornuck]

Interesting to read, and it all makes perfect sense - but then sense has no place in today's world.

[BCExpat]

Wow Per - that was a great and interesting history lesson. Thanks for taking the time to post that.

[Carl Yagro]

This wall of text I did read.

Good stuff, Per. Now I know where Bluetooth came from. Give me a good pair of wired speakers any day over that crap.

[Per]

Who knew at my age that I would be back in class getting history lessons on the internet.

Per you missed your calling, you should have been a History Prof.

Thanks. I have two great passions beside hockey - history and linguistics.
By writing about history in a second language on a god damned hockey bulletin board I can enjoy all three at once!

I read more history books than fiction these days, and I prefer the really old stuff. Paleolithic, mesolithic, neolithic, bronze age, early iron age, medieval. After that it starts getting boring. I’m not a huge fan of WW1 or WW2 stuff. But hey, basically any history is fine, but as with expensive wines - the older the better.

Books about neanderthals or Ötzi the ice man are really up my alley, but I don’t have anything against the viking or medieval stuff either.
Both of my parents were teachers, and I think I would have enjoyed teaching as a career, but it felt like the easy way out, so instead I studied International Economics and got an MBA. Did a semester abroad at the University of Valencia. My Spanish is pretty decent, but I think I’m better at English and German. My French, Russian and Finnish skills are pretty rudimentary, but I get by. Just don’t expect me to be able to discuss politics or philosophy in them.

[Cornuck]

My Spanish is pretty decent, but I think I’m better at English and German. My French, Russian and Finnish skills are pretty rudimentary, but I get by. Just don’t expect me to be able to discuss politics or philosophy in them.

I promise not to discuss philosophy in Russian if you don't.

[Per]

This wall of text I did read.

Good stuff, Per. Now I know where Bluetooth came from. Give me a good pair of wired speakers any day over that crap.

Yeah, bluetooth technology was developed in Scandinavia by Ericsson in the 1990’s, albeit the lead developer, Hartseen, who is usually credited with the invention, was actually Dutch. Ericsson worked closely with Nokia and Intel to create a universal standard for wireless communication and it was actually some Intel executive that suggested the bluetooth name as a placeholder for the project until marketing could come up with something better.

Guess they’re still working on it.

[Per]

My Spanish is pretty decent, but I think I’m better at English and German. My French, Russian and Finnish skills are pretty rudimentary, but I get by. Just don’t expect me to be able to discuss politics or philosophy in them.

I promise not to discuss philosophy in Russian if you don't.

I’ll drink to that!

[5thhorseman]

So what is Trump's plan in Venezuela?

1. Allow Machado to be President in exchange for her Nobel Prize?

2. Install a shadow government to collect protection payments in exchange for allowing tankers to transit to and from the country.

3. Install a provisional government ala Iraq and make a total mess of it. Oil companies refuse to invest in an unstable environment.

4. He's really trying to stop the drug trade so he will just leave now. Job done.

He's got two fake peace prizes now. What a dork lol.

[Per]

Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada send troops to Greenland to participate in Nato military operations on the island.

https://youtu.be/L9hzv3i-o_8?si=0_5lKFrzI9KOD7bW

[Ronning's Ghost]

Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada send troops to Greenland to participate in Nato military operations on the island.

Glad to read that Canada is participating; I had not seen that in other reporting.

I had seen elsewhere that the UK was also sending troops.

It is my hope that the fact that there would be any kind of fight at all would make a military annexation too repugnant to the average American voter for Trump to think he can get away with it.

[Per]

Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada send troops to Greenland to participate in Nato military operations on the island.

Glad to read that Canada is participating; I had not seen that in other reporting.

I had seen elsewhere that the UK was also sending troops.

It is my hope that the fact that there would be any kind of fight at all would make a military annexation too repugnant to the average American voter for Trump to think he can get away with it.

Unfortunately, it seems article I read was mistaken about that. The wikipedia page for Operation Arctic Endurance says:

There may be some confusion or differing sources as to the role of Canada. However, a Canadian Department of National Defence spokesperson said on 15 January 2026 that "As of this moment, the Canadian Armed Forces are not initiating any new operations in Greenland."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation ... _Endurance

On the other hand the UK (as you suggested), Belgium, Estonia, Iceland and Slovenia have also sent military personnel to participate. But just one or two each. In the case of Iceland they’re not even really military, as they don’t have any armed forces, but they sent two guys from their coast guard.

In response Trump has decided to raise tariffs on eight European countries (UK, Norway and 6 EU members) for opposing his annexation of Greenland. So now apparently you get tariffed for respecting international law.

This means the trade agreement between the USA and the EU that was signed in July isn’t worth the paper it was written on.
The European Parliament is supposed to vote on it next week or so, and right now no one thinks it will pass.
Which means the concessions Trump got from van der Leyen will not go into effect.

[Cookie La Rue]

Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada send troops to Greenland

Germany sent 15 !!! I guess all elite soldiers, they can dive down to 120 m in cold waters naked.
Heard in the news they already came back. Must be a bad cold.

[5thhorseman]

This means the trade agreement between the USA and the EU that was signed in July isn’t worth the paper it was written on.
The European Parliament is supposed to vote on it next week or so, and right now no one thinks it will pass.
Which means the concessions Trump got from van der Leyen will not go into effect.

EU leaders must feel ill-equipped to handle this situation. All their political skills and diplomatic experience are useless when confronted by Trump's constant course changing. At what point do they throw up their hands and just decide to wait it out?

[Cornuck]

EU leaders must feel ill-equipped to handle this situation. All their political skills and diplomatic experience are useless when confronted by Trump's constant course changing. At what point do they throw up their hands and just decide to wait it out?

It's like dealing with an out of control drunk - except TOPOS doesn't drink - drugs are rumoured, but he's surrounded by idiots.

[Carl Yagro]

Kind of sounds like the CC union trying to capitulate to Statler and Waldorf