Toxic Factuality

@jkmccrann They tried windfall taxes after the start of Ukraine war and there’s talk of them again right now. Japan sees any threat to Australian LNG industry as a geopolitical risk.

@lattenomics @clairlemon What are these new taxes?

"Japan will provide Australia with a normal level of fuel supply as the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked." How cool is Japan 🇯🇵🇦🇺 abc.net.au/news/2026-04-0…

Trump not sending enough direct military aid to Ukraine (Obama sent nothing, despite the Crimean takeover, btw) is bad and probably pro-Putin. Trump selling weapons to the Europeans to transfer to Ukraine is also pro-Putin (but the Europeans continuing to buy Russian hydrocarbons is fine). Trump wanting a higher defense budget is, uh, pro-Putin. And Trump going after Putin ally Iran, which deploys suicide drones against Ukraine, is also somehow pro-Putin. And, as a catch-all, Trump is actually a dictator of convenience (query what a dictatorship of inconvenience is?). I just can’t with these people anymore. They need a couch.

Increased seed oil consumption

"Progressivism" is a luxury belief for safe times

@solo_dio_ It’s OK, RBA can just reclassify groceries as assets. 👊🏆

yet inflation is going to peak at "around 5%" 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓

The green energy transition in China.

Australia will trash 4,500,000 solar panels each year in 2030 Recycling them doubles the real cost of solar The "solution"? A pilot program targeting just 6% of the waste. Parody 2x cost: tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…, hbr.org/2021/06/the-da… abc.net.au/news/2026-04-0…

@StefanNotSteven Bizarre. I would’ve thought a stronger, more capable Europe would be bad for Putin.

@lattenomics @BiankaB12 Putin thanks you for your subversive efforts against NATO

MAGA doesn’t seem to grasp what’s happening to them - or what they’re doing to America. Their movement is systematically dismantling the foundations of American power: its alliance system, its supply chains, the dollar’s reserve currency status, and the global trust in its institutions. That’s the very infrastructure that made America the dominant power of the last 80 years. So, unless MAGA is totally and irreversibly destroyed and deep structural reforms prevent another rogue president from taking office, there is no way back. History taught us that this is how empires fall - not from external invasion, but from within. I don't think that institutional resistance to MAGA is coming through impeachment or prosecution. The only cards left to play are engineered failure and manufactured consequences: > Trump promised a booming economy and low inflation. What Americans will get is crushing inflation and an unaffordable life - turning his own voters, especially independents, against him. > Trump promised to end wars. What Americans will get is proliferation of wars, higher military spending, and compounding misery. He promised everything to everyone and the only strategy left on the table is to weaponise those promises against him. With that said, the rest of the world will suffer collateral damage - that’s unavoidable. But the calculus is brutal and I think in 20-30 years, we will realise it was the least worst option: MAGA has become an existential threat to the Western order, and the only way to save said order is to destroy them politically - completely, and permanently. The people that chose to die on that hill - for whatever personal or ideological reason - will have a very tough life regardless of the outcome. Their lives would be shit whether or not Trump & MAGA are destroyed or prevail.

@narkyanarchist That was years ago. A country that takes its defence responsibilities seriously would’ve restocked. But, as is the case with most of W Europe, they would rather spend endless money on welfare for illegals and destroying their economy and energy with Net Zero. Priorities…

@lattenomics UK gave its howitzers to Ukraine.

@xbias22 youtu.be/eKEycjREgPE?si…

@lattenomics @TomasCorax Nobody laughed. There was a belief called «peace through trade» instead of force (US wink wink). We were wrong though..

@narkyanarchist Is this why UK currently has a grand total of 14 howitzers compared to 100 they had in 2022? Such a strong self-reliant nation and powerful military ally. China and Russia must be quaking in their boots.

@lattenomics Europeans pay for their own militaries & equipment. We spend €4-5B annually on 🇺🇸 Defence items. 🇺🇸 gets use of European bases to project power; deter 🇷🇺; & use for logistics/soldiers for ME & Africa. Europe subsidises 🇺🇸 bases with low or no rent; infrastructure & housing.

@The_Real_T_K_ Easy tiger… I am not an American. I am also a citizen of an Eastern European country. I agree with you but unfortunately it’s Western Europe that dominates the EU. Sadly, it feels as if Western Europeans have a death wish.

@lattenomics @TomasCorax Who laughed? Eastern European countries were basically screaming in the void that Nord Stream was a bad idea. They were also screaming when the US did nothing when Crimea was taken. U Americans only see W Europe as ‘Europe’ - it’s not though. EE doesn’t owe you anything.

@2comprendre @BiankaB12 Thanks for letting me know. I care so much.

@lattenomics @BiankaB12 we’re muting you now, toxic.

@TomasCorax Trump’s UN speech about Europe’s dependence on Russian gas was in 2018. Oh how they laughed, and did nothing. The writing was on the wall for a while. The post-WWII consensus and globalisation are over for anyone with eyes to see. It’s not anyone’s fault Europe refuses to see.

@lattenomics Yes, Europeans don’t want to face up to the fact that the “ally” that disarmed them is now abandoning them. If the US wants to change the rules then that’s fair enough, but it doesn’t get to complain about conditions that arise out of its deliberate policy choices.

@uslss_etr I would like to see a world where Europe is a worthy ally to have. Definitely not what it currently is, which is the picture of weakness, disfunction and managed decline.

@lattenomics You want a world with a rearmed Europe where they no longer ‘rely’ on the US. I’m assuming the end of NATO?

@uslss_etr You may want to reread what I wrote. I don’t think you understood the point.

@lattenomics Even better, what does that look like?

@uslss_etr I was actually talking about Europeans, Canadians and Australians… 🙄

@lattenomics @TomasCorax Say more. what would this world look like with the US no longer concerned with the vulgarities of geopolitics?

@TomasCorax Times have changed. Europeans (also 🇨🇦 and 🇦🇺) want to pretend they haven’t, and get upset when confronted with reality. Blame US and Israel and let us get back to lives of comfort and leisure where we don’t have to think about vulgarities like defense and geopolitics…

@lattenomics @BiankaB12 It’s a game plan that was forced on us by the US. Read up on Suez & the US’s deliberate undermining of British military effectiveness. Having a strong Europe didn’t suit US policy.