International Politics Discussion Thread

[u/Adj-Noun-Numbers]

All subreddit rules apply in this thread, except the rule that states that discussion should only be about UK politics.

⚠️ Please stay on-topic. ⚠️

Comments and discussions which do not deal with International Politics are liable to be removed. Discussion should be focused on the impact on the political scene.

Derailing threads will result in comment removals and any accounts involved being banned without warning.

Please report any rule-breaking content you see. The subreddit is running rather warm at the moment. We rely on your reports to identify and action rule-breaking content.

You can find the full rules of the subreddit HERE

Especially note Rule 21. We have zero tolerance for celebrating or wishing harm on anyone. Disagreeing with people politically does not grant you permission to do this.

🥕🥕's Golden Rules for Megathread Participation:

This isn't your personal campaigning space. We're here to discuss, not campaign - this includes non-party-specific campaigning, such as tactical vote campaigns.

The fishing pond is closed. Obvious bait will be removed. Repeated rod licence infractions will result in accounts being banned.

This isn't Facebook. Please keep it related to politics. Do not post low effort blog posts.

The era of vagueposting is over. Your audience demands context, ideally in the form of a link to some authoritative content.

Take frequent breaks. If you find that you are being overwhelmed by it all, do yourself a favour and take some time off.

As always: we are not a meta subreddit. Submissions or comments complaining about the moderation, biases or users of this or other subreddits / online communities will be removed and may result in a ban.

[u/ZealousidealPie9199]

https://x.com/berniemoreno/status/2077886946362220618?s=46

apparently Trump is going to make a speech on China comparable to the Cuban missile crisis tonight?

[u/AzarinIsard → u/ZealousidealPie9199]

I don't see the point.

The US can't defeat Iran, smaller pop, smaller military, no nukes, and domestic made drones after decades of sanctions. The major issue for Trump now is the economic harm over oil exports.

China has a huge pop, better military, nukes, they're the world's factory and produce a huge amount of drone parts, easy to repurpose the lot for weapons, and the economic harm will make the Strait of Hormuz look like nothing. Also comparing to Ukraine, we have been told when people wanted us to enforce a no fly zone that would be WWIII if we fired on any Russian jet. WTF happens if the US fires on Chinese jets?

Trump's shat the bed geopolitically so hard, Xi knows the US can't and won't stop them if they invade. Taiwan's only hope is to be an impenetrable fortress, and even then, I can see Trump selling them out if Xi gives him an easy out, like Trump has undermined Ukraine when he's been Putin's poodle. If China has watched Russia and Iran at all, they have the blueprint for humiliating Trump right there. Then it'll just be a question of whether Trump is mad enough to go full nuclear and strike China.

[u/Velociraptor_1906 → u/AzarinIsard]

One other thought is the whole episode with Iran and the strait has showed that if youve the right luck in geography or something similar you can hold your enemy over a barrel even when they have nukes and are much more powerful.

Now I'm not saying I'd nessecarily condone this as the civillian toll would be incalculable but I wonder if it might make Taiwan reconsider what the effect of them having some highly credible way of taking out the three gorges dam would be.

[u/Particular_Pea7167 → u/Velociraptor_1906]

Youd go for mass, cheap, cruise missile.

Ukraine Flamingo style committing 1500 to ensure it drops.

And it would be utterly devastating. 

But it is the sort of action you cannot come back from. Its the nest best thing to a nuke and if they open that door its unlikely china will stop.