What about Joe?

[old man emu]

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

[willedoo]

Joe needs to slow down a bit. He looks like he's taking the stairs a bit too quick; possibly to show he's still sprightly for his age. It makes you wonder whether he'll have the stamina to go the full four years.

 

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1372935931204927491

 

Here's another take on it from the Trump camp:

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1372982815109840898

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by willedoo

[onetrack]

One thing I've learnt, after taking a disastrous tumble down a rock embankment when I was 63 (9 yrs ago), is that it pays to wear top quality footwear at all times, whilst outdoors or whilst travelling.

In my case, it was pair of slippery Reebok thongs, coated with red Pilbara dust, that made me lose my footing as I went to scramble down the rock embankment face. 

 

I was extremely lucky, I landed on my side on a big flattish rock, and mainly only damaged my outer thigh muscle (it was very painful and I couldn't walk for a week).

It could've been a whole lot different, Molly Meldrum nearly killed himself, simply falling off a ladder while setting up Christmas lights.

 

I only wear thongs on flat surfaces today. Any other situation, climbing, hiking, doing any form of outdoor work, I wear good quality, comfortable shoes or boots, with good grippy soles.

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by onetrack

[facthunter]

THOSE stairs are far too steep and for too long. You'd neve require passengers to navigate such stairs or you'd be forking out a bit of money.. It's lucky he didn't fall all the way down. It could easily happen to a much younger person too, IF they had "normal' flat leather soled shoes. Nev

[willedoo]

They don't always have the same set of stairs and sometimes they have the red carpet variant and sometimes just checkerplate aluminium. Leather soled shoes would be dangerous on any surface.

 

Part of the problem is that they know the cameras are on them and they would cop a lot of flak and rumours of ill health from the press if they took the steps slowly. So they do the action man/man in charge thing and go at it like a bull at a gate. Obama almost fell once when he was trying to jog down the stairs. It's a good public image as long as you don't stuff up and go arse over tit.

[Old Koreelah]

Joe’s doing all right for his age. There’s a Right-Wing commentator (who claims to be awesome at predicting economic and political trends) who persistently calls him Sleep Joe and claims he has dementia.

That nut-job has been proven wrong about most things lately.

[facthunter]

Worry about Joe's death WHEN he dies. So far He's not sitting on his hands. Neither is He a one man band or a CULT leader. A definite improvement to the previous impersonator, Twitter Junkie, Fake president or what you will.  Nev

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

A definite improvement to the previous impersonator, Twitter Junkie, Fake president or what you will.  Nev

Almost anyone would be an improvement. The bar was set so low by Trump that it should be a breeze for any presidents following him. Even retrospectively, George W's standing has improved in comparison to the Orange Clown.

[facthunter]

I never thought anyone would make HIM look good. He's redeemed himself a bit by calling out Trumps LIES about the Presidency being STOLEN. Strange Place, the US of A. Once upon a time I would have shifted there. Not any more.  This place is going to the Dogs fast too, lately.  No  cause for complacency and any  smugness.  Nev

Edited March 21, 2021 by facthunter

[Yenn]

While the USA is going to the dogs my worry is that it is taking us into the kennel. ABC news is saying that war with China is on the cards. Given that USA has not won a war since WW2 I don't want Australia to be involved.

The big problem is that USA has passed its use by date and is no longer the leading power, it it cannot accept that China should have a bit of the action.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Nev - I am with you... Biden was (andprobably still is) a good deputy.. However, so far, has been a surprisingly good, but the threshold he is being held to, likeyou say, isn't high..

 

I have a standing offer to work for a company in the US. Have been tempted a few times, and I have lived in the US before... And it is a great country - it has problems it shouldn't have, but what country doesn't. I can't help feel we get the bad news in the US, too.. I am in constant contact with US friends, and they do ameliorate the news for me a bit. But, at this stage, it is not a country I would want to live in.

 

Yenn, the thought of the US going to war with China (or vice versa) is very real at the moment. The US are fighting to retain their #1 position, and China want to take it.. Although, to be honest, I know what country I would prefer to be number 1. This will become a hell of a fight.. Unf, Australia will be dragged into it. The US has pine gap, but also other installations at RAAF bases that are comms and command posts. One way for China to get the upper hand in any conflict in the region is to strike at these. Also, even today, war requires a lot of steel and if China can command the Irone Ore deposits, it guarantees it can continue with the machinery of war. Once this war breaks out, Iit will likely escalate to a world war.. The difference I feel with this one is that there will be nowhere to hide.

 

It is not just China and the US that are tense. The world in tense everywhere. Even within the EU, tensions are raising, particularly between the eastern states and the western states. The EUs behaviour with respect to the vaccine is I think a window into what nations are willing to do when things like ware or famine hit - of course they are willing  because it is lives at risk in tense times...

[old man emu]

Here is an opinion that says that the USA will fall from its position of power by 2026 or so. And while China is creating the distraction, India is advancing.

 

 

[willedoo]

I really can't see how two nuclear powers could sustain any sort of conventional war against each other. At least with Russia and the U.S., MAD stops them from pressing the red button and direct conventional conflict is avoided because of the risk of doing that. The two of them fight proxy wars to test their toys and abilities and thankfully don't risk the world to directly fight each other.

 

It's not the same case with China and the U.S.. The huge nuclear superiority of the U.S. over China means there is no MAD, only assured destruction of China. That leaves only conventional warfare. I think they might have a bit of a tussle one day in the South China Sea the way they are going. But it would only be a token punch up where they both get a blood nose and call it quits.

[willedoo]

26 minutes ago, old man emu said:

Here is an opinion that says that the USA will fall from its position of power by 2026 or so. And while China is creating the distraction, India is advancing.

He's like a humorous version of Finian Cunningham.

Edited March 21, 2021 by willedoo

[willedoo]

14 hours ago, old man emu said:

Here is an opinion that says that the USA will fall from its position of power by 2026 or so. And while China is creating the distraction, India is advancing.

The commentator makes some good points. The data doesn't look good for the U.S. to maintain their global hegemony. Will they slip to number three in our lifetime, or will they keep on robbing Peter to pay Paul to keep their nose in front.

 

Two things keep them at the top - the strength and desirability of the U.S. Dollar, and the machinery of war that enforces their world dominance. If the former falls from grace, eventually the latter will wane. Even now, the U.S. military is in big decline, with lack of funds, budget cuts and antiquated equipment due for replacement or upgrading. Their oldest Carrier is almost 46 years old and average age of them is around 30 years. They are scrambling to find ways to remain all powerful with diminishing funds and ageing gear. It all looks good, but a lot of it is the result of liquid overhauls.

 

We don't have any option but to keep sitting on their lap, so if the U.S. declines, Australia will have to get used to the new situation. It was hard to understand Trump pushing America's allies away. Building and maintaining good alliances is the only way they will survive the future shock.

[old man emu]

23 minutes ago, willedoo said:

It was hard to understand Trump pushing America's allies away.

Not really. If you live for today, you can't plan for tomorrow.

 

One of the USA's military problems is that it has to cross oceans to get the bulk of its troops and their equipment to areas of conflict. It showed it could rapidly enlarge its merchant marine when it needed to in WWII, but it was partly the imbalance between the German U-boat numbers and the Ally's fleet sizes that won the Battle of the Atlantic. Any naval Chief of Staff worth his grog would have studied and planned for effective destruction of merchant fleets in the years since WWII.

[willedoo]

A good point about the oceans. It would be rare that the U.S. would fight a defending fight in their own back yard. Their MO has always been, for one reason or another, to cross oceans and wage war in another part of the world away from home. A big challenge for them now is how to defend against the new generation of hypersonic ship killer missiles. The new Russian hypersonic cruise missile can be air launched with a range of 2,000 klm. and a top speed around Mach 5. Nobody has anything at present that can practically intercept them.

 

The Chinese are not far behind in hypersonics as well, so the carrier battle groups could be obsolete in the future. The way weaponry is advancing, it might reach a stage where neither side can win. I think it will come down to who does jamming and EW the best.

[pmccarthy]

No, no Joe. By Hank Williams, 1950.

 

[Old Koreelah]

20 hours ago, Yenn said:

While the USA is going to the dogs my worry is that it is taking us into the kennel. ABC news is saying that war with China is on the cards. Given that USA has not won a war since WW2 I don't want Australia to be involved...

Just been checking the latest on China’s takeover of the South China Sea.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56474847

 

Google earth shows the massive dredging and land reclamation of reefs across this region. The sort of crazy expenditure sent the USSR broke, but I guess the Middle Kingdom can afford it.

 

My concern is that the Americans will drag Australia into a confrontation with the Chinese military via one of their “freedom of navigation” provocations. 

The Chinese have good reason to avoid attacking an American ship or aircraft.

Scotty from marketing has done his best to position our country as the ideal whipping boy, so an Australian vessel or aircraft would be the idea target for them to show off their resolve.

[willedoo]

Joe and his administration are still floundering in the waters of the broken Iranian nuclear deal. During the election campaign, Biden said he would like to reverse Trump's breaching of the deal. At this stage, it's still talk and no action. There are now some press reports that Biden may be about to offer a deal to restart negotiations. The idea is that the U.S. will ease some of their sanctions if Iran ceases some of it's nuclear enrichment.

 

The problem for Joe is that the Iranian position is quite simple - they will stop enrichment if the U.S. returns to and complies with the original agreement. In other words, no negotiation, the U.S. lifts all sanctions or no deal. Iran is in a position of strength in that they complied with the deal, and the U.S. is in a weaker position as they were the nation that went back on their word and walked away from the agreement. Time is running out as the agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency is due to expire in June and the U.N. agency will no longer have access to Iranian facilities.

 

Meanwhile, Iran and China have just signed a 25 year strategic partnership agreement. A $400 billion deal with China includes investment in renewable energy and nuclear energy infrastructure. Only my opinion, but I think the U.S. needs to wake up or they'll be left behind in the world.

[willedoo]

I'll admit to being a bit pessimistic regarding the Biden administration. I really hope we don't see four years of war, geopolitically driven interventions and destructive foreign policy brushed over by the mantra of 'at least he's an improvement on Trump'.  Even if Ghenghis Khan came before him, it doesn't absolve Biden's administration from the scrutiny it deserves.

 

When his presidency was confirmed, I only had one expectation; that the civil war in Syria would restart. Hopefully I'm wrong on that one. Regarding the civil war in Ukraine, I didn't think anyone would be silly enough to start that one again. The cease fire hasn't been perfect, but at least it's saved a lot of lives. After the loss of 13,000 lives, the people of the Donbass are tired of it all.

 

Since Biden's inauguration, there's been reports of a big increase in shelling of towns and villages near the front line by Ukrainian forces. The sad thing is that most of the civilians left in those towns are the elderly and others that have nowhere else to go. Another worrying allegation is this footage of a long trainload of tanks and armour being shipped into the Donbass region by the Ukrainian Army a couple of days ago. I hope it's all a storm in a teacup and Ukraine isn't about to mess up the relative peace in the region.

 

What's this got to do with Joe? Only my opinion, but since the 2014 coup, Ukraine has effectively been a vassal state of the U.S., politically, militarily and economically. Their government doesn't fa*rt without U.S. approval. Another problem is that any moderate sections of the government and parliament are dominated by the extreme elements. As previously said, I hope it all comes to nothing. With a bit of luck, the allegations and footage are false.

 

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1377686541946982407

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by willedoo

[willedoo]

Joe Biden met with the Queen after the G7 and became the 13th. US president the Queen has met in her 69 years in the job. She would have seen a few different characters come and go.

[facthunter]

Joe's at least a bit more predictable and knows how things work. He's more likely to stick to party policies and isn't full of illusions of grandeur. Everyone will find him easier to deal with. We will see how he goes with Putin who could hardly hide his glee with the Don. . Gifts like that don't come every day/year/lifetime. Nev

[willedoo]

I think the meeting on Wednesday will just be both sides sticking their toe in the water to see how it feels. They both admit that relationships are at an all time low between the two countries, so will be looking for ways to reintroduce dialogue. They haven't met for 10 years and will be getting back in personal touch. I don't think either side expects any breakthrough but if they can reconnect in some fashion, the meeting is successful within it's goals.

 

Joe's publicized his list of talking points with Putin and will no doubt follow through with that. I liked Biden's answer when a journalist asked him why he thought Vladimir Putin hadn't done any of the things the U.S. wanted him to do. Biden's answer " Because he's Vladimir Putin". It shut the journalist up.

 

Biden has also done the smart thing and set a solo post meeting press conference instead of the usual joint presser. That way, he can stay in control of the situation and deliver his version of the talks. With a joint press conference, Putin would dominate and make it harder for Joe to get his message across. Another advantage is that Biden's press conference will get much more Western press coverage than Putin's. That way, less people back home get to hear Putin speak, so less chance of hearing him make some good points or seeing him be polite and diplomatic.

Edited June 14, 2021 by willedoo