Yeah, the regular election cycle is apparently coming up in a few months.

Italians have a proud history of hanging fascists in public spaces. Maybe they can try and tap into that part of their history?

I believe there won’t be elections any more. And if there are, they won’t be free. And if they’re free, the count will be falsified. And if it’s not, it won’t be certified. And if it is, it will be dismissed by a regime-aligned court…

Much like fascism elsewhere, it’s not going away with elections. There was still (just) enough institutional cohesion last time. Even then, it took Mike Pence to, probably for the first time in his life, do the right thing. No matter the “election” result, the current set of muppets is never going to give this power away peacefully. Just imagine VP Couchlover in the place of Mike Pence on that fateful day. We’d probably have gotten a coup right then and there.

I recommend carpet bombing the entire country for a few years, either dropping two nukes on it or granting about a quarter of its territory to neighbouring countries (including ethnically cleansing those areas) as well as splitting the rest in half for a few decades, and finally keeping foreign troops around for the next 70 years and counting. It worked wonders for Japan and Germany, both of which have since become positive additions to the world community. Perhaps we should give that a try for the US? (this is obviously satire; I’m obviously not in favour of mass killings and ethnic cleansing…)

The United States don’t have an opposition any more. The current situation more closely resembles the bloc party system (“Blockparteien”) of East Germany and several other socialist countries.

The moment both the Europeans and China declined this entire exercise was already pointless. With Pakistan already accepting the invite, I get the feeling that India will decline on principle, making the dictators’ club even more pointless.

I’m absolutely with you on that point. The primary concern for the vast majority of people will always be for themselves and their loved ones. It’s the reason fatalistic compliance is so common in dictatorships. I’m convinced that in most countries, including modern day Germany and the modern day United States, people can be led into fatalistic compliance. In France on the other hand I wouldn’t be so certain. Imagine a scenario in which Marine or one of her stooges wins the presidential elections and tries to pull off the same march into fascism as we’re currently seeing from the party formerly known as the Republicans, there would be a general strike and major upheaval in no time.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the US for work about a decade ago, mostly in the midwest. I’m fully aware of the spread out nature of the country. Even “cities” often feel like a patchwork of suburbs outside of the urban core and population density is generally quite low. Nonetheless, things like strikes require people to actively not do anything, which should be possible. Even the yellow vest movement in France was most successful in the rural and suburban areas, more similar to the US in density. I believe it’s more about a culture of compliance, complacency and fatalism.

The French would have general striked and yellow vested the country to a grinding halt by now. Folks in the United States either lack the courage or confidence or interests or all of the above combined.

It’s hard to make that distinction. Even in Germany under the jackboot of National Socialism there were still good people, some even dared to take action while others dragged their feet as much as possible without endangering themselves and their loved ones. This is where the difference between guilt and responsibility arises. In my opinion not all US Americans are guilty, just like not all Germans were, yet all US Americans share a responsibility to rid themselves of their political polarisation and the hatred at its root, just like the good people of Germany managed to do in the decades after the war.

Since most European businesses already own a letterbox in Ireland or Luxembourg, I suppose they can use those for their exports in such a scenario.

That’s what I was thinking as well. If the Americans are as incompetent as they look we’ll see a surge of European exports from Poland or Spain rather than Germany or France. It may suffice to just drive the same goods to Gdansk and ship it from there…?

I always thought that India uses both Bharat and India with English still an official language. Has the current government made the switch to only using Bharat?

There’s many such examples, just off the top of my head: Hungary, Finland, Greece, Georgia, Egypt and Japan.

I don’t understand. What is better about US English? The vast majority of nations where English is an official language tends to use the British version.

Since I don’t have a Netflix subscription and prefer to watch films from before ca. 2010 this describes my reaction pretty accurately.

As a Dutchman living in Germany I understand that feeling. Germany too is a very cash heavy society. With that comes widespread tax evasion. Anyone who has ever hired a contractor for any repairs around the house will know the question: with or without invoice? It’s the same for any restaurant. More often than not the card payment terminal will be “out of order” right now, but cash is welcome.

Oman is an impressive country. Although it is most definitely not an island, it almost feels like one. Historically Oman was surrounded by an inhospitable desert and therefore looked outward at the sea. Omani influence can still be seen all over the coast of eastern Africa.

It’s obviously a relative measurement, but I find it impressive that Czechia is on the same level as Norway, given that the former just elected an oligarch for PM for the second time and the latter is often held up as a shining example of a country getting things right.

Yes, but what have the Romans ever done for us?