What's on your mind today?

[Asmodean]

Nono, THE Asmo is just The Asmo. Like Prince or Madonna, only THE. That insufferable Gen-Z Asmo-lookalike sock puppet Tank has, however... THAT one is an Asmosen.

[Icarus]

Say it ain't so......https://imgur.com/gallery/dont-criticize-daddy-BvyZwcL

[Tom62]

Next week I will be in Munich for my stepmother's funeral. Many people have the flu, which is so severe that approximately one third of them end up in hospital. I just got out of the hospital. My wife sent me there because she feared for my health. Now I feel better but very weak.

[Recusant]

Good to have you back outside, Tom, and thank you for the update.

[Icarus]

Hang in there Tom. Let us hope that you will avoid the flu bug.

[Asmodean]

Indeed.

On The Asmo's mind today is that His Evil Masterplan has been found out. The asteroid He's been trying to aim at a certain mountain dutchy has been spotted.

Now, He needs contingency plans to protect it from an Bruce Willis strapped to a rocket.

https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Planetary_Defence/ESA_actively_monitoring_near-Earth_asteroid_2024_YR4

[The Magic Pudding..]

America is getting weirder.
Interesting times, I wonder how pissing off so many will work out for them.

[Asmodean]

Prolly just fine.

You can piss off whoever you want, as long as you also can take them in a fight, and they know it.

Yeah, ""nobody"" likes a bully, but then, few would fuck with one either.

[The Magic Pudding..]

Prolly just fine.

You can piss off whoever you want, as long as you also can take them in a fight, and they know it.

Yeah, ""nobody"" likes a bully, but then, few would fuck with one either.

What sort of fight?
Piss me off and I'll shop elsewhere.

[Asmodean]

Good luck avoiding a quarter of the world's economy to a degree that makes a difference.

"Any" sort of fight.

[The Magic Pudding..]

Good luck avoiding a quarter of the world's economy to a degree that makes a difference.

"Any" sort of fight.

Yes well America The All Powerful's  recent wars don't seem to have done them much good, enriched a few of the rich a bit more I suppose.  Afghanistan, Iraq and drugs still seem to carry on.  This new war on US debt/trade deficits and former allies is sure to be a winner for them though, how could in not be with such genius in charge?   

[billy rubin]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/world/trump-promotes-gaza-plan-ai-video-intl/index.html

[Asmodean]

Yes well America The All Powerful's  recent wars don't seem to have done them much good, enriched a few of the rich a bit more I suppose.  Afghanistan, Iraq and drugs still seem to carry on.  This new war on US debt/trade deficits and former allies is sure to be a winner for them though, how could in not be with such genius in charge?   

It's not necessarily a matter of doing oneself good - it's a matter of doing your opponent worse.

Imagine a schoolyard fight. Leaving it in better shape than you entered, or even "just" without having taken a punch is not as much an objective as is leaving in a better shape than the other guy. Geopolitics at that level are not all that different.

[The Magic Pudding..]

Yes well America The All Powerful's  recent wars don't seem to have done them much good, enriched a few of the rich a bit more I suppose.  Afghanistan, Iraq and drugs still seem to carry on.  This new war on US debt/trade deficits and former allies is sure to be a winner for them though, how could in not be with such genius in charge?   

It's not necessarily a matter of doing oneself good - it's a matter of doing your opponent worse.

Imagine a schoolyard fight. Leaving it in better shape than you entered, or even "just" without having taken a punch is not as much an objective as is leaving in a better shape than the other guy. Geopolitics at that level are not all that different.

I didn't mean to get into a schoolyard fight, I just wanted to sell things I did better and buy the things you did better, isn't it what god said we should do?

[Asmodean]

I didn't mean to get into a schoolyard fight, I just wanted to sell things I did better and buy the things you did better, isn't it what god said we should do?

In a world in which none of us happen to live... Over here, it's more of an aspiration.

Threat of violence is always the penultimate expression of diplomacy (Of which trade is also an expression, albeit a rung or two lower) It being penultimate, there is one final expression of diplomacy - with the word "threat" removed. He who is better equipped (in one way or another) to do violence may quite simply choose not to back down and take his way, rather than negotiate or be given it. That reality is not lost on those conducting diplomatic transactions below such extremes.