Hyperreality

And the weird thing is that the vast majority of men either don't care or often actually prefer larger labia.

On a related note, I never understood why "roast beef sandwich" is used to insult people's vulva, especially those with longer labia.

Roast beef sandwiches are delicious.

Honestly, if you don't like pussy it's ok. But maybe you should go play for the other team.

“oh, I know that language too!” from someone. And… They don’t.

Prime example: according to numerous surveys more Dutch people speak French well than Belgians.

Belgian is half French speaking, French is taught in Flemish schools from an early age, and many Dutch/Flemish speakers work in predominantly French speaking Brussels, and/or have French speaking friends/relatives.

But it's understandable: a Dutch person thinks their French is great if they manage to order something in a French restaurant while on holiday and have the waiter understand them. That's more than enough for their purposes. A Flemish Belgian thinks their French is bad, if they're unable to write a letter in French which respects rules like those about accord COD/COI (Elle a pris des photos. Les photos qu'elle a prises. Elle est allée prendre des photos. - Hope that's correct)

That and Dunning Kruger. If you have little competence in foreign languages, you don't know enough to know that you don't know enough.

The people who gave up because they couldn't solve their issues aren't posting either.

It dosn’t need any help. Their industrial capacity allows them to produce more

Arguably one of the reasons Israel gets so much aid is because it ensures that the Israeli defense industry can't compete, functions as a subsidy for the US defense industry (and the millions employed by it), and serves US strategic interests. Relevant article:

... nearly all military aid to Israel—other than loan guarantees, which cost Washington nothing, the U.S. gives Israel no other kind of aid—consists of credits that go directly from the Pentagon to U.S. weapons manufacturers. In return, American payouts undermine Israel’s domestic defense industry, weaken its economy, and compromise the country’s autonomy—giving Washington veto power over everything from Israeli weapons sales to diplomatic and military strategy.

Ie. US aid to Israel isn't charity.

Similar story in Europe, despite Trump's complaints. As Ukraine illustrates, Europe currently lacks the industrial base to support Ukraine on its own, arguably also due to an over-reliance on the US and its defense industry. Luckily Trump, and more recently republicans blocking Ukraine aid, are likely to accelerate a pivot away from the US and towards increasing self-reliance.

The fediverse is often very left wing, but I get the idea that this is a huge blind spot for a lot of people here. US foreign policy starts to make far more sense, when you realise the US defense industry is sizeable, employs a lot of people, and the US administration defends that industry accordingly.

Certainly makes far more sense than this idea that the US is somehow beholden to a tiny little country like Israel, chooses to give it billions in military aid because pro-Israeli pressure groups are somehow incredibly powerful, or that politicians support Israel out of idealism, while almost entirely ignoring the fact that a lot of them are backed or lobbied by the defense industry. Certainly no one goes around complaining about the pro-Taiwan lobby, when discussing US military aid to Taiwan.

After he's moved some of Russia's abundant supply of troops to the border, maybe he can also match increasing NATO military spending. Ignore the US, only match Europe. The EU's GDP is over 20 trilion * 2% target = 400 billion.

Russia's currently at 69.5 billion spending, so a 450% increase should get it near EU spending. That works out at roughly 20% of GDP. Maybe increase refinery production and export a bit more oil or export gas to some of the more affluent markets.

Good luck!

I'm sure we'll all be saying "Mission Accomplished" on a very 'special' president's 'special' military operation very soon.

1. AFAIK 60km/h let alone 60mph e-bikes aren't road legal in the Netherlands. 60mph is something like 95km/h. To give you an idea, most motorways are 100km/h in the Netherlands. To drive something that fast you'd need a full motorcycle license, insurance, etc.
2. Certainly they're not allowed on cycle paths.
3. Even if they were, Amsterdam has a citywide speed limit of 30km/h. That's under 20mp/h.

I identify as a hot mess and represent by flirting with almost anyone to bolster what's left of my broken fragile ego.

IRC a more realistic scenario is that they do an airburst strike (limits fallout) above an unoccupied (no civlians left) part of Ukraine as a show of force. Official Russian doctrine:

Most military analysts believe that, in this case, Russia would pursue an 'escalate to de-escalate' strategy, initiating limited nuclear exchange to bring adversaries to the negotiating table. Russia will also threaten nuclear conflict to discourage initial escalation of any major conventional conflict

They think this will bring their enemies to the table.

I honestly don't think it will, after all the atrocities they've committed. More likely, they'll be fully ostracized, the west will give Ukraine even more weapons, Europe will enter the war in Ukraine, and the US will come with a conventional but devastating response.

Here's a summary of some of the nuclear threats Russia has made over the past few years:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_risk_during_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine

For example:

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said that some Ukrainian military commanders were considering hitting missile launch sites inside Russia with Western-supplied long-range missiles. ... "What does this mean? It means only one thing – they risk running into the action of paragraph 19 of the fundamentals of Russia's state policy in the field of nuclear deterrence," Medvedev wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "This should be remembered," Medvedev said. Paragraph nineteen of Russia's 2020 nuclear doctrine sets out the conditions under which a Russian president would consider using a nuclear weapo ... Medvedev made specific mention of point "g" of paragraph nineteen which deals with the nuclear response to a conventional weapons attack.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-medvedev-warns-nuclear-response-if-ukraine-hits-missile-launch-sites-2024-01-11/

Obviously, the more they keep threatening to use nukes, the less credible these threats become.

TBF undercooking chicken is potentially lethal....