redline

European NATO allies have begun hitting 2% targets in recent years and there are heated debates about going way above that in multiple capitals.

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49198.htm

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-announces-turning-point-in-european-security-as-uk-set-to-increase-defence-spending-to-25-by-2030

I will note that in the UK case the situation described in the picture is particularly grotesque, if you consider the development of food bank statistics. The Trussel Trust distributed 3.1 million food parcels in 2023/2024, of these 1.1 million to children.

In 2008/2009 the number of parcels distributed was 26'000.

https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/end-year-stats/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/382695/uk-foodbank-users/

beyond absurd

https://redsails.org/masses-elites-and-rebels/ obligatory

particularly after october '23 even Americans must know the deal deep down, there's a lot of choosing to ignore the realities

I'm afraid the political problem you describe is much deeper and more entrenched.

The class of aggregated economic interests that brought the western world the "centrist ditherers", as you describe them, are increasingly backing right wing politicians to divide and confuse discontent majorities, now that the social contract is in obvious and advancing decay around us, due to decades of aggressive privatisation of public goods like utilities, education, healthcare as well as related but also wider economic slowdown.

Ironically it was precisely this kind of "centrist ditherer" that spent the last half century destroying these public goods and therefore inflaming the social discontent, which capital must now fuel right wingers to quell.

im going to be honest rome-beijing procedure made me think it was some experimental surgery like sewing someone's head back on or sth

is militarised austerity edible?

parenti quote

Where did you source this? interesting find

so what does this potentially mean? i need a translation