Comment by geenkeuse | Hacker News Reader

Comment by geenkeuse | Hacker News Reader

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With all the megabrains in here, how can some of you not see what's coming? China is making friends at the rate that the US is making enemies. Think about it for a second... Which new friends has the US made? I am talking solid, willing-to-give-you-the-middle-finger-and-go-with-the-other-guy friends (yeah, I know). Now contrast this to the friends China has made. China has secured the most powerful nation in each contested territory. South America, Africa, The Middle East and obviously, it is, itself the biggest power in Asia.

Now for effect, The US cannot even keep Europe aligned with them, and the fallout will be that much sharper in the next few years. You have bought cash money the sinking territories of Micronesia (great for UN votes, but not much else) What you have left is The English Speaking Conglomerate of USA, England (Not the UK - because I don't think you can count on Ireland, Scotland and Wales), Canada, Australia and New Zealand. And of these "Five Eyes", in a Sino-American conflict, two of them will be felled very quickly by their neighbour China (Australia and New Zealand) and Canada will have to fend off a massive assault by it's neighbour Russia (China's BFF) That leaves the original "greatest friendship". The enduring Anglo-American powerhouse.

Now I would think that England has not done itself any favours with Brexit. How is that going for them? So Europe is not a certain ally for them either. The EU is Europe, ask Turkey :-)

What you have left is an Anglo-American vs Sino-Russian battle for the future of humanity. The thing is the rest of humanity has already decided who they are betting on. Hint - It's not Anglo-America.

You Anglophones have managed to take control of 3 of the 6 continents. Is that not enough? And if it isn't then expect that there will be hell to pay, because at this point, the world will rather die on it's feet then endure more suffering under your boot.

Goeiedag en Dankie.

Additionally, raising the import customs for the EU is just going to alienate them even more. Some of the EU countries are already not favorable of the US, while others currently are but might no longer be. The whole Greenland thing is also not helping.

> With all the megabrains in here

HN is just another social network, with a bias for programmers and tech enthusiasts. I enjoy it and believe it does a lot right to promote good discussion, but let’s not kid ourselves: there are no “megabrains” here, certainly not in any meaningful way. There are a ton of misguided people who think being passable at coding reveals some type of deeper understanding for how the world works, but that’s just hubris. HN is filled with flawed humans which, if anything, may have a bigger blind spot for their own limitations than most. Don’t idolise HN frequenters, we’re all just people here. People in a community who rightfully gets relentlessly made fun of in other corners or the internet precisely due to using terms like “megabrain” to describe its members.

i took it less as OP idolizing and more as a way to question the expertise of those in question. more often than not people who frequent this site are full of themselves due to being in these fields and living among those who are not, so referring to someone like that as intelligent while proving them wrong is necessary world view shattering statement

As a Canadian, with the amount of unprovoked aggression coming from the USA and the turmoil being caused by even the threats of tariffs (yes, companies have to take into account that there might be tariffs and that causes chaos) let along if he actually does levy them, I would not count on Canada to be as close of an ally any longer. The writing is on the wall that we need to do everything we can to align away from the US. It's going to be hard and take time but even if Trump is gone 4 years from now we know how capricious and vindictive the American public can be.

Most Canadians would like to strengthen our bonds with the EU, but unfortunately I think it's going to mean getting pretty cozy with China as you said. No I don't think China is better than the US but the world is getting a wakeup call for how stupid it was to put all our eggs in one basket. From now on having any one partner dominate to the degree the US has is going to be seen as a huge weakness.

I believe this knowledge is more common in Europe, less in US. People have no idea what all those populist powermoves by Trump actually mean. I see the US as a fallen country.

To strengthen your statement, people in the US also seem to forget that China has done some major investments through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It has secured influence in 150 countries through massive infrastructure projects (roads, railways, ports, digital networks).

The US is excluding itself from the world. Quite literally.

Goeiemoggel

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