Armenia was/is a member of the CSTO, Russia's answer to NATO. When Armenia was threatened by Azerbaijan recently, Armenia tried to activate the CSTOs equivalent of NATOs Article 5 collective defense clause. No one was willing to help, including Russia.

If anyone needs to see a demonstration of the importance of such a clause, and why it's credibility is so important to all parties involved, this is it.

You think the DC government should behave in a way that impresses Fox News? And you think that's better than just being able to run our own city and deal with our own government without begging Fox News viewers that we should be able to have representation in a democracy?

That's a hot take.

I mean that's exactly what the goal of these hearings are. Weird to see so many "residents" on this sub so eager to see home rule revoked.

They should be, but understand that the goal of the hearing will have little to do with that. It will be a show hearing for soundbites to play on Fox News to sell whatever political agenda they may have ("Democrat cities are cesspools of crime!" "DC can't be a state, look at how bad it is!" "We have to revoke home rule in the name of Law and Order!" etc).

>it just does not seem like we should be building roads and i infrastructure in other countries like that. We are not the daddy of the planet, and we need to let those countries get themselves together.

It's not about being a daddy, it's about building relationships. Ghana needs capital for development, we need friends in Africa. It's not about paternalism, it's about helping each other achieve goals.

>we're e not "buying" loyalty, we're only renting it for the present.

This process is also known as "diplomacy." It's how all international relationships work and how they have always worked.

Hi, I used to do contract work with USAID in Ghana!

Since as far back as the Bush Jr admin, West Africa has been a focus of US foreign policy. Basically, West African countries want to develop a manufacturing sector, but lack the capital to do so. They have a hugely well educated population, but not nearly enough jobs. Meanwhile, the US wants to stop relying on China for things like textiles (China is geopolitically "complicated", labor costs are rising there, and the physical distance to ship from East Asia is much much longer than the distance to West Africa), and has tons of capital at its disposal. Thus, the two have found a common interest to jointly pursue. The Bush Jr administration made West Africa a special free trade zone, eliminating tariffs and encouraged US companies to invest in manufacturing there.

In Ghana for example, the money that USAID invests goes to many things: it helps to subsidize economic initiatives by the Ghanaian government to build infrastructure (roads, ports), manufacturing (textiles), upgrading agriculture (Ghana produces a huge amount of the world's chocolate!), and modernizing its medical sector (out in the countryside it was basically non-existent when I got there). I would imagine that this new investment of money will go towards bolstering some combination of those things.

As to what's in it for the US, it is trying to build good will and soft power in Africa in a geopolitical chess match with China, who is trying to do the same thing. The people of West Africa, as well as other parts of Africa, generally (but not always!) benefit from this competition, as the two Great Powers compete to essentially buy the loyalties of African governments and people ($139Mm is a drop in the bucket in the US, but it goes a long long way in a place like Ghana). China has generally been more successful with this effort, but Ghana is a specific example of a country the US has built a strong relationship with.

>You can hide whatever you want inside a peanut butter jar and it will be hidden from the X-ray operator

Can confirm, I used to live with a guy who smuggled drugs all over the country via US mail just by sticking things inside peanut butter jars.

Eventually got caught, but not because of how he shipped things.

Eh, let people enjoy things.

I met whitmer once. Really nice lady. Smart as a whip.

Don't they ban huge swaths of the internet out of fear?

The vast majority of what a coffee shop sells isn't actually coffee, it's mostly selling milk. And milk is surprisingly expensive.

I feel like there was an attempt at a point being made here but I'm confused as to what that is.

Checks comment history

oooooh.

Gaslight

Obstruct

Project

Republicans: "Let's fight to keep the people of DC disenfranchised, regularly insult them and their city, and meddle in their lives so we can use them as political punching bags to win points back home"

Also Republicans: "Why are the people of DC so mean to us?"

He's a troll, just ignore him

Nah u/lenme125 is just here to virtue signal and feel good about themselves. That way they can pretend that they're Compassionate Helpers without actually having to show compassion or help.

...," they said, having literally no idea what they were talking about.

My friend also left a long law career, only she became a food journalist. I can't her or your wife, sounds way more fun to bake and talk about food than dealing with legal problems all the time.

Well that's nice

Luckily for you there's plenty of papers and channels out there that can tell you exactly what you want to hear without ever risking exposing you to an opinion you might disagree with.

I feel like it's always a good sign when people on the left think a paper is too right wing, and people on the right think it's too liberal.

Tell me your only interactions with the Post are through Reddit without telling me your only interactions with the Post are through Reddit

Just very cringey to invent situations where someone gets hurt or has to suffer and then to get excited about that thought.

Americans have a sick obsession with Retribution.

No. There is a very specific range of people who post here actively, and they are generally a very vocal minority.

>I like people to actively suffer

u/ertri

There's a difference between just consequences and sadistic retribution.