Moving the megathread topic slightly away from the chaos of the United States and going back around the world, we will begin with paying attention to Ecuador.
Ecuador has been ruled by Daniel Noboa since 2023, after he won the snap election. He's about as ghoulish as one gets; a neoliberal right-winger and as much as a marionette to the United States as Milei. Two months ago, he gave effective control of the Galapagos Islands to the United States and is allowing them to build a military base there - beginning the potential conversion from a natural paradise to unsinkable aircraft carrier.
We are now seeing the rematch between Noboa and Gonzalez; the latter of which is a leftist politician with a similar ideology to Correa, the socialist who ruled Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The divide in Ecuador today is largely between the Correaists and those who oppose them, though Leonidas Iza represents the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador and commands a notable share of the vote.
“One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia,” Trump said. “And I want to say, ‘let’s cut our military budget in half.’ And we can do that. And I think we’ll be able to do it.”
First let me say that he's likely bullshitting here, but I remember someone here theorizing that Trump would give up the US's world hegemon status relatively peacefully. Someone else also said they'd believe it only of he started closing military bases.
‘let’s cut our military budget in half.’ And we can do that. And I think we’ll be able to do it.”
Omg JDPON Don he's real. What's the over/under that he gets
for saying this? Any leftist gets in and says this and they get cyanide in the coffee next morning.
I remember someone here theorizing that Trump would give up the US's world hegemon status relatively peacefully
Despite what people say on here, historically empires collapse without much fuss, relinquishing their grip because they have no other choice. They do not "lash out". If they could, they'd still be an empire!
So he wants his vassals to spend a ridiculous five percent of GDP on the military but he also wants to cut his own spending?
I would not be surprised if the motivation for this announcement is not some grand deliberate shift in imperial strategy, but rather the tired old reactionary impulse to whine over public spending and believing everyone else is mooching off you.
I think the idea is that other countries would fall under a sort of protection scheme so that they would foot the bill for the services we would provide. It’s why he says that the US is getting a bad deal that we’re spending our money on their protection
The worst part about that is that you can often find the same sentiment among the vassals.