[Cobra]

I don't think you sleep at night at all. I mean the obsession with hating US is palpable.

I'll go back to what I said. And let's see if you can answer without changing the topic to the US. Let's see if we can avoid the strawman of every democracy being flawed just because of the US. What exactly is attractive to you about an alliance that involves Russia and China? And why exactly do you (as someone who lives in a Western democracy) think their interests should be cheered on?

As for your deflection to Palestine, kinda reminds me of this:

You're being obtuse. I'm saying that addressing the global south concerns would make BRICS irrelevant and that's what we should be doing.

We refused to do so, therefore the global south has little choice but to turn to BRICS which is increasingly becoming more attractive to them than we are.

That's it.

The Palestinians part is in bad taste, at least I don’t make jokes about hundreds of thousands dead or missing.

 

[kEiThZ]

You're being obtuse. I'm saying that addressing the global south concerns would make BRICS irrelevant and that's what we should be doing.

We refused to do so, therefore the global south has little choice but to turn to BRICS which is increasingly becoming more attractive to them than we are.

I think you're naive and clueless to the reality of BRICS as a Chinese centered organization. The global South have some real concerns. But BRICS as an organization haven't done much to address them that is also not self-serving, most notably towards Chinese interests. See their neo colonialism in Africa. But if the Global South wants to become Chinese colonies, I'm not sure why exactly Canada should sign up to cheer that on.

I'll give you that BRICS is far more effective than the Non-aligned movement that India used to yak about during the Cold War, was.

The Palestinians part is in bad taste, at least I don’t make jokes about hundreds of thousands dead or missing.

I was making a point. I suspect you aren't/weren't nearly as concerned when Russia leveled Chechnya or the CCP put hundreds of thousands Uyghurs in concentration camps. I think your sympathy is entirely situational. Mostly against whatever Americans think is good.

I also don't think the average person in the Global South has their politics driven by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as much as some Western leftists for whom the conflict is a shibboleth. It's why you can't discuss anything else without coming back to it. But I think somebody in Ghana or Bolivia would find your linking of their interests to that conflict as quite strange.

 

[PinkLucy]

Can we please focus on Trump's US, this has veered enough off topic.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Noble Peace Prize for Donald Trump?​

(insert laugh track here)

Benjamin Netanyahu told Donald Trump that he would nominate him for the Nobel peace prize in early July.

Meanwhile,

Appeals court puts peace institute back in Trump administration hands with stay of lower court​

From

MSN

A federal appeals court panel on Friday stayed a lower court ruling that blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with dismantling the U.S. Institute of Peace, an organization taken over in March by the Department of Government Efficiency, then led by Elon Musk.

The three-judge panel with the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the stay, saying the Trump administration's appeal of U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell's opinion would likely succeed on the merits. The stay added that the president would face “irreparable harm from not being able to fully exercise his executive powers.”

In filings with the higher court supporting its request for an appeal and a stay of Howell’s order, the government argued that “as evidenced by its programmatic, grant making and peacebuilding activities, USIP” was exercising “considerable executive power.” The filings also went on to explain the board members are “subject to the president’s at-will removal authority.”

In issuing the stay, the appeals court agreed and said the nonprofit think tank that focuses on peace initiatives is engaged in activities that fall under the purview of the executive branch.

“Today’s decision is a great victory for the American taxpayer. As we have said time and again, the President has the right to manage entities within the Executive Branch — including the so-called ‘Institute of Peace,’ which cost taxpayers over $50 million per year while failing to deliver peace,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly. “The President looks forward to continuing to implement his government efficiency agenda.”

The appeal's court action is the latest turn in the government's shutdown of the USIP, which had been turned back over to the organization's board and acting president following Howell's May 19 ruling. It also places the staff's attempt at restarting its operations in limbo.

President Donald Trump issued the executive order in February that targeted the institute and three other agencies for closure in an effort to deliver on campaign promises to shrink the size of the federal government. The first attempt by DOGE to take over the headquarters led to a standoff. Members of Musk’s DOGE group returned days later with the FBI and Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police to help them gain entry.

The institute and many of its board members sued the Trump administration March 18, seeking to prevent their removal and to prevent DOGE from taking over its operations. The firing of the board was followed by a Friday night mass firing by email on March 28, which threw the workforce into turmoil. DOGE transferred the administrative oversight of the organization’s headquarters and assets to the General Services Administration that weekend.

Howell, in a lengthy opinion in May, reversed the action when she determined the organization was not part of the executive branch and therefore Trump did not have authority to fire its board and acting president. She ruled that all subsequent actions, including the firing of most of the staff, the cessation of operations and the takeover of its headquarters and assets, were illegal as well.

Howell denied a government request for a stay of her opinion while the government appeals, a move that led acting president George Moose and others to reclaim the headquarters and begin trying to ramp USIP's operations back up. Those efforts have been slow going, with much of the staff still furloughed and operations in parts of the world shut down.

It was unclear Friday if there would be another change of hands of the headquarters.

A press statement from the organization said “we will continue to fight for USIP’s right to fulfill its commitment to our congressional mandate and to control USIP’s headquarters, funds, and operations to the fullest extent of the law. We remain confident we will prevail in this case and we look forward to continuing our critical work both at our headquarters in Washington, DC and in conflict zones around the world."

---

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Institute_of_Peace

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American independent, nonprofit, national institute funded by the U.S. Congress and tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide.[2] It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other peace-building measures.

Following years of proposals for a national peace academy, USIP was established in 1984 by congressional legislation signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. It is officially nonpartisan and independent, receiving funding only through a congressional appropriation to prevent outside influence. The institute is governed by a bipartisan board of directors with 15 members, which must include the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, and the president of the National Defense University. The remaining 12 members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

The institute's headquarters is in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., at the northwest corner of the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Veterans Memorial.[3][4] It employed around 300 personnel and trained more than 65,000 professionals since its inception.

In February 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order with an intention to dismantle the USIP.[5] In March, Trump ordered most of USIP's board of directors to be fired. Under statute, the president may remove board members with the approval of the majority of the board or several congressional committees.[6][7] The Department of Government Efficiency subsequently entered the USIP building to replace its leadership, fire its staff, and assume building ownership. Some of USIP's former leadership contested the legality of these moves in court, citing the agency's independent structure,[8][9] and on May 19, Judge Beryl Howell ruled in fa

 

[kEiThZ]

The real wondering is how he reacts when he doesn't win. Or does he just go bragging about how he was nominated?

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

^A little more background shenanigans on that...

 

[afransen]

It has been revealed by the WH medical staff that Trump has congestive heart failure, as become quite noticable with his swollen calves. Some are also speculating that he may also have kidney disease. It is becoming more likely that he won't live out his term, which raises questions of how JD Vance would handle the role. It's a pretty concerning time for the US, we can only hope that their institutions are robust enough to withstand the the slide into autocracy that is being attempted.

 

[PinkLucy]

He is really trying to deflect away from Epstein, isn’t he? He has always maintained a facade with regards to his health up until now.

 

[PinkLucy]

It has been revealed by the WH medical staff that Trump has congestive heart failure, as become quite noticable with his swollen calves. Some are also speculating that he may also have kidney disease. It is becoming more likely that he won't live out his term, which raises questions of how JD Vance would handle the role. It's a pretty concerning time for the US, we can only hope that their institutions are robust enough to withstand the the slide into autocracy that is being attempted.

Do you have a source for this?

 

[lenaitch]

we can only hope that their institutions are robust enough to withstand the the slide into autocracy that is being attempted.

The ones that are left.

 

[afransen]

Do you have a source for this?

Sorry, it was chronic venous insufficiency that was publicly acknowledged. Other commentators have speculated that he also has congestive heart failure, as indicated by the bilateral edema of his lower legs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/17/trump-health-chronic-venous-insufficiency/

I don't think we can count on the WH being transparent with the health status of any president, but Trump has been particularly propagandistic.

 

[PinkLucy]

Yes, further diagnoses are speculation at this point but definitely in the realm of possibility

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

^Yep, they may indeed be a US election in 2028. /s

 

[kEiThZ]

The ones that are left.

The American system doesn't lend itself to dictatorship very easily. Because their state governments are so independent. That said, the incredible power that their legislative branch simply hands over to the federal executive will allow Trump to be more than a little authoritarian.

 

[kEiThZ]

^Yep, they may indeed be a US election in 2028. /s

Nobody doubts that the US will have an election in 2028. Even North Korea has elections. The question is how legitimate the elections will be. Especially if Republican state governments collude to help elect their candidate.

On the plus side, I don't think JD Vance has anywhere the sway of Trump. And once Trump's kids enter the fray, the fight for a dynasty will be quite entertaining (to outsiders anyway).