Trust has to be earned. Trust lost takes longer to be earned back.

Ukraine has taught the world that the only help a country can expect from the US in the case of a Russian invasion, is that will be Witkoff and Kushner travel to Russia to work out how the US can access the resources of the invaded country via Russia.

No trump did his damage around January 2025, long before AI and Iran war had an impact. The core problem was his unpredictability on top of high tariffs. You can't import or manufacture low margin goods if they can change in cost from day to day, or even in the same day. It makes long term planning impossible. This has a flow on effect to supporting industries, which is where I saw work disappear. When I talked with decision makers in the companies I contracted to me they basically said the same thing, orders are not coming in so they are in survival mode, reduce costs and try to wait out the trump term in the hope markets will become predictable again and business can return to making plans for profitable ventures.

I did say 'hoping'. I used to enjoy travel to the USA and while I never wanted to live there it was an interesting place to visit. Not anymore, too high risk.

As for your 10 years, I hope you are wrong but I have no counter argument. I find it sad to watch the decline of the US but there is no way to help, it is near impossible to tell the average US citizen what they need to do for their own good, and I lament that most are unable to work it out for themselves.

You seem to have missed the key point of my post which was "It is going to be a long time before the sane world trusts the US again."

I never said 50%, I said "about 1 in every 2 people in the US though he was ok to vote for". However I can provide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... as a citation which put the percentage at 49.8%.

We didn't care, that was all internal US stuff. We only started caring when the trump started implementing policies that hurt our mutual trade. That hurt the global economy so we adapted by minimising trade with the US and increasing trade with more sane countries. If the US wanted to self destruct that was their business. Then trump started a war it Iran, that hurt us even more and there was no way to trade around that mess. Now your internal politics became a major focus. Also it sure didn't help when the US start insulting it's former allies and shifted to becoming Russia's ally instead.

When did I say we wanted to punish you? When did mention the Treaty of Versailles?

When you see a crazy person on the street waving their arms around wildly and saying unintelligible things you don't try to punish them, you cross the street and put as much distance between them as possible and then pretend you didn't see them. That is how the world see the US now and how we deal with it. Have you not noticed that when trump makes threats against other countries they mostly ignore them, and try not to engage with trump? Have you not noticed the US is not invited to global trade meeting whenever it is possible to leave them out? Have you not noticed the large number of new international trade agreements being made now, that don't include the US?

The US is no longer trusted, so we play it safe and leave it out of what is happening. You may have muted trump a bit now, but it is going to be long time before you get invited to join us in things again.

Yes, not so sure about that. It is going to be a long time before the sane world trusts the US again. We may start talking to the US again, but that doesn't me we can overlook what the US did. trump may have been the biggest asshole the world has ever seen but it did not go unnoticed that about 1 in every 2 people in the US though he was ok to vote for after seeing what he had done in his first term. How are we meant to trust that underlying population base?

I hear you but... I couldn't have cared less about US politics until trump made the business environment so unstable that all the US companies I was doing tech contract work for halted work and switched to survival mode. Now all my tech work is for non-US companies for products sold globally, except the USA.

Kind of hoping this means the USA has hit bottom and will hold there until trump's anti-business policies are reversed and companies can start panning for the future again. However it may be a long time, if ever, before the tech industry recovers in the US. One of the best companies I worked for gave up 6 months ago when the trump losses became too much. I am settling into roles free from US influence and can't see myself working for one anytime soon.

So yea politics matters for nerd news right now, but hopefully one day in the future we can go back to nerd news being driven by tech events.

That "allied-country suppliers" part is a risk given many former allies of the USA no longer see themselves as allies given they hostile treatment they regularly get now from the USA. They know if Russia invaded them the USA would likely do the same victim blaming they have done with the Ukraine. With that background the USA should be aiming for 100% on shore if they want zero risk. Or they could just try treating other countries nicer...

So all good, until the USA gives China the thumbs up to invade Taiwan.

Qualcomm is a fabless operation so where are their Snapdragon chips actually made? Does the USA still have any fabrication plants capable of making the Snapdragon?

Yes, we can save power by not using AI for things our brain can already do without it.

Until it isn't...

What happened with Starshield in Ukraine is being underestimated. Unlike all the bullshit "SpaceX is doomed because of [Inserts lame reason here]", political interference in the ability of customers to use Starlink has been a huge red flag to pretty much every user outside of the USA. trump has shown the world that the USA can not be trusted with anything they control. This could actually have a real effect on Starlinks growth plans and it's future share value, much like how Elon's support of trump at the time of the last US elections hurt global Tesla sales.

To be sure the success of SpaceX and Starlink is pretty certain, but they have just lopped off a section of their market. Starshield will be replaced or supplemented by services from more stable countries as soon as those offering come online. You can be sure that as of last week huge amounts of money are being sourced for the task of Europe throwing satellites into orbit as soon as technical possible.

What have you got against VW owners?

Ah, you sweet optimistic bags of meat. Have you seen the hydraulic lines on a fork truck? The are not 14 AWG wires, they steel and steel braided tubes designed to handle literal tonnes of force. If you are lucky and are fighting a cheap one the you may be able to reach some wires above the pedals. Decent models will not have exposed wires.

How are you finger nails? On models with pneumatic tires you might be able to let the air out, but don't count on it as many have solid tires.

I doubt being speared is a worry as most don't move without an operator and those that are automated usually stop when a meat bag is detected. However once someone has the bright idea add AI and remote connectivity your days are numbered. Does Skynet use fork trucks? I would have to go back and watch that documentary Terminator.

Ah, sorry Chuck, it appears the reports of your death were greatly exaggerated! Please ignore my earlier responses, I no longer have to live in fear of rogue fork trucks.