The thing is - the Baltic states are in our sphere of influence, so Russia messing with them is a problem for us.

Tell me why we should care about some island on the other end of the world.

It would make sense to begrudgingly accept it, just like we did US military adventures in South America.

> Tell me why we should care about some island on the other end of the world.

I mean, if we're talking about Taiwan, it has strategic and commercial importance above and beyond being "some island". Certainly more than Central America ever did when the rest of the world was ignoring the US's idiotic anti-Communist adventures. Pretending that it's irrelevant because it's far away seems like a pretty big economic misunderstanding, at the least.

It's got importance for the Pacific trade to the US, not the land route to Europe.

It is your problem and you're not exactly being great allies to us in ours.

What? They make the computer chips you use. That is your problem. What a bizarre post.

We’ll see if it actually gets much better the a what we have now with the US “in charge”. Overall it might turn out better.

Yeah, for example we only get good cheap jeans, because of high quality cotton from Xinjiang! So, it really may turn out better for everyone*.

> It's the same shit with the Baltic states and other former Soviet satellite states. They're terrified of Russia, but people in Germany or further West think it's all overblown propaganda and there's nothing to fear from Russia.

And that is why Germany is moving a whole Brigade to Lithuania? I think only Spain and Portugal are not appropriately concerned with the Russian threat.

Ireland comes to say hello. They somehow let a Russian sub operate freely in their waters.

That sounds more like a one-time failure, though. I am hesitant to see that as a proof that the Irish government does not take the Russian threat seriously.