You get dollars the same way anyone else would in the situation: You carry a trade surplus vs. the United States and then allow tax payments to be made in dollars. Prices settle as a function of dollars available, rate of circulation, and volume of goods & services available.

The policy should produce a boost in exports & employment but also produce a shortage of goods normally imported. It’ll also be a great time for Americans to visit, the dollar suddenly having a lot more purchasing power in Argentina.

I’m out of the loop. Why is this happening?

Russian military expressed fears over the actions of Ukrainian partisans operating in occupied territories. The Ukrainian resistance movement is gaining momentum, leaving Russian military forces on edge.

According to Russian soldiers, Ukrainians have been engaging in various acts of resistance, including delivering poisoned food, planting explosives under collaborators’ vehicles, and providing intelligence to Ukrainian reconnaissance units about the presence and locations of occupying forces.

Very likely these conditions are mostly existing audits of resources and rules for pressuring Ukraine to remove corrupt persons from the supply chain. It is a way to save face while giving what needs to be given to keep Ukraine out of Russia’s hands.

Hamas doesn’t have the capacity without Iran. Iran has occupied a power vacuum created by the US from the US policy in that region.

Is there a reasonably safe way to provide water during the type of military operation that’s coming? Pipes have historically been used to smuggle weapons into Gaza, even the water pipes, so Israel is likely trying to contain that source of weapons during the upcoming operation.

This conflict doesn’t exist in isolation. This is part of a larger geo-political struggle with the decline of US influence in the region being taken-up by Iran. Much of this could have been avoided if the US never invaded Iraq. If only I had a time machine…

Hopefully the blockade can be lifted soon. Since it appears Israel is at war against the government of Gaza (Hamas), there’s a difficult line to walk where a complete and lasting victory is achieved while avoiding humanitarian disaster. A quick victory will hopefully avoid the most extremes of humanitarian disaster. In the long term I hope nearby Arab states help provide a peaceful solution to the problem.

If he could be found guilty of a serious crime before the first GOP primary, that would be super helpful. Can we get this done?

I’ll begin to worry with the mistresses and children of Russian oligarchs all leave their lives of western luxury and return to Russia. Too many Russian elite are living it up in the west for nuclear weapons to be a credible threat.

I could see someone like the UK send in military ships for “civilian de-mining operations” that leads to also being used to escort civilian ships. Seems like a great way to up the level of support without going to war.

The article makes it sound like Ukraine is using small ships that hug the coast to get grain to Romania where it can be more freely shipped to markets. Is this correct?

There’s government in SA and there’s Islamic religious authority. Two families agreed long ago to separate spheres. The religious authority has long been frustrated with the government and are the ones who attacked us on 911. Someone needs to break the religious monopoly in SA.

Also now it is even harder to support having children for the average Chinese because there’s an expectation to take care of your parents and grandparents. If all six are living what resources remain fire marriage and children?

My first thought was that maybe Russia was experiencing shortages due to the deteriorating economic situation in Russia but, reading the article, this feels more like a petty bureaucrat that’s upset that the occupied people of Ukraine are not cooperating as well as he wishes, so he makes passive-aggressive “punishments” of the people. This may ultimately be good for the war effort, leading to more behind-the-lines resistance movements.

Michael Kofman has been consistently wrong since the start of the war. I wish everyone would stop listening to him and write him off as a hack. Anders Puck does a good job outlining Kofman’s arguments about Bakhmut and then shows why those arguments are not entirely reasonable with the biggest reason being the brave defense of Bakhmut lead to Wagner exiting the war, taking out the most effective Russian force in Ukraine, and illustrating a certain fragility to the Russian reliance on military contractors.

If you want Budgie, give Solus a try. It is an easy to maintain system, is rolling, stable, and independent.

Half the year, yes. Ukraine uses Daylight Savings. Russia does not.

Parents are giving their kids phones without monitoring or managing their kids’ use or access to the internet. A nontrivial number of boys wish to try out some of what they see after watching pornography and use even younger girls who are vulnerable to these situations. This creates situations where boys age 12 - 16 molest even younger girls, often but not always relatives.

This is not unique to Malaysia. One of my friends is a trauma and rape therapist who has told me these situations are happening in every community and some of the girls do chose (choice doesn’t seem like a good word, given their age) to carry the baby to full term. More often the girls patents do decide on an abortion due to a range of concerns from higher risks of such pregnancies to the social stigma that comes from these situations.

Still many of the girls being molested in these situations are too young to become pregnant with some of the girls being infants or toddlers. This whole thing makes me very sad. We need to be more vigilant because so much of this abuse goes unreported or undiscovered.

If you read the study it referenced, it suggested 2- 3 years.