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Any vague source for that?

Asking as a European who did not have his IPv4 address changed for months or even years. Or is it IPv6 specific? But I cannot see why.

USA already set the precedent with Venezuela. The rest also follows from Donroe Doctrine.

Is not climate change mismanagement or complete neglect of the problem?

> What evidence do you have they are not all bad? I can't think of too many major high level EU leaders that people would consider to be a net positive.

A net positive compared to what? To have nobody at the head of the state and have anarchy? Or compared to the next one who wants the job?

Let's be concrete. I live in France, which currently is not going to give anyone lessons about governance. Current president is Macron. Is he evil bad, super corrupt? I do not think so. He is a bad mix of arrogance, naivety and brilliance in some domains. In the end, his run will end with average results as best, but not for lack of trying. It does not make him evil bad.

Previous one, Hollande was nice guy out of his league. Mediocre at best. But not evil or corrupt.

Previous one, Sarkozy, was brilliant and corrupt. He is going to jail next month. Still nowhere as bad as Orban on the civil rights front.

Regardless, all of them are better than having Le Pen (far right) as president. Who is already known to be corrupt populist and a Russian puppet.

I am afraid this is another of these "perfect is the enemy of the good" conversation.

Same with Van der Leyen. Fair enough she may have taken money from Pfizer and whatnot. But you are comparing that to someone who literally suggests violent action against people of his own country. I am sorry but things are not white and black.

I find it funny that most people on HN despise politicians but on the other hand are very happy to keep their cosy job for ad-tech/vc-fueled/well-paid companies instead of doing their part.

Try running for mayor of a small/medium city and see how well you respond for corruption after a few years of constant harassment.

Hungary suspected of spying for Russia, in der Spiegel (also in Le Monde but no translated link):

  https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/eu-wie-ungarns-agenten-in-bruessel-informanten-anzuwerben-versuchten-a-a44776c8-c8a6-4bf1-a7d1-7e92f643b748

> Other than Orban being corrupt and unpopular because the same applies to most politicians at EU level especially Ursula vs Leyen.

I am so tired of these "they are all bad anyway" stances. AFAIK, Ursula van der Leyen is not actively supporting a country who invaded a EU neighbour some years ago or routinely performs assassinations on EU territory. Also, I do not think she is actively criticizing the EU whenever she has the opportunity while pocketing as much money from it as she can. Maybe we could talk about Orban stance wrt democracy and people rights.

I don't especially like Ursula van der Leyen, I think she is the usual misdirected pro-market believer the kind we had too much in EU so far. But she is not that bad.

I guess they are the same anyway.

All that said, Ireland action is bad but not that bad.

Not sure, I would bet on the OWGs instead.

Given the US government is actually defunding major universities because "reasons", I find your comment laughable. Problem with arguing about "freedoms" is usaians still believe their constitution applies. Also, Colbert show, etc.

Your take about French censorship is equally ridiculous. I would gather that 90% of French press would not survive a month in the US before being pressured/defunded or worse. What happened to Charlie Hebdo would have happened in the US, by "patriots" instead of islamists.

And let's not even start about the separation of church and state...

And well communicated, I was surprised to have a full section about this when I changed home last year in Brest.

As a French, being passed by the right by Italian drivers on the highway really makes me feel the superiority of Southern Europeans judgment over my puny habit of blindly following rules. Or does it?

But yes, I do the same. I just do not come here to pretend this is virtue.

It is the US when promoting the industry and « the West » when trying to generate external support.

Substituting « the US » for « the West » on HN clarifies a lot of things.

I would rather we stop talking about the West, it does not mean much anymore.

Or you can keep the first question or a variant like "Did Russia invade Ukraine?" in the the USA too.

> In other words, to the religious, the use of the building for non-religious purposes is "shrug".

Try that in a mosque please.

Also, a couple of years ago a French (Benjamin Ledig) youtuber/tiktoker/whatever was fined for filming himself dancing in a parisian catholic church.

As you said:

> And as with all generalizations there will be lots of exceptions.

What mechanisms prevent the "pork-barreling and self-serving political advocacies" to take effect when re-instating some of these spendings?

As someone not immersed in US media slang, I do not know what "pig butchering" is (or at least that is not what is meant here) while I have a fairly good idea about "romance baiting".

That is probably not why Interpol wants that though.

And I agree with you about the other examples.