@igel
Yeah, when Europe needed large amounts of medical equipment, we were at the mercy of China.

I think it's mainly because China is isolated and much more culturally distant.

@matrix and they also dont have nukes and military bases in europe... like the US does

@matrix @igel consider: the west is stupid and outsourced all of its production capability, then when nerds like quinn said

so hey uh we should make stuff here maybe?

everyone else said

nah its fine china can handle it

and then china went

oh shit we have so much leverage

@igel @matrix

Well, we pay for your defense budget, they don't.

@spaceman @matrix defense from whom? This is arbitrary cuz the US limited the german military after the war. Our constitution reads like a "dont be nazis again pls" document.

@igel @matrix

Ostensibly from Russia? Ask NATO why they still exist. They also seemed somewhat unsure at the last big summit I watched.

@spaceman @matrix I am quite confident France and their nukes would be enough to scare the ruskies away. This is a dumb reason

@igel @matrix

Well, maybe this century you'll manage not to set the continent on fire.

@spaceman
But they already did
@igel

@matrix @spaceman did he mean Australia? We din du nuffin

@matrix @igel

Ehhh...

@igel @matrix