V (left party): "We think it would be nice if pensioners don't have to eat cat food."
SD: "We're literally founded by Nazis."
C: "These parties are the same, also we'll vote for SD's budget, and V are extremists and we demand they never have any power."
I seriously want C to just... go the hell away. They're chaos agents, just doing random shit and constantly siding with the right, despite claiming that they're oh so centered.
That's what centrists do though: they always side with the far right over the left all the while decrying how they oppose extremism. C isn't the first ones to do this, won't be the last.
There are so many parties in the government that I just wish they would go away.
I wish L would go away, because while they're party is named the Liberals they're becoming more neoliberal with every year that passes. I want them and their conservative batongliberalism (lit: Nightstick-liberalism) gone.
I wish C would go away, because after they've spent years going "We'll never cooperate with SD" they cooperate with SD.
I wish SD would go away, because they're fucking cryptonazis in a party founded by nazis pretending to not be nazis.
I wish S would go away because they've spent so long desperately clinging to power that forgotten what it means to be a socialdemocrat. They have no vision of what the future should be, except that they want it to be one where S is in power.
On a sidenote. I want to thank Belgium. If it wasn't for the madhouse that Belgian politics used to be (and perhaps still is) I would be in despair right now. But Belgium has proven that no matter how fucked up and indecisive your parliament is (and with no government for like 600 days) the nation will go on..
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Belgium went on fine because only the federal government could not be formed. The states still had stable coalitions.
Here in the Netherlands we don't have a government for over half a year now and it is an utter shitshow and I worry 24/7 about the future of our democracy, health and safety.
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AbsalonLands of Always WinterRegistered Userregular
edited November 2021
The dumbest part of all of this is that the changes in the right-wing budget alternative are pretty uncontroversial and low-priority all things considered and only a few percent of the total sum are affected.
That's the same behavior that sunk the CDA and VVD in NL for me. In 2010 they had a choice between negotiations with labor, or the racist Geert Wilders. They chose the latter because 'the gaps towards the left are too big'
Being nice to people = inconceivable
Being racist = negotiable
The dumbest part of all of this is that the changes in the right-wing budget alternative are pretty uncontroversial and low-priority all things considered and only a few percent of the total sum are affected.
A few percent of the total budget, but 25% of non-obligatory spending.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
That's the same behavior that sunk the CDA and VVD in NL for me. In 2010 they had a choice between negotiations with labor, or the racist Geert Wilders. They chose the latter because 'the gaps towards the left are too big'
Being nice to people = inconceivable
Being racist = negotiable
Wasn't it really about taxation? Taxation is what makes up most of the divide between the liberals and the left here in Belgium. There's never-ending agitprop about 'tax governments'. Which is funny because since 1966 Belgium has had only two socialist ministers of finance.
Whereas the real cost to the Belgian taxpayer is that they have to make up all of the tax-dodging enabled by the non-socialist ministers of finance, in particular one I can't name because he's now in a high position in the supranational organization I'm a consultant at. But he's behind the ruling that allowed Belgium to not tax French fossil fuel imported from Caribbean island nations into the port of Antwerps. Before you go look at google maps, none of that fuel ever came close to the Carribean, this was purely a tax evasion thing.
Edit: and the 'moderate' right has embraced identitarian (fascist) propaganda as a way to fight the left, but really it's completely hollowed them out and reinforced the Flemish far-right. They should have stuck with taxes as a rallying cry.
That's the same behavior that sunk the CDA and VVD in NL for me. In 2010 they had a choice between negotiations with labor, or the racist Geert Wilders. They chose the latter because 'the gaps towards the left are too big'
Being nice to people = inconceivable
Being racist = negotiable
Wasn't it really about taxation? Taxation is what makes up most of the divide between the liberals and the left here in Belgium. There's never-ending agitprop about 'tax governments'. Which is funny because since 1966 Belgium has had only two socialist ministers of finance.
Whereas the real cost to the Belgian taxpayer is that they have to make up all of the tax-dodging enabled by the non-socialist ministers of finance, in particular one I can't name because he's now in a high position in the supranational organization I'm a consultant at. But he's behind the ruling that allowed Belgium to not tax French fossil fuel imported from Caribbean island nations into the port of Antwerps. Before you go look at google maps, none of that fuel ever came close to the Carribean, this was purely a tax evasion thing.
Edit: and the 'moderate' right has embraced identitarian (fascist) propaganda as a way to fight the left, but really it's completely hollowed them out and reinforced the Flemish far-right. They should have stuck with taxes as a rallying cry.
If they had made a centrist government, they wouldn't have been able to cut as hard on welfare. The short-lived Rutte I cabinet laid the foundation for a lot of problems that still exist today. 10 years late, and on the eve of Rutte IV. They set in motion a 18B (~10% of total) budget cut that was intensified during the euro-debt crisis.
Steam: SanderJK Origin: SanderJK
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HonkHonk is this poster.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
New Swedish government with newly appointed ministers. They do this thing with new ministers where they get a chance to admit old sins, in an effort to be out with it so that it doesn't come up at a later point.
Fun thing is that always 50% have done hasch, marijuana, cocaine etc. They use the same wording every time - I tried it and it wasn't for me. And then we're back to having one of the strictest drug legislations in the EU (or world?) despite fully half or more of every government having done all the drugs personally.
I guess technically because he's not a new minister, he had the same position last government, but absent from the list of ministers going through their old sins is the guy currently under investigation for groping a female colleague
New Swedish government with newly appointed ministers. They do this thing with new ministers where they get a chance to admit old sins, in an effort to be out with it so that it doesn't come up at a later point.
Fun thing is that always 50% have done hasch, marijuana, cocaine etc. They use the same wording every time - I tried it and it wasn't for me. And then we're back to having one of the strictest drug legislations in the EU (or world?) despite fully half or more of every government having done all the drugs personally.
I guess technically because he's not a new minister, he had the same position last government, but absent from the list of ministers going through their old sins is the guy currently under investigation for groping a female colleague
Oh man, that is hilarious. Isn't that just the most conservative-but-also-a-loving-person thing ever? Like they're signaling that they're not going to punish recreational drug use, they just think that no sensible person would ever enjoy drugs in the first place.
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AbsalonLands of Always WinterRegistered Userregular
Also Sweden has its first trans member of government in Lina Axelsson Kihlblom, an accomplished school principal who will now be minister of schools (but not minister of education, that's another position).
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HonkHonk is this poster.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
New Swedish government with newly appointed ministers. They do this thing with new ministers where they get a chance to admit old sins, in an effort to be out with it so that it doesn't come up at a later point.
Fun thing is that always 50% have done hasch, marijuana, cocaine etc. They use the same wording every time - I tried it and it wasn't for me. And then we're back to having one of the strictest drug legislations in the EU (or world?) despite fully half or more of every government having done all the drugs personally.
I guess technically because he's not a new minister, he had the same position last government, but absent from the list of ministers going through their old sins is the guy currently under investigation for groping a female colleague
Oh man, that is hilarious. Isn't that just the most conservative-but-also-a-loving-person thing ever? Like they're signaling that they're not going to punish recreational drug use, they just think that no sensible person would ever enjoy drugs in the first place.
It's even better it's like they were not personally punished but they're very much, extremely much, going to punish recreational drug use. Even though they all did it. You'll get fines and a record or jail if you do it though. Also who would ever use drugs it's gross.
PSN: Honkalot
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HonkHonk is this poster.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
"... on the first one I drove 37kmh too fast. But in my defence it was only me out driving there, it was rural and it was dry."
In my defence; in my opinion there was nobody else on the road that I could have gotten into an accident with.
PSN: Honkalot
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HonkHonk is this poster.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
This is at least better than the Sweden Democrat local politician that is currently under investigation for murder, dismemberment and disposing a body in a canal downtown. Hopefully that wouldn't have flown.
Media should just include that in articles. "Person X, minister of Y and a reckless driver,"
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daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
So the new Czech PM got sworn in. He's... whatever, nothing exciting. The president, Zeman, has the Covid and did the ceremony in person (because he's an idiot) but he was enclosed in a glass box for the occasion. I'm moderately sure that he's attempting to choose the lich mythic path.
The new five party coalition is in for fun times. Covid is burning us up again and there is zero interest in another full lockdown. The government could pony up cash for people, but unfortunately the coalition is very broad, broad enough to have enough deficit hawk types to prevent that from happening likely. It's also broad enough that I'm not sure what all will be done over the next few years.
The most interesting thing so far is that the Pirates are getting the foreign ministry, which should be fun because their guy for that post is very anti-Russia/China. The whole party is really, they have strong feelings on corruption and human rights. So it's possible that Zeman, the ambulatory self-embalming experiment president, might reject their guy for the position as Zeman lurves himself some Putin. I mean sure, he'll say it's because the guy is too young, but Zeman is too damn stupid to keep that lie up for long.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
So the new Czech PM got sworn in. He's... whatever, nothing exciting. The president, Zeman, has the Covid and did the ceremony in person (because he's an idiot) but he was enclosed in a glass box for the occasion. I'm moderately sure that he's attempting to choose the lich mythic path.
The new five party coalition is in for fun times. Covid is burning us up again and there is zero interest in another full lockdown. The government could pony up cash for people, but unfortunately the coalition is very broad, broad enough to have enough deficit hawk types to prevent that from happening likely. It's also broad enough that I'm not sure what all will be done over the next few years.
The most interesting thing so far is that the Pirates are getting the foreign ministry, which should be fun because their guy for that post is very anti-Russia/China. The whole party is really, they have strong feelings on corruption and human rights. So it's possible that Zeman, the ambulatory self-embalming experiment president, might reject their guy for the position as Zeman lurves himself some Putin. I mean sure, he'll say it's because the guy is too young, but Zeman is too damn stupid to keep that lie up for long.
Recently former Austrian chancellor Kurz stepped down from all political responsibilities. "To have more time for his kid".
He also said he's neither saint nor criminal. Yes, yes, you are most likely a criminal, what with all the evidence of corruption against you.
Recently current chancellor also stepped down, so Austria now has its third chancellor this year
Recently former Austrian chancellor Kurz stepped down from all political responsibilities. "To have more time for his kid".
He also said he's neither saint nor criminal. Yes, yes, you are most likely a criminal, what with all the evidence of corruption against you.
Recently current chancellor also stepped down, so Austria now has its third chancellor this year
Recently former Austrian chancellor Kurz stepped down from all political responsibilities. "To have more time for his kid".
He also said he's neither saint nor criminal. Yes, yes, you are most likely a criminal, what with all the evidence of corruption against you.
Recently current chancellor also stepped down, so Austria now has its third chancellor this year
Year of the three chancellors.
And there's still a full month to go.
My SO is Austrian and so I keep somewhat abreast of their politics- and they do have interesting politics... A few years ago the death of Joerg Haider and subsequent revelations, now Kurz first and second downfall. I mean, every country has dirty politicians, but these cases were truly tabloid fodder.
As of today, after 16 years of Merkel, Germany now has a new chancellor, leading a coalition of social democrats, greens, and liberals.
What is to be expected of this coalition? It sounds at least a bit to the left of Merkel's coalition, based on the parties you list, so should we be optimistic?
The Dutch newspaper I read basically called their plans so ambitious something has to give. It promises highly accelerated green energy conversion, a ton of social stuff like minimum wage increases, reform to work permits to a more Canadian style point system and balancing the budget by 2023.
It remains to be seen what actually comes to pass. And there are plenty of woes, the Ukraine / Belarus / Russia situation, which ties into the lingering energy price crisis in which the Nordstream2 pipeline and German law and politics plays a central role, the fact that the EU hasn't been able to agree on migration policies since the Syrian refugee crisis, finding a position on the hollow democracies in Poland and Hungary.
finding a position on the hollow democracies in Poland and Hungary.
Merkel had personal ties to Orban and long hoped to moderate him. I think Germany can find a rather more assertive stance easily (and in fact they already went there).
Re: liberal party and budget austerity, this remains to be seen. Sure, cutting taxes is usually a no-brainer if you seek to please businesses. But Germany stands to win or lose their position as industrial powerhouse depending on how green they wil be, and many businesses, not in the least the car industry, will want to see Germany fully embrace the European green deal.
It seems the Germans will simply do both.
The secret sauce might be to emulate the EU approach and earmark budget as guarantees for investors rather than use it for government spending? Either way, the new finance minister, head of the liberal party, is a diplomatic elephant in a porcelain store and sure to piss off everyone south of the Alps...
New German Minister of agriculture Cem Özdemir was biking to (and from) his swearing in. That's his ministerial certificate on the back of the bike
autono-wally, erotibot300 on
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
edited December 2021
if i'm reading this right, if an election were held today in Sweden, the Social Democrats (S), the Left (V) and the Green (MP) parties could form a government without needing the Center Party's bullshit
That's regional stats, so just in the Stockholm region.
But still, at least that would mean the conservatives wouldn't be able to chop the regional healthcare into pieces and sell to their buddies at Totally Not Corruption/Nepotism prices.
Echo on
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
I don't know Sweden but communists here are like every single day in parliament up in the governments face about their BoJo-like attitudes towards the poor *and* out on the streets helping said poor *and* blasting everyone on Facebook full blast with edited takes of their parliamentary interventions. Well, there's this one orator who is awesome and bilingual as f*ck and just became the party leader.
They are taking no prisoners.
I hope they stop aiming for 'raucous opposition' for the next elections and start acting like a potential 'pushy coalition partner' instead, because they could.
another important bit is "Om det var kommunalval idag", i.e. "if there was a local election today"
things get kind of weird in regards to local vs. national elections at times, so it's not necessarily the best indicator of how Stockholm would vote for riksdag either
On Friday, Moscow set out a list of demands for the West that includes withdrawing NATO battalions from Poland and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, once part of the Soviet Union.
Russia is also demanding a legally binding guarantee that NATO will give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine and an effective Russian veto on future NATO membership for Ukraine - which the West has already ruled out.
That's regional stats, so just in the Stockholm region.
But still, at least that would mean the conservatives wouldn't be able to chop the regional healthcare into pieces and sell to their buddies at Totally Not Corruption/Nepotism prices.
Okay, so from a random article I googled, Sweden has a decentralized healthcare system where regional governments are required to provide healthcare for residents? Are the conservatives privatizing the healthcare systems of regions where they control the government?
On Friday, Moscow set out a list of demands for the West that includes withdrawing NATO battalions from Poland and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, once part of the Soviet Union.
Russia is also demanding a legally binding guarantee that NATO will give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine and an effective Russian veto on future NATO membership for Ukraine - which the West has already ruled out.
"Do all that or we'll..." what exactly? I'm not aware what options Russia have to get these kind of demands short of 10/10 aggression which seems counterproductive. Now I could see them shadow funding interest groups in these countries to gradually steer them to more Russia-friendly positions, but just openly demanding all this stuff feels like they don't have the means to follow through, with perhaps the awful exception of making Ukraine suffer even further. But that doesn't get troops out of the Baltic because you were doing that already.
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Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
If I had to guess I'd say it's saber rattling to play to a domestic nationalist population.
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
On Friday, Moscow set out a list of demands for the West that includes withdrawing NATO battalions from Poland and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, once part of the Soviet Union.
Russia is also demanding a legally binding guarantee that NATO will give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine and an effective Russian veto on future NATO membership for Ukraine - which the West has already ruled out.
"Do all that or we'll..." what exactly? I'm not aware what options Russia have to get these kind of demands short of 10/10 aggression which seems counterproductive. Now I could see them shadow funding interest groups in these countries to gradually steer them to more Russia-friendly positions, but just openly demanding all this stuff feels like they don't have the means to follow through, with perhaps the awful exception of making Ukraine suffer even further. But that doesn't get troops out of the Baltic because you were doing that already.
I tentatively interpreted it as an offer along the lines of "agree to something like this and we won't invade more of Ukraine." Or more cynically "won't invade Ukraine for now."
Yeah, but Nato agreeing to remove troops from/limit activity in Nato nations at Russia's say so feels pretty existentially conclusive, like you would prove Nato is worthless. I get Russia sees Ukraine (and Belarus) as strategically vital, and they have tools they can use to pressure Europe about these countries like gas pipelines, but to me the demands beyond Ukraine are nonstarters unless you back them up with military action. Which is why I agree with the saver rattling view.
Posts
That's what centrists do though: they always side with the far right over the left all the while decrying how they oppose extremism. C isn't the first ones to do this, won't be the last.
I wish L would go away, because while they're party is named the Liberals they're becoming more neoliberal with every year that passes. I want them and their conservative batongliberalism (lit: Nightstick-liberalism) gone.
I wish C would go away, because after they've spent years going "We'll never cooperate with SD" they cooperate with SD.
I wish SD would go away, because they're fucking cryptonazis in a party founded by nazis pretending to not be nazis.
I wish S would go away because they've spent so long desperately clinging to power that forgotten what it means to be a socialdemocrat. They have no vision of what the future should be, except that they want it to be one where S is in power.
On a sidenote. I want to thank Belgium. If it wasn't for the madhouse that Belgian politics used to be (and perhaps still is) I would be in despair right now. But Belgium has proven that no matter how fucked up and indecisive your parliament is (and with no government for like 600 days) the nation will go on..
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Here in the Netherlands we don't have a government for over half a year now and it is an utter shitshow and I worry 24/7 about the future of our democracy, health and safety.
Being nice to people = inconceivable
Being racist = negotiable
A few percent of the total budget, but 25% of non-obligatory spending.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Wasn't it really about taxation? Taxation is what makes up most of the divide between the liberals and the left here in Belgium. There's never-ending agitprop about 'tax governments'. Which is funny because since 1966 Belgium has had only two socialist ministers of finance.
Whereas the real cost to the Belgian taxpayer is that they have to make up all of the tax-dodging enabled by the non-socialist ministers of finance, in particular one I can't name because he's now in a high position in the supranational organization I'm a consultant at. But he's behind the ruling that allowed Belgium to not tax French fossil fuel imported from Caribbean island nations into the port of Antwerps. Before you go look at google maps, none of that fuel ever came close to the Carribean, this was purely a tax evasion thing.
Edit: and the 'moderate' right has embraced identitarian (fascist) propaganda as a way to fight the left, but really it's completely hollowed them out and reinforced the Flemish far-right. They should have stuck with taxes as a rallying cry.
If they had made a centrist government, they wouldn't have been able to cut as hard on welfare. The short-lived Rutte I cabinet laid the foundation for a lot of problems that still exist today. 10 years late, and on the eve of Rutte IV. They set in motion a 18B (~10% of total) budget cut that was intensified during the euro-debt crisis.
Fun thing is that always 50% have done hasch, marijuana, cocaine etc. They use the same wording every time - I tried it and it wasn't for me. And then we're back to having one of the strictest drug legislations in the EU (or world?) despite fully half or more of every government having done all the drugs personally.
I guess technically because he's not a new minister, he had the same position last government, but absent from the list of ministers going through their old sins is the guy currently under investigation for groping a female colleague
Oh man, that is hilarious. Isn't that just the most conservative-but-also-a-loving-person thing ever? Like they're signaling that they're not going to punish recreational drug use, they just think that no sensible person would ever enjoy drugs in the first place.
It's even better it's like they were not personally punished but they're very much, extremely much, going to punish recreational drug use. Even though they all did it. You'll get fines and a record or jail if you do it though. Also who would ever use drugs it's gross.
In my defence; in my opinion there was nobody else on the road that I could have gotten into an accident with.
The new five party coalition is in for fun times. Covid is burning us up again and there is zero interest in another full lockdown. The government could pony up cash for people, but unfortunately the coalition is very broad, broad enough to have enough deficit hawk types to prevent that from happening likely. It's also broad enough that I'm not sure what all will be done over the next few years.
The most interesting thing so far is that the Pirates are getting the foreign ministry, which should be fun because their guy for that post is very anti-Russia/China. The whole party is really, they have strong feelings on corruption and human rights. So it's possible that Zeman, the ambulatory self-embalming experiment president, might reject their guy for the position as Zeman lurves himself some Putin. I mean sure, he'll say it's because the guy is too young, but Zeman is too damn stupid to keep that lie up for long.
Wait, what? Let me check for a moment and:
Literally holding into power until is pried off from his cold, dead hands. Unbelievable.
He also said he's neither saint nor criminal. Yes, yes, you are most likely a criminal, what with all the evidence of corruption against you.
Recently current chancellor also stepped down, so Austria now has its third chancellor this year
Year of the three chancellors.
And there's still a full month to go.
My SO is Austrian and so I keep somewhat abreast of their politics- and they do have interesting politics... A few years ago the death of Joerg Haider and subsequent revelations, now Kurz first and second downfall. I mean, every country has dirty politicians, but these cases were truly tabloid fodder.
It remains to be seen what actually comes to pass. And there are plenty of woes, the Ukraine / Belarus / Russia situation, which ties into the lingering energy price crisis in which the Nordstream2 pipeline and German law and politics plays a central role, the fact that the EU hasn't been able to agree on migration policies since the Syrian refugee crisis, finding a position on the hollow democracies in Poland and Hungary.
Re: liberal party and budget austerity, this remains to be seen. Sure, cutting taxes is usually a no-brainer if you seek to please businesses. But Germany stands to win or lose their position as industrial powerhouse depending on how green they wil be, and many businesses, not in the least the car industry, will want to see Germany fully embrace the European green deal.
It seems the Germans will simply do both.
The secret sauce might be to emulate the EU approach and earmark budget as guarantees for investors rather than use it for government spending? Either way, the new finance minister, head of the liberal party, is a diplomatic elephant in a porcelain store and sure to piss off everyone south of the Alps...
New German Minister of agriculture Cem Özdemir was biking to (and from) his swearing in. That's his ministerial certificate on the back of the bike
if i'm reading this right, if an election were held today in Sweden, the Social Democrats (S), the Left (V) and the Green (MP) parties could form a government without needing the Center Party's bullshit
you hate to see it
But still, at least that would mean the conservatives wouldn't be able to chop the regional healthcare into pieces and sell to their buddies at Totally Not Corruption/Nepotism prices.
like to see the increase for V though
They are taking no prisoners.
I hope they stop aiming for 'raucous opposition' for the next elections and start acting like a potential 'pushy coalition partner' instead, because they could.
another important bit is "Om det var kommunalval idag", i.e. "if there was a local election today"
things get kind of weird in regards to local vs. national elections at times, so it's not necessarily the best indicator of how Stockholm would vote for riksdag either
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/nato-will-not-let-russia-dictate-its-military-posture-germany-says-2021-12-19/
"Do all that or we'll..." what exactly? I'm not aware what options Russia have to get these kind of demands short of 10/10 aggression which seems counterproductive. Now I could see them shadow funding interest groups in these countries to gradually steer them to more Russia-friendly positions, but just openly demanding all this stuff feels like they don't have the means to follow through, with perhaps the awful exception of making Ukraine suffer even further. But that doesn't get troops out of the Baltic because you were doing that already.
Yep, checks out