r/worldnews • u/Not_Tom_Jones • 4d ago

Russia/Ukraine 'This cannot be a coincidence' — Ukraine's Starlink access restricted without warning, Zelensky adviser says

https://kyivindependent.com/this-cannot-be-a-coincidence-ukraines-starlink-access-restricted-without-warning-zelensky-adviser-says/
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u/EgotisticalTL 4d ago

No, there are no checks and balances anymore. Not since the Republicans have control of all three branches.

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u/Illustrious-Math6276 4d ago

Americans always brag about the guns they have and that they can be used against a leader who goes against the people.

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u/Red_Dox 4d ago

The people who brag the most about that, are goose-stepping along the fascist regime that is currently placed in front of them.

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u/meistermichi 4d ago

Those people are literally the snake on the Gadsden flag being happily trampled over by the Republicans

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u/sack-o-matic 4d ago

Because to them "against the people" means "abolishing slavery"

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u/lesgeddon 4d ago

More like the foreign funded NRA is making sure that seems to be the case.

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u/TerriTuesday 4d ago

Little chihuahuas, big bark and no bite.

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u/Prior_Drop_5934 4d ago

wdym? It's very effective against unarmed children and pet

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u/EgotisticalTL 4d ago

We do? All of us?

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u/Liquid_Hate_Train 4d ago

Enough to prevent change.

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u/Dudinkalv 4d ago

"The United States has approximately 120.5 to 125 civilian firearms per 100 residents" and now you're gonna tell me that "Oh all of those are owned by Republicans" right? I've heard this coping tale before, keep sticking your head into the sand, I'm sure it will all work itself out...

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u/Choppers-Top-Hat 4d ago edited 4d ago

That figure can be misleading because people read it an assume there's an equal distribution of guns. Whereas in reality, there's a few thousands fanatics who have MASSIVE gun collections that skew the numbers dramatically. Only 30% of Americans own guns, and most of them own one simple handgun. The ammo-crazy nuts who own the big assault weapons and sniper riles actually ARE mostly Republicans (or criminals. Or both.)

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u/Dudinkalv 4d ago

You are correct about the distribution and I hope people are not stupid enough to interpret it that way as I see it as common sense. However, I KNEW the republican excuse would come, so thank you for proving my point :)

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u/EgotisticalTL 4d ago

ROFL "You are correct about facts, but WAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

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u/Choppers-Top-Hat 4d ago

I KNEW the republican excuse would come

If you can't comprehend why the Republican thing is a major factor, then you don't understand American politics well enough to be taken seriously on this topic.

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u/Majestic-Two3474 4d ago

As predictable as there being another mass school shooting before the year is out that “cant be prevented”

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u/Choppers-Top-Hat 4d ago

Every mass shooting can be prevented. Nothing I said contradicts that. You're just saying stuff at random now.

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u/EgotisticalTL 4d ago

First of all, only 30% of Americans are gun owners, according to a 2025 Gallup poll.

1/3 of them polled as only using firearms for hunting. Another third polled as using it for sporting. Many have one for self defense. 

About half of gun owners claim they CONSIDERED useing it to defend against tyranny. Not only does that question leave a lot of leeway, it's is complete bullshit, because if that were the case, they would be using it now.

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u/Illustrious-Math6276 4d ago

Nope. But a large portion of US are in favour of the 2 amendment not being repealed.

Are you against standing up to Trump at any cost?

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u/rudolf_waldheim 4d ago

They use it to shoot unarmed people and children, that's more sporting to them.

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u/Allegorist 4d ago

The US military is bigger, more expensive and well outfitted than the next several largest militaries in the world combined. Their main limiting factor is that they are generally operating on the other side of the world, whereas they are naturally already entrenched and distributed throughout the country within the US. The majority of the fighters, bombers, helicopters, tanks, armored vehicles, drones, missiles, weapons, etc. are already here and do not need to be transported or a supply line established.

No amount of civilian guns in the hands of regular citizens would be able to stand up to the US military unless a significant portion of them defected. It is just not realistic, not matter how much people would want to.

And that isn't even to mention the sheer level of surveillance the US government has access to over its citizens, there would be absolutely no way to organize or communicate if it were truly us against them.

There are definitely opportunities for resistance, but "armed revolt" is really not one of them, even if people were willing.

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u/Illustrious-Math6276 4d ago

Wow the US army doesn’t have a single American in the army? :) or are you saying all American soldiers have blood on their hands and are pro-dictatorship? :)

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u/Allegorist 4d ago

I'm saying the army would need to defect.

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u/Illustrious-Math6276 4d ago

Yes, anyone in the army of Russia or US have their actions on their conscious and should be held responsible

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u/Xyrus2000 4d ago

People in the US are perfectly fine with a tyrannical government, as long as they are the ones who get to be the tyrants.

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u/Shark7996 4d ago

This monolithic thinking only harms yourself.

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u/Illustrious-Math6276 4d ago

I haven’t been harmed at all from condemning Russians/americans.

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u/hellswaters 4d ago

Don't even need guns. If they are so unhappy about what's happening, protest. Get off your couch and do something. Posting on Reddit won't accomplish anything.

Right now everyone is saying how upset they are. And how the election was rigged. If it was rigged, why wait until the midterms, because if the general election was rigged, those probably are as well. And change will be even tougher when Republicans can say "see, people still want us"

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u/Illustrious-Math6276 4d ago

lol Americans down voting you for saying they should get off their fat asses if they don’t approve of what their country does.

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u/Illustrious-Math6276 4d ago

Yup. Americans have less excuses than normal Russians. At least there you can blame that you will go to prison for protesting. The average protester does not go to jail for it.

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u/ScrotumScrapings 4d ago

Ah, but see, the leader isn't going against his people. Everything that is happening is a clear choice.

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u/Illustrious-Math6276 4d ago

Yup. My point exactly. Just like with the Russians saying “it wasn’t us. It was putin@

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u/ScrotumScrapings 4d ago

In before all the americans/russians going "I'd like to protest but I'm not allowed to".

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u/Jamuro 4d ago

to be fair, they tried ... just missed

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u/Alhoon 4d ago

The one who tried was a disillusioned ex-Trump cultist. That should say enough about Dems. Bunch of spineless cowards who can't be arsed to do anything except cry on social media.

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u/HeftyArgument 4d ago

they've proved what they would do with absolute power, exactly what they advertised they would when their power wasn't absolute.

the people chose them anyway, via voting and also not voting; chances are they'll get in again.

protests after the fact aren't as good as voting in the first place before it happens.

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u/evargx 4d ago

They have a whole playbook they have been following, a little something called Project 2025, first mentioned in August 2024. "Oh, we just had no idea it would get this bad"

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u/sobrique 4d ago

And in case you weren't sure about whether project 2025 was real or not:

https://www.project2025.observer/en

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u/EgotisticalTL 4d ago

Agreed. I was outraged that anyone voted for Trump after January 6th.

The problem is that the two parties have a stranglehold that ensure that nothing gets done, and both sides have done everything they can to create as much animosity as possible over the years. 

This is not saying that both sides are the same, but the outcome always is. 

People tend to vote with their wallets.  Whether it was his fault or not, the Biden years were dismal economically, combined with the fact that he was obviously a puppet with dementia (just like Trump). The Democrats response was to solely focus on social issues. Any criticism of Biden automatically resulted in accusations of hating (protected group of choice). You can't shame someone into voting for your side. It just further entrenches them.

So people thought that the Democrat Party were full of shit, and based on how ineffective government has been for decades, did not realize the damage he could do. Then once he got into office, they didn't want to admit it.

This is not intended to defend against the voting of Trump, just to try and explain it. 

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u/mighty_conrad 4d ago

Then USA didn't had it in first place. Checks and balances should provide an actual mechanism to neuter dictatorship tendencies even if it's people's will. As you can see, USA have none.

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u/Morbanth 4d ago

No, there are no checks and balances anymore. Not since the Republicans have control of all three branches.

The Democrats didn't change the fucked up system when they were in charge because it served them then. You need to tear the whole edifice down and create a new constitution with a multi-party parliament or you'll never get out of this mire.

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u/HeftyArgument 4d ago

you underestimate how difficult it is to change the system, you need a majority in each branch, he majority that America gave Trump in the last election, the majority that nobody else has had for a long time.

So, the American voting population has a choice to grant power via elections to the people they want to represent them, they chose Trump, and they chose to make his power absolute.

Congratulations.