<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="auto">In Germany politicians are horrified by the duel and argue that Biden should step back and retire. Both candidates are too old, and the mere thought that Trump - a convicted felon - might be elected again despite all he has done is horrifying. Maybe democrats could give Kamala Harris the chance to become the first female president? But I don't know how popular she is. If president Biden steps back now then democrats have enough time to pick a suitable candidate. He did well but is too old for a 2nd term. We can not risk Trump becoming president again. </div><div dir="auto">https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/joe-biden-gegen-donald-trump-deutsche-politik-entsetzt-ueber-tv-duell-a-ebf216eb-aa7b-4ce4-904f-e0794f948e4b</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto">Scottish historian Niall Ferguson says the United States look increasingly like the late Soviet Union: senescent leaders who are far too old, a bloated military, a loss of morality and public cynicism about all institutions.</div><div dir="auto">https://www.thefp.com/p/were-all-soviets-now</div></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">-J.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div><br></div><div align="left" dir="auto" style="font-size:100%;color:#000000"><div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: steve smith <sasmyth@swcp.com> </div><div>Date: 6/29/24 12:06 AM (GMT+01:00) </div><div>To: friam@redfish.com </div><div>Subject: [FRIAM] the world is watching us... </div><div><br></div></div>What are our Non-USA members hearing/thinking after last night's <br>debate/debacle?<br><br>I felt that Biden's Rally today was something necessary for him (and <br>Jill and the DNC) to do to demonstrate that last night was some kind of <br>anomaly, but it doesn't erase it, just cleanses the palate a little <br>bit. I've also been listening to the various "who should the DNC pick <br>in his place?" talk which is 'natural' but maybe premature to do publicly?<br><br>I did listen to an European channel this morning (can't remember if it <br>was England or German, both have British accented commentators) and <br>there was a report of a strong "hands-off" response from their <br>leaders. Moscow did pretty much exactly what you would expect... I <br>haven't heard anything from the Middle East, Africa, India, China, <br>Southeast Asia or South America yet, but I would expect the "free world" <br>to be disturbed no matter how things unfold down the line.<br><br>In the vernacular, I'd like to believe that we could "elect a ham <br>sandwich" against the likes of Trump, but that is obviously a biased <br>opinion... maybe we *should* but that isn't the same as *can*.<br><br>I don't see how the "West" benefits in any way from another Trump <br>term... Russia, NK, China maybe? BRICS in the large, maybe some kind <br>of wash? Central/South/MX America? Can't look too good?<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .<br>FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br>Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom https://bit.ly/virtualfriam<br>to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com<br>FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/<br>archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/<br> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/<br></body></html>