Non-Americans: How's it going?

Me from Ukraine: yeah… howʼs it going.

Man I wish I could pretend the USA didn't exist right now, but as it happens, I live in Panama so I'm a bit worried about America taking back the canal. In any case, I am doing fine. Enjoying my summer break before my third year of college starts.

I'm in Canada and not feeling great about Trump's many "51st state" comments. In particular, I'm in Alberta, and there's already been talk of just AB joining the US, and our premier seems to be very ready to keep kissing the ring and licking the boot at the same time.

In the end, I doubt that Canada will succumb to Trump's desires, but the sudden opening of the floodgates releasing all his bullshit just tells me that it's going to be a very long 4 years.

On the up side, Trump's nonsense does seem to be having a negative effect on the Canadian Conservative Party's appeal for the upcoming election, so perhaps the future up here will be tolerable after all.

The... Netherlands. Well, I wish I could not think about it. But being a trading nation, having international courts in the Hague... yeah. Oh there is also this minor issue called "Russia" on the border of the EU.

Apart from that, our own politics continue to be stuck in a kind of 'somehow the dislike for this cabinet is worse than the previous one yet we have no other option to stick with it'. Though I doubt it'll be enough to show the populace that the far right is really, really not competent in one go.

Shitshow all up and down. I'm just waiting for us all to gain class consciousness.

As a Mexican software developer, working for an American company. I feel that now, more than ever. My job can suddenly disappear one day, and there's nothing I can do to prevent it.

Life is more or less the same as it's always been here in Japan. The yen is still crazy weak, so we're still seeing inflation, which is uncomfortable. The big companies are raising wages to keep up, but the small to medium sized enterprises who employ most of the country aren't really able to, especially with a lot of the inflation being imported (prices are going up, but profits aren't). People really aren't happy with the government right now, but that's largely due to rising food and energy prices, plus that LDP corruption scandal still hanging in the back of people's minds. The LDP coalition not having an absolute majority in government is also a change. In theory, this might lead to the LDP taking on more liberal stances in order to get support from the opposition to pass legislation, though personally, I just feel that it just means things are less likely to get done.

There's been a lot of moves to try and make japan's economy more dynamic (i.e. make Japan's economy look more like America's economy), but it just seems like prioritizing shareholder profits at the expense of everyone else. I don't know how I really feel about this one, because inefficient stagnation isn't exactly a sustainable option either.

On the Trump side of things, he's not popular here, and the business community does not like the uncertainty, but there's a cautious hope that Japan might be able to carve out exemptions to the broad tariffs Trump is proposing on the back of major Japanese investment in America and Japan's position as the main US ally in Asia against the backdrop of the "rising Chinese specter".

Germany here, let's say I'm a bit on edge since our conservatives are now openly cooperating with the alt-right. At least we are seeing more people joining the left again so not all hope is lost yet.

Also just today we had another car drive into a crowd. Apparently the driver is yet again a foreigner without visa. So that’s just fucking great isn’t it. I’m tired boss.

From South Africa and its been an interesting time and hard to properly articulate. In terms of local happenings, had a few electricity scares again but it seemed to calm down quickly. Also a few water outages but I'm seeing a lot of new infrastructure come up to ease that pressure. Just had the State of the Nation address and the coalition government are at each others throats about it. But I find myself being happier to have a coalition actually engaging in diplomacy and governance over any one party having an overwhelming majority because that did not pan out well.

And then there's the eye of SSauron and Vice Puppet Trump. On the serious note, I'm thankful none of the charities I supply or support were affected in a major way. The Aid organization I regularly see are most often local charities or affiliated to Japan, the EU or The Global Fund and I don't see them pulling out. But Musk decided to gouge a multi billion dollar hole through Africa and plenty of innocent people are going to fall through it. Maybe a million is pocket change to them, but for a lot of people $100 is keeps your family alive. So fuck them and all their brain dead simps.

On the other hand, with the exception of the truly deranged people here (who I will be happy to see leave soon so thanks for that Trump), I'd like to think South Africans have been sufficiently inoculated against rich conmen that purchased the government for pennies. Apartheid was over 30 years ago. State Capture has been the national disgrace since then.

Long story short. Gupta family bankrolled a fringe politician. Used a militant, populist faction to drum up anti-white resentment and oust the elected leader of the ruling party. Immediately dismantled every state control and accountability structure. Strip-mined the country for parts for over a decade with the help of corrupt officials, corporate/foreign interests and a rubber stamp by KPMG. (sounds familiar?) I've worked on 2 projects to fix minor systems after this came to light and it was a horror show. They at least had the good sense to keep the corruption secretish and masked their crap by stirring up all the tension they could. Mismanaged immigration leading to a migrant crisis and xenophobic outbursts. Militant rhetoric leading to a sharp uptick in the killing of white farmers. Corruption and lack of opportunity spiking organized and subsequently violent petty crime. Service delivery protests. Gang violence. Gutted education systems. We're in a hole that will take generations to dig ourselves out of.

If any Americans would like a look of just how bad it can get, I recommend the works of the Open Secrets Organization and for some light reading the 6 volumes of findings by the Zondo Commission into the extent of state capture..

So while this Trump fight is a diplomatic nightmare for the government, regular people are mostly seeing Musk as a bad joke. He's throwing around decade old talking points while very publicly dragging the national reputation through the mud and no one I know is really happy with the situation.

Keep seeing online discourse on how white South Africans are all racist Nazis like Musk, vs how Black people can't help but ruin a prosperous nation. And all I'm wondering is "what the fuck do these people know or care about this country". If Elon was an actual proud South African, where is the Tesla gigafactory or SpaceEx office or his solar tech while we had years of rolling blackouts. Hell, while things were going down the drain for the last 10 years, all the international community had to say was that we're an "unsafe investment" and demand we get our crap together.

I never considered myself particularly patriotic but this is my families home. And while things are bad here, I'm happy to say that at least we're not in the US.

Dane here. I'm not well generally but that's another thing - but relevant to the thread? Since deleting all news apps it's more peaceful at least on that front. I really cannot recommend it enough to take a long break from the news. Don't spend time scrolling/watching for any significant time every day. I watch a 90 second summary at the end of each day just to stay minimally informed, which is enough in my opinion, but that's it.

There are always problems everywhere but my country is doing just fine. PM talks about crises all the time, some of which are valid, others of which are obvious to me that she is just rhetoric that does well in polls, and that news media get more clicks by hamming it up. Especially the refugee crisis/muslims crisis is total bullshit. The financial crises/inflation crisis is worldwide. The environmental/Ukraine crisis/war in Europe crisis is valid but going by GDP we are the country that has donated by far the most - not that it's very much considering we are such a small country. The Defense crisis is also valid since our military is ridiculously shit. Our navy's missiles do not function lol, lmao even.

The US crisis about Greenland is also a massive problem for us, it is not just the PM but tons of experts and basically all parties in parliament agree that it is the worst crisis since World War II.

Sure we're grand