Best Of

That's funny, no doubt. However, having lived in or travelled through Germany, France, Spain, and Switzerland, I'd strongly advise against drinking the tap water.

Really. Don't do it.

I think I lost 15 pounds overnight after drinking tap water in Spain. Water weight, you know. Long night. Really really long.

I had a set of sharpened Lawn Darts I used for rabbit hunting. Would easily penetrate 1/4 inch plywood at 15-20 yards.

@Bob_Luken said:
In the deepest recesses of the basement of my childhood home. Found some lost treasure.

Reported to the Fun Police!

BTW. Those go for over $200 regularly on eBay if all the sliders and rings are in there.

Arctic sea trade routes. This is the new (developing last 15 years) geopolitical race for dominance. This entails all countries who possess mass wanted/needed natural resources and have shipping capabilities.

@Rdp77 simple answer…it’s all intertwined. There’s no ONE distinct answer.
@VegasFrank I agree with mostly everything you wrote. Let’s look a little closer.

Of course the following is 30k birdseye viewpoint.

Belgium…a founding member of NATO. Recent presidency to EU Council. However, path of governance and future strategies is in a bit of disarray. Securing sea trade routes. Here’s a little bit about their arctic strategy.
https://www.egmontinstitute.be/belgium-needs-a-bold-arctic-policy/

Finland/Netherlands…location location location…military alliance, American military bases, partner force training, etc etc. Close proximity to Russia. Again, securing Baltic sea trade routes.

Turkey…talk about lukewarm relations between US and them. Me personally, I don’t trust them. They have relationships with countries we don’t and use them for political mediations. They are situated between Europe and Asia. They serve as a trade bridge connecting the East and the West. They are a major source for energy and transport of raw materials for energy. Not to mention they are currently one of the largest producers of military weapons systems in the world.

I only touched on the countries you mentioned.

@VegasFrank and @Rdp77 you guys are infinitely intelligent dudes. I don’t need to educate you on geopolitics. We are all extremely aware the simplicity of geopolitics lies in control and overwatch, in whatever you want to insert here, in the name of national interest. The guy (country) at the top of the heap (world) is the winner (most powerful).

Lastly, I love talking about this stuff. Keep it coming!!!

42 F this morning at 8:30 AM, time to start keeping the lighters inside so I don't have to go skin-to-skin with them to warm them up first.