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News & Current Events Apr 27, 2026 at 1:15 PM

Germany's Merz: US is Being 'Humiliated' by Iran, No End in Sight to Conflict

Posted by T_Shurt


Germany's Merz: US 'humiliated' by Iran, no end in sight to conflict
Yahoo News
Germany's Merz: US 'humiliated' by Iran, no end in sight to conflict
The United States is being "humiliated" by Iran, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday, warning that the conflict is not likely to end soon. "The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected ...

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Leather-Objective-87 1 day ago +3266
Im quite surprised he was so explicit!!
3266
torontobrdude 1 day ago +1036
My thoughts as well. This is the harshest I've seen him talking. I thought it wasn't even real...
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itah 1 day ago +924
> This is the harshest I've seen him talking. Well, be glad you aren't a german citizen then lol. Since he is chancelor we get called rotten lazy and are blamed for the bad economy, because we simply don't work hard enough. Also he wants to cut health insurance and make it harder to get a medical certificate if you are sick. Because, you know, us lazy fucks pretend to be sick all the time and that's why our economy is suffering! (It definitely has nothing to do with the declining market for fossil fueled cars, an industry that refuses to change, and the energy crisis due to the russian war)
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Gerf93 1 day ago +301
Same as the narrative in Norway. The economy is suffering because sick leave is up a couple of percent since the couple years pre-covid. So now they're threatening to cut in sick-leave benefits. They don't mention that sick leave is still down from 15 years ago.
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Ratiocinor 1 day ago +154
Really that's interesting, here in the UK it's because we're all working from home too much and killing the economy. Or we're a lazy generation who doesn't want to work at all and are sitting at home playing videogames out of choice because we don't want jobs All while they continue to insist that we are **NOT** in a recession and there is **NOT** an unemployment crisis akshully if you look at the statistics unemployment isn't even that bad! Just don't look at the jobs people are doing or how many are underemployed or doing zero hours / gig economy work and *definitely* don't look at the wage suppression
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Gerf93 23 hr ago +7
The crisis here is the lack of labour more than the unemployment rate. So they keep looking at sick leave and people who are outside of the work force for other reasons (disabilities, pensioners). Especially within the health care sector.
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Enrique-M 21 hr ago +31
Sounds exactly like here in the US even. Plus, our taxes are used to fight in a wa-r most of us have no interest in being involved in. We have enough problems here at home to go meddling in mid-eastern BS on the behalf of Is-rael diverting attention from our terrible economy to attacking a country far from our own.
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Irveria 23 hr ago +65
One reason why the number is higher in Germany is the introduction of the electronic sick note (e-AU). As a result, sick leaves are recorded more accurately and comprehensively, which naturally leads to an increase in the number of sick days in their statistics.
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almodsz 19 hr ago +34
> One reason why the number is higher in Germany is the introduction of the electronic sick note (e-AU). Additionally, a novel virus has been circulating since 2019 and, unlike most endemic viruses, allows for repeated reinfection within the same year. It would be unreasonable to assume that this has not contributed to an increase in sick days, yet this aspect is rarely mentioned when politicians discuss the increase in sick days.
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sc20k 18 hr ago +13
Same in France. We got sick leaves because we are lazy. That's fascinating to see the mental gymnastics those mf are capable of when the harsh truth is that the incompetence of European governments is the root of almost every challenge we are facing.
13
Character_Bug_1862 19 hr ago +9
Can you tell me why this narrative is forming? I thought Norway was pretty progressive, and you guys have your sovereign wealth fund. Having a good balance of work life is key to happiness and quality of life, which you guys rank in. I’m super curious if you know the agenda here.
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Gerf93 16 hr ago +11
It’s something the right want, and since the right wing have eaten a large part of the support of the traditional right (conservatives), they’re basically having by a competition about who can appeal more to the wealthy. Several on the right leaning parties are thoroughly in the pockets of the wealthy, and want to help them. The suggestion they’re spinning is to introduce one day of quarantine before you get sick pay. Meaning you’re more unlikely to report in sick unless it’s serious, as your pay check would hurt. Businesses pay for the first weeks of your sick leave, so getting that number down - or preferably getting rid of it all together - is a goal of powerful business interests. It’s unlikely that the unions would stand for it though. The sovereign wealth fund is great, but you can’t solely rely on that to have a functioning state. Norway has always had in place «handlingsregelen» which is a rule that states the government are not supposed to use more than 3 or 4% of the sovereign wealth fund for any state budget. In the last budget they used less, because the fund has grown so large that using more would result in inflation issues. The 3-4% of the fund make up more than 30% of Norwegian government spending. Meanwhile, the fund increases with 10% a year.
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ImUsingDaForce 1 day ago +127
Well. I've seen the inside workings of one giant German Konzern, and to be honest, I was surprised they managed to survive even this long. Middle management were doing 2 hour breaks more than once a day, office drones were literally doing those "meetings about meetings", unbelievable levels of disorganization. The mismatch between the numbers of people designing things, and beureaucrats was crazy. For each design or engineering team, there were 5-6 different administrative teams (GDPR teams, coordination teams, HR teams, they even had a Power BI team for making mental maps lol). The average age in the office was 50. Within 10 years, none of these companies are going to exist due to the Chinese, so let's stop pretending that everything is ok and functional on the office drone level. It is a tragedy, actually. Also, one thing that I noticed, and felt everyone was extremely weird about cause it was kinda unspoken - offices were filled with Germans (95%), while the factories were staffed exclusively by immigrants of all sorts (saw maybe a handful of Germans, all in some supervisory roles). *Edit:* Forgot to say one thing at the end - factories ran very well. Haven't seen a single immigrant taking a break during working time.
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GrafZeppelin127 1 day ago +93
It’s funny that Germany has a reputation for efficient, precise engineering yet also has a reputation for endless, suffocating rules and bureaucracy.
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BrainOnLoan 1 day ago +42
Management with an engineering mindset. Humans aren't cogs, but some people try to make it work as if ... and when it doesn't, they make rules how those humans *should* behave so that they function more like cogs.
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GrafZeppelin127 1 day ago +15
Reminds me of the tales I’ve heard of the original intent behind the Prussian-style education system from the late 19th century. Industrialization, factory work, and mass production logic brought to human learning, with a dash of militaristic authoritarian hierarchy to bind it all together.
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EconomicRegret2 23 hr ago +16
IIRC, they didn't understand it as education but as *training*. The goal being to instill loyalty, discipline, obedience, conformity and relevant skills into citizens for different functions serving the state and economy (e.g. good soldiers, officers, factory workers, managers, etc.).
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GrafZeppelin127 23 hr ago +17
Is it any wonder that such a system eventually produced “machine men with machine hearts,” as Charlie Chaplin memorably put it in *The Great Dictator* oh so long ago?
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EconomicRegret2 23 hr ago +7
Nice insight! Well, we're in trouble as the entirety of the world's default education system is more or less Prussian-style...
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ImUsingDaForce 1 day ago +7
In my comment, I was more pointing towards the issue of who is doing the work and who isn't. Because I think most of those office warriors were involved in doing the so-called "grey work" (made-up work to look busy, or to make their position look more important). But most of all, I just got the feeling of general laziness and incompetence.
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GrafZeppelin127 1 day ago +7
Oh, that laziness and incompetence is evident when you look at Volkswagen’s offerings over the last few decades. Always on the back foot, it seems, and slow to respond to changing circumstances with a good value proposition.
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Schlummi 1 day ago +27
By my experience is this an issue with all big companies (world wide). Which then also tend to hire an engineering company, which hires another company etc. Long story short: no one dares to make a decision and you end up with lengthy meetings about nonsense like the font on a cover page - instead of debating the engineering content on page two. Smaller companies tend to be more efficient. If you call a 200 people company you are most likely going to end up with the senior developer - who then will tell you "sounds reasonable - do it as you suggested". 5min phonecall, decision, done. Germany has a lot of strong mid sized companies (50-500 people) that are often labelled as the "backbone" of the german economy. In large companies - as said worldwide - is it my impression that "making decisions self responsible" is neither allowed nor encouraged. This leads to endless unnecessary meetings, shifting responsibilities to others or the team - and insane inefficiencies.
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firala 23 hr ago +11
I agree with you mostly, but none of the issues you bring up are solved with spending more time at the office doing meaningless meatings, Power BI or coffee-drinking; or forcing people to come into work sick. And that's all the "solutions" the government party CDU are coming up with
11
dfgttge22 23 hr ago +10
That's every large company ever. Not unique to Germany. Ever seen office space? There is a reason it was popular. It deeply resonates.
10
ipponiac 1 day ago +19
The last part is some kind of nail in the head. I know many educated second generation immigrant people who are simply denied to work in the offices and directed to the factories as engineers and supervisors. I know a person left Germany for another country becuase she could not find any office positions despite having PhD, each time she was offered some unrelated factory job.
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Kataphractoi 22 hr ago +5
Funny, you could also be describing America. Though in fairness, I don't know of any managers here taking multiple hours breaks per day, but doesn't mean they don't exist. It's almost like corporate regardless of location is more dog and pony show than it is actually working.
5
PsycommuSystem 1 day ago +8
> Power BI team Dude so many places are wasting money on this shit now. I'm sure the software is useful but entire teams of people to roll out beautified charts that are just coming from existing spreadsheets? Surely can not be worth the salaries.
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N15P15K15 22 hr ago +5
He sounds awful.
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nvn911 22 hr ago +7
Germans being told they aren't working hard enough in 2026 is wild to me
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Fritzkreig 1 day ago +45
I have found Germans to be very direct and dry, like their jokes; and that is endearing!
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potatodrinker 1 day ago +116
Saw a comedian ask a German attendee what brought him to Canada. "Plane", the German said
116
Vann_Accessible 1 day ago +48
*polite applause* I find this joke acceptable.
48
dgellow 1 day ago +22
Ngl, that’s accurately portraying normal discussions in Germany
22
Zlatan_Ibrahimovic 1 day ago +7
If I'm thinking of the right clip, the comedian was German too, and was exasperated by how German the German guy was being.
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Otherwise_Demand4620 1 day ago +9
> the comedian was German too so you just listened to two Germans doing forced small talk.
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dgellow 1 day ago +3
My German SO reaction to the joke: „I love it“
3
Activehannes 1 day ago +19
I'm a german living in the US and ask a colleague if he knows why Germans don't jaywalk. He said no, I said "because its illegal" He responded "well its illegal here too" Please stop telling me Germans dont have humor!
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Fritzkreig 1 day ago +8
You are correct, this statement contains a high degree of humor!
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dgellow 1 day ago +13
It really depends. I moved there a while ago. Communication is generally descriptive and can feel a bit direct, at least in English, but showing strong emotions is often seen as something to avoid, and people will go to extreme lengths to avoid being seen doing so. In German there is also a lot of nuances and subtle ways to indirectly communicate the intent, which is often a bit lost in translation
13
AdeptVeterinarian541 1 day ago +9
Well, they had this one guy that got really angry almost daily. Rumor has it he was secretly Austrian but we don't talk about that.
9
Swarna_Keanu 1 day ago +150
It's no longer controversial to say that among European conservatism.
150
birgor 1 day ago +40
It is even publicly favourable to criticise Trump. It probably has been for a long time, but politicians have just discovered this, it might spiral as European politicians realize that U.S has really chosen to sever their bond with Europe so that there is no big risk or downside to criticise him. Interesting times.
40
CactusBoyScout 1 day ago +66
Yeah, Trump is apparently bringing down the support of conservative parties in large parts of Europe. Those who cozied up to him are now trying to distance themselves, like Meloni.
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ReasonableAside1655 1 day ago +115
American allies are starting to realize that appeasement doesn't work. They thought if you just go along with Trumps deranged insults and attacks and glaze him a bit things will work out and/or at some point his party would reign him in a bit but that clearly isn't going to happen. Just in the last week or so, Italy, Canada, and German leaders aren't really holding their tongues anymore. I expect to see more of this moving forward as everyone tries to distance themself from America as quickly as possible.
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metengrinwi 1 day ago +64
They thought there were still “adults” in the republican party who would keep things within boundaries of reason. It was a bad bet—the republican party is just *trump cult* at this point.
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SidewaysFancyPrance 1 day ago +37
They also thought it really was an act, or just hoped. There's a lot of unhinged optimism littered throughout the last decade. The idea has always been that at the end of the day, basic self interests on the part of Trump would lead to an acceptable outcome for everyone. That he would be off golfing instead of simultaneously pursuing the goals of Putin, Netanyahu, Peter Thiel, and the Evangelicals. Nope, he's a lunatic controlled by lunatics all wrestling for power and control, willing to kill literally hundreds of millions of people in the scuffle.
37
FaceDeer 20 hr ago +4
I wouldn't call it *unhinged* optimism, just regular optimism. Obviously it didn't pan out, and now people are shifting strategies accordingly. That's reasonable. It'd be unhinged if they *weren't*.
4
Elerion_ 1 day ago +15
It was a strategy that worked extremely well in his first term. Glaze him to get him to turn his attention elsewhere, while the adults around him put the toys back in the pram. Unfortunately, this time he surrounded himself with idiot sycophants instead of experienced statesmen.
15
Live_Angle4621 1 day ago +21
It was shockingly direct. Maybe the world leaders now are getting of Trump’s way of speech and want to retaliate 
21
Heisenberg991 1 day ago +80
Trying to goad Trump to end the war so energy prices can fall before we all go broke from high gas and food prices.
80
Elk1998 23 hr ago +10
That's not how you do it though. You need to say "This has been the most successful war in the history of wars. No war has ever been this successful. The people of Iran have assured us that they will be eternally grateful to President Trump for restoring safety in the Middle East. Now that all objectives have been so masterfully fulfilled, we kindly ask President Trump to have mercy on the Iranian people and put an end to US strikes. For if they went on for any longer, this would surely mean the end for an entire civilization, which could potentially be used against him by the Nobel Peace Prize committee."
10
sureiknowabaggins 23 hr ago +7
Everyone has realized that flattery is only a short term solution with him since he forgets it by the next week. It's not worth the effort.
7
ffdfawtreteraffds 1 day ago +9
World leaders need to be more direct; Trump is an idiot stooge and needs to be treated as such. He deserves no courtesy or respect. Especially since he gives none to them.
9
kaisadilla_0x1 22 hr ago +4
Then he goes to the US and Trump humiliates him. That sellout was bashing on Spain at the start of the war and now, after 2 months of everyone thinking the US is f****** up in Iran, he says this. Lmao.
4
Kiko2s 1 day ago +59
Especially considering Germany usually is being humiliated by Merz
59
gamerdudeNYC 1 day ago +8
We need more world leaders to come out and say this
8
m__s 1 day ago +3
My initial thought as well
3
SomeBiPerson 1 day ago +17
his mouth is always a bit faster than his mind including when his thoughts are the most stupid possible way to communicate his ideas
17
snootfull 1 day ago +1080
Trump's rude, disrespectful, and even directly antagonistic approach towards NATO and Europe has enabled European leaders to speak hard truths. Before Trump, comments like this about the U.S. from a German leader would have been unthinkable. But with Trump, there's really no downside to calling him out on his stupid behavior since the relationship can't really get much worse.
1080
thebusterbluth 1 day ago +362
Good. Trump and MAGA are bullies and need to be humiliated.
362
TurloIsOK 23 hr ago +58
Trump's narcissism seems to make him impervious to humiliation, unfortunately. Being humiliated to the point of debilitation would be great if it were possible.
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ignisnatus 15 hr ago +4
On the contrary, he's *extremely* thin-skinned and sensitive to criticism. He just tries to conceal it by lashing out in a blind rage
4
Shiriru00 22 hr ago +39
One useful thing about being nice to people is that they have no incentive to kick you when you're down, and may even try to help. On the other hand, if you act like an a****** to everybody from what you believe to be a position of strength, when your fortune reverses, well... Karma is a b****.
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daveescaped 20 hr ago +5
>Trump's rude, disrespectful, and even directly antagonistic approach towards NATO and Europe has enabled European leaders to speak hard truths. I wish that were so but this is a rare example with Merz. I just listened to an interview with the UK ambassador to the US and you would have thought we’d been in a disagreement over cricket. It was unbelievable to me that he cast our current t status and a temporary, polite disagreement among friends.
5
moop44 1 day ago +36
Trump doesn't act alone. He has the full unconditional backing of the majority of government and voters in the US. He is perfectly doing what he was elected to do. Don't let anyone use him as a scapegoat for the rest of them.
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Thurwell 1 day ago +10
Trump's easily manipulated with flattery and bribes, and it doesn't even take much. So if other leaders wanted something out of the US and could swallow their pride they can get Trump to do just about anything. For a short while, before someone else manipulates him. So depending on your strategy their is a downside to insulting him.
10
IrrationalFalcon 23 hr ago +26
He got implicitly called a pedophile by Elon Musk and they are friends again. Unless you do something that is not possible in our realm of existence, you can still flatter him
26
FMB6 22 hr ago +4
That's just a race to the bottom, it's never going to be worth it in the end.
4
pvthudson79 1 day ago +2853
US is being humiliated by Trump and his administration.
2853
soulstormfire 1 day ago +1073
\*by electing him and letting him stay in office
1073
Somaimonay 1 day ago +794
* by electing him twice
794
Samiel_Fronsac 1 day ago +283
He also got impeached twice in one term and not removed once!
283
GuelphEastEndGhetto 1 day ago +83
There’s a chance he can attain the hat trick of impeachments.
83
Red_Dox 1 day ago +45
His republican pals will shield him like the last two times. They did nothing to leash him so far, so there is a zero chance they grow a spine to support impeachment at this point.
45
milespoints 1 day ago +50
Yeah if “inciting a mob to violently overthrow the government” didn’t pass the bar for the senate to convict, hard to think what would
50
jxx37 1 day ago +5
More like criminal family underlings than pals but yeah correct
5
Uebelkraehe 1 day ago +26
Still can't believe that so many people can be so astoundingly stupid.
26
Somaimonay 1 day ago +16
Well US possibly also has the higher number of flat earthers, anti science, vaccine deniers and other fringe conspiracy theorists cults. So its easy to believe America has so many astoundingly stupid people.
16
havingsomedifficulty 14 hr ago +3
Don’t forget about our mass shooters!
3
Unkechaug 1 day ago +7
Double self-own. Nobody does it better than US!
7
jb_in_jpn 1 day ago +15
• trying to *three* times
15
Starbuckshakur 1 day ago +3
I felt humiliated the first time.
3
kowloonjew 1 day ago +212
Americans humiliate themselves.
212
Show-Me-Your-Moves 1 day ago +66
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” ― H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/27042-as-democracy-is-perfected-the-office-of-president-represents-more
66
It_was_too_Obvious 1 day ago +8
Damn, was this guy a time traveler because he nailed it!!
8
Mateorabi 1 day ago +32
Don’t you know. We live in a post-shame world with these asshats. 
32
Fjell-Jeger 1 day ago +23
Exactly, they brought it on themselves. For a second time. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...
23
Fudubaders 1 day ago +15
You can't get fooled again.
15
Plastic-Fox0293 1 day ago +67
The America people are humiliated as well. The entire world sees exactly how stupid and pathetic the majority of our population is. 
67
Wassermusik 1 day ago +20
Well, the people of the US humiliated themselves by voting for this clown – not once, but twice!
20
IrefusetoturnVPNoff 1 day ago +49
The US humiliated itself by electing them in the first place. Trump and his pals, they're not some kind of alien invasion who swooped in and took over before anybody noticed, they were put into place by Americans and are cheered on every single day by tens of millions of Americans.
49
ohhellperhaps 1 day ago +19
And, notably, to this very day.
19
Dormage 1 day ago +33
But moreover, the people. The people voted for this, nobody is surprised about Trump, literally nobody.
33
snowyetis3490 1 day ago +788
Wait till trump has to go to Beijing. We are going to look so weak and have zero room to negotiate.
788
P2029 1 day ago +663
China will probably time the meals perfectly so he shits himself audibly on live television in front of the world.. again.
663
BMW_wulfi 1 day ago +173
It’s crazy that someone could accomplish this twice in a term. I don’t even think I shit my pants twice in my whole school life. Edit: and I *definitely* didn’t shit my pants more than once in my 20’s!
173
kdeltar 1 day ago +47
To be fair he is 80 years old
47
Jakabov 1 day ago +90
Apparently he's incontinent because he was with a 13yo boy who was a trafficking victim of Epstein's pedo r*** empire and, when tasked with pegging Trump, chose to kick the wooden implement and damage Trump's intestines. I don't know why that revelation didn't get more traction when it came out.
90
Justcreature 22 hr ago +7
Lmao and here I was thinking it was just all the adderall
7
DummyDumDragon 1 day ago +34
.....where... Did you hear that?!
34
Jakabov 1 day ago +73
The boy in question reported it. It came out alongside the Epstein files. His name's Sascha Riley.
73
Raketenbube 1 day ago +5
I also read that somewhere
5
EFreethought 1 day ago +15
He is 80, fat and can't remember what he said a minute ago. Yet he thinks he is the healthiest and smartest person ever. Mocking him for being old and fat is fair.
15
Extracted 1 day ago +5
Tell us about that one time
5
c0horst 1 day ago +5
Anyone who has never been kind of sick / not feeling well and decided to trust a fart and been let down by their body is either very lucky or a liar.
5
BMW_wulfi 1 day ago +5
I’m not sure the world is ready
5
snowyetis3490 1 day ago +3
I try to shit myself once every 10 years it keeps life interesting
3
PanVidla 1 day ago +12
When did this happen?
12
3d_extra 1 day ago +19
Two months ago
19
Neo-Bubba 1 day ago +10
When did this happen? First time I’m reading about this. Is there any video of this?
10
Ecstatic_Log4185 1 day ago +22
[It's happened more than once. I think this is the latest.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrX9mAi1LLA)
22
East_Lettuce7143 1 day ago +5
Is the one happening at 7 seconds?
5
No_Initial_7545 1 day ago +45
Trump, the world's greatest negotiator, already ducked out of the Iran negotiations because the stakes got too high for him. I imagine he'll send Vance or some other stooge who he can then blame when they get a bad deal or no deal out of it.
45
bokmcdok 1 day ago +19
China has the death sentence for paedophiles
19
Plastic-Fox0293 1 day ago +56
China is doing so unbelievably well thru this. They couldn't have asked for a better scenario 
56
AccountantsNiece 1 day ago +18
They like that Trump looks extremely weak as a proxy for looking forward to how the U.S. might respond in Taiwan, but around 40-50% of China’s oil transits the strait of Hormuz (far more goes to Asia than anywhere else) and they are already seeing price rises and localized shortages, which they don’t like.
18
Helpful_guy 1 day ago +22
They also have over 100 domestic electric vehicle manufacturers fighting over market share right now who are likely not super upset about the oil shortage.
22
Xatsman 22 hr ago +7
Also have the world's largest oil reserves. And if you pay attention some interesting things are happening. The US blockade is not intercepting ships in Iran's or Pakistan's national waters, and they meet at the blockade. They do appear to be intercepting ships as they later try to leave, but complicating this ships are now transfering oil laterally from ship to ship. So if the US doesn't change it's approach China can still get petroleum out of the straight, just by using more ships and this loophole.
7
yiliu 1 day ago +5
Yeah, they've actually made a few comments to the effect of "Hey America, can you please get your shit together?" They rely on oil, and free markets, and open sea lanes for their prosperity. They've actually been free riders in the American-led world order, which is why they've tended to keep a pretty low profile and behave themselves. Xi Jinping is more of a shit-disturber, but even he has been careful about how far he took it. Even in China they joke about Comrade Trump and all the great things he's doing for the motherland. But TBH, I think even they would have preferred a more stable leader in the US.
5
Silicon_Knight 1 day ago +357
This is more like "stop hitting yourself" meme. Trump just has 0 clue what he's doing and his cabal of sycophants won't do shit all to stop it. Not to mention the media in the us is just a step away from North Korean propaganda. *Ignorance is Strength*
357
koshgeo 1 day ago +48
It's just bizarre. He thinks turning sizable parts of Iran into rubble and killing their leadership is "winning", which it unambiguously is in some kind of military/tactical sense, while completely failing to understand that he's lost it on multiple strategic levels. He caused "regime change" in Iran, except even though a bunch of people are dead, the regime is basically the same and is thought to be worse than the guy previously in charge. He doesn't really know if the Iranian leadership he is now negotiating with can deliver on whatever they promise because the leadership is so messed up. He has watched his allies in the Gulf area realize that the US can't *really* defend them all, and they've gotten oil facilities damaged in ways that will take years to repair, affecting supplies for months if not years. He's watched as billions of dollars of aircraft, radar stations, and anti-missile defense systems got trashed on the ground. He's had military personnel killed and injured. Why, despite "winning"? Because no defensive system is 100% successful against massed drones and missiles. And that doesn't count the cost of depleting enormous amounts of ammo at great expense. He's watched Iran practically close the Strait of Hormuz despite "obliterating" their military, especially their navy, because tankers are risk-adverse for obvious and entirely predictable reasons, and the Strait is *right there*. Iran doesn't have to go far or be sophisticated to threaten effectively or actually. He's watched as the global economy goes into a tailspin because of restricting flow of oil, gas, fertilizer, and other commodities from the Persian Gulf, leading to high gas prices at home despite having much-touted "energy security". He doesn't understand that security in supply and security in price are two very different things. You can't maintain prices while restricting 20% of the world's oil. Those costs will trickle down into inflation on almost everything. There was once a deal with Iran that didn't cost any of this, but he tore it up, making Iran loathe to cut another deal with an unreliable partner. He's desperately trying to negotiate his way back to what was basically the status quo, while trying to make it *look* like he's not desperate, with "all the time in the world". Meanwhile, the economy continues to crumble, globally. He's lost the plot so badly that he keeps talking about ballrooms, reflecting pools, and arches in Washington DC as if those are a priority for people. It's like grandpa is at the wheel, heading for a cliff, the whole family is screaming at him to turn the car, and he's telling them to quiet down and answer whether he should use Italian marble for the bathroom at home.
48
Galeharry_ 1 day ago +47
> just a step away from North Korean propaganda I'd argue they have been there for a while, especially when it comes to the fox "news" folks. Dont even need good propaganda when the republicans have crippled basic american education for decades to create generations of below average thinkers.
47
itah 1 day ago +9
The missing step is to shut down everything else. Although they tried to take a big leap in that regard already..
9
DrKrFfXx 1 day ago +54
> Trump just has 0 clue what he's doing Enriching himself and his cronies by causing chaos.
54
saltyjohnson 1 day ago +14
Trump to rich buddies: "I'm about to Truth some unhinged shit" *Trump and rich buddies sell stocks* *Trump "Truths" some unhinged shit* *Markets drop 5%* *Trump and rich buddies buy stocks* *Trump walks back his unhinged shit* *Markets rise 7%* And do it again next week ad infinitum. They're destabilizing the West to benefit Russia and Israel *and* exploiting an infinite money glitch while they do it.
14
Live_Angle4621 1 day ago +5
He probably doesn’t even care what happens abroad unless stocks completely crash or there is world war 
5
blurio 1 day ago +8
> "stop hitting yourself" you forgot the letter S there
8
Plastic-Fox0293 1 day ago +6
Iran: you'll never be stupid enough to make us block the strait of hormuz... Trunp: I'LL SHOW YOU HOW STUPID I AM!! BLOCK THE STRAIT OF IRAN!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!! 
6
T_Shurt 1 day ago +318
**From the article:** The United States is being “humiliated” by Iran, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday, warning the conflict is not likely to end soon. “The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either,” Merz said. The U.S. “quite obviously went into this war without any strategy,” Merz added. “Especially since the Iranians are very skillfully negotiating - or simply very skillfully not negotiating. A whole country is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership,” said Merz in a stunning rebuke to Trump.
318
Seguefare 1 day ago +132
There was no strategy. Trump has no insight into geopolitics. He can't even treat our own allies with respect.
132
DrKurgan 1 day ago +9
He thinks everybody will bend over for America. That's the end of his insight.
9
DashingDino 1 day ago +28
The whole world is waiting for Trump to just take the L and leave only his ego won't let him
28
smilysmilysmooch 1 day ago +26
There was strategy. It just all failed spectacularly. Remember when Trump let slip they had somebody they thought would replace the Ayatollah except they were killed in the bunker bombings. They tried supplying weapons to try and get the people to overthrow the government but that didn't happen after the regime killed 10s of thousands. Then the US blew up a school destroying a lot of optics that could have been in their favor. US had plans, they failed. Now we are stuck negotiating with the son of the man we killed.
26
vmdvr 1 day ago +15
The US had a goal and a strategy, and Israel had a goal and a strategy. Other than not wanting Iran to develop nukes, the goals of each country were and are different and probably incompatible, so the strategies were bound to conflict too. A bomb killing the USs choice for Iranian leadership would be but one of many points where the goals of both countries conflicted.
15
Kataphractoi 22 hr ago +13
There was a strategy. Kill the Ayatollah and a couple other leaders and the IRGC will collapse within days. That was it. That was the whole strategy. Nevermind that Iran has been planning specifically for an armed conflict with America for decades and losing most or all of their conventional military was factored into the strategy and they focused on an asymmetrical approach. But hey, who needs intelligence gathering and data when you have the biggest military in the world, right?
13
Vordreller 1 day ago +15
And yet, it you follow the press conferences hegseth gives, you're told to believe that the emperor is, in fact, wearing clothes. And here Merz is telling us he isn't. Who should I believe? And what does that say about the people I shouldn't believe?
15
Germanofthebored 1 day ago +8
Hegseth clearly has the better hair, so it's got to be him!
8
milkonyourmustache 1 day ago +32
In Trump's head he's the only US President who had the balls to go after Iran, when in reality all previous President's simply knew the kind of asymetrical warfare Iran could engage in because of global oil dependancy and the Strait of Hormuz
32
GardeniaFrangipani 14 hr ago +12
Putin thought Ukraine would be easy. Trump thought Iran would be easy. This is what happens when you surround yourself with yesmen and think you know better than everyone. The rest of the world unfairly must share the consequences of their idiocy.
12
Own-Perception1050 1 day ago +331
US is being humiliated by Trump
331
punkasstubabitch 1 day ago +125
the Republican senate had two chances to convict his impeachment and failed to do so. Don't let them forget that in November edit: for spelling
125
AssistX 1 day ago +19
Is his first term. Ignore that, we elected him again and that's not the senates fault. That's the fault of the American people, all of us.
19
Nextasy 1 day ago +9
Trump humiliates America. Congress refuses to hold him to account, and so Congress also humiliates America. Republican voters fail to hold their elected officials to account for this, and so they also humiliate America. Democrats and non-voters refuse to hold their neighbours and elected officials to account, and also humiliate America.
9
slicecom 1 day ago +79
US is being humiliated by ***their decision to re-elect*** Trump. ftfy
79
TrumpsDoubleChin 1 day ago +11
As an American, I admit I am humiliated.
11
Strangedreamest 1 day ago +43
Bro, they voted for it, that’s what the American people wanted
43
soulstormfire 1 day ago +63
\*by electing him and letting him stay in office
63
TheGoalkeeper 1 day ago +34
Don't shift the blame to a single person. The whole country is at fault!
34
NRMusicProject 1 day ago +19
Trump wants to be like Putin so bad he was willing to go to war with a smaller country and lose.
19
fforw 22 hr ago +9
US is being humiliated by Trump. He canceled the perfectly fine treaty Obama had put in place, he started the war without any plan.
9
moose_drip 1 day ago +35
I think we were humiliated long before this, like when we elected a clown to run our country.
35
siebenedrissg 1 day ago +12
… twice
12
rbrgr83 23 hr ago +3
For the 2nd time.
3
napkin41 1 day ago +18
It's funny, you'd think the world was watching when Russia decided it would be "in and out" of Ukraine in a matter of weeks. It's almost like a conflict with another nation comes with long timelines and consequences.
18
Oxbix 1 day ago +7
It's a good year for defenders (Ukraine/Iran). I hope China is watching this and concluding that attacking Taiwan isn't worth it.
7
napkin41 23 hr ago +6
I hope so too, since we currently have our pants down in Iran.
6
ApologiseMeowMeow 1 day ago +11
Trump won't like this 100% tariff incoming for Germany
11
Bleezy79 23 hr ago +12
It's almost like we have a foreign agent in the white house whose doing an amazing job destorying the country from the inside out while simultaneously profiting billions for himself. Most corrupt, dishonest and unqualified administration this country has ever seen.
12
yourgirl696969 1 day ago +77
It’s wild to read this after what Israel did to Iranian proxies, fall of Assad in Syria and the 12 day war. Iran really did seem to be at its weakest. What an absolute failure by Trump and Bibi
77
Alert-Algae-6674 1 day ago +15
Well a total regime change in Iran is a different level compared to what they’ve been doing before. Militarily Iran has indeed been seriously damaged, much more than US or Israel. But when it comes to regime change, Netanyahu got information from Mossad that was confident that the Islamic Republic would be easily overthrown in a couple weeks and now it’s apparent that it was a significant underestimation.
15
gtafan37890 1 day ago +34
Ironically if the US and Israel didn’t initiate this current war, Iran would still remain in its weak position prior. While Iran has suffered severe losses to its high command, this war demonstrated to them that they can successfully blockade the Strait of Hormuz with relative ease and there’s nothing the world’s strongest superpower can do to stop them short of a full scale invasion. For Iran, pandora’s box has been opened on what they can do with the strait and its going to be almost impossible to return to the way it was pre-war. Even if the war ends, Iran will likely blockade the strait whenever their demands are not met.
34
__Yakovlev__ 1 day ago +12
The best course of action would actually be to keep the blockade from the US side as well. Because unlike what most people are claiming that isn't actually a bad tactic and hurts Iran the most.  But that would also mean trump would be guaranteed to lose the midterms because prices in the US would also keep rising. So I think he will taco as usual there too. In the long run this will be a huge hit to Iran though. Because alternatives to the strait of Hormuz or now suddenly seen as safer and profitable while before people were happy keeping the status quo.  So yes it'll damage Iran in the long run. Just not in the way they intended, and definitely not fast enough for trump to benefit from it.
12
thrownjunk 1 day ago +11
> The best course of action would actually be to keep the blockade from the US side as well. and fucks over multiple US allies. who may stop being allies. and yeah... lets not think to much about the downstream effects of actions, too tiring.
11
M3G4MIND 1 day ago +56
How is it a failure for Bibi? Seems to me he is getting what he wants out of this so far.
56
s4nid 1 day ago +61
Bibi wants Iran to be a failed state, current regime gone and an ongoing civil war by supporting Kurds and other groups. They literally thought by bombing them that would happen. Now instead having the support of the US to bomb them into the stone ages, the US is occupied to open a strait that was open before the war.
61
Long_Confidence_4996 1 day ago +53
>How is it a failure for Bibi? Seems to me he is getting what he wants out of this so far. This is a massive failure by Bibi. So great a failure that it seriously imperils Israel’s security in the future. 1. Iran has been proven to have an asymmetrical weapon of such magnitude that it has brought to heel the US military. This puts Iran in an extremely beneficial position in negotiations and is why there has been no progress; they think they are winning, so they are refusing to negotiate from weakness. Trump’s two choices are to either 1. Essentially surrender to Iran or 2. Boots on the ground. 2. Support for Israel has COLLAPSED in the US. So much so that it is most likely that within 5-10 years the US will be ending any and all foreign aid. This is huge because they were the second largest receiver of military aid in 2023 (behind Ukraine). Now Israel is in the position of losing its top ally within a decade after starting a war with said ally against its biggest enemy in the region and losing. This has put a more hardline government into power, validated their ability to defend themselves from the US military, and will remove any possibility of the US coming to Israel’s aid in the future. It’s a stunning strategic loss. If Bibi survives the elections this year it would be a miracle.
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jews4beer 1 day ago +31
Bibi has absolutely nothing to show for this most recent war. His own party is starting to fracture over the disaster and the opposition parties are uniting. At least from my point of view but other Israelis share it, the moment was opportune but Bibi took a stupid bet on Taco Trump, made us all sit in shelters for a month, and accomplished absolutely nothing but make people hate us more.
31
yourgirl696969 1 day ago +39
Iran has more negotiating power than before the war
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__Yakovlev__ 1 day ago +6
They could've hit them *during* the mass protests.  But no, the pedo in charge had to recall the carrier group(s) that were supposed to be nearby because he had to hunt Venezuelan boats with the most expensive equipment available to him and posture around Greenland. So they only attacked well after that protest was squashed. 
6
tgh_hmn 1 day ago +22
Us humiliated by US
22
somnambulantcat 1 day ago +20
Thanks REPUBLICANS! Guardians Of Pedophiles.
20
TxM_2404 1 day ago +4
Trumps biggest mistake is that he seems desperate for a deal and the hardliners see this as a chance to get something that is better for them than pre war.
4
Vann_Accessible 1 day ago +5
We can humiliate ourselves just fine, thank you very much!
5
heimdal77 1 day ago +4
Jokes on him. trump, maga , and republicans in general have already humiliated the country long before the war.
4
Ilikewaterandjuice 19 hr ago +4
Someone shits on you- they have humiliated you. You shit your own pants in public- you have humiliated yourself.
4
Loveict 15 hr ago +4
Trump is humiliating the US
4
Darius_Rubinx 1 day ago +13
It sure is. But that's what happens when launching a war without saying a word to the allies whose airbases and support you really needed. The White House is a clown show.
13
font9a 1 day ago +13
Iran has zero incentive to end what the US started.
13
mstpguy 1 day ago +27
Remember to thank your local Republican for another foreign policy disaster.
27
too-left-feet 1 day ago +20
The chancellor may well be wrong. The strategy may actually be to not exit. By not exiting we A) talk less about the Epstein files and B) allow Eric and Don Jr to profit immensely with their stake in military drone manufacturers.
20
obeytheturtles 1 day ago +13
Right, remember how after Orban lost he kind of just shrugged and was like "whatever, I'm rich?" I don't think Trump actually cares about any of this as much as we thing he does. Sure, not being broadly loved eats at him, and being mocked by the media makes him angry, and he still gets dopamine from his aggrievement politics, but I think these things are just less and less interesting to him by the day. He's old, tired, half senile, and it's pretty clear that he's checked out and just wants to take a nap. And this isn't some attempt to sane wash an old man, but it's an observation about how wealthy people can always just choose to retreat back into their lifestyle, and why they make such shit leaders. Because there is this underlying air of nihilism which informs everything they do. If at any point something doesn't go their way, or stops being fun, they can just go do something else, and not be impacted by their own bullshit. That's where Trump is. Being President isn't fun anymore. He's basically just given all the grifters around him free reign to bleed the rest of the country dry, because he doesn't really want to be in charge anymore.
13
Mateorabi 1 day ago +12
And Bibi stays out of jail one more day. 
12
DecembersDragons 1 day ago +26
We already bombed the military sites. Now there's two ways to continue attacking Iran. One invade with boots on the ground. Or. Two bomb civilian infrastructure.  We don't want to do either one or two. So there's nothing more to do.  This was well thought out. 
26
JohnHazardWandering 1 day ago +19
If we bomb civilian infrastructure, the leadership which was already shooting protestors en mass in the street will do what? Surrender in fear from having to shoot even more protestors? Run out if bullets from shooting civilians?
19
Atanar 1 day ago +14
An outside threat only ever made it easier for authoritarian regimes.
14
atreeismissing 1 day ago +14
Just goes to show even with the largest and most capable military in the world, if you're lead by an incompetent military leader and political leader, you can still utterly fail.
14
SoftwareSource 1 day ago +3
Starting the timer for Trump to flip his shit over this statement since he only feels comfortable shitting on the Western democracies.
3
joebleaux 1 day ago +3
Hey man, we are being humiliated at home and everywhere else too, don't sell us short
3
tip871 22 hr ago +3
The two-party system? When the other party has been infiltrated by populist but incompetent clowns, shit can happen.
3
SatchSaysPlay 21 hr ago +3
This is what normal people believe but we then have the USA and their Marvel Hero scripted version.
3
_0611 15 hr ago +3
The US AND Trump. Say his name. Say Trump is being humiliated. It's one of the few things that man can't stand. To be humiliated.
3
empowered676 21 hr ago +6
Hence the assassination attempt. Trump using this on the regular now
6
SalemsTrials 14 hr ago +5
as an american, i am indeed humiliated, but it is by my own country and i would feel this way regardless of how “effective” its strategy had been
5
Everyoneheresamoron 1 day ago +10
The US is being humiliated by lots of countries. Iran is just the latest one.
10
UNSKIALz 1 day ago +6
Eventually Trump's preference for loyalty over merit was going to bite. The top talent in US Defence and intelligence is gone, hence the current fiasco. I'd call this America's Suez, but there's almost certainly worse to come.
6
TrueEclective 23 hr ago +7
I’m an American and this is just not true. We’re being humiliated by Trump and his cult. And the rest of the world is varying degrees of damaged, appalled, and amused. We are the global equivalent of a dumpster fire.
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[deleted] 23 hr ago +7
[deleted]
7
KrashKourse101 22 hr ago +3
When Elon and techonazis fixed the election results and called in bomb threats to polling places in 2024. With the razor-thin percentages by both candidates to win, that was enough to tip it to Trump.
3
LarktheDog 1 day ago +8
Oh we’re aware.
8
revvolutions 1 day ago +11
The only winning move is to not play.
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