matte

Very sadly, Rutte is not anywhere near a position to ignore Trump. And pushing back currently comes with a much higher risk than sucking up. I think Rutte is playing a short term game because in the long term Trump is too unpredictable anyway. I think Rutte just wants to make sure that Trump leaves this meeting feeling that “NATO likes Donald, NATO good” so that he doesn't do anything drastic. Tomorrow he will probably focus on something different anyway. Golf, tariffs, Canada, Biden - who knows?

It's just a strategy for dealing with an ego in need of constant external reinforcement and validation. Absolutely embarrassing but it probably works.

I didn't have any kits either and after the worst was over and I could go out again I didn't bother.

I had this weird cold for the last three weeks. Most symptoms are gone now but I still feel exhausted. Reminds me of when I had Covid in 2021. It was probably Covid this time as well. Wish you a speedy recovery!

Maybe. Does the plastic wrap have those little bubbles you can pop?

What do you have in the back then?

Lovecraft was on my list forever as well but I never got around to it until I found them on Spotify. Usually listen while travelling.

Thanks for another great answer. I realise now that the comparison with Soviet wasn't very thoughtful of me. I just wanted to imagine something that would have broken up the Nazi German hegemony from the inside.

Another thought is that American products and culture probably are popular partly because they were winners in World War 2.

Great answer, do you see any internal tensions within the Axis that could foreseeably have caused collapse comparable to say Soviet communism's collapse in the real world? How dependant were they on Hitler and Mussolini as individuals?

That individual health can be discussed separately from societal conditions such as what the market offers, salary levels, pollution, transport system, working hours, labour market, insurance system et cetera. "If you want to be healthy it is just your own individual responsibility to purchase healthy commercial products and services".

I listen to Lovecraft audiobooks, for "free" on Spotify!

Thank you so much for taking the time to write a long and informative answer. It was very interesting to learn about the situation. I really hope it will improve. Best of luck to you and your country/community!