The Communication Cube


Sorry for the zombie reply to a 2020 post in a closed thread, but I just read a critique of the Digital Euro I thought interesting. It was published in December 18th 2025, not sure if the legislation might have improved much since. Should be or just have been in the European Parliament.

TLDR: It looks like the banks lobbies have managed to derail the proposal to something proprietary, likely irrelevant and hardly competitive, so that it might cost them something to implement but it shouldn't fly anyway... The EU forces payment service providers to offer digital euro "for free", but limits the user holdings, and ensures users can't use it like cash, directly from central bank to citizen, but must go through private banks or private bank+private platform... And politicians possibly prefer to leave the population captive to banks than having public administrations handling any user support.
Apparently it doesn't even prevent double spending offline, and the dubious anonymity offline doesn't help detect all fraud or attribute liability. I'm not knowledgeable enough to judge the analysis, but it looks well thought out and well written enough that non-experts can mostly understand it.

It's
Gütschow, M., Lucke, B. The proposed design of the digital euro: A critical analysis.
Digit Finance 8, 7 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42521-025-00171-2
License : CC-By 4.0 International.
 
Iran: It's still 50/50 if the US will attack Iran. But they are both prepared for a bigger regional war, although I think the US doesn't really want to do that.

Title: U.S. asks American citizens to 'leave Iran now' ahead of high-stakes talks with Tehran
Quote: "The U.S. Virtual Embassy in Iran issued a security alert early Friday urging American citizens to "leave Iran now" and prepare departure plans that don't rely on U.S. government assistance.
The notice comes ahead of U.S. and Iran's scheduled talks in Oman on Friday, with little indication that the two sides have found common ground over the agenda of the meeting."
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/us-...-ahead-of-high-stakes-talks-with-tehran-.html
US builds-up a large naval force around Iran. So, it feels like their minds are made up already and maybe next week the airstrikes will start.
 
US builds-up a large naval force around Iran. So, it feels like their minds are made up already and maybe next week the airstrikes will start.
I think it was in reuters, that I read Iran yesterday blocked the Ormuz strait to commercial traffic for military "exercises".
Sometimes saber rattling is an attempt to improve negotiation outcomes, not real war preparation... But sometimes not. And even when it is, it's always playing with fire. Also sometimes negotiations are distractions to win some time to prepare war...
 
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Sorry for the zombie reply to a 2020 post in a closed thread, but I just read a critique of the Digital Euro I thought interesting. It was published in December 18th 2025, not sure if the legislation might have improved much since. Should be or just have been in the European Parliament.

TLDR: It looks like the banks lobbies have managed to derail the proposal to something proprietary, likely irrelevant and hardly competitive, so that it might cost them something to implement but it shouldn't fly anyway... The EU forces payment service providers to offer digital euro "for free", but limits the user holdings, and ensures users can't use it like cash, directly from central bank to citizen, but must go through private banks or private bank+private platform... And politicians possibly prefer to leave the population captive to banks than having public administrations handling any user support.
Apparently it doesn't even prevent double spending offline, and the dubious anonymity offline doesn't help detect all fraud or attribute liability. I'm not knowledgeable enough to judge the analysis, but it looks well thought out and well written enough that non-experts can mostly understand it.

It's
Gütschow, M., Lucke, B. The proposed design of the digital euro: A critical analysis.
Digit Finance 8, 7 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42521-025-00171-2
License : CC-By 4.0 International.
Of course you say it's a bank conspiracy :cool: The fact of the matter is Europeans prefer Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
 
Of course you say it's a bank conspiracy :cool:
Wait!. I didn't say it was a bank conspiracy. I said I guess it's bank lobbying. Lobbying is not conspiracy, it's (unfortunately) business as usual.
Bankers chose to be rich, they can't ask to be loved too.
The fact of the matter is Europeans prefer Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
Pfew. Europeans prefer von der Layden.... And they increasingly prefer even worse options...
They will prefer anything as long as you design alternatives badly.
 
Do you guys believe that the EU is at a critical juncture and needs radical reforms to maintain it's prosperity? The UK def does.
 
Do you guys believe that the EU is at a critical juncture and needs radical reforms to maintain it's prosperity? The UK def does.
I think the EU needs not to maintain its "prosperity". There're a few EU values that need to be maintained, but Europeans need to understand that you can be happy and poorer (not too poor, just not wasteful).
Egotism will break the bank. And there are better things to "maintain" (or improve) than "prosperity".
 
Do you think they should ban all new plastic now? I do.
Yeah, maybe with small exceptions, or something, I don't have all options in mind, but in general... yes.
But it might lead to revolution.
Hey, don't say it as if revolution was bad ;)!
Nowadays anything can lead to revolution, so at least make it something otherwise useful.
People are reveling against vaccines, migration, renewables, climatology ...
They vote orange haired weirdos that will defund universities, EVs and windmills, bomb foreigners, pardon insurrecters, and swirl diplomacy, tariffs and war on whims.
In a time of viral memes, if your policy doesn't lead to revolution, you're holding it wrong (it=your power).
 
Our social/health systems are in a downwards spiral, as is our education. Nothing is done to counteract the reasons for that decline and taxes are spent elsewhere. Our top minds are leaving just like big companies. That's all terrible and needs to stop.

Semi-random fun fact: More than two French churches per day are desecrated/destroyed/burned.
Edit: And another: Austria is deliberating the creation of an immigrants-only health insurance to relieve pressure on the existing system which has been payed for by generations of locals.
 
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If I were the head of my country, Germany, I'd leave the EU to start the ES (European State) for others to join. I think that many-countries scheme is a shit idea. The ES would have a pink flag, cause pink is fun. And, von der Layen I'd send to prison, as soon as she sets foot on ES soil.
 
I'm all for leaving the EU. It's a shitshow and you called the main actor. Also open borders are a sham.

We might have to have a discussion on the flag, although I'm fine with it as long as it's not the pride flag ;-D
 
Semi-random fun fact: More than two French churches per day are desecrated/destroyed/burned.
Semi-random sad fact: In Catalonia the Catholic Church does not pay property taxes to city administration like anyone else. It doesn't only have churches but also many houses and flats that the priest used to allocate to the church when they were in charge of defunction paperwork and heirs weren't clearly known or aware or vigilant or politically aligned enough to show up under a dictatorship ... beyond all those cases where they managed to convince lonely owners to legally leave possessions to the church. Well, in their infinite compassion they just arranged with the Catalan government to put many of the church houses/flats to social rent (so less abusive rent for economically vulnerable people or so). Why? Because the government accepted to pay for any restoration/reforms to make the accomodation habitable/accessible. So they usually didn't pay to buy the house, they don't pay the property tax, they don't pay the maintenance, they pocket the (relatively low) rent income, but, hey, they're the good souls caring for the poor and solving the housing crisis.
 
Edit: What's that with the bike-shedding@pink flag? Did you also think of the pride flag?

Semi-random sad fact: In Catalonia the Catholic Church does not pay property taxes to city administration like anyone else. It doesn't only have churches but also many houses and flats that the priest used to allocate to the church when they were in charge of defunction paperwork and heirs weren't clearly known or aware or vigilant or politically aligned enough to show up under a dictatorship ... beyond all those cases where they managed to convince lonely owners to legally leave possessions to the church. Well, in their infinite compassion they just arranged with the Catalan government to put many of the church houses/flats to social rent (so less abusive rent for economically vulnerable people or so). Why? Because the government accepted to pay for any restoration/reforms to make the accomodation habitable/accessible. So they usually didn't pay to buy the house, they don't pay the property tax, they don't pay the maintenance, they pocket the (relatively low) rent income, but, hey, they're the good souls caring for the poor and solving the housing crisis.
And now what - desecrate and burn them?

The area of nowadays' Turkey for example used to be Christian. Today it is forbidden by law to build or even just repair a church there. You cannot be a Christian street preacher in Islamic countries. You cannot bring a cross pendant or a bible into most islamic countries. Islam was about to conquer Europe hundreds of years ago by military means but luckily were fended off in Austria. And BTW Vlad the Impaler was an awesome guy. Honestly - hot damn, what a man!

Christianity is the most-persecuted, most-murdered religion on the planet in our time.
 
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I would guess our finacial system is so broken and western countries have so few kids, we think we need many migrants to prevent a financial collapse. But by doing so the culture collapses, which made the western world function properly.

The solution to that problem is having more kids, have an economy that produces stuff, sell and trade with other countries. But all those things are in contradiction with things we like to achieve: like improving the environment, every should be an individual and be able to work (from home, with too much certifications), don't support aggressor countries.

I like to buy EU products, like a Pyra, but competition from China is too big. And any successful EU company is usually bought by a non-EU company.

btw. There appear to be sabotage attacks in Iran, blowing up stuff. Maybe in preparations of the possible attacks next week by the US.
And not to forget the successful counter attacks from Ukraine on occupied territories, and I think the first oil company in Russia filed for bankruptcy today and Russia appears to prepare a massive draft to get more people to join the Russian army.
 
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And now what - desecrate and burn them?
I don't know what "desecrate" may mean. Or what "them" means (houses? churches? people?).
Burning is generally bad. Desecrate sounds good, but I don't know exactly what it is. Is it what Charlie Hebdo did to Islam ?
Because what Charlie Hebdo did was good (or at least tolerable) and what some terrorists did to Charlie Hebdo was bad and intolerable (and intolerant).
So others should be able to do to Christians the same that Charlie Hebdo did to Muslims. And Christians shouldn't get angry. Nobody should get angry.
Just change the law to ensure everybody pays taxes, no church has any privilege,
and nobody can impose a religion on others or decide what others should find sacred.

Christianity is the most-persecuted, most-murdered religion on the planet in our time.
Christianity, or mafias posing as Christianity, has been the most persecuting and murdering religion in other times... Not to speak of child abuse, sexism...
But I think it is not currently the most persecuted at all.
Religions are quite bad in general, but they shouldn't be persecuted (because that's not useful, not because it isn't deserved).
And nobody should be murdered, for religious reasons or any other.
The fact that some terrorist or dictators use a religion as an excuse also doesn't imply the religion is responsible for the abuses.
But the fact that the religion believers indulge in any way the abuses of the terrorists or dictators, if they do, because of alledgedly sharing a religion or because anything else, is of course wrong.
But believers usually just pretend to believe because they don't want to be prosecuted.
Atheist dictators are not better. The problem is the dictatorship, more than the religion.
But religions are very useful for the powerful to divide the powerless and keep them busy fighting one another for fake reasons instead of analysing the facts and disempowering the powerful.
They'll sell you the idea that Turkey was once Christian and Muslims invaded Europe just like they're sell others the idea that crusaders invaded Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, etc. and parts of Europe were once Muslim.
They'll hide all the invasions Christians ran against other Christians and Muslims against other Muslims because that wouldn't trigger you.
And they'll sell both sides weapons if they can. And busily care about their business while you care about your religion...
But some people will stick to their religions anyway, and as long as they don't force them on others or allocate public resources to them, it's better to just let them be wrong, just not to create marthyrs...
 
I would guess our finacial system is so broken and western countries have so few kids, we think we need many migrants to prevent a financial collapse. But by doing so the culture collapses, which made the western world function properly.
Having few kids is OK. There's kind of too much people in the world. If we live longer than before and use more and more resources, there should at least be fewer of us,
not to deplete resources. Or we should be much more clever in allocating resources, which we aren't at all.
btw. There appear to be sabotage attacks in Iran, blowing up stuff. Maybe in preparations of the possible attacks next week by the US.
Oh. I didn't hear.
And not to forget the successful counter attacks from Ukraine on occupied territories, and I think the first oil company in Russia filed for bankruptcy today and Russia appears to prepare a massive draft to get more people to join the Russian army.
Well, I find kind of the reasons are a little random.

The Ukrainians advance because Starlink has finally being blocked for the Russians (I think the Ukrainian army has finally been allowed to maintain a whitelist of the terminals they use, and anything else is disabled in Ukraine).
The Russians have other satellite communications but are less powerful. The Ukrainian spies also run a campaign posing as Russians trying to recruit Ukrainian traitors to whitelist Starlink terminals or exfiltrate them, and catched
some Russian operatives (the logistics problems without Starlink possibly forced the Russians to be less careful).
But why did this happen now and not the last 4 years?

The oil problems come from Ukrainian attacks but also because the Baltic sea has more ice than the last decade or two, and fewer tankers can get to the Russian Baltic ports.
Sanctions may help a little, but they go around them and still have markets. I'm not sure how much the US navy has influenced by seizing or scaring tankers. The Iran war
has pushed oil prices somewhat up, though, so not sure how stable this is.

And draft in Russia is relatively normal (Ukraine has of course been drafting for years). Given the different populations it's surprising that Ukraine hasn't run out of soldiers yet,
but then the Ukrainians use more robots and the Russians risk more troops.

So none of the factors seem very permanent, and in the end it all depends on whether the economic and social crisis in Russia can destabilize the government enough.

Not that Ukraine is in any fantastic situation either. But I guess however bad they are, they don't think they'll be any better by surrendering, so they have to do everything they
can to resist. The Russians, on the other hand, could get tired of the war, get back home and enjoy peace without much fear of the Ukrainians invading them.So
the draft could trigger social backslash, but Putin is not easy to overthrow (there was lately some attempted assassination of a Russian Ganeral in Moscow, some
health problems in the Kadirov family... but it doesn't look like enough, certainly nothing like in Iran...)
 
Having few kids is OK. There's kind of too much people in the world. If we live longer than before and use more and more resources, there should at least be fewer of us,
not to deplete resources. Or we should be much more clever in allocating resources, which we aren't at all.

Oh. I didn't hear.

Well, I find kind of the reasons are a little random.

The Ukrainians advance because Starlink has finally being blocked for the Russians (I think the Ukrainian army has finally been allowed to maintain a whitelist of the terminals they use, and anything else is disabled in Ukraine).
The Russians have other satellite communications but are less powerful. The Ukrainian spies also run a campaign posing as Russians trying to recruit Ukrainian traitors to whitelist Starlink terminals or exfiltrate them, and catched
some Russian operatives (the logistics problems without Starlink possibly forced the Russians to be less careful).
But why did this happen now and not the last 4 years?

The oil problems come from Ukrainian attacks but also because the Baltic sea has more ice than the last decade or two, and fewer tankers can get to the Russian Baltic ports.
Sanctions may help a little, but they go around them and still have markets. I'm not sure how much the US navy has influenced by seizing or scaring tankers. The Iran war
has pushed oil prices somewhat up, though, so not sure how stable this is.

And draft in Russia is relatively normal (Ukraine has of course been drafting for years). Given the different populations it's surprising that Ukraine hasn't run out of soldiers yet,
but then the Ukrainians use more robots and the Russians risk more troops.

So none of the factors seem very permanent, and in the end it all depends on whether the economic and social crisis in Russia can destabilize the government enough.

Not that Ukraine is in any fantastic situation either. But I guess however bad they are, they don't think they'll be any better by surrendering, so they have to do everything they
can to resist. The Russians, on the other hand, could get tired of the war, get back home and enjoy peace without much fear of the Ukrainians invading them.So
the draft could trigger social backslash, but Putin is not easy to overthrow (there was lately some attempted assassination of a Russian Ganeral in Moscow, some
health problems in the Kadirov family... but it doesn't look like enough, certainly nothing like in Iran...)
They also limit and want to permanently block Telegram, which is used a lot on the frontlines but also by the military bloggers. I think Twitch was also blocked which was used also a lot.
This temporary gap in communication causes Ukraine to be able to attack the front regions of the frontline, enabling them to attack more in the back blocking supply lines.
Sure, it's a temporary advantage but they show a lot of Russian progress can be undone quickly if Russians drop the ball. Ukraine has more losses due to attacking, but it will take even more Russians to regain the same ground lost.

The Russians don't like the draft and the leadership tried very hard to not call it a draft, so actually having a draft could cause more resistance within Moscow. Still not enough to stop the war, but Russia is being slowed down by many small cuts eventually causing them to rethink and hopefully stop. Obviously the leadership doesn't want to stop as at that point they're done for.

Btw. I don't think there are too much people on the planet. It looks like the worlds population will be much smaller in 100 years anyway. But I do agree we should be using way less resources, we use too much for years already.
 
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