It’s pronounced Z for “get out of Z car.”

In no realm does the US consider Japan, Germany, or Singapore a rival. China is the only “rival” in there. The other countries don’t have the actual quantity of people or land size to be an economic rival. At best they could have a higher standard of living based on PPP or GDP per capita, but not anything that would overtake the US. You’re trying to turn a simple evaluation tool that every government should be using on its trading partners into some maniacal weapon of economic doom. There are lots of partners in this world. Just like everyone else if you act like everyone is an enemy then all you ever see is targets.

Only if you hit all three points. Otherwise it’s a monitoring list. It’s just for keeping track of finances and better understanding economies of partners and why they’re larger traders to the US. It’s in the US’ best interest to understand a major trading partners economy and currency, and it helps us better prepare for future trade agreements.

A country would meet all three if it had a trade surplus with the United States of at least $15 billion, a current account surplus of at least 3 percent of gross domestic product, and if it had engaged in persistent, one-sided intervention in foreign exchange markets.

Being on the list isn’t a bad thing. You only have to have two of the three things listed in order to be on the list and any of our major trading partners would automatically be on it. It’s simply a mechanism for the US government to have reports on other economies it does business with.

Didn’t like a 7 year old get injured from a missile? That counts as a casualty.

Still, Israel (well, Netti Pot) is a dumbass if he does anything back to Iran. I certainly don’t want to help them fight some stupid war that doesn’t benefit me, or help their citizens other than chest pounding.

We told them there was an increased risk. They don’t need to know how we know or the specifics. They chose not to listen or act, and completely dismissed our advice as nonsense. This is on them.

• The US military heard it and didn’t necessarily want to give away capability of listening devices around the sea floor.

• The sub was difficult to get to the debris field because it was at an incredibly deep section that few craft are capable of reaching safely.

It was frustrating they made a big deal about something we ultimately could have done nothing about in the first place. However it’s not like the whole “hearing the implosion” thing was something the military wanted to give away and at that depth we have to be careful. Don’t forget we’ve put more people into space than have been to the deepest point on the planet.