#Comebacks and Turnarounds

[justaboutsnapped]

love is all-powerful (-> I'm listening to objectively pretty mid music just because they're by kpop groups I like)

[rickybaby]

"It's a weird one because, am I happy with P15? Absolutely not. Am I happy with my race and with how we managed it? Yes. I actually feel we did a good race. Even yesterday, in qualifying, I know I missed out by just under a tenth to Yuki in the teammate battle. I honestly feel like we both did a good job and we didn't have anything more to show this weekend. I feel like we maximised it today, and obviously with the new package, we're missing something. Take a few little positives from the weekend, but obviously a few more things to work on and quick turnaround. Getting to the debrief now. I took plenty of notes through the race and plenty of feedback to give to the team. So, we'll try to put it into good use and comeback in Austria. [On the new upgrades] There are few corners where I feel it's not really giving us a little bit extra we were looking for. The car felt in a much better place compared to Friday, so now we're probably just lacking overall load."

[dnpbeats]

y’all sorry to be a tour denier but i honestly think it’s too soon even to announce it 😭 whatever they are planning, i really don’t think they started til this year. bc they have to have started planning it after the gaming channel comeback, but on top of that after they realized that a) ppl are excited about their content again b) this is something they enjoy doing and want to keep doing long term. i think the earliest that probably happened was dec during gamingmas (or right before when they decided they wanted to do gamingmas). so then after that happens, they have to decided they want to do a tour and then get all of that going. but that’s 6 months MAX for them(/their agency for some things) to seriously consider doing a tour and decide they want to do it, plan what the tour will actually be, make sure they have funding for it, get a promoter, find venues for (presumably a lot of) tour stops, start working with set designers and any other personnel they’d need for planning it, etc… and part of this time is when dan was also doing stuff for WAD still/doing book promo things, and they’ve been putting out a fair amount of content (until this month). like maybe i am totally ignorant and that’s how quick of a turnaround they had for tatinof/ii but to me it just seems like a really short amount of time in which they’ve been busy doing other things as well 😭😭 i’m happy to be proven wrong tho, espc if anyone has any info where they talked about how long it took them to plan their other tours 👀 (but also as a side note, even if they did plan those tours this quickly, they’ve talked a lot about how stretched thin they were during that time, so idk if they would be eager to repeat that)

[imaginespazzi]

For me personally I don’t think she should draft in 2025. Azzi needs me more time to grow her game at the college level. She hasn’t had a full injury free season yet. So we haven’t really seen her full potential at the college level.

Girl can shoot. Let’s hope those knees stay healthy this season. Personally I would love to see her attacking the basket a lot more. Her face up 3 and jump shot are picturesque

I've always been a proponent of the Azzi 2026 agenda, if not for anything other than the fact that I don't think her knees need the pressure that comes with a quick turnaround from the college season to the WNBA immediately after a comeback season.

Yes! I really do hope she takes it to the basket more often this season because she's very good at it when she does. And if she's aggressive and doesn't settle on the perimeter, I really do believe she will.

[dreamingamongthestars]

gotta admit this photo is AMAZING. my max fan self is in awe and so happy he's getting credit where credit's due.

But it's so funny to me how Netflix had the audacity to shit on him for years, paint him as a cruel villain and a threat to one of his closest friends, and do so to the point that he was bullied and misunderstood for years and literally refused to return to the show. Until HE DID during the absolute peak of the most dominant career in F1 history and now Netflix is playing into this like he's an eldritch invincible God and they are his humble worshippers, seemingly forgetting how they played him as a cheap narrative device for years and not acknowledging it. The 180° turnaround and the cuntiest comeback in herstory could be studied. It is giving the mass media bulling of Taylor Swift, the reputation - Midnights releases and her subsequental transformation into the biggest media bandwagon hopping of all time. Everyone is sick of her bc she's everywhere and the media is obsessed with her now, bullying forgotten. So all I'm saying is. Don't forget their roots 😘😘😘😘

[day6source]

[@ STAR1] DAY6 “A turnaround, a pleasant burden… We will continue to make ‘music that never gets old’” [Star@Style]

Reporter Hwang Yeon

An 'unbelievable' welcome return. DAY6, who finished their military service, proved their potential as the representative K-pop band by taking the 'Best Band' and 'Best Rock Ballad' trophies at 'ASEA 2024' all while simultaneously making their comeback as a full group. DAY6, the protagonists of 'You Were Beautiful' and 'Time of Our Life' shot to the top and shined as of recent. All the songs on their new album 'Fourever' charted, and achieved the top spot on major music charts in Korea with the title track 'Welcome to the Show'. Their 1,064-day hiatus has now been overshadowed. DAY6 is continuing in 'work mode' as if to quench their thirst, and expectations are high for the brilliant second page they will write.

Q It was the first award ceremony as a whole group after being discharged from the military. How do you feel about winning two awards?

▲ It was a huge honor to be invited to the first ASEA 2024 awards ceremony, but we're so thankful that we won the Best Band award. Thank you to NewsN and @ Style for giving us such a great award. Above all, we want to say thank you and love you to My Day (official fandom name) for always showing great love and support. Young K also received the 'The Best Rock Ballad' trophy with his first full solo album released last year. We're so happy to receive this precious award not only as a group but also as a solo artist at the first ceremony as a whole group after being discharged from the military. Thank you very much once again.

Q How does it feel to be performing performances that are not alone like the lyrics of the new song "Welcome to the Show" after the full comeback?

▲ It's been a long time since we attended an award ceremony as a whole group, and it's been about 5 years since we performed in Japan, so we were even more excited. It was a huge feeling to be able to sing DAY6's representative songs in front of those who love and care about K-pop. These days, with our loyal members and fans, we couldn't be happier or more full of love. Like the lyrics of 'Welcome to the Show', we plan to continue to run as DAY6 as we give it all, so we hope you continue to stay with us.

Q. Since you released an album after 3 years of hiatus, I think this comeback was a time to quench your thirst. How do you feel about the whole group?

▲ The entire group has been waiting for this comeback just as much as the fans. You'll never know how happy and excited we were when we were working on this album. We worked hard with the mindset of repaying the fans who waited for us for a long time.

Q If you were to score the result of this album, how many points would you like to give?

▲ Since it's been a while since we released a full group album, we had a lot of musical greed and what what we wanted to fulfill. We tried our best to embody all of them. As always, we made it with all my heart with the attitude that any of the songs could become the title. We're so proud that you all love the songs on the album, including the title track 'Welcome to the Show'. There are so many things we're thankful for along with the release of the album. The score for this album result…we want to give i 100 points (laughs).

Q Since you were together with the members for the first time in a long time, were there any new aspects you learned or areas where you felt you had grown?

▲ We definitely felt relaxed and felt that we got to meet again in a healthier way. Especially so is our attitude towards music. While preparing for this album, we tried to make the bass, drum, keyboard, and guitar sound richer, and tried to give it more depth in terms of genre as well. Hopefully the listeners felt that the sound was more detailed and detailed than the previous ones.

Q The team's status changed drastically during the hiatus. During the military enlistment period, 'You Were Beautiful' and 'Time of Our Life' recorded unusual chart rankings, and I wonder how you felt when you encountered the love?

▲ When we first heard the news, we thought, "Is this real?" and "What's going on?" We were definitely surprised and amazed. We're so thankful that we can receive such great love. Please look forward to DAY6's new music that made with a pleasant sense of pressure due to undeserved love!

Q What do you think is the secret behind Day6’s songs being able to 'turn around'?

▲ From the beginning of our debut, we promised to make 'timeless music' together, but that was only possible because of our efforts. Rather than focusing on the results while working on the music, we focused our hearts on the music we making at that time. Thinking like that, the music we've made as DAY6 has really been able to touch the heart of listeners.

Q. When it comes to DAY6, I think of being a "Step Band" and a "Growth Textbook." Were you sure that the day would come when you see such bright lights?

▲ I think we're growing more beautifully than we could've ever vaguely dreamed of in the early days of debut. We had faith that good music would work someday. We also had pride and confidence in our music, so there were always expectations that people would recognize us someday and that more people would sympathize with our songs someday. Now that our expectations have become a reality, we're just grateful. We will continue to grow as DAY6.

Q It seems you're as close to your family as you are to each other now, what do you mean to each other?

▲ We like to describe it as the most precious 'everything' in our lives. It felt like we were 'a place to stay' for each other. It was thanks to the members we never felt lonely even when were traveling and keeping busy. We spend more time with each other than with our parents, so we feel like we are 'home' to each other.

Q This year marks the 10th anniversary of your debut. Can you give me some ideas on your future plans?

▲ The new album ‘Fourever’ is a bit of an album that serves as a bridge between DAY6 of the past and DAY6 of the future. We're grateful to be able to present a meaningful album 10 years after our debut, so thank you. Next year will already be the 10th anniversary of our debut. We're looking forward to seeing what DAY6 will look like when as we turn ten. We'll will work harder and busier to repay the love of our fans.

Q The military enlistment time is over, and you've have renewed your contracts. Act 2 of DAY6 is just beginning. What kind of music do you want to show in the future?

▲ There won't be any major changes, but we definitely plan on show how we're moving forward. Our music was able to be known and loved so much thanks to the fans who recommended DAY6 music to their acquaintances. We'll continue to make music that our fans are proud to recommend. Thank you. ♥

[seosejun]

Soloist SEO SEJUN debuted at the beginning of last year with the critically acclaimed mini-album, NEW GAME, which achieved immediate success. The album sold nearly half a million copies, and his debut song, MELODY, took home seven music show wins. He followed this up a few months later with another EP, to much of the same success. His meteoric rise to fame and fortune is an obvious by-product of the little over a year he spent in 1V1, a fan-formed group from survival show Last Act. By the end of their fifteen-month temporary contract, 1V1 was on even ground with the show’s winners, ENCORE, having sold over a million copies with their first and last full-length album.

The ten months since his last music release have come as a surprise. While it was obvious he wouldn’t maintain the breakneck pace of 1V1’s releases, the quick turnaround between his first two albums seemed like a promising sign. Now, it looks like those signs were misplaced.

That isn’t to say Sejun has spent the last ten months in radio silence. He’s active as a model and an influencer, gracing the covers of Vogue and Elle Korea to name some examples. He also co-wrote the debut album of former group member KIM CHAN late last year. When it comes to his own music career, he seems to have become completely inept.

With each passing day, it becomes increasingly evident he’s moved on to greener pastures: his streaming career. Sejun’s Twitch and personal YouTube channels 세유화 (SEYUHWA)—a portmanteau of his name and Kim Sowol’s poem “산유화”—made their debuts last summer. Since then, he’s streamed almost every day, sometimes for ten to twelve hours at a time. He spends most of that time playing video games—namely Overwatch 2—and occasionally engaging in the usual parasocial conversations with fans. Given that his appearance on Last Act and 1V1’s entire concept both revolved around video games, it was only a matter of time before his solo career did the same. Inheriting the group concept is not enough, Sejun needs to wholly embody it.

From an outside perspective, C Entertainment appears to support his new ventures. His streams sometimes features his manager, KWON INSOO, as a gaming partner rather than a supervisor. Sejun has yet to speak out or complain about his new management. Knowing his propensity for talking shit, his complaints would be known if he had complaints to make. Viewers were also quick to notice that he seems to be happier and more animated streaming than in either of his solo promotional periods, leading fans to wonder if he still wants to be an idol.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic as he is for his new career. He gained notoriety during Last Act after a recording of him flaming his League of Legends teammates in voice chat surfaced. Although tame by gaming standards, it was not the best look for an idol hopeful. Similar controversies would continue to plague him throughout his time in 1V1, though they did nothing to hinder the group’s success. With his freedom to apparently do whatever he chooses, Sejun has once again found himself the target of those who dislike his disregard for an idol image. Some of his streams also feature former 1V1 member ALEX KANG, who retired from the entertainment industry after the group’s disbandment. Though these collaborations were once celebrated by casual kpop fans and die-hard Supports—1V1’s fandom name—alike, Alex’s insistence on distancing himself from the kpop industry and his tendency to ban people in his Twitch chat who ask too many questions about his idol experience have furthered soured some netizens’ opinion of Sejun.

When asked about the state of his music career or if he’s preparing for a comeback, Sejun is uncharacteristically vague. In responses to comments on his Instagram posts of his latest brand deals, he's “working on it” and hopes fans will “wait a little longer.” He elaborated a bit further on streams, assuring fans it isn’t the fault of his management like many of them assume, but rather his own choices. He doesn’t say much more on the topic.

For now, there's nothing for fans to do but wait as he's asked.

[goldensunset]

definitely normal as heck about how the neo mix of ‘transformation’ sounds melodically almost entirely the same except it includes a different and more heroic-sounding riff than the original song between the intro and the first verse. it really feels like a comeback/turnaround type of moment. like have no fear anymore it’s time to make things right. hero minami. *sobs*

[notinmyvocab]

Superbowl LVII

Watched the superbowl last night. Got me thinking about our favorite Abbott milf.

Summary: You watch the 2023 superbowl with your girlfriend, Melissa Schemmenti

Warnings: Melissa Schemmenti x Reader, swearing, unedited

You don’t understand a thing about football. The rules are too cryptic for you to even try to comprehend, and sports were never your thing in the first place. But that’s fine. Melissa is excited, and that in turn makes you smile. So really, sitting down to watch the Superbowl was a win/win.

It’s the Chiefs versus the Eagles and during the first half of the game, the winner is a no-brainer.

“Eagles ahead by ten points; the Chiefs are done for,” you remark. You don’t know how the Eagles got those points, but that doesn’t matter.

“Hell yeah they are,” Melissa says, beer in hand. “Who’s doing the halftime show this year?”

“Rhianna.”

“Alright, so it’ll be good. Probably won’t top last year’s, but as long as we don’t have another Adam Levine incident…”

“What song do you think she’s going to open with?” you ask. “We’ve got a bet going on at work. I said ‘Umbrella.’ She’s gotta open with a classic.”

“Ooh, what’s the one song by her? The um… chains and whips one, I hope it’s that one.”

You raise your eyebrows. Firstly, how does Melissa even know that song? Secondly, apparently it’s her favorite. “Never would have taken you for an S and M girl,” you say with a cheeky smirk. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind tonight.”

Melissa playfully elbows you, which only makes you laugh.

Rhianna opens with neither of those songs, instead hyping the crowd up with “Bitch Better Have My Money.” It’s still a good halftime show, and you and Melissa spend it debating on whether the singer is pregnant again or not.

“That would’ve been such a quick turnaround time,” Melissa says. “No way, she’s just still got some baby weight on her from the last kid.”

“Oh please, did you see the way she was touching her belly? And she was marking the choreography; she wasn’t going all out,” you counter. “And she had her kid last May! No way she’s still looking like that.”

“Are you seriously bodyshaming Rhianna?”

You turn red, words faltering. “I… no! Of course not!” Oh god, can it be that you’re agreeing with conventional beauty standards that are created by the diet and makeup industries?

But Melissa grins; she’s only joshing you. “You’re cute when you’re flustered, you know that?” She presses a kiss to your temple. “Relax. I’m only riling you up. Want another beer?” She stands up to refill before the second half of the game starts.

She watches the third quarter with intensity, sitting on the edge of the couch and leaning forward. She looks like a single tap on the shoulder will knock her right onto the floor. You refrain from attempting and instead try understanding the game.

Is that a touchdown? Why is the ref throwing a yellow flag? You don’t ask questions, though. Even though you know for a fact that Melissa wouldn’t mind if you did, you stay silent and let her enjoy the game.

Fourth quarter, and it’s a tie. Chiefs at 35 points and Eagles at 35 points. The Chiefs hike the ball and then… wait, why are they stopping already?

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Melissa yells at the screen. “This is bullshit!” She leans back on the couch, no longer interested in the game.

“What’s happening?” you ask.

She explains the tactic that the Chiefs are using. Basically, they’re just wasting time, running down the clock. Sure enough, just as time is about to run out, they score a field goal from 27 yards. No longer a tie, the Chiefs win with 38 points and no time for the Eagles to make a comeback.

“They shouldn’t have given Bradberry that fucking penalty!” Melissa seethes. “Bullshit ending.” She pouts, arms folded across her chest.

You give a sympathetic smile and rub her shoulder. “Sorry babe… will some ice cream make you feel better? I stocked up the freezer.”

“Nothing will make me feel better,” she replies, petulant like one her second-graders.

“Nothing?” Now you know for a fact that isn’t true. Your hand trails down the length of her arm, settling on her inner thigh. “I’m sure I could think of something to make you feel a little better.”

She looks down at your hand, resisting the urge to smile. She fails miserably. “Oh yeah, you think you can cheer me up?”

“Guess we’ll just have to find out.”

[head-post]

US election: Trump claims victory

Republican Donald Trump claimed victory in the 2024 presidential contest after Fox News Channel reported that he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris, which would complete his stunning political comeback four years after leaving the White House.

Trump said on Wednesday before a roaring crowd of supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Centre:

America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.

According to Edison Research, other news outlets have yet to call the results of the race in Trump’s favour, but he appears to be on the verge of victory, having captured the states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia and holding a lead in the other four.

Trump gave a victory speech in Florida, thanking all those who voted for him. His wife Melania and son Barron were by his side at the time. He said:

Thank you Americans for your votes! Let’s make America great again! My result is a political victory that the history of the United States has never known before.

Harris did not address her supporters, who gathered at her alma mater, Howard University. Her campaign co-chairman Cedric Richmond briefly addressed the crowd after midnight, saying Harris would speak publicly Wednesday. He said:

We still have votes to count.

Harris needs more than 270 electoral votes to win the election. The former US president has crossed that threshold with 277 already. Now the counting of votes continues, but the necessary threshold for victory Trump has already overcome.

Trump showed strength in wide swathes of the country, improving his 2020 performance everywhere from rural areas to urban centres.

Republicans won a majority in the US Senate after picking up seats from Democrats in West Virginia and Ohio. In the battle for control of the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority, neither side had an advantage.

On Election Day, Trump’s chances of regaining the White House were 50/50, a surprising turnaround from January 6, 2021, when many pundits declared his political career over. On that day, a mob of his supporters stormed Congress in a furious attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Exit polls data

According to Edison exit polls, Trump gained more support among Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and low-income households, who have felt the price hikes acutely since the last 2020 presidential election.

Trump received 45 percent of the Hispanic vote nationwide, behind Harris with 53 percent, but up 13 percentage points from 2020.

About 31 percent of voters cited the economy as their top issue, and they voted for Trump by a margin of 79 percent to 20 percent, according to exit polls. About 45 percent of voters nationwide said their family’s financial situation is worse today than it was four years ago, and they favoured Trump 80 percent to 17 percent.

On Tuesday, global investors were increasingly leaning towards Trump winning. US stock futures and the dollar rose, Treasury bond yields rose and bitcoin rose in price – all of which analysts and investors noted as trades favourable to a Trump victory.

By 12:30 p.m., officials had nearly finished counting ballots in more than 1,600 counties – about half the country – and Trump’s share was up about two percentage points from 2020, reflecting a broad, though not particularly deep, shift in Americans’ support for the president they ousted four years ago.

He improved in suburban counties, rural areas and even some big cities that have historically been bastions of Democratic support; in high- and low-income districts; in places where unemployment was relatively high and in places where it is now at record lows.

Harris was counting on a large margin among urban and suburban voters, but her support in those places is well behind President Joe Biden’s support in the 2020 election.

Trump’s campaign promises

The main point of Trump’s economic programme was to impose tariffs of 10-20% on all imported goods, and up to 60% if they are of Chinese origin. According to the new president, this step will contribute to the development of American industry and force manufacturers to move their factories to the US.

He also advocated lowering the tax rate for corporations that produce their goods in the US from 21% to 15%, abolishing taxes on tips and social security benefits, and doing away with double taxation for US citizens living abroad.

Trump intends to fight high housing prices. To this end, he proposes to expel immigrants who live in the country illegally.

In this election race, Trump also promised to end the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours in case of victory. However, the former president later decided that he would need more time to resolve the situation. He stated that he would resolve the issue before his inauguration, which will take place on January 20, 2025.

Read more HERE

[seat-safety-switch]

When you’re up, you’re up. When you fall, that’s when everyone steps on you and tells you what they really thought of you. This is what’s happened to Volkswagen over the last couple of years. Whereas they were once a desirable consumer brand who made a series of cars that all look vaguely similar, smell of crayons, and sprout inexplicable issues just out of warranty, now they had become some kind of foul pollution-spewing death machine. This was bad in and of itself, but it turns out that they lied about that pollution to regulators, and regulators have a tendency to have access to regulation.

Journalists each took a turn gasping in horror at how the sort of sketchy company built on cynically value-engineering front-drive Trabant clones was gassing monkeys and writing an “if testing then cheat” statement into their computers’ firmware. It was a real bad show, and like all really bad shows, it translated into big hits. Everyone lined up to make fun of the automotive giant as they plunged from second place sales to well behind Mazda and recalled hundreds of thousands of their cars to make them slower and worse while the lawman of every country that has roads each held a gun to their head. Like I said, kick ‘em while they’re down.

Now, Volkswagen is running around the country, stuffing it with electric car chargers. Electricity never did anything bad to monkeys, they explain, just elephants, and that was that Edison guy’s fault. They’re on their comeback path, which will inevitably involve some “retro” styled automobiles. Hey look, it’s the VW hippie bus all over again, except now it’s a lot faster than before and should now hold up in a crash with a particularly angry toddler. Great stuff overall, the kind of whizbang all-fronts attack that’s meant to make journalists’ bosses remember who is liable to take out a bunch of really expensive advertising in their magazines.

Personally, I think it’s a masterful turnaround. Some real grade-A corporate resuscitation. And I’m not just saying that so that I can get the number of their marketing consultants, because traffic court seems to be getting wise to my new line of self-driving taco trucks using technology stolen from that Predator drone that crashed into the carnival midway last summer. I’ll maintain until my death that that old-folks’ home was presenting a grade-A hunger target, and needed to be wiped off the face of the Earth with hot sauce.

[voiceofentrepreneurlife]

CFO Guidance for Nike's Turnaround

Nike held its Q1 2025 earnings call on Tuesday, notably without the presence of either its outgoing CEO, John Donahoe, or incoming CEO, Elliott Hill. However, the company’s CFO, Matthew Friend, stepped in to explain Nike’s challenging quarter and outline plans to prevent further decline amid its leadership transition.

For the three-month period ending on August 31, Nike’s revenue dropped 10% year over year to $11.6 billion. Sales from Nike Direct fell by 13%, digital revenue declined by 20%, and wholesale revenue dipped 8%. However, Nike’s brick-and-mortar stores showed a 1% increase.

Friend, who has been with Nike for over 15 years and has served as CFO since 2020, emphasized that the company is moving “aggressively” to realign its product portfolio, create a better balance in operations, and regain brand momentum through sports. He acknowledged that a comeback of this scale takes time, stating, “While there are some early wins, we have yet to turn the corner.”

Following Nike’s withdrawal of its full-year projection and indefinite postponement of their investor day during Tuesday’s results call, the company’s stock dropped almost 5% on Wednesday morning, according to Fortune.

Turnaround Challenges

Four years after his retirement, Elliott Hill is set to return to Nike on October 14 as the president and CEO, the company announced on September 19. Hill, who worked at Nike for 32 years, held various leadership roles, including president of its consumer and marketplace business units and overseeing commercial and marketing operations for both Nike and the Jordan brand.

However, both Hill and CFO Matthew Friend face several challenges in their efforts to turn the company around. David Swartz, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar Research Services, highlighted issues such as increasing competition, reduced shelf space with key partners, a lack of fresh products, and broader economic difficulties.Read More-https://voiceofentrepreneur.life/

[mariacallous]

When NATO celebrates its 75th anniversary at its Washington summit next year, it will do so from a position of unity and strength. This is a remarkable turnaround from only a few years ago, when trans-Atlantic ties were clouded by mutual suspicion and uncertainty about the bloc’s future. The first large-scale war of aggression in Europe since World War II has reinvigorated the alliance, which now has more member states and greater geographic cohesion than ever before. NATO’s renaissance comes just in time—it may soon face an entirely new geopolitical landscape that will once again test its cohesion and adaptability.

There are four main reasons for NATO’s comeback as an enhanced and more coherent alliance.

The most important and obvious factor is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which returned NATO to its roots: deterring a Kremlin bent on expansion. It also motivated Finland to abandon its long-standing neutrality and join the alliance, with Sweden expected to join soon as well. The addition of these two Nordic countries will substantially enhance NATO’s position in Northern Europe. Russia’s aggression has also prompted NATO members to markedly increase their 2023 defense expenditures, with more member states on track to fulfill the bloc’s guideline of spending a minimum of 2 percent of GDP on defense, long a bone of contention between Washington and its European allies. Furthermore, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has strengthened the U.S. military presence and engagement in Europe.

A second factor behind NATO’s resurgence is the rise of China, with NATO turning into the primary forum for a closer trans-Atlantic security dialogue on China. After the United States announced its rebalance to Asia in 2011, it took the European Union and NATO roughly another decade to categorize China’s rise as a security challenge. NATO’s new Strategic Concept, adopted at the Madrid summit in 2022, identifies China as a challenge to its members’ interests, values, and security. Since then, NATO has been strengthening dialogue and cooperation with its partners in the Indo-Pacific region, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.

Third, new technologies and interdependencies have broadened NATO’s agenda to cover cyberdefense and disruptive technologies. Economic dependencies on China and Russia have prompted the alliance to launch new initiatives such as the NATO-EU Task Force on Resilience of Critical Infrastructure.

Fourth, the election of U.S. President Joe Biden enabled smoother cooperation between the United States and its allies than had been the case during the Trump administration. This is as much a factor of policies as of trust: According to a June 2021 Pew Research Center survey, the transition from Donald Trump to Biden dramatically improved Washington’s international image, especially among key allies and partners.

Of course, in an era of intensified great-power rivalry, the strengthening of military cooperation is not unique to the Euro-Atlantic West. In Asia, China’s rise has led several countries to reinforce their bilateral security agreements with the United States, including Japan and the Philippines. Minilateral formats—such as the Australia-United Kingdom-United States security pact and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad—include efforts to deepen military ties. In August, a historic summit among the leaders of Japan, South Korea, and the United States may be the basis for another such grouping; South Korea could potentially join the Quad as well. China and Russia, in turn, are increasingly closing ranks.

But in terms of scope and depth of cooperation as well as its longevity, NATO has no parallel anywhere. Military alliances, established to address an immediate threat or balance the rise of a regional hegemon, are often dissolved when the external security environment changes. NATO, however, not only survived the collapse of the Soviet Union but also proved adept at adjusting to the post-Cold War era by taking on nontraditional security challenges (such as terrorism and piracy), conducting military operations other than war, and engaging in out-of-area operations.

NATO’s success and endurance stand in sharp relief to the frailty and collapse of a similar military alliance formed during the Cold War: the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). Using NATO as a model, SEATO was established in 1954 to prevent communism from gaining ground in Southeast Asia. Comprising Australia, Britain, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States, SEATO was not a particularly coherent organization, whether in geographic or political terms. Thus, as soon as the security environment in Asia shifted as a result of the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War and U.S.-China rapprochement, members began to withdraw from the bloc. In 1977, it was dissolved.

NATO, on the other hand, consists of countries belonging to a distinct geographic region on both sides of the Atlantic and is founded on a strong political cohesion among its member states, almost all of which share core values of democracy and support the liberal international order. Indeed, safeguarding the principles of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law was written into the preamble of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, and Francisco Franco’s dictatorial regime was one reason Spain’s accession was delayed until 1982. That said, both Greece and Portugal were dictatorships during parts of their NATO membership, and today, Hungary’s and Turkey’s commitment to liberal democracy is unclear. The importance of political and other nonmilitary cooperation for NATO’s unity has been reiterated numerous times, most recently by an independent expert group appointed by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to advise on the alliance’s 2030 agenda. In its final report, the group emphasized that “NATO is an outcome of political cohesion as well as a source of it.”

Will NATO still be a pillar of the security order when it turns 100? That will depend on how the alliance addresses the changing geopolitical order—above all, the threat from a rising, revisionist China. In particular, there are three scenarios for NATO’s future that could look very different from its present and past: a Europe-only NATO, a global NATO, and a fragmented NATO.

A Europe-only NATO is a scenario where the United States decides to withdraw from the alliance, either because it shifts all of its resources to the Indo-Pacific in order to take on China or due to domestic political change in the United States. As long as Washington was committed to containing the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Europe could take the U.S. security guarantee for granted. With China rising as the United States’ main rival, this is no longer the case. In that rivalry, the geographic focus is East Asia, not Europe.

When he was U.S. president, Trump abruptly awakened European elites to the possibility that a U.S. withdrawal from Europe could be just one election away. Instead of being reelected in 2024, Trump may now spend time in jail, and his main criticism of NATO allies—their inability to meet collective defense spending targets—is being addressed. Yet the idea of isolationism is still alive in the Republican Party, with John Bolton, a U.S. national security advisor under Trump, recently warning of a “virus of isolationism” among his fellow Republicans. A U.S. withdrawal would not only force Europe to take care of its own defense. It could even be the end of NATO.

A global NATO is a scenario where both the United States and its European allies shift their energies and resources from Europe to Asia. It entails European member states rebalancing a significant amount of their naval assets to the Indo-Pacific region in order to support the United States in balancing China. Such a state of affairs would differ markedly from the last time NATO went global in the early 2000s, when it deployed peacekeepers to Afghanistan, trained security forces in Iraq, and gave logistical support to the African Union’s mission in Sudan. A long-term major deployment to Asia would stretch European members’ resources to the limit, leave Europe exposed to Russian adventurism, and potentially cause disagreements among European allies. Eastern European member states, in particular, would probably be more concerned with deterring Russia than with balancing China.

Finally, a fragmented NATO is a scenario where the United States remains committed to the defense of Europe but where allies are no longer pursuing a single, coherent strategy—because of different threat perceptions, the disparate interests of new members, or domestic political pressures. Even though Russia remains a serious challenge to European peace and security, it is not as powerful and all-threatening as the Soviet Union was. In the not-too-distant future, Southern European member states may be more concerned with security challenges in North Africa and the Middle East, while Britain and France are more oriented toward global challenges. A further NATO enlargement to include Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Serbia not only would influence the bloc’s priorities but could also weaken its coherence. What’s more, significant political changes in a number of member states, including the election of leaders less committed to democracy, the liberal international order, and the trans-Atlantic West, would undermine the alliance’s political and military cohesion.

None of these three scenarios have to come true in their extreme versions. But in all likelihood, NATO will have to grapple with elements of all three. Whatever they do, NATO members should not take their present unity and strength for granted.

[hjnxx]

any insight about their fandom??

the official fandom name didn’t come about until after their first mini album, so the house of cards / pre-debut fans called themselves JOKERS / JESTERS ( they could not pick lmao ), which kind of bit them in the ass when they would get into arguments with other fandoms. later, after a massive twitter poll, they would rebrand to TRIXX ( TRICKS ), which is kind of cuter!

after the mini album release, the girls would go on a livestream to reveal their fandom name ACES to pay homage of the survival show, alongside their individual fandom names : CLUBS for AHYEON, DIAMONDS for MICHA, HEARTS for YUINA, and SPADES for EUNJI. later down the line the girls would make special names for the individual fandoms, but the main ones are tied into the concept.

as for online presence, ACES can be compared to ATINYS in almost every aspect of their online existence. they’re considered sibling fandoms as their respective groups are considered close, and they support each others comebacks and activities! almost every ACE is an ATINY and vice versa.

their perception was rocky until they started promoting in the west, and now international fans make it a point to treat them super well in hopes they permanently promote overseas! and while korean fans love to uphold the fact that they had them first…. their efforts are not even mediocre at best. they mass buy albums to win events and fancalls, but then turnaround and set one of the highest records for album wastage. it’s so bad.

now for ranking each individual fandom from best to worst : HEARTS are definitely the sweetest individual fandom, staying true to their name. of course their are bad apples in all fandoms, but they’ve been voted BEST INDIVIDUAL ACE FANDOM for two years in a row. next are SPADES and CLUBS, eunji and ahyeon’s fans. eunji has a lot of fanboys in her indie fandom, and most of them are nice! the ace fanboys are generally nice, honestly, there are very rarely any bad experiences with them. ahyeon’s fanbase is also a lot older ( she’s ‘98, so she gets a lot of 97-02s in her fanbase ) so they’re generally very chill. but DIAMONDS? if you ever see anyone with a micha icon, 8/10 times they’ve probably committed credit card fraud. micha has the worst indie ACE fandom. they ride or die for her and it does come in clutch when she gets unnecessary hate, but why are there so many ‘STAN HIJINXX’ tweets underneath threads that have nothing to do with them.. they’re like ( some ) orbits but worse. if you see these icons..,, hold your breath and hope they don’t find out where you live.

send me questions about my characters!

[mayakern]

I browsed the skirt plans tag for a little and didn’t find an answer for this (or I’m blind/oblivious) but will the mushrooms skirt be making a comeback before fall?

no, sorry 😅 i’ve already posted what our next batch of skirts will be (check the skirt plans tag), and we’re expecting those for late september or early october, meaning that batch will either be the last summer batch or the first fall batch. (the solid colors skirts have a much faster turnaround than the printed ones, so those specific skirts might even arrive by early september, idk yet)

[greentrickster]

Can we take a moment and think about how cool it is that pixel and sprite art in video games has made/is making such a comeback in recent years? Not even just because it’s a great art style (that’s a given), but because video games themselves are such a young genre - it hasn’t even been a century since 8-bit was the only option for game graphics.

Which makes the speed with which the game artists moved away from and then back to pixel graphics pretty much unprecedented. It’s an art style that was born of necessity and which the industry grew beyond very quickly. And these artists, in this rapidly-developing space where pushing the limits of each new system and game are highly encouraged, a bunch of them went, “Hey, wait, back up a step! You know those old sprites and stuff? Those were actually pretty cool. Maybe we should keep doing that and the new stuff.”

And then? They did. It didn’t even have time to become a lost art, the turnaround was quick enough that it’s more an art that went out of style for a bit and then got popular again. And that’s just so cool, when it’s so common for skills and techniques for various creative mediums to vanish before anyone’s noticed they’re gone, this one got noticed. And now it’s being celebrated right alongside things like Hollow Knight and Breath of the Wild, and that’s just so unspeakably cool to me, and I’ve been up for twelve hours so you all get to hear me be emotional about it!

(Thanks for that, btw, really appreciate it.)

(Yes I was playing Dead Cells earlier and yes I did finally boot up Shovel Knight earlier, and yes those things are related to all this!)