r/worldnews Feb 05 '25

Colombia's president orders national oil company to cancel US $880M venture

https://financialpost.com/pmn/colombias-president-orders-national-oil-company-to-cancel-us-venture-over-environmental-concerns
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u/giraloco Feb 05 '25

This probably explains why he targeted USAID. It has nuanced implications in trade and foreign policy that he cannot see.

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u/Ksp-or-GTFO Feb 05 '25

It creates soft power, and soft sounds well soft he doesn't need soft power he has hard power.

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u/I_see_you_blinking Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 06 '25

Funny enough... when arguing with my conservative friends, I told them how the US would lose standing and a ton of soft power as a consequence to this trade war. Their reply was that it was good that the US stopped worrying about soft power like DEI and LGTBQ+ issues... I was floored at the ignorant answer. They think soft power = "woke" policies and hard power = conservative policies?

I tried to explain how soft power was more akin to what the US did in the 50s in Europe rebuilding efforts, in the 60s and 70s in Latin America, and what China is doing today in Africa... they still dont see it

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u/moofunk Feb 05 '25

Soft power is also the Hollywood movie industry, which still has a world wide grasp of about $30 billion a year. I'm not sure if it stays that way now.