Can confirm. I’ve lived in the Netherlands, France and Germany for basically all my life and I don’t recall ever actively saying thank you to a bus driver. I don’t even remember when last I exchanged any words with one thanks to modern fare systems.

On the contrary I say thank you to cashiers at the supermarket or staff at the bakery several times per week.

Oh dear ! Must be those batteries spontaneously combusting. I remember when that used to happen to Samsung phones a while back.

And the US negotiation team will respond: “Yes sir, we agree that all of your terms need to be met. Now we can finally suspend all aid to those pesky Ukranians again and lift all sanctions, since Uncle Vladimir is totally in favour of peace!”

This will really be an interesting question for the so-called global south. Since most countries there are generally considered to politically align with China/Russia due to “anti imperialism”, it’s going to be interesting to see if they remain on the side of Russia although this is now the side of the US or whether they alternatively remain opposed to the US but find themselves on the same side as the Europeans.