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lieven, thisislieven@europe.pub
Instance: europe.pub
Joined: 1 month ago
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Comments: 61
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Posts and Comments by lieven, thisislieven@europe.pub
europe
europeanfederalists
EuropeComments by lieven, thisislieven@europe.pub
Yes, but only if you hold firm.
VDL et al have a history of doing the exact opposite, no matter how many times this has proven a failed strategy. Somehow they even seem surprised he responds this way, again and again.
Let’s hope they’ve learned but so far there’s been little reason to think they have (frankly the fine was already reduced by billions under what the DMA allows, most likely out of fear).
It’s fine to disagree but don’t make it like I said something I didn’t.
When it comes to defence we are still spending the vast majority of our money on US weaponry rather than investing it into our own economies and helping our companies scale up. There’s a balance but the tilt is quite wrong at the moment and has been for decades. There’s no genuine effort into any kind of shared defence continent-wide (just ask Commissioner Kubilius).
The US is ordering ASML to stop exports to China and we are willing to even engage with the US over this instead of just giving them the finger. ASML has an extremely powerful position.
Everything we do is done with such fear of the US and to the degradation of Europe, even the steps towards our own independence are constantly cast in this light.
I am not further engaging in this conversation given that you twice chose to read words I never wrote.
I never said anything about cold turkeys.
But given that it indeed takes several years to transition an existing system urgency is needed. Every day we wait or half-heartedly do something it only takes longer and only creates more risk and long-term harm.
As for hardship - we’re not exactly a poor continent. There’s a whole lot we can do to support people and even (small) companies were it needed.
A year ago or so I would have tepidly accepted this as an argument but there’s nothing that shows any sense of urgency. It’s not that there’s nothing happening but it’s nowhere near the level it should and there’s still a sense of just waiting until he’s gone. Except he was already gone and came back, which was completely predictable and he didn’t fall from the sky to begin with.
The US had to be in a place where this was possible to begin with. The Democratic party offers zero genuine opposition safe for a few individuals but the establishment does everything it can to keep them out of power. No matter who takes office next, it’s unlikely things will change for the better and even if so every four years the situation can go 180 again. The US is not just not a reliable partner, they’ve become an adversary and to some extent they always have been. We were just refusing to see it.
When it comes to defence and technology there’s no coordinated effort to change things around. Trade is moving but slowly. The EU has the ability to crash the US economy tomorrow but we won’t even use that fact as leverage.
Sycophancy, real or pretend, does not work. In the history of humanity sycophancy has never improved the situation and often made things worse. Appeasing a bully is the absolute worst strategy. And there’s no need - we hold a tremendous amount of power but we refuse to believe in our own strength.
We really need to take the fight to our own leaders.
Trump et al are despicable and a force of evil, but if Europe would actually stand up for itself, harnesses the power it already has and brought some urgency to our actual sovereignty this would not be happening.
And we, all of Europe, urgently need to wake up to the reality that this isn’t some blip. This is the US with its mask off. Sure, it may be a few degrees worse than it used to be but the US has never been a genuine ally. People really need to stop hitting the snooze button.
It is ridiculous and embarrassing that we allow this to happen to us and that we spent literal decades not stepping up our game.
It’s funny in a weird way how this is now voluntarily for companies and the US tech giants have jumped on it while European companies reject it.
There may be a few exceptions either side, but by and large…
We need to fight CC2 in each and every way, and I presume the final battle will be in the courts, but it seems we also have to fight the functioning of Parliament now. While the way this extension passed may have been technically legal it was wholly unethical, void of decency and completely against the spirit of the EU.
Not sure how Denmark is not a full member of the EU - having opt-outs doesn’t change your membership status.
That said, the timing of Denmark chairing the Council of the EU last year couldn’t have been much worse (not unlike Ireland while there’s a lot happening in digital sovereignty currently).
I find the A series a little boring, feels like so many banknotes that already exist and what quite annoys me is that some have pictures and others paintings of people. I would strongly prefer them to be the same (and ideally painted in that case).
I’ll concede :D
Those are good points. That said, while I understand the politics behind it all from a moral standpoint I find it indefensible.
Well, hindsight proves it. I would argue foresight already showed it.
There were other ways to do this, especially coordinated and supportive of the EU countries hit the hardest.
Obviously Orbán was a disaster but still many sanction packages got past while he was still in office. It’s not enough of an explanation.
As for point 2 and 3 - we could have shared the burden. If in a practical sense country A gets hit the hardest, then country B and C can offer support (more likely through some general mechanism, but still).
It’s just absurd short term thinking, the longer it lasts it only costs us more but also for Ukraine. Death by a thousand cuts just seems a ridiculous strategy in this context.
Series F or G for me. F has hand drawn images which is incredibly unusual but I really love it (even more so in the time of AI). It just feels radical and unexpected. G feels both retro and current, more of a typical banknote but still a striking design.
The birds bore me and the institution buildings aren’t the worst idea but there was a reason why we only had fictional architecture on the old notes and some of the buildings just aren’t that exciting.
Yes, but that I actually really like. They have always been pretty bold in colour already, but some of the new designs match that boldness. Some are unlike any notes I have ever seen which I just think is cool.
I love Weird Europe, some of these banknotes perfectly fit the bill (semi-pun).
Well, let’s hope. It’s time for them to feel some impact of their actions.
I am not well informed enough about their finances other than knowing they make a ridiculous amount of money (i.e. billions) on the backs of just about everyone.
Not sure I will ever understand why we didn’t go all in right at the start, or at least at much greater speed. The cost of this slow walking, not just financial, is hard to imagine.
I mean, good we have a new watered down sanctions package I guess.
Good, but…
There have been many EU fines on tech that were reversed or significantly reduced after promises to do better. They never do better but will do worse.
When Trump or Rubio or whomever get inevitably involved the Commission will walk it back because they always do.
While €890 million may be a ridiculous amount of money it’s also absolutely nothing for a company the size of Alphabet/Google. This does not significantly impact them in any way and as such is meaningless.
BuyFromEU@europe.pub
It takes effort, sadly more than it should, but I am proud of it and love to be able to tell the story behind the things I own. We don’t have the same diet exactly but the food across Europe is so much better than the commercial stuff from the US - I honestly don’t understand why we buy into it.
I’ve lived in Manchester and good UK food is nothing to be embarrassed about. I find it especially suitable for the colder days with all its pies and puddings, and I love that the UK has a very thriving vegan scene which set the example for the rest of Europe.
And yes, I’m a Reddit transplant and while the community here seems great its size pales in comparison and as such the activity as well, which really is a shame.
EuropeI think there’s a reasonable chance that the European Council will push for it, Commission makes a proposal and that it will pas through Parliament and the Council of the EU. Probably not within a year but three or four maybe?
And then it will be taken to the courts. People and organisations will fight this and it’s likely we will win, especially with this verdict in our back pocket.
By that time, who knows what EU leadership and global politics will look like?
The EPP has no integrity, that’s their biggest problem imo. They just move where it’s politically most convenient hence they’re now rubbing against the far-right. In the past they were more in the centre as that was were they could find majorities (and power) which made them less problematic. Under current circumstances I’d be glad if that’s where they ended up again for a few years, though I’d rather see them decimated.
But, yes, the infiltration of big tech in the EU and its power centres is extremely problematic as well and I don’t quite understand why we allow them that power (I mean, I do but…).
This is really good news and part of the verdict may also prove valuable in the fight for privacy rights and against chat control.
Both courts of the CJEU have shown again and again not to fear ruling against nations and EU institutions and by extension move the European project forward unlike the four political institutions (Commission, both Councils and Parliament). They also actually seem to know what they’re talking about.
In the fight against chat control I had partial faith in Parliament until Metsola started torturing the rules and manufactured an outcome last week. I do still have faith in the courts and I think, hope, ultimately that’s where this fight will be won.
Hrm…
I may have miscalculated this. Technically we’re still only at step 2 as I proposed it but with the North American and Asian equivalents of UEFA also against it, UEFA on a strike of sorts and people seemingly real mad at Infantino that might be the last step after all.
It’d be real funny if this caused the ouster of Infantino and he won’t even get a third term.
Still, I am not yet 100% convinced it won’t happen, or in some watered down version perhaps.
Well, that’s why I added links…
Sure. It’s genuinely a problematic situation. I’ll include the Washington Post too.
More of a general point: there’s little pan-European media and it isn’t well known. What’s mostly consumed is Anglo-Saxon, either from the US or the UK - neither of which are part of the EU and even the UK media sphere is barely European. They have different agendas, lack the cultural and institutional knowledge and measure the EU and Europe alongside their own standards. It frames the conversation in Europe, directly and indirectly, in a way not beneficial to Europe.
Most Europeans don’t even recognise this is happening, and has for decades, and indiscriminately share things from the US or UK, including the worst of media outlets. It has consequences and plays a key factor in Europeans failing to recognise the US as anything other than an equal and an ally which they most certainly are not (and never truly have been).
The NYT and the WaPo are two of the most established newspapers in the US and considered papers of record, both are probably also the most read US newspapers outside of the US (alongside the WSJ - which is less problematic but leans right and is not as neutral as many Europeans consider it to be). All have a history going back well over a century, and a reputation that goes along with that.
Both have issues with framing. Even if the facts are technically right, the way they are presented can make things seem different than they are. There’s a massive difference in how republicans are represented vs democrats, and more globally the right vs the left. Their difference in coverage of Biden and Trump is an extreme example of this.
WaPo was acquired by Jeff Bezos (Amazon) a few years back and he has editorial influence. One of the most notable things is that he told the opinion writers can only write about personal liberties and free markets. Anything to challenge this is no longer allowed.
Bezos also blocked WaPo from endorsing Kamala Harris in the last US election (whether or not you supported her isn’t the point - the point is that a supposedly editorially independent paper did not get to make its own decisions).
As for the NYT, there are many issues and controversies. To focus on the two big, current, ones: their coverage of the war in Gaza (I’ll let wiki do the explaining) and the incredibly biased writing on transgender people which has caused genuine harm. Alejandra Carabello (clinical instructor at Harvard) has done a tremendous deep dive going back several years.
As a side note: the parody NYT Pitchbot is a nice one to understand their pattern.
There’s so much more but this was already three times longer than I intended to write.
I’ll get off my high horse now.
Do we really need the US perspective on Europe, which by its very definition isn’t neutral and often hostile? Especially the NYT which… well, there’s been a bit of a downfall in quality and neutrality to put it mildly.
Honestly, football isn’t my thing but from the little reporting I saw UEFA (and others) came out swinging against this but the next day the tone was already considerably different.
The single fact that Infantino seems to have widespread support, also in Europe, for a third term to me basically tells the whole story. From the countries that were awarded the tournament in recent history, to the ‘Today I am’ speech, the FIFA Peace Prize, the influence from Trump… somehow that’s acceptable.
FIFA was incredibly corrupt, people got charged and somehow the next guy is even more corrupt.
So yeah, I have little hope.
My guess:
Dave Keating recently did a deep dive on the budget and why our leaders need to step up their game rather than slashing the budget of an EU they expect to do ever more with less money.
I struggle to understand why they would create such a gigantic caveat that undermines the entire law unless the goal is to undermine it.
unfuckingbelievable
Any connection is tangential at best and the forces against either are wholly different, and so is the nature of the allegations and everything else that surrounds them.
Either way this is not a thread about Platner, I won’t entertain this further.
I’m not claiming it didn’t happen but an investigation was not conclusive enough to establish this beyond any reasonable doubt. Not quite that overwhelming.
What does seem clear, however, is that these allegations regardless of their veracity seem to have been (ab)used by Israel and the US to get rid of the one person trying to hold Israel accountable for its actions.
What is certainly clear is that no European or EU leader could be bothered to stand up for the ICC and demand indisputable clarity of Khan’s conduct.
The whole thing is muddy and disturbing. I am not saying Khan’s removal wasn’t the right decision, but the way that decision was ultimately made is incredibly problematic and likely will have wider consequences.
First of all, there were multiple issues with Platner beyond the allegations. He also kept changing his story which made him unreliable.
He also was not removed, people called on him to step down but he made the call. He could have refused - it would not have made him friends but it was within his right to remain the candidate.
More importantly, he did not have arrest warrants out for some of the worst people in global politics that are somehow revered by much of the rest of the world. He also did not work for an institution grounded in international law others are seeking to dismantle.
Not quite at the same scale as someone running for US senate, let alone the numbers of the people of Maine vs the people of 125 independent countries.
Let’s not pull Platner into this. Quite a different situation.
True, but with 82 out of 125 voting for his removal it feels fair to say that at least some European countries voted in favour. This being closed-door is problematic in its own right but that’s another story.
My more general point is the utter failure of our leaders to defend the ICC as an institution and stand up for its people (even those without misconduct allegations). Let alone they won’t insist proper procedure is followed. On paper that may have been the case but in reality it appears to have been quite something else.
Francesca Albanese on ICC Karim Khan removal
Double Down News just posted a 20 minute interview with Francesca Albanese on YouTube. Watch it here.
Assuming both you and your partner ‘read’ as male the world will presume you’re a gay couple. That’s not necessarily true, you’d become a same-sex couple and ‘gay’ is more a way of describing an individual’s sexual orientation. Whether or not that’s yours too is for you to decide.
It’s easy to say you shouldn’t care about how people see and/or label you but we live in a society and people judge and draw conclusions. We are all sensitive to this to at least some extent. There’s no shame in that and I hope your partner can also understand that while they become their true self this also changes your relationship and the way you see yourself. I hope you can talk about this together in honesty and with love.
If you find you’re struggling I would highly recommend you speak to a therapist who knows their stuff or find a support group. You’re not the first one to walk this path and it may prove valuable to connect with others who understand this first hand.
Your partner deserves all the love and support but so do you.
As a side note, I am wholly assuming good intentions here so no worries but using ‘biological’ is not typically seen as a positive phrasing in this context. I would use ‘assigned female at birth’ (AFAB) or ‘identified previously as female’, though I would also check with my partner as they may have their own lingo.
It is infuriating as is but it also is part of the reason why so many people are struggling with the EU currently.
We recognise the good but it just does not live up to its own values and treats equal situations differently - there’s just no defending this and it’s well out of line with the people. Let alone the fact that we continue to fall neatly in line with the US, no matter what harm it does to us.
I think for me as well, if you check the flip side of the G notes I also love that the people show a fair bit of diversity. There’s a figure in a wheelchair (50), some people of colour and two sets of people who could well be same-sex couples (or siblings, or friends - imagine your own adventure, 100/200). None of the other designs have this.
Fun* fact: Politico is the main news source for EU politicians, leaders and eurocrats. While you can make a tepid argument that their news coverage is ok their opinion pieces are biased, not exactly pro-EU and clearly informed by the Anglospheric view of things.
*not really
It seems you have a better grasp of Sanchez but to me he comes across as sincere when it comes to everything EU, and he has been fairly consistent for years. The China thing may be the exception, I know it baffled me when I read about the closer ties Sanchez was seeking.
I wrote it wrong, sort of. I know there have been some verdicts from the courts already but I also meant any verdict that Sanchez may face. As far as I know there’s no active case against him (yet), but then again when both your brother and wife are in hot water…
Sanchez has said he plans to run for re-election in 2027, curious to see if that still holds in a few months.
I was willing to give Sanchez some benefit of the doubt given that most if not all of the allegations came from the far right who have a habit of inventing theories or blowing things well out of proportion.
That may still be true but it seems fair to say that Sanchez et al were up to some very shady stuff. If they’re found guilty by an independent court than that’s that.
It’s extremely disappointing. I can’t really speak to Spanish politics but on the EU level Sanchez has been pretty much the sole voice pushing back against the US and in favour of further integration including a united EU defence force.