Does Putin’s Russia want peace? The Russian Federation has violated about 400 international treaties since 2014
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If someone had told me ten years ago that in 2025 the UK would have long left the EU and we were talking about a membership of Canada, I would have declared them bewildered. LOL.
Yeah, and not only the Budapest Memorandum. The Russian Federation has violated about 400 international treaties since 2014
Windfall for European arms makers as Brussels ramps up defence spending
Weapons manufacturers across Europe are rushing to secure contracts after EU countries announced plans to dramatically increase defence spending. Share prices of European arms companies had already risen sharply following the US decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine […] Some deals are already in motion […]
[After Starlink satellite network-owner Elon Musk has raised concerns about the network being used for military purposes] Europe is looking at alternatives. Paris-based Eutelsat, the world’s third-largest satellite operator by revenue, is in talks to replace Starlink in Ukraine […]
On 6 March, Italian company Leonardo signed a deal with Turkey’s Baykar for a joint venture to produce drones as defence companies rush to respond to the surge in European military spending […]
Increased demand may revive the EU’s Eurodrone project, a four-nation development programme involving Germany, France, Italy and Spain […]
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic announced it will extend its Czech ammunitions initiative with Denmark, Canada, Portugal and Latvia, which already supplied Kyiv with 1.6 million rounds of large-calibre ammunition last year […]
Overall, the biggest winners from the increase in EU defence spending are likely to be Germany’s Rheinmetall, France’s Thales and Saab of Sweden, while BAE systems of the UK is well-positioned to benefit from increased military budgets across EU nations […]
This is somewhat related:
Sweden says Russia is greatest threat to its security
Russia poses the greatest threat to Sweden due to its aggressive attitude towards the West, the Scandinavian nation’s security service Sapo has said.
How do I know who my MEP is?
This may help: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/home
No, they’ve tried this before, it raised inflation as prices went up on everything not in the cap, and the stuff in the cap ran out in days.
Didn’t know that they tried this before, but the effect is absolutely predictable. This is neither a ‘price cap’ nor a ‘profit-margin cap’ imo.
I know nothing about the Hungarian retail market, but as long as the country’s food producers and processors are coordinating price rises -which is what the article suggests- I doubt that this profit-margin cap will bring inflation down. Or is there something I don’t see?
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And don’t forget that the US must say, “Thank you.”
Not an MEP, but a Swedish lawmaker already gave some advice to Asian countries during a recent travel, raising the issues in Europe and Asia are similar:
China’s hostile actions in Asia are similar to that of Russia’s aggression in Europe, particularly against Ukraine, and countries like the Philippines should prepare by building alliances and strengthening their defense capabilities, visiting Swedish lawmakers said Friday.
Asian countries should also try to “de-risk” and remain independent from potential aggressors, which could resort to economic coercion to gain advantage in a major conflict, said Joar Forsell (Liberal Party), a member of Swedish parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
“I think that something to learn is to build alliances, build very close alliances with like-minded partners, real defensive capabilities, not be naïve, buy new weapons, build the defense capabilities and also de-risk to ensure independence,” said Forsell, when asked what Europe has learned from Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which has brought the region in its worst security crisis since World War II […]
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This is a completely different issue. There are persons who are known to be exposed to a higher personal threat level, and they get special protection. This is different to the alleged higher threat to the general public. As far as I know and read in the press, police forces are on higher alert to protect public spaces, events, etc. But we can’t mixed this up with the individual threat levels of exposed persons and their special protections.
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Most of us are not exposed to such a threat level. But if so, you can turn to the police and will get special protection. This happens all the time.
I wouldn’t say the CEO of Euroclear is a ‘private citizen’ in this context.
Another disgusting remark by a person as ignorant as his government. In 2023, when Lu Shaye was Chinese ambassador to France, he said that “ex-Soviet Union countries do not have the effective status because there is no international agreement to materialize their status of a sovereign country”. This includes Ukraine, as we know.
The fact that such as person is now “special envoy for European affairs” must only be seen as a provocation by the government in Beijing, a war-mongering government that is bullying more or less all its Asian neighbors like India, Buthan, Nepal, the Philippines, just to name a few.
We must note, of course, that China is a decisive enabler of Russia’s war in Ukraine, an aggression from which it greatly benefits. This is not limited to, but includes its intended war with Taiwan which it calls “reunification.” It may also be easier for China to get a chunk of Siberia from Russia to create what Beijing calls the “Arctic silk road”. Later in 2024, for example, there was even a video circulating that shows how China should conquer parts of Siberia up to lake Baikal.
China is also already “investing” in illegally occupied territories in Ukraine. Chinese companies are supplying equipment to mines occupied by Russia in Torez, Snizhne, and Khrestivka. Moreover, Russia is seeking to connect the highway “Rostov-on-Don — Mariupol — Melitopol — Simferopol,” which it is actively constructing, to an international transportation corridor Europe — China. Needless to say that the Kremlin is in contact with the Chinese Communist Party also on that matter (you’ll find ample evidence about this on the web).
Lu Shaye and his government are arguing in bad faith. The least thing they have in mind is the well-being of Europeans. Or the well-being of anyone, not even of the people in the own country. It’s a regime pursuing a dictatorial policy and making decisions in complete disregard of anyone and anything else.
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Russian lawmaker Oleg Morozov in Russian state media: “Trump is keeping all of his promises” (Invidious link, 5 min video, the statement comes at ~3 min)
Already the EU is taking steps to get around Budapest as it looks to maintain support for Ukraine against Russia’s aggression and ramp up the European defense industry, according to officials. Finnish Foreign minister Elina Valtonen said there are plans to forge a partnership among countries that can sidestep any internal opposition […]
Finding a way to deal with Orban “is becoming existential for the EU,” said Katarzyna Pisarska, chair of the Warsaw Security Conference. “What I’m expecting in the next weeks is an effort to circumvent Hungary via more enhanced cooperation and coalition-of-the-willing type schemes.” […]
As a member of the EU and a European Defense Alliance, Ukraine could bring its minerals and a lot of material and immaterial resources I guess.
This is a far-right propaganda coup. Why isn’t that deleted?
Als Ergänzung der Report von Human Rights Watch:
[…] Seit Ende 2016 haben die chinesischen Behörden eine groß angelegte und systematische Kampagne von Menschenrechtsverletzungen gegen die uigurische Bevölkerung, bis hin zu Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit, verschärft.
Die chinesischen Behörden haben Uigurinnen willkürlich festgenommen und zu Unrecht inhaftiert, sie wegen der Ausübung ihrer kulturellen Bräuche verfolgt und sie einer Massenüberwachung und Zwangsarbeit unterworfen. Schätzungsweise eine halbe Million Uigurinnen sind im Rahmen der anhaltenden Repressionen nach wie vor inhaftiert, wobei die Behörden routinemäßig friedliches Alltagsverhalten wie Gebete oder den Kontakt zu Verwandten im Ausland mit Terrorismus und Extremismus gleichsetzen.
Uigur*innen, denen vorgeworfen wird, China illegal verlassen zu haben, werden, falls sie zurückgebracht werden, von den Behörden mit großem Misstrauen betrachtet und sind Inhaftierung, Verhören, Folter und anderen grausamen, menschenunwürdigen und erniedrigenden Praktiken ausgesetzt, so Human Rights Watch. Die Behörden haben auch wiederholt uigurische Familien, die im Ausland leben, schikaniert.
In einem Bericht von 2022 dokumentierte das Büro der Hohen Kommissarin der Vereinten Nationen für Menschenrechte diese zunehmenden Rechtsverletzungen und kam zu dem Schluss, dass die Handlungen Chinas „internationale Verbrechen darstellen könnten, insbesondere Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit“.
Yes, there’s a lot of evidence that the problem is not only with Russia, and not only with measles vaccines, e.g.:
Russia, China sow disinformation to undermine trust in Western vaccines: EU – (2021)
Reports like that one appear to have been increasing in recent years.
Addition for a really good study I read years ago and found again now:
Influence-enza: How Russia, China, and Iran Have Shaped and Manipulated Coronavirus Vaccine Narratives – (2021)