… This does not mean that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is deviating from its assessment of the AfD, but only that it is keeping quiet about it publicly. … This is a tactical procedural move. The AfD can now no longer claim that the court has forbidden the secret service from reporting on the upgrade …
In addition, the [legal] proceedings could now be accelerated …
The fund (as many others) has been divesting for many years with the latest move so far being divestments from Israeli telecoms group Bezeq and Russian steel company Evraz at the end of 2024 over their involvement in the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, respectively.
Fan cult: Why AfD election frontrunner Alice Weidel is celebrated like a star in China
In China, 阿丽丝-魏德尔 (Ālìsī Wèidé’ěr) is a star. “My uncle called me the other day and excitedly asked if she would be Germany’s new chancellor,” says a Chinese IT student in Berlin, who does not want her name to be published and wants to be called Maxine Zhou here. “She perfectly fits the nationalistic and strict image of a politician, which is one of the favorite types of conservative Chinese.” […]
You may also read here:
China courts Germany’s far-right populist AfD
The far-right populist Alternative for Germany party rejects a values-based foreign policy, just as much as it rejects NATO and the US. That approach has attracted the attention of Beijing.
But there is more, a quick research reveals a lot of resources about this party’s China and Russia connection.
Addition:
Marriage of Convenience: How European Far-Right and Far-Left Discovered China
European far-right and far-left political parties, though ideologically opposed, are finding common ground in their alignments with China, echoing Beijing’s narratives and raising concerns about foreign influence and manipulation.
In a recent interview, the Lithuanian Minister of National Defense Dovilė Šakalienė said:
While for some it may seem cruel [to exit the landmine ban treaty], for me it is a necessity. Because we are going to have mines on our territory, but they will either be Russian mines, where we won’t know where they are and they will be in large quantities and may kill a lot of our citizens. Or it will be our own mines where we will know where they are placed, and they do have a very good deterrence effect on Russian soldiers … We have to imagine the worst-case scenario for us to be prepared. This is not a mistake that can be corrected. This is not a possibility to get an extended deadline.
There’s growing concern in Germany that society is becoming increasingly polarized.
This is a major objective of disinformation campaigns across Europe and other Western democracies that are run by authoritarian regimes, and it is why these regimes support this right-wing party to the point that it becomes a puppet organization. AfD head Alice Weidel is celebrated like a star in Chinese state-media.
To provide a context, Greece ranks only 89th in 2025, down form 88th last year, in the Global Press Freedom Index
Addition: But Europe looks pretty good in general.
However, according to the latest Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threat Report by the European External Action Service (EEAS) - the diplomatic service of the European Union - published in March 2025 there have been record levels of foreign manipulation, particularly from Russia and China. The EEAS report recorded more than 500 coordinated manipulation campaigns targeting 90 European countries.
I am not so sure whether China has interest in peace. That’s a pretext at best, but the Chinese government’s only interest appears to be somewhere else.
According to Chinese state-controlled media outlet South China Morning Post, China’s Xi Jinping kicked off his state visit to Russia this week by thanking Moscow for supporting Taiwan’s reunification with mainland China.
In a signed article in Russia’s state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper … [Xi Jinping wrote that Taiwan’s] unification [with China] must be upheld as part of the post-war international order … Celebrating the “enduring friendship” between Moscow and Beijing, he said the two countries had supported each other since World War II …
So Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s aggression against Taiwan are closely linked. Beijing wants control over Taiwan (and supposedly over the South China Sea and other neighbouring areas in Asia, including a part of Siberia which is currently Russian territory). That the US may look weak is maybe a side note.
One example why I think it is an accurate comparison in many ways as I just read a BBC article on a Hong Kong “pro-China informer” who reported dozens of people to police - from a woman waving a colonial-era flag in a shopping mall, to bakery staff selling cakes with protest symbols, who then were sometimes handed year-long jail terms for their “crimes”.
When reading this it reminded me on the Nazi-era Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei, Secret State Police) and its spy network, when ordinary people - your neighbour, your colleague, or just a ‘friend’ - would denounce you for being critical of the regime (or sometimes just motivated out of some personal conflict, which also happened back then), and you would end up in jail or ‘disappear’.
Imagine a society where everyone could be a spy and denouncing you for something.
Nothing is 100% perfect, but there are strong parallels.
I firmly believe that the Chinese government wouldn’t use its influence (if we assume there is one) to get a fair deal for anyone except itself.
Yes, and even some admins and mods support this propaganda unfortunately.
Downvote for the next clickbait headline.
Here is an alternative article:
… This does not mean that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is deviating from its assessment of the AfD, but only that it is keeping quiet about it publicly. … This is a tactical procedural move. The AfD can now no longer claim that the court has forbidden the secret service from reporting on the upgrade …
In addition, the [legal] proceedings could now be accelerated …
Normally I wouldn’t post a Fox News link, but this is funny. Canadian-born actor William Shatner snarked live on TV about the Trump plan of Canada becoming the 51st state and called on PM Mark Carney to make a counter proposal.
Shatner: “Do a real estate deal! Make a counter offer! Let’s offer — Canada offer — to the United States to be the eleventh province! Think of the joy! … It’s the best thing!”
Fox News host Jesse Watters [laughing]: “He should have said that. … That would have brought the house down.”
Shatner: “I mean, everybody is so serious about what is an un-serious offer … Canada’s been around for a hundred fifty years …”
Watters: “Isn’t it about persistence? … “Carney says, it’s not for sale … Trump says never say never …”
Shatner: “At a certain point, persistence becomes insulting!
Here is the Fox News link to the video (Shatner appears at ~3 min).
Most of you may know this already: https://buycanadianmart.ca/
Addition:
Canadian retailers are seeing a surge in domestic sales amid the ‘Buy Canadian’ movement – (April 2025)
The “Buy Canadian” movement is already delivering promising results across the retail sector. Major retailers such as Loblaws Companies have reported a 10 per cent increase in sales of Canadian-made products. Sobey’s parent company Empire also noted a decline in sales of U.S.-sourced goods.
Importantly, the shift isn’t limited to big retailers or headline product categories. Smaller retailers and established brands are also seeing tangible benefits.
It may not be surprising, but when I read the headline I thought exactly the same :-)
Canadian retailers are seeing a surge in domestic sales amid the ‘Buy Canadian’ movement – (April 2025)
The “Buy Canadian” movement is already delivering promising results across the retail sector. Major retailers such as Loblaws Companies have reported a 10 per cent increase in sales of Canadian-made products. Sobey’s parent company Empire also noted a decline in sales of U.S.-sourced goods.
Importantly, the shift isn’t limited to big retailers or headline product categories. Smaller retailers and established brands are also seeing tangible benefits.
You may also be interested in https://buycanadianmart.ca/
Addition:
The ‘buy Canadian’ sentiment remains very strong, with a majority seeking Canadian products – (May 2025)
I personally don’t think this would effect Canada or any other democratic country. I maybe mistaken, of course, but this appears to be more related to defending specific values rather than working against a specific country.
Europe should not only just aim at boycotting from the US, but also from China where many of these cheap products come from. It wouldn’t make sense to replace Amazon by Temu.
A better comparison here is the adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita in PPS (Purchasing Power Standards). The major difference to the salary figure is that the disposable income represents the total amount a household earns minus current taxes on income. This is essentially the amount of money people have ‘at their disposal’ as the name suggests.
This adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita in PPS in the EU shows a different picture. The EU average is at EUR 2,337 (compared to EUR 3,155 as Euronews’ salary), and the data is closer together than in Euronews’ salary report.
But as others have already said, even this is not very meaningful. If you want to compare the living standards of people, you can’t do this by using a single metric. You’ll need a dashboard of different measures AND I suggest that even then there may be factors that can’t be measured at all. The salary is only one -and, in my humble opinion, a very weak- measure and I’d agree with @Kennystillalive@feddit.org’s comment in this thread that it has “absolutely zero value for the average Joe.”
[Edit typo.]
This is a long-standing problem and by far not only related to this Kenya case. There is even a case that EU funds may have unintentionally supported forced organ harvesting:
The issue is not yet cleared afaik.