75 years after it was set up to protect Europe from the Soviet Union (and 35 years after the Soviet Union ceased to exist), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance may finally be coming to an end.
February 28, 2025 - "Libertarians, progressives, and national conservatives who've been pining for a de-Americanization of European military security are experiencing their most newsworthy week on that front in at least three decades. The Trump administration's ongoing negotiations and public messaging around a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal, along with the weekend electoral victory of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), have led to the bluntest talk since April 1993 about a future without Washington's mutual defense commitments to the easternmost members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
"'My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the U.S.A.,' presumptive German chancellor Friedrich Merz said just after his long-prominent CDU ... beat out the White House-favored Alternative for Germany* (AfD).... 'I never thought I would have to say something like this… .But after [President] Donald Trump's statements last week at the latest, it is clear that the Americans — at least this part of the Americans, this administration —are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.'
"Trump's recent statements and actions have included blaming NATO expansion for Russia's invasion of Ukraine ('That's probably the reason the whole thing started,' he said Wednesday), rejecting a G7 statement criticizing Russia as the 'aggressor,' joining a rogue's gallery of international authoritarians in voting against a United Nations resolution condemning Russia and supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity.... Washington has already floated Russian sanctions relief and diplomatic normalization while ruling out U.S. peacekeeping troops and Ukrainian NATO membership.
"Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fanned out to European capitals this month delivering what Hegseth characterized as a 'stark' message to America's treaty allies: 'Now is the time to invest [in defense], because you can't make an assumption that America's presence will last forever'.... [T]he message appears to have sunk in. Prior to each embarking to Washington this week for Ukraine-focused meetings with Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer announced significant ramp-ups in defense spending — from 2 percent to 5 percent (conditionally) in Macron's case, and from 2 percent to 2.5 percent up toward 3 percent in Starmer's.
"'[The] transatlantic relationship, former NATO secretary-general (2009-2014) Anders Fogh Rasmussen wrote in The Economist this week, 'is crumbling before our eyes'…. But the details of this aspirational burden-shifting are filled with more land mines than Ukraine's farmland, beginning with the three-headed beast of putative policy deciders (France, Germany, and the U.K.) that make the trolls in The Hobbit look cooperative by comparison..... Then there is the not-insignificant problem of an eight-decade buildup of American-led dominance on strategy, military technology, and nuclear weapons....
"'Europe must … ensure it can act independently of America. This will require significant investments in capabilities such as air [defense], refuelling and other logistics that sustain military operations — and for which Europe is almost entirely reliant on America,' Rasmussen wrote. 'Roughly 80% of its [defense] procurement is from outside Europe — primarily from the United States. Europe's [defense] companies, spread across different countries and reliant on small national orders, lack the scale required to compete with their American counterparts. As a result, the continent produces less of what it needs — often at a greater cost. This must change quickly'....
"[T]hose changes could happen more quickly than people think. Having effectively granted Moscow a veto over its independent neighbors seeking to join the only multinational organization that has thus far been able to provide the security guarantee of a mutual defense pact, the president could conceivably walk back from NATO's Article 5 assurances of defending members from attack, which is already sending tremors across the Baltics and other Russia-bordering nations....
"Germany's Merz, for one, is talking as if Article 5 is indeed dead. 'I am very curious to see how we are heading toward the NATO summit at the end of June,' Merz said after the election. 'Whether we will still be talking about NATO in its current form, or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.'"
Was Hitler's National Socialism really socialism? In the Marxist paradigm, obviously not: it was a "far right" manifestation of "late-stage capitalism". But the Marxist paradigm is not the only way to look at it.
December 8, 2020 - "Words are powerful things in that they enable us to share a common world of understanding with our contemporaries and, in the written form, with generations long past. But too often words can just as easily cause confusion, misunderstanding, and conflict among people in any society. One such word that keeps causing this type of confusion and conflict is 'socialism.' What does it mean, what forms has it taken, and why does it generate so much intellectual 'heat' rather than 'light?'
"This has come up, again, in a recent article by Ronald J. Granieri, who is research director of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, on why 'The Right Needs to Stop Falsely Claiming that the Nazis were Socialists' (Washington Post, December 5, 2020).... He seethes with frustration that those he calls on the political 'right' attempt to classify the German Nazi regime of the 1930s and 1940s as 'socialist.' Yes, the formal name of the Nazi Party was the National Socialist German Workers Party ... [and] prominent Nazis may have played to the 'working-class resentments' with the hope of attracting people away from the communists and the democratic socialists ... but there was no directed and consistent challenge against private property....
"Granieri says: 'National Socialism preserved private property, while also putting the entire resources of society at the service of an expansionist and racist national vision, which included the conquest and murderous subjugation of other peoples.' The Nazi regime, therefore, cannot be considered to be 'socialist,' because National Socialism was not interested in controlling the means of production or redistributing wealth to build an egalitarian utopia....
"Granieri also takes a swipe at the Austrian economist and Nobel Prize winner, Friedrich A. Hayek, for attempting to put the socialist label on Nazism in his book The Road to Serfdom (1944).... Hayek was 'enormously influential,' he says, on both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and 'Hayek’s assertion that all government interventions in the economy led to totalitarianism continues to animate popular works' that warn of the 'genocidal dangers' from implementing a welfare state.... Granieri would rather drop all of this distracting labelling controversy and search for ways for 'protecting citizens against the negative exigencies of the market'.... He also wants 'rightists' to drop harping on early 20th century American Progressives who heralded and advocated eugenics as a means of designing superior human types. (But, wait! Were they not simply 'following the science' as widely understood and accepted at the time?)...
"[I]n the house of collectivism there have been many socialist mansions. Among the early 19th century French socialists there was a diversity of views as to whether the socialist society to come, for instance, would be an industrial or agrarian paradise. There were disagreements about whether people could reason their way into radical social change, those whom Marx labelled the 'utopian socialists,' or whether it would come only in its own good time due to inescapable historical evolution and revolution, as Marx insisted.
"The first socialist party to seriously move towards political influence in the second half of the 19th century was the German Democratic Socialists, who shunned the call for violent revolution, and amassed a growing number of votes in electing their candidates to the Imperial German Parliament by pursuing power through the ballot box. This frightened the German powers-that-be, so besides attempting for a while to suppress the German socialist party, Otto von Bismarck, as Chancellor of the German Empire in the 1870s and 1880s, introduced all the major component elements of the modern welfare state as well as interventionist regulations over parts of German industry and trade. Bismarck’s brand soon was labelled 'state socialism' or sometimes 'monarchical socialism'....
"Further to the East in Europe, more doctrinaire Marxian socialists in Imperial Russia rejected the niceties of elections and legislative welfare-state reforms. Only violent revolution could break the capitalist hold on the exploited masses, with, as Lenin came to insist, a dictatorship of the proletariat once in power. This resulted in a schism between democratic and dictatorial socialists for a good part of the 20th century. But ... while these two groups of socialists denounced each other over the means of coming to power, well into the second half of the 20th century they almost all agreed on the desired end: the abolition of private ownership of the means of production and the introduction of central planning....
"From these forms of 'socialism,' Granieri’s desire for a democratic 'balancing of interests' based on the expediency of what 'works,' Bismarck’s state socialism seems the closest to what he is looking for. As William Dawson expressed it in Bismarck and State Socialism (1891), 'No department of economic activity should on principle be closed to the state.... The state socialists say that this must be determined by expediency, and by circumstances of time and place.' (pp. 4-6) It was a state socialism in which, as an American admirer of the German system, Frederic Howe, expressed it in his book on Socialized Germany (1915): 'The state has its finger on the pulse of the worker from the cradle to the grave. His education, his health and his working efficiency are matters of constant concern'.... Howe later served in FDR’s New Deal Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) that attempted to plan the output of American farming....
"Granieri insists that National Socialism could not be 'socialist' because it did not pursue a 'utopian' ideal for greater equality for all as a whole. But this presumes that the only legitimate utopian dream, and therefore benchmark for labeling something 'socialist,' is the one that Granieri considers good and right. In fact, the Nazis had a utopian vision for the future; it began with their notion of German race purity on the basis of which they rejected the older Prussian idea of aristocratic and class hierarchy. All 'real' Germans were equal and were to be given opportunities for education, occupational and professional advancement as the means by which they could make their contribution to the high good of the German people as a whole.
"That Nazi egalitarianism was limited to only those 'real' Germans possessing the racial characteristics that guided their ideological thinking, with Jews classified as the lowest and most treacherous of race enemies, does not change the fact that they, too, were 'utopians' with social equality goals, but only for those within the 'in-group.' This was nothing but a variation of the Marxist theme that the world is divided into irreconcilable social classes, with the 'capitalists' being the inescapable 'class enemies' of 'the workers.' And as in the Soviet practice, they and their children were stripped of all rights and opportunities, and made into permanent pariahs to be reeducated to serve 'the building of socialism' or liquidated.
"It may be a notion of a utopia that both Granieri and I would reject, but for many in the Nazi leadership and among the wider German population at the time, it was believed in and worked for, no matter [how] reprehensible it may seem to others.... This is what made it a 'national' socialism rather than an international socialism. Its call and appeal were to a segment of humanity defined by asserted racial characteristics, rather than a call for all workers of the world to unite regardless of who or where. In retrospect, this meant that National Socialism could never have a following great enough to conquer and control the world, since its pool of members was definitionally too limited.... Most of the world’s population had to find itself in conflict with Nazism precisely due to its race-based exclusivity....
"It would be possible to draw upon any number of Nazi sources to determine and decide whether National Socialism was a form of 'real' socialism. In 1936, Nazi educator Friedrich Alfred Beck said in Education in the Third Reich, a text meant as a guide for German teachers around the country:
National Socialism has restored the concept of a people from its modern shallowness . . . By people we understand an entire living body which is racially uniform and which is held together by common history, common fate, a common mission, and common tasks . . . Education, from the standpoint of race and people, is the creation of a form of life in which the racial unity will be preserved through the totality of the people . . .
Socialism is the direction of personal life through dependence on the community, consciousness of the community, nationalism is the elevation of individual life to a unique (microcosmic) expression of the community in the unity of the personality.” (Translated in: National Socialism [U.S. Department of State, 1943], p. 28)
"The individual lives through the community, and race and nation define to which community an individual owes his allegiance. Rather than social classes, National Socialism classifies people by race category. This makes you who you are and provides meaning to your life, in the Nazi worldview.
"But what about National Socialist economics? Let us look at Gustav Stolper’s German Economy, 1870-1940 (1940). Stolper was the long-time editor of a German economic magazine oriented toward a classical liberal viewpoint. He was forced to leave Germany with Hitler’s rise to power due to his politics and his Jewish family background, and found refuge in the United States. Stolper explained some of the socialist aspects to Nazi ideology and policy:
The National Socialist party was from the outset an anti-capitalist party. As such it was fighting and in competition with Marxism.... National Socialism wooed the masses [from three angles]. The first angle was the moral principle, the second the financial system, the third the issue of ownership. The moral principle was ‘the commonwealth before self-interest.’ The financial promise was ‘breaking the bondage of interest slavery’. The industrial program was ‘nationalization of all big incorporated business [trusts]’.
By accepting the principle ‘the commonwealth before self-interest,’ National Socialism simply emphasizes its antagonism to the spirit of a competitive society as represented supposedly by democratic capitalism . . . But to the Nazis this principle means also the complete subordination of the individual to the exigencies of the state. And in this sense National Socialism is unquestionably a Socialist system . . .
The nationalization of big industry was never attempted after the Nazis came to power. But this was by no means a ‘betrayal’ of their program, as has been alleged by some of their opponents. The socialization of the entire German productive machinery, both agricultural and industrial, was achieved by methods other than expropriation, to a much larger extent and on an immeasurably more comprehensive scale than the authors of the party program in 1920 probably ever imagined. In fact, not only the big trusts were gradually but rapidly subjected to government control in Germany, but so was every sort of economic activity, leaving not much more than the title of private ownership.” (pp. 232-233; 239-240)....
"Guenter Reimann, in The Vampire Economy: Doing Business Under Fascism (1939), highlighted that while most of the means of production had not been nationalized, they had nonetheless been politicized and collectivized under an intricate web of Nazi planning targets, price and wage regulations, production rules and quotas, and strict limits and restraints on the action and decisions of those who remained; nominally, the owners of private enterprises throughout the country. Every German businessman knew that his conduct was prescribed and positioned within the wider planning goals of the National Socialist regime.' Not much differently [from] the state factory managers in the Soviet Union, even at that time under Stalin, the German owners of private enterprises were given wide discretion in the day-to-day management of the enterprises that nominally remained in their possession. But Nazi planning agencies set output targets, determined input supplies and allocations, determined wage and work condition rules, and dictated the availability of investment funds and the rates of interest at which they could be obtained through the banking system, along with strict central control and direction of all import and export trade....
"[W]e can turn to a more recent historian of the Nazi regime, that being Goetz Aly in, Hitler’s Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State (2007). Aly 'focus[es] on the socialist aspect of National Socialism' so as to better understand 'the Nazi regime as a kind of racist-totalitarian welfare state.' Aly emphasizes that the ideology and practice of the Nazi regime were in fact deeply socialist. Within Germany, among the German people of 'pure Aryan blood,' the ideal was an egalitarian social order in which every German would be freed from traditional class barriers so that he might have the opportunity to rise to any level of success in serving the fatherland. The welfare-state policies begun by Bismarck ... were viewed by the Nazis as a prelude to a complete guarantee of a quality standard of living for all 'real' Germans that would be paternalistically provided by the National Socialist state....
"Aly points out that before and during World War II, the German 'capitalist class' was made to pay its 'fair share' for the benefit of the rest of the German people. Taxes were proportionally far higher on the 'rich' in Germany than the rest of the population. During the war the government established mandatory overtime pay in all industries and imposed wage increases to keep 'the masses' loyal to the regime – all at the expense of German business. At the same time, German industry worked under government-commanded four-year plans from 1936 until the end of the war in 1945....
"But it was only after the war started that the machine of redistributive plunder was really set into motion. Every country overrun by the German army not only had to pay the costs of the occupation, but also was systematically looted for the benefit of the German population as a whole.... In every occupied country the Nazis initiated similar confiscatory policies with local accomplices with whom they shared looted Jewish property. (Only in Belgium and Denmark did large segments of the population and the bureaucracy resist participating in this plunder of the Jews.) The Nazis first nationalized Jewish property and then distributed it to those deemed worthy among the German or occupied populations.... Aly estimates that because of this looted property and the goods sent back to Germany by soldiers, many, if not most, Germans enjoyed a more comfortable standard of living throughout most of the war than the civilian population in Great Britain.... The vast majority of German families continued to feast, even under the allied bombings, thanks to the locust-like seizure of anything and everything across occupied Europe....
"No doubt this summary of the content of Goetz Aly’s analysis of the National Socialist welfare system and its version of central planning would convince Ronald Granieri even more that the Nazi regime should not be classified as 'socialist.' But in my view, it demonstrates that all of its characteristics find their family resemblance in socialist regimes. Institutionally, the starting premise is that the individual is little or nothing, and must view himself as dependent upon and working for a wider 'common good,' other than his own personal self-interest.
"In the name of 'the people' those in political authority, whether in that position through votes or violence, establish in the name of 'the people' the hierarchy of social goals, purposes, and collective ends for which a set of government planning policies, interventions and welfare redistributions will be set in motion. Individual choice and decision-making as consumers and producers are significantly reduced or even totally eliminated with government central planning and decision-making replacing voluntary association and exchange.... Prices and production no longer fully reflect the valuations and appraisements of the multitudes of interacting buyers and sellers in the society – which means all of us.... Instead, government plans and interventions determine or heavily influence wages and prices, along with what gets produced and how much; which means everything concerning our personal lives, livelihoods and standards of living.
"In other words, extensive and intrusive government regulations, restrictions, redistributions, and imposed centralized plans demonstrate what Friedrich A. Hayek was arguing over 75 years ago in The Road to Serfdom: that the more government command and control replaces market-based choices, decisions, and opportunities, the less freedom we have over increasing corners and aspects of our lives....
"Ronald Granieri may very well pooh-pooh this because he may not consider some loss of personal liberty something much to despair when it’s replaced with compulsory political paternalism that 'guarantees' various material wants for some that he considers more important than the degree of freedom forgone by some others. But I would ask him to at least admit that this is freedom lost for a coerced 'security,' ... still a compulsory 'taking,' whether done by a voting majority or dictatorial elite.
"And I would further ask him to concede that whether he agrees with the ends and goals of other socialists, their use of command and control and their introduction of some form of institutional central planning to pursue their declared 'social good' makes their system just as much a 'socialist' one as any other that Ronald Granieri might endorse or look more favorably upon. So, whether he likes it or not, the Nazis, too, were socialists, just a different stripe than the ones he feels more comfortable with."
April 1, 2024 - German cannabis campaigners and aficionados lit celebratory joints at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate at midnight early Monday, gathering for a legal “smoke-in” to mark the nation’s newly liberalized law on marijuana coming into effect. Germany’s government passed legislation allowing adults to possess small amounts of the drug, making it the largest European Union country to legalize possession for recreational use.
"The purchase and sale of cannabis is still prohibited and can lead to fines and imprisonment. Adults can now carry up to 25 grams (nearly an ounce) of marijuana and keep up to 50 grams at home. They can also grow up to three plants for personal use under the law that was passed by Germany’s federal council last month and took effect Monday.
"Adults who don’t want to grow their own plants ... can join 'cannabis clubs' starting in July. They are licensed nonprofit growing cooperatives capped at 500 members who must 'actively participate in the cultivation' to access the club’s cannabis. 'The law does not provide for passive membership that is aimed solely at purchasing cannabis,” the Bundesrat, effectively Germany’s upper house, said in its announcement of the law.
"Marijuana has slightly more restrictions for young adults between ages 18 and 21, and it is still illegal for minors....
"Though the amounts permitted in Germany are relatively small — adults are allowed to possess up to three ounces of cannabis flower in New York, for example — the new law still makes Germany one of the most lenient countries on marijuana in the European Union."
Germany's capital was gridlocked on Monday as the country's farmers brought their ongoing national protests to Berlin, with an estimated 30,000 rallying at the Brandenburg Gate.
January 18, 2024 - "Thousands of tractors rolled through Berlin on Monday. The city was clogged for hours as the approximately 6,000 machines made their way to the city centre. Their destination was Brandenburg Gate where a protest rally, attended by many thousands (the organisers claimed 30,000) took place. It was the climax of a week-long protest organised by German farmers all over the country. And it was a massive show of discontentment with the government and its green agenda.
"'The traffic light coalition must go', was the main demand, displayed on banners fixed to the tractors. (The traffic light stands for the party colours of the three coalition partners - SPD, Green Party and Liberals.) It was a message echoed by the participants at the demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate too. When asked why they were taking part in the rally, people replied ‘because this policy is not only destroying the farmers, but the whole country’, or ‘because we are fed up with the restrictions imposed on us’.
"The protests were triggered in December when the government announced that it would abolish tax reliefs on agricultural diesel and farm vehicles [as] part of a general budget cut which became necessary after a court ruling exposed a €17 billion gap in the original 2024 budget. The additional burden on farmers was justified with the argument that the government wanted to cancel ‘climate-damaging subsidies’. Farmers, who depend on agricultural diesel vehicles - understandably - saw this as an outrageous disregard for their work. ‘Why should we pay for the government’s incompetence?’ asked one farmer said at the rally.
"It was stupid of the government to believe it could get away with its new tax hikes at a time of growing discontentment. Like other entrepreneurs, farmers are suffering from the high energy prices in Germany. And because parts of the chemical industry have ceased production, fertiliser prices have also rocketed. In January, before the protests hit the streets, the government tried to appease the angry farmers by taking back the tax on vehicle fuel. It also said that the diesel tax would be phased out over a period of two years, rather than all at once. But the farmers who had geared up for the fight were not willing to be put off by such half-hearted compromises....
"For years, discontentment at ever harsher environmental regulations and time-consuming bureaucracy has been building up amongst farmers. In 2019, farmers blocked Berlin’s streets after the Merkel government demanded a 20 per cent reduction in the use of fertilisers, as part of its agricultural reform package. Since then, matters have become even worse. Keen to meet the EU’s strict nitrate laws, the current government announced further directives on nitrates, pesticides and animal-husbandry last summer. As part of the EU’s green new deal, farmland is now being identified for ‘renaturalisation’. Many farmers have already had to reduce their animal stock as a result....
"The determination of the farmers and the size of the protests have caught the government unprepared. On Monday, many protesters said they were fighting for nothing less than the survival of their industry. Without the freedom to make informed decisions, farming would have no future in Germany, they said. But what has made these latest protests special is that they have found such widespread support. Hauliers, craftsmen, restaurant owners and hunters were amongst those standing in front of Brandenburg Gate. Lorry drivers have announced that they will continue the protests this week. And as the tractors rolled through Berlin, countless people could be seen waving at them, and showing the thumbs up sign. A survey carried out by one of Berlin’s leading newspapers found that 65 per cent of those questioned said they stood on the side of the farmers....
"Regrettably, the government has reacted very helplessly. It has said that it would hold on to the cuts, but would reduce bureaucracy for farmers. When Scholz finally commented on the protests last week, he accused the farmers of being too radical: ‘If legitimate protests turn into anger or disregard for democratic processes and institutions, then we all lose’, he said. Such warnings say more about the chancellor and his fear than about the actual protests. The participants on Monday reacted with derision when asked about reports of far-right groups infiltrating the protests. ‘Do you see any right-wingers here?’ asked one. ‘Such talk is all about unsettling people’, said another.
"There were some flags showing the colours of the right-populist AfD, but very few, and only on the periphery. Indeed, the AfD has not been particularly popular with farmers so far. In the last general election in 2021, only eight per cent of farmers voted for the party.... It won't help the government to lump the farmers and their supporters into the corner of right-wing extremists. It will only make people think that for this government, anyone who opposes its green agenda is right-wing. The great solidarity with the farmers shows how exposed this agenda stands."
December 18, 2023 - "[A] French court ... has ordered the wholesale demolition of a wind farm in the southern Languedoc region of the country after it was implicated in the deaths of thousands of birds and bats, including endangered Golden eagles. Moreover, it ordered the German-based operator to restore the land to its original state within 15 months or face stiff penalties of €3,000 — CAD$4,400 — for every day of non-compliance.
"The onshore facility was commissioned in 2016 and is located near the southern town of Lunas. It has been the subject of a series of legal proceedings brought by residents and conservation groups alike, with the latter arguing it was directly harmful to wildlife in the area, including Golden eagles. The developer was originally ordered to dismantle the wind farm by a court in Montpellier in 2021 but won on appeal. It had been previously rejected — and overturned — in 2006 and again [in] 2017.
"Those challenges became more urgent after French media reported that the body of a golden eagle deemed to have been killed by a wind turbine blade was found at the foot of a turbine in January of this year. A subsequent study had found the wind farm had led to the deaths of more than 1,000 birds and bats.
"In its latest ruling the court found an environmental impact assessment submitted in 2013 during the approval process was 'insufficient' because it allowed construction in an area where golden eagles were nesting. In 2019, more than 1,099 dead birds were found; it is a real cemetery at the foot of wind turbines,' said Nicolas Gallon, a lawyer for the environment groups....
"The German operator, EnBW said its French subsidiary — Energies Renouvelables du Languedoc-Valeco — would be appealing the decision with France's Supreme Court."
17th November 17, 2023 - "Italian MPs have voted to back a law banning the production, sale or import of cultivated meat or animal feed, in what the right-wing government calls a defence of Italian tradition. 'Italy is the world's first country safe from the social and economic risks of synthetic food,' said Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida.
"The vote in parliament was met by rallies for and against the ban. At one point, a scuffle broke out between farmers and some MPs. The head of the big Coldiretti farmers' organisation, Ettore Prandini, at one point confronted two MPs from the opposition More Europe party, calling them 'criminals' for opposing the ban.... One of the MPs, Benedetto Della Vedova, accused him of being a hooligan. Centrist colleagues called on the farmers' lobby to apologise....
"Despite the flare-up, parliament backed the bill by 159 votes to 53. Breaching the law would mean a fine of up to €60,000 (£52,000).
"For now, the law will have little effect.... The EU [European Union] has not yet given any lab-grown meat, described as 'novel foods', the green light. If it does, however, Italy's new law could be challenged by the European Commission....
"The new law is a victory for Italy's agriculture minister, who a year ago vowed to prevent 'synthetic food' from reaching dining tables in Italy. He praised MPs for backing the new law, which came in response to a petition organised by the Coldiretti lobby group.... Mr Lollobrigida is part of the prime minister's far-right Brothers of Italy party and has previously extolled Italy's proud tradition of food and wine culture.
"But the petition was condemned by Prof Elena Cattaneo, a lifelong senator and leading bioscience specialist, who said it was a emotive, cartoon-style leaflet that classed natural food as good and cultivated food as bad and made from 'crazy cells in bioreactors'.
"The law bars synthetic foods produced from animal cells without killing the animal and prevents producers from using meat-related words on labels to describe plant-based protein. Critics point out there is nothing synthetic about lab-grown meat, as it is created by growing natural cells without genetic modification.
"The law is also a blow for animal welfare groups, who have highlighted lab-made meat as a solution towards protecting the environment from carbon emissions."
Ukrainian government officials are calling for NATO countries to extradite Ukrainian war refugees eligible for conscription. The Polish government is willing to do so (subject to court approval), but the governments of Czechia, Austria, and Hungary have indicated they will not comply.
September 4, 2023 - "On Sept. 1 David Arachamia, leader of Ukraine’s Servant of the People party, said that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies should demand the extradition of men of military age who had illegally left Ukraine to escape mobilization and prosecute them.
"The Polish news outlet, Rzeczpospolitej reported on data provided by Poland’s Border Guard that 2.87 million Ukrainian adults had crossed into Poland between Feb. 24, 2022 and Aug. 31 this year. It was estimated that around 80,000 men aged 18-60, who were potentially eligible for military service, had entered the country; the whereabouts of whom are currently not known. A spokesperson for the Polish Border Guard, Lt. Anna Michalska, is quoted as saying that it was not known how many actually met the exemption requirements.
"Ukraine shares borders with five countries where Ukrainian men may have entered: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova. It is feared that the number of those who have fled may run into the tens of thousands. Fedir Venislavsky, a member of Ukraine’s National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee said the numbers of those who illicitly avoided going to war and took refuge abroad is hugely significant. 'These people could be mobilized and increase the ranks of our armed forces, thereby strengthening our defense and security'....
"Inspector Mariusz Ciarka, a spokesman for the Poland’s Police Headquarters indicated that there had been a number of instances of individuals intercepted trying to cross the border illegally without an exemption.... In the case of those who appeared to have an exemption and crossed apparently legally, the inspector said it ... would be necessary for Ukraine to issue an international arrest warrant for each individual case. The details would be entered into Poland’s National Police Information System (KSIP) and shared with Interpol. If a Ukrainian was stopped for something such as a traffic offence, KSIP would flag the fact and the person would be detained. However, the police could not act on the warrant until a Polish court had approved extradition.
"In July the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) charged the MP Lyudmila Marchenko and her assistant with corruption or demanding a bribe to provide a man with a permit to leave Ukraine as well as registering him on the Shlyakh system, which allows men of military age to leave the country." Read more: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/21242
September 9, 2023 - "Neither the Austrian, nor the Czech government is willing to bow to Ukraine’s demands and extradite Ukrainian men who have fled the war-torn country. 'That would be a massive interference in our sovereignty, we would never do that,' a spokesman for the Austrian Interior Ministry said to Exxpress on September 7th. 'Such a request would likely contravene Czech law, making it impossible to approve it,' the Czech Justice Ministry stated in the Prague Monitor....
"With the war against Russia costing thousands of lives, the Ukrainian leadership is stepping up its efforts to recruit soldiers. But there are more and more reports of men fleeing the country to avoid military service.... The number of Ukrainian men who have successfully avoided mobilisation and sought refuge abroad could be in the tens of thousands, but there are no official statistics. What Eurostat’s statistics do tell us is that 17.7% of the 4 million Ukrainians who have been granted temporary protection in the EU since the start of the war are men aged 18-64....
"According to Exxpress, there are around 14,000 Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 54 who have been registered as refugees in Austria. The government in Vienna has clearly stated it will not deport any of them. Prague has also emphasised that extradition treaties do not apply under Czech law to crimes of a military or political nature. Polish authorities estimate that 80,000 Ukrainian men of military age may have entered Poland since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the German Interior Ministry has registered more than 200,000 men in the same age group since the start of the war. Tareq Alaows of the human rights organisation Pro Asyl, told Deutschlandfunk that evading conscription is a human right, therefore, the German government shouldn’t give in to Ukraine’s demands, if such demands were made.
"While people with disabilities and illnesses are mostly exempt from the draft, Hungarian-language Ukrainian news website, Kárpáti Igaz Szó reports that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence recently updated its list of illnesses that are no longer considered debilitating enough to stop men from serving in the army. These include clinically cured tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, asymptomatic HIV, mental and neurological disorders that cause only minimal pain and rare physical manifestations." Read more: https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/ukraine-demands-extradition-of-its-draft-age-men/
Germany just told Ukraine to F*CK off, along with 3 other E.U. countries | Redacted News | September 15, 2023:
June 19, 2023 - "On a jaunt to the Global Food Security Summit in 2022, even European Council President Charles Michel noted that the need for stable food supplies was 'the major global challenge today … and now is the time for all of us to translate our political commitments into concrete action.' Alas, at the EU level, 'concrete action' has turned into a euphemism for undermining the very agricultural sector that feeds its citizens. And thanks to the bloc’s determination to position Europe as the global hero of climate action, Brussels is well on its way to alienating and impoverishing a large part of rural Europe.
"Setting increasingly ambitious environmental targets from the comfort of haute cuisine Brussels is one thing. But navigating the fraught local realities — which achieving such goals actually entails — is a totally different bag of frites. Just look at the Netherlands. After decades of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding that prioritized greater output, Dutch farmers are now being told they are the ultimate villains of the emissions reduction debate. So, despite being lauded in the press as the 'tiny country that feeds the world' ... tens of thousands of Dutch livestock farms are now facing closure or mandatory state appropriation.
"This is all unfolding against the backdrop of a 'greening' CAP, which has already seen European farmers reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent between 1990 and 2010.... [F]armers’ misgivings aren’t about denying climate change — which impacts them greatly — or misunderstanding the actions required to mitigate its worst effects. They’re about the lack of realism in Brussels when it comes to setting time frames to achieve the EU’s environmental targets — because it is those time frames that will collapse rural economies.
"As it currently stands, farmers are literally being squeezed to death between the bloc’s emissions and biodiversity goals. And this is gutting rural Europe — and its 10 million family farms — from the inside out. Remarkably, though, Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski in the Berlaymont doesn’t seem to really care, despite widening a rural-urban divide that will ultimately benefit populists on both sides of the political spectrum.
"From a farming perspective, rural Europe is being disproportionately targeted by policymakers as easy prey. So, while car manufacturers (in Germany), the nuclear industry (in France) and big pharmaceutical companies (in Ireland and other member countries) have their state sponsors to water down — or delay — proposed European legislation, farmers are being hung out to dry on the altar of the EU’s climate ambitions. And agriculture isn’t even the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the EU. In fact, total agricultural emissions are equivalent to less than two-thirds of those derived from manufacturing or energy generation.
"In this context, the EU’s climate approach — and its role in mainstreaming fringe economics — is already fanning rural social unrest. For example, the right-wing FarmerCitizenMovement (BoerBurgerBeweging, BBB) is now the largest party in the Dutch Senate and all provincial assemblies, despite only being established in 2019. And therein lies a warning for the bloc’s complacency when it comes to rural Europe: The Dutch experience shows that disputes regarding centralized environmental planning can also tap into wider feelings of rural disconnection. How else could the Netherlands — with just 50,000 farmers — deliver nearly 1.5 million votes for the BBB in early 2023?...
"These movements are really about representing those living outside big cities who feel excluded from policymaking in national capitals. And they are giving a voice to small-town residents who feel threatened by governments’ increasingly rigid approach to social and environmental objectives. So, as the growing opposition toward the proposed Nature Restoration Law continues to grab headlines, it’s only a cypher for a rural Europe that feels more and more alienated from urban policymaking elites.... Brussels is well on the way to losing rural Europe — and it only has itself to blame."
Eoin Drea is senior research officer at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies.
The World Health Organization and European Union (EU) have signed an agreement and letter of internt to upgrade the EU digital Covid vaccine pass for global use in future pandemics.
June 7, 2023 - "Representatives of the World Health Organization [WHO] and the European Commission signed an administrative agreement and letter of intent at the WHO headquarters in Geneva on Monday, June 5th, for the upgrading of the EU system of digital COVID-19 certification to be used globally in future health crises, Euractiv reported. As expected, the announcement sparked instant backlash on social media, while experts and politicians weighed in to warn about the terrifying consequences that such a system could have in store. 'Are you seeing it yet? … Yet another "conspiracy theory" becoming reality!' German MEP Christine Anderson (ID) tweeted. She added:
If you don’t do as you’re told (get x amount of mRNA shots, get 'recommended' check-ups, procedures, whatever they will deem beneficial to “public health” (definition subject to change any given time) and are unable to provide proof, you will be labeled “a threat to society” and will be turned off with the flip of a switch, thanks to eID and CBDC!....
"According to EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, who was delighted that the WHO 'will take up the framework' of the EU’s existing vaccine passport system, the aim of the global system is not to restrict liberties, but to facilitate mobility and protect citizens from future health threats.... According to technology expert Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D., a global, digital health passport would be about anything but protecting freedom. As he told The Defender, such a passport system could only mean 'restraints on movement and living for the unvaccinated and forced vaccination to participate in life'....
"According to the WHO’s press release, the global vaccine passport will only be the first building block of the WHO’s Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN), which is set to develop a wide range of digital products to track and deal with contagious outbreaks. According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization is hoping to radically expand the capabilities of the Network in the coming months, progressively introducing a whole range of planned products, including global certificates for vaccination, routine immunization cards, and even international 'patient summaries.'
"As of Tuesday, June 5th, the Certification Network is already operational, joined by nearly 80 countries so far. However, the EU and the WHO aim to 'encourage maximum global uptake and participation' in the long term, the press release states. 'The WHO will continue to work with all regions to ensure that the network is accessible globally,' the WHO chief added....
"This agreement on the two organizations’ joint Digital Health Initiative is merely a follow-up to a previous one in December 2022, when the EU and the WHO pledged to enhance strategic cooperation on global health issues, going much further than just a global vaccine passport. Although building on the EU’s existing infrastructure is a recent development, the idea of a global vaccine passport has been on the WHO’s agenda for some time now, as the organization already commissioned the telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom to build its global vaccine verification app back in February.
"In parallel with the development of this new digital certificate, the EU and the WHO are working together on a much larger project, the so-call Pandemic Treaty, which is a global framework of binding health regulations, set for adoption next year, which would make it mandatory for all 194 member states to follow the WHO’s guidelines during pandemics, including quarantine measures, border closures, and vaccine requirement.
"Naturally, the Pandemic Treaty is also opposed by a growing coalition of MEPs in Brussels. During last month’s International COVID Summit in the European Parliament, Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakusic lashed out against the idea, saying the WHO should be declared a terrorist organization instead of being given unprecedented global powers. If adopted by next year’s 77th World Health Assembly, the pandemic treaty would make it possible for the WHO to mandate the adoption of the Certification Network, which, for now, is still voluntary."
"An 'embarrassing' gear shortage has Canadian troops in Latvia buying their own helmets," reports CBC News. "Soldiers also have been purchasing rain gear and equipment belts."
June 5, 2023 - "Canadian troops deployed in Latvia, ... [have] been buying their own modern ballistic helmets equipped with built-in hearing protection that doubles as a headset. They've also personally purchased rain gear and vests and belts to carry water and ammunition. And the number of complaints about the ill-fitting body armour issued to female soldiers has been growing.... The battlegroup of roughly 1,500 soldiers, including more than 700 Canadians, lacks modern anti-tank weapons, systems to counter drones and a dedicated short-range air defence system to guard against helicopters and attack jets.
"Those frustrations have only been compounded by the arrival of more allied troops — among them Danish soldiers who are in some cases arriving with Canadian-purchased gear that makes them better equipped than Canadian soldiers.
"'In general, it was concerning verging on embarrassing to see the differences in issued soldier equipment between us and the Danes," said Lt.-Col. Jesse van Eijk, the Canadian battle group commander in Latvia, in a May 12, 2023 email obtained by CBC News. 'This was only exacerbated by the fact they were carrying more advanced Canadian-made Colt Canada rifles, mounting more advanced Canadian Elcan DR sights, and the fact that most of the systems our soldiers lacked were easily available on the open market and not some sort of closely guarded technology.' For more than three decades, the Danes have been using a variety of Canadian-made weapons, including the C7 assault rifle and the C8 carbine.
"CBC News requested an interview with van Eijk, but he declined through the Department of National Defence. The department said in a written statement that his email was a response to concerns raised during a recent staff visit from the army's directorate of equipment and program management.
"Acquiring better hearing protection for soldiers has been a long-term struggle for the army. Right now, many troops use yellow foam earplugs to protect their hearing from the din of artillery and heavy weapons fire. The absence of appropriate ear protection was flagged to senior commanders in a 2019 capability deficiency report written by the army's infantry school, DND acknowledged.
"In a written statement, DND spokesperson Jessica Lamirande said procurement projects are underway to provide soldiers with more modern tactical helmets, vests, boots, 'converged rain suits, sunhats and hybrid combat shirts.' The department said the clothing is expected to be delivered next year. DND awarded a contract in February for better helmets with ear protection for so-called 'light forces' (special forces and other infantry).... The department also said it's working on buying new handguns for soldiers, new general-purpose machine guns and sniper rifles. The DND statement did not directly address the complaints of soldiers or explain why it has taken more than three years to address concerns about hearing loss — which is accounting for an increasing number of disability claims coming before the Department of Veterans Affairs....
"When it comes to acquiring heavier weapons, Lamirande said the department has embarked on 'a rigorous and systematic process' with a request for proposals going out this summer. A new portable anti-tank system likely will be delivered next year, the department said, while the anti-drone and anti-aircraft systems are still in the 'options analysis phase' and contracts for them are not expected to be awarded until next winter at the earliest....
"Dave Perry, a defence procurement expert at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said the defence department should understand contractors are facing a deluge of orders since the war in Ukraine erupted in full fury. 'Some of the things that we're looking to buy on an urgent basis for our troops, or pieces of equipment, are things that half the planet is trying to get its hands on right now as fast as possible,' said Perry, whose organization has held conferences that are occasionally sponsored by defence contractors. 'So the longer that Canada delays making these decisions, the harder time it will have and the longer it will take for us to actually get equipment delivered.'"
June 3, 2023 - "Irish farmers are rebelling against a proposal to cull tens of thousands of cattle a year to help Ireland meet its climate change targets.
"The Irish government wants to reduce emissions from farming by a quarter by 2030. Media reports last week suggested that one option being considered was to reduce the national dairy herd by 10 per cent – meaning a cull of 65,000 cows a year for three years, at a cost of €200 million (£170 million) annually.
"One Irish politician described the plan as 'absolute madness' and there are warnings that some farmers will refuse, and others will leave the sector, if an order is introduced.
"The Irish government says that no final policy decision has been taken and that any cull would be voluntary as part of a 'retirement exit scheme' for farmers. But some farmers fear it will not be possible to meet the targets with only a voluntary cull.
"Tim Cullinan, president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, warned that beef and dairy production would simply shift to other countries ... undermining the attempted emissions savings. 'Reports like this only serve to further fuel the view that the government is working behind the scenes to undermine our dairy and livestock sectors,' he said. 'While there may well be some farmers who wish to exit the sector, we should all be focusing on providing a pathway for the next generation to get into farming'.
"Pat McCormack, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, said it was “frustrating” that the industry was being targeted. 'We’re the one industry with a significant roadmap, and, to be quite honest with you, our herd isn’t any larger than it was 25 to 30 years ago,' he said.... If there is to be a cull, he said, 'it needs to be a voluntary scheme. That’s absolutely critical'.
April 11, 2023 - "The French government declared illegal cash payments above a ceiling of €1,000 [approximately $1,500 CDN] per transaction for individuals resident in the country, affecting volumes of commercial payments (linked to professional activities) and the collection of taxes by the tax authorities.... [T]he limit for non-residents (mainly tourists) increases to €15,000. Outside the ... cash limit, users are forced to resort to alternative means of payment such as bank cards and checks.
"Non-business transactions between consumers are not subject to cash regulation. Still, when payments of more than €1,500 are recorded, the parties must issue an invoice certifying to the State that a transaction has occurred.
"The new measures are in addition to others that already exist regarding the use of cash. For example, paying taxes or fees in local jurisdictions maintains a cash limit of up to €300 per transaction, beyond which other non-cash means of payment are required to be used. This limit operates to settle income tax, VAT, municipal fees, audiovisual license fees, etc....
"Macron’s administration is preparing to strengthen state monitoring of transactions, which is extremely difficult for cash payments. The restrictions will come into effect as of next September.
"The ruling party defended the measures as part of the 'fight against terrorism and the laundering of illicit capital'. However, many of these illegal operations (the vast majority) manage much larger funds than the limits to which the measure refers.
"Focusing on retail transactions has led many to believe that the real intentions are to strengthen tax collection (the control of small amounts of tax evasion) and to pave the way for implementing an eventual state digital currency in the future.
"On the other hand, although inflation in France eased slightly in March 2023 and fell to 5.6% year-on-year, it remains the highest in 37 years and will ... push commercial and fiscal transactions toward the use of bank cards or checks from September onwards. The deterioration of the purchasing power of money at the most drastic pace in the last four decades will lead to the progressive erosion of the limits imposed by Macron if no adjustment clauses are added."
April 11, 2023 - "The German government is phasing out nuclear power despite the energy crisis. The country is pulling the plug on its last three reactors on Saturday (15 April), betting it will succeed in its green transition without nuclear power.... While many Western countries depend on nuclear power, Europe's largest economy is turning the page - even if the subject remains controversial until the end.
"Germany is implementing the decision to phase out nuclear power taken in 2002 and accelerated by Angela Merkel in 2011, after the Fukushima disaster. Fukushima showed that 'even in a high-tech country like Japan, the risks associated with nuclear energy cannot be controlled 100 per cent', the former chancellor justified at the time. The announcement convinced public opinion in a country where the powerful anti-nuclear movement was initially fuelled by fears of a Cold War conflict, and then by accidents such as Chernobyl.
"The invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 brought everything into question. Deprived of Russian gas, ... Germany found itself exposed to the worst possible scenarios, from the risk of its factories being shut down to the risk of being without heating in the middle of winter.
"With just a few months to go before the initial deadline for closing the last three reactors on 31 December, the tide of public opinion began to turn. 'With high energy prices and the burning issue of climate change, there were of course calls to extend the plants,' says Jochen Winkler, mayor of Neckarwestheim, where the plant of the same name is in its final days. Olaf Scholz's government, which the Green Party - the most hostile to nuclear power - is part of, finally decided to extend the operation of the reactors to secure the supply until 15 April....
"Sixteen reactors have been closed since 2003. The last three plants supplied 6 per cent of the country's energy last year, compared with 30.8 per cent [from all 19 plants] in 1997. Meanwhile, the share of renewables in the generation mix has risen to 46 per cent by 2022, up from less than 25 per cent a decade earlier.
"The current rate of progress in renewables does not satisfy either the government or environmentalists, and Germany will not meet its climate targets without a serious push.... The equation is even more complex given the goal of shutting down the country's coal-fired power plants by 2038, many of them by 2030. Coal still accounts for a third of Germany's electricity production, with an 8 per cent increase last year to compensate for the absence of Russian gas.
"Germany needs to install 'four to five wind turbines every day' over the next few years to cover its needs, warned Olaf Scholz. This is a tall order compared to the 551 units installed in 2022. A series of regulatory relaxations adopted in recent months should speed up the pace. 'The planning and approval process for a wind power project takes an average of four to five years,' according to the industry association (BWE), which believes that gaining one or two years would be 'a considerable step forward'."
Switzerland's Office of Public Health is not recommending Covid vaccination for spring and summer 2023, even for high-risk individuals. Those at especially high risk can still get the vaccine following a doctor's recommendation; others who wish to be vaccinated may do so at their own expense.
April 3, 2023 - "In principle, no COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for spring/summer 2023. People at especially high risk can receive a vaccination following an individual consultation with their doctor....
"Nearly everyone in Switzerland has been vaccinated and/or contracted and recovered from COVID-19. Their immune system has therefore been exposed to the coronavirus. In spring/summer 2023, the virus will likely circulate less. The current virus variants also cause rather mild illness. For autumn 2023, the vaccination recommendation will be evaluated again and adjusted accordingly....
"[I]t is also not currently recommended for people at especially high risk to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. They can, however, receive a vaccination following an individual consultation with their doctor. Vaccination may be wise in individual cases, as it improves protection against developing severe COVID-19 for several months. This applies regardless of the number of vaccinations you have already received.
"People at especially high risk include:
People aged 65 or over
People aged 16 or over with a chronic condition
People aged 16 or over with Down’s syndrome
Pregnant women
"If a wave of infection were to emerge in spring/summer 2023, the vaccination recommendation would be adjusted....
"The COVID-19 vaccination can be given from 6 months after the last COVID-19 vaccination or from 6 months after a known coronavirus infection..... We advise you to get vaccinated with a bivalent (i.e. variant-adapted) mRNA vaccine or with the protein-based Novavax vaccine. Which vaccine(s) you have previously received is of no importance here.... If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have a severely weakened immune system, you should get yourself vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine....
"[N]o COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for spring/summer 2023. People who want to get vaccinated without a recommendation (e.g. for a trip) can get the vaccination but have to pay for it themselves....
"[If you are] someone at especially high risk, you can receive a vaccination following an individual consultation with your doctor. A vaccination recommended by your doctor is free of charge for you and is covered by compulsory health insurance."
A Dutch party formed just four years ago, in opposition to government plans to close farms and cut livestock levels to fight climate change, has won the largest number of seats in the Netherlands Senate.
March 16, 2023 - "A farmers' party has stunned Dutch politics, and is set to be the biggest party in the upper house of parliament after provincial elections. The Farmer-citizen movement (BBB) was only set up in 2019 in the wake of widespread farmers' protests. But with most votes counted they are due to win 15 of the Senate's seats with almost 20% of the vote.... The BBB aims to fight government plans to slash nitrogen emissions harmful to biodiversity by dramatically reducing livestock numbers and buying out thousands of farms. But its appeal has spread rapidly beyond its rural heartland, on a populist platform that represents traditional, conservative Dutch social and moral values....
"A left-wing Green-Labour alliance is also on course to win 15 Senate seats, while Prime Minister Mark Rutte's four-party coalition is poised to fall back to 24 - down eight seats." Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64967513
March 16, 2023 - "With the highest turnout in 30 years, Dutch voters gave an extraordinary signal to their four-party Government on Wednesday: the Farmer Citizen Movement (BoerBurgerBeweging, or BBB) is set to come first in regional elections, which decide the make-up of the Dutch Senate. In a long voting day, with locations from repurposed drive-through testing centres to ancient churches, an estimated 61% of Dutch people turned out. The result was astonishing, even though the party has been creeping up the polls, feeding on anti-establishment feeling after unpopular Covid lockdowns.
"Some analysts saw the election as a fight between two ‘moods’ in the Netherlands: a mood of (Right-wing) discontent, echoed also across other countries, versus the traditional consensus-driven Dutch mood. With 18 parties in parliament, politicians have typically found a way to muddle along, but this election was different thanks to the thorny issue of nitrogen compound pollution, which is tying the country in knots before a bill has even passed through parliament.
"EU rules, Dutch laws, and court verdicts mean the country must reduce emissions of ammonia, nitrogen oxides and nitrous oxide from farming, transport and building machines. The question is who takes the hit — and whether 30% of productive farms should be shut, forcibly if necessary. The Netherlands, which feeds the world with its intensive farming and livestock-heavy agriculture, is at the sharp end of the international climate debate.
"According to initial results, the BBB, headed by sole MP Caroline van der Plas, will be the largest party in the Senate — polling at more than 30% in some regions. Meanwhile, support for the Government has been slashed. The result is a direct challenge to Dutch PM Mark Rutte, who has been embroiled in a number of scandals, such as gas mining in Groningen at the expense of citizen safety, punishing innocent (often dual-national) citizens for childcare benefit fraud and ongoing Dutch farmer protests about nitrogen emissions. Small wonder, then, that 46% of voters said they were specifically voting against the current national administration.
"The strength of green feeling here, both for and against, is a bellwether for the struggle to come in other countries and farming economies. But BBB should not be dismissed as ‘anti-green’; rather farmers are more of a lime green versus the dark green of the eco activists, both of whom claim they want to protect the land.
"The reality of climate change mitigation or adaptation is playing out in the Netherlands right now, where these new provincial assemblies will need to come up with detailed plans to reduce nitrogen pollution by July. Meanwhile, there is a national housing crisis and this is one of the top personal issues for people in the Netherlands. Nitrogen rules are getting in the way. Still, the success of the BBB serves as a warning shot to Mark Rutte and his government.“This is a landslide we haven’t seen for years,” said CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra, a Government party whose traditional farmer support has evaporated. “It is an extraordinarily bitter pill.” Read more: https://unherd.com/thepost/dutch-farmers-party-secures-landslide-victory/
"Dutch farmes shock the world! Bad news for Trudeau," True North, March 19, 2023:
Belgian farmers paralyzed Brussels on Friday with a Netherlands-style farmers' Freedom Convoy, to protest the government's planned emission cuts to fight climate change.
March 3, 2023 - "Convoys of tractors brought traffic in Brussels to a standstill Friday, as thousands of Belgian farmers protested the Flemish regional government’s plans to limit nitrogen emissions from agriculture. Some 2,700 tractors rolled into Brussels from the Flanders region, according to police estimates, filling the streets with a cacophony of honks as farmers vented their anger over the planned cuts, which they say threaten to put many of them out of business.
"'“It’s an economic and social catastrophe,” said Nele Kempeneers, a spokesperson for Belgian farmers' association Boerenbond, one of the unions that organized the protest. “A lot of farms will have to limit the amount of animals that they keep, or simply close down.'
"Some protestors plastered signs to the front of their tractors, voicing their opposition. 'No farmers, no food,' read one. 'Don’t forget who takes care of your food,' read another. Others started a fire and set off firecrackers on Rue de la Loi, in the heart of the European quarter. But this was a different group capitalizing on the protest — not farmers, a member of Boerenbond told POLITICO.
"Last year, the Flemish government put forward a package of measures to cut nitrate pollution. An initial agreement unraveled following a public consultation period over the summer. The parties making up the ruling coalition returned to the negotiating table this week but were unable to strike a deal.
"The planned cuts unfairly place a heavier burden on agriculture than industry, claim farming unions, who have the support of the Flemish Christian Democrats. 'There’s no future for us, we cannot go on like this,' Ruben Bauwens, a 30-year-old dairy farmer, told POLITICO.
"Similar protests took place last year in the Netherlands after the Dutch government approved an agreement that aimed to slash nitrogen emissions by up to 70 percent in some regions. Intensive livestock farming and the use of fertilizers in both the Netherlands and Belgium have contributed to levels of nitrogen ... in the soil and water that exceed thresholds on emissions set by the EU [European Union]."
October 7, 2022 - "Twitter is obviously at the center of what is commonly known as “Big Tech censorship.” It has been busily using the censorship tools at its disposal – from removing or quarantining tweets to surreptitiously 'deboosting' them (shadow-banning) to outright account suspension – for at least two years now. And those who have managed to remain on the platform will have noticed a sharp upturn in its censorship activities starting last summer. For most of this time, the main focus of Twitter censorship has, of course, been supposed “Covid-19 disinformation'....
"But why in the world would Twitter censor such content? The expression 'Big Tech censorship' implies that Twitter et al. are censoring of their own accord,.... But what Twitter is doing by censoring is precisely subverting its own business model, thus undermining profitability and putting downward pressure on share price. Free speech is obviously the lifeblood of every social media. Censored speech ... translates into lost traffic for the platform. And traffic is, of course, the key to monetizing unrestricted online content....
"There has been much talk recently of the Biden administration exerting informal pressure on Twitter and other social media to censor unwelcome content and voices. But ... There has surely not been any threat of fines. How could there be without a law authorizing the executive branch to impose them? And such a law would be blatantly unconstitutional.... But what if a foreign power made such a law and it de facto abridged the freedom of speech also of Americans? Unbeknownst to most Americans, this has in fact occurred and their 1st Amendment rights are being vitiated, namely, by the European Union. There is a financial gun pointed at Twitter. But it is not the Biden administration, but rather the European Commission, under the leadership of Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, that has its finger on the trigger.
"The law in question is the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which was passed by the European Parliament last July 5.... The DSA gives the European Commission the power to impose fines of up to 6% of global turnover on 'very large online platforms or very large online search engines' that it finds to be non-compliant with its censorship requirements. 'Very large' is defined as any platform or search engine that has over 45 million users in the EU. Note that while the size criterion is limited to users in the EU, the sanction is based precisely on the company’s global turnover.
"The DSA has been designed to function in combination with the EU’s so-called Code of Practice on Disinformation: an ostensibly voluntary code for 'combatting disinformation' – aka censoring – that was originally launched in 2018 and of which Twitter, Facebook/Meta and Google/YouTube are all signatories. But with the passage of the DSA, the Code of Practice is evidently not so 'voluntary' anymore. There is no need for complex legal analyses to show that the sanction provisions in the DSA are intended as the enforcement mechanism for the Code of Practice. The European Commission has said so itself – and in a tweet no less!
"In fact, the Code has never really been all that voluntary. The Commission had already made its desire to 'tame' the US tech giants known previously, and it had already flexed its muscles, imposing massive fines on Google and Facebook for other alleged offenses. Moreover, it has been brandishing the threat of the DSA fines since December 2020, when it first put forward the DSA legislation.... The eventual passage of the legislation by the parliament has always been treated as a mere formality. Indeed, the above-cited tweet was posted on June 16 of this year, three weeks before the parliament voted on the law!
"Curiously, the publication of the draft legislation coincided with the authorization and subsequent rollout of the first Covid-19 vaccines in the EU: the legislation was unveiled on December 15 and the first Covid-19 vaccine, that of BioNTech and Pfizer, was authorized by the Commission just six days later. Vaccine skeptics or critics would quickly become the principal target of EU-driven online censorship thereafter.
"Six months earlier, in June 2020, the Commission had already placed the focus of the Code firmly on alleged 'Covid-19 disinformation' by launching a so-called Fighting COVID-19 Disinformation Monitoring Programme, in which all Code signatories were expected to participate. Some attempts had already been made at monitoring compliance with the Code, and signatories were expected to submit annual reports. But, as part of the Covid-19 monitoring program, signatories were now required – “voluntarily,” of course – to submit monthly reports to the Commission specifically dedicated to their Covid-19-related censorship efforts. The rhythm of submission was subsequently scaled back to bimonthly.
"Twitter’s reports, for example, contain detailed statistics on Covid-related content removal and account suspensions. The below chart, showing the evolution of these numbers from February 2021 (shortly after vaccine rollout) through April 2022, is taken from Twitter’s latest available report from June of this year. "Note that the data concerns content removed and accounts suspended globally: i.e. Twitter’s efforts to satisfy the Commission’s censorship expectations do not only affect the accounts of users based in the EU, but of users all around the world.
"The fact that many, if not most, of the accounts that have been suspended in this connection were written in English raises particularly troubling issues. In the aftermath of Brexit, after all, only around 1.5% of the EU’s population are native English speakers! Even supposing that policing speech was a good thing, what business does the EU have policing speech, or requiring social media platforms to police speech, in English....
"The Twitter report and those of other Code signatories can be downloaded here. If the numbers were to be continued, they would undoubtedly show a sharp upturn in censorship activities starting in late June/early July. Twitter users interested in the subject could not help but have noticed the massive purge of Covid dissident accounts that occurred over the summer. And this upturn was in fact entirely to be expected, since on June 16 – the day the European Commission posted its warning to online platforms reproduced above and three weeks before the passage of the DSA – the Commission announced the adoption of a new, 'strengthened' Code of Practice on Disinformation....
"Not only does the new Code contain no less than 44 'commitments' that signatories are expected to meet, but it also contains a deadline for meeting them: namely, six months after signature of the Code (cf. paragraph 1(o)). For original signatories of the new Code like Twitter, Meta and Google, this would bring us, namely to December. Hence, the sudden rush of Twitter et al. to prove their censorship bona fides....
"As part of the new Code, moreover, signatories will participate in a 'permanent task-force' chaired by the European Commission and that will also include'“representatives of the European External Action Service,' i.e. the EU’s foreign service (Commitment 37). Think about this for a moment.... American ... social media companies ... have been systematically reporting back to the European Commission on their censorship efforts for the last two years now and they will henceforth be part of a permanent task force on 'combatting disinformation'.... It is a matter of explicit EU policy and law that directly subordinates online platforms to the Commission’s censorship agenda and requires them to implement it on pain of ruinous fines.
"Note that the DSA gives the Commission 'exclusive' – in effect, dictatorial – powers to determine compliance and to apply sanction. For the online platforms, the Commission is judge, jury and executioner.... All official EU pronouncements on the DSA highlight the fact. See here, for instance, from the parliament’s Internal Market Committee, which notes that the Commission will also be able to 'inspect a platform’s premises and get access to its databases and algorithms'....
"Make no mistake about it. Twitter censorship is government censorship. But the government in question is not the US government, but rather the European Union, and the EU is, in effect, imposing its censorship on the entire world.
"Those hoping that Elon Musk’s buying Twitter, if it does indeed come to pass, will put an end to Twitter censorship are going to be in for a rude awakening. Elon Musk will be facing the same conundrum as Twitter’s present management and will be just as much hostage to the EU’s censorship requirements."
September 30, 2022 - "China has opened dozens of 'overseas police service stations' around the globe to monitor its citizens living abroad, including one location in New York City and three in Toronto. These operations eschew official bilateral police and judicial cooperation and violate the international rule of law, and may violate the territorial integrity in third countries involved in setting up a parallel policing mechanism using illegal methods,' reads a report by Safeguard Defenders, a human rights watchdog, released earlier this month.
"The report, titled '110 Overseas: Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild,' details China’s extensive efforts to combat 'fraud' by its citizens living overseas, in part by opening several police stations on five continents.... Europe is home to most of the police stations, with locations spread across the continent in places such as London, Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest, Athens, Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt. North America is also home to four of the stations, with three locations in Toronto and one in New York City. In all, there are 54 such stations in 30 different countries.
"The report details how China has attempted to 'combat the growing issue of fraud and telecommunication fraud by Chinese nationals living abroad,' running operations that have resulted in 230,000 Chinese nationals being 'persuaded to return' to China 'voluntarily' over the last year to face criminal prosecution.
"The Chinese government has claimed that the stations provide vital services to its citizens living abroad, though the report notes that many of the services are those that would be traditionally carried out by an overseas embassy. Instead, the report argues that the stations have been used to enhance China’s overseas law enforcement capabilities in possible violation of international law.
"The report also outlines the potential human rights abuses associated with the stations, including using harassment and intimidation methods, such as threatening the family members of the overseas citizens. The stations have also served as centers to spread Chinese government propaganda and monitor the behavior and opinions of Chinese nationals."
