Europe

Cross-posted

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday revealed details of the latest US-backed 20-point plan to end the war in Ukraine, saying it has been sent to Moscow for feedback. Zelensky gave a point-by-point briefing to journalists in Kyiv, including details on the creation of demilitarised zones.

Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) concluded a high-level visit to Europe in early December, MOEA said in a press release.

According to a press release, Minister Kung Ming-hsin emphasized Taiwan’s role as a reliable economic partner and discussed geopolitics and global supply-chain realignment during meetings in Brussels and elsewhere.

At the 2026 Taiwan Economic Forum in Taipei, hosted by Wealth Magazine on Dec. 15, the press release stated that Minister Kung had just returned from a trip to Europe, where he met with officials from Czechia, Poland, and the European Union.

The press release noted that "supply chain resilience" emerged as a central topic throughout these exchanges. Minister Kung highlighted that in the past, trade negotiations under globalization mainly focused on market access and tariffs. However, since the U.S.-China trade war began in 2018, there has been growing recognition of the importance of the supply chain, initially prompting "supply chain relocation" during the pandemic, and now an emphasis on building "supply chain resilience."

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A research report published on Dec. 16 by the Central European Institute of Asian Studies noted that since the early 2020s, relations between Taiwan and Europe have gained significant momentum, both at the level of EU institutions and among individual member states.

The report said that long-standing partners from Western Europe, many of which had contacts with Taiwan during the time they maintained diplomatic ties with the Republic of China, continue to maintain strong economic and political connections with the island.

At the same time, the research highlighted the emergence of new partners in Central and Eastern Europe. Countries such as Czechia, Lithuania, and Poland, which had limited interaction with Taiwan in previous years, have renewed and strengthened their engagement with the island since the start of the decade.

These countries have become politically active supporters of closer ties with Taiwan and are keen to build new economic links across various industries. The report also noted that they have played a growing role in shaping Europe’s evolving approach toward Taiwan.

Dr. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, Affiliated Researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Visiting Fellow at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, wrote on LinkedIn in mid-December that she believes the EU continues to recognize Taiwan’s geostrategic importance for Europe’s prosperity and security.

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Archive link

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/23384142

More info on this at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelamis_Wave_Energy_Converter .

The company was bought by E.ON and the project was killed. At that time, there were working 450 Kilowatt prototypes (see the video). 450 Kilowatt is a power volume that took wind power plants over three decades (about from 1970 to 2000) to achieve.

The technology was then apparently copied by a Chinese company.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/55588932

Recently sites like archive.is and archive.ph are not resolving when using DNS providers from Mullvad and DNS4EU. Is it just me or does anyone else also experience this issue?

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.world/post/40619557

Article translation to English:

It is "in the interest of the United States and Europe" that the European Union be dissolved". That is what Nile Gardiner, director of the European branch of the Heritage Foundation, says to Nieuwsuur. That conservative think tank is known as the main shaper of the policies of US President Donald Trump's second term.

The Trump administration supports "movements and political leaders in Europe" who are "pro-American and believe that Europe should take a different direction," Gardiner says. This concerns leaders of Italy, Poland and Hungary, who see the conservative thinker as "important allies."

In February, Vice President J.D. Already sharply criticized Europe. This summer , further indications came to light that the U.S. is out on a change of power.

According to the new U.S. security strategy, which was published this month, Europe is in danger of "losing its civilization through immigration and the disappearance of national identities." The document praises nationalist parties "who want to preserve the individual character and history of European countries" and supports patriotic parties in their struggle to dismantle the EU from within.

In response, European Commissioner for Human Rights called on Michael O'Flaherty to take courage against US criticism of the EU. European heads of government reacted remarkably little. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was fierce and called the plan "unacceptable and unacceptable."

The chairman of the committee in the European Parliament that maintains contact with the US called the security strategy "a frontal attack on the EU." The words of the White House, according to him, amount to interference in European elections. 'Warning for Europe'

From right-wing parties, there is also a positive reaction to the American policy paper. Member of the European Parliament Mieke Andriese (PVV) calls it a "clear strategic warning for Europe" this week. "Mass immigration threatens our European identity."

Member of the European Parliament Sander Smit (BBB), a member of a committee for strengthening European democracy, can also agree with parts of the American criticism. "BBB does not support the abolition of the EU, but believes that the EU urgently needs internal reforms because of a democratic deficit, diminishing legitimacy and too much bureaucracy," he tells Nieuwsuur. Read his entire response here.

Nile Gardiner is now going a step further with his plea for the abolition of the EU. "I don't see any future scenario where Europe is better off with the survival of the European Union than without."

There are "deep-rooted concerns in the US capital Washington about what is seen as the suppression of freedom of expression within the European Union," says Gardiner. The EU would have too much power over the member states.

The conservative thinker points, among other things, to the fines that the European Commission handed out to the social medium X, owned by tech billionaire and ex-Trump adviser Elon Musk. The fines totalled 120 million euros and were imposed for violations of an internet law. With these types of "attacks on U.S. tech companies," the EU would undermine US security.

Moreover, the Union would not listen to the voice of the people and restrict the power of right-wing radical parties such as the AfD. And the EU would open the gates for mass migration. Gardiner fears the increasing influence of Islam. "All this makes the EU doomed." 'Europe reacts too weakly'

According to the leading Irish researcher Judy Dempsey (Carnegie Institute), the European Union is responding too weakly and too slowly to the Trump administration's lashing out. "The Europeans don't look at themselves, but just say: don't you dare criticize our democracy."

Dempsey, who is researching international relations, argues that the EU does not use its large internal market sufficiently as a geopolitical instrument. "The EU is not confident and knows how to sell itself poorly."

Trump is responding to this by politically influencing and dividing Europe, the researcher says. "The idea that a divided EU would be in US favour is at odds with the transatlantic view that has been in place since 1945."

"The weakness of Europeans is that they do not confront far-right populist parties, whether in France, the Netherlands, Germany or Italy."

According to Gardiner, the plan to turn the EU into a defense force clashes with US interests. "This undermines the NATO alliance, while it pulls military resources away," he says. "NATO will hopefully exist for centuries to come, but the EU will eventually disappear."

The U.S. under Trump supports right-wing nationalist parties in Europe that "insist on more sovereignty and self-determination," Gardiner says. He mentions, among others, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish President Karol Nawrocki and the party president of France's Rassemblement National, Jordan Bardella. Gardiner emphasizes that it is about political support; there would be no question of financial aid. Discussion within the Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation is an independent right-wing conservative think tank in Washington. They developed 'Project 2025', policy proposals that the government is now implementing. Nile Gardiner is the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, the European branch of The Heritage Foundation.

The extreme course that the Heritage Foundation has been pursuing since this year leads to ideological discussions within the institute: in recent weeks, some fifteen employees left the institute. Disagreements included stopping support for Ukraine and the controversial tariff policy that President Trump is pursuing. Heritage director Kevin Roberts also initially refused to condemn statements by the far-right, anti-Semitic influencer Nick Fuentes.

Discussions on Reddit about the Heritage Foundation with one saying that the think tank was founded by former Nazis or at least has remote connections to Nazis.

The European Commission and Japan have successfully concluded negotiations on Japan's association to Horizon Europe, the EU's flagship €93.5 billion research and innovation funding programme. The agreement, expected to be signed in 2026, represents the closest form of collaboration offered by the EU to global partners in this field. It will enable Japanese researchers to lead and coordinate their own research and innovation projects under the programme, to apply and receive funding, and to seek closer collaboration with partners in the EU and other associated countries.

https://archive.is/1fiT9

https://www.unionesarda.it/en/italy/attack-on-la-stampa-headquarters-in-turin-over-thirty-identified-judu8eju

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6270906

Archived version

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While Brussels champions policy initiatives and American tech giants market their own ‘sovereign’ solutions, a handful of public authorities in Austria, Germany, and France, alongside the International Criminal Court in The Hague, are taking concrete steps to regain control over their IT.

These cases provide a potential blueprint for a continent grappling with its technological autonomy, while simultaneously revealing the deep-seated legal and commercial challenges that make true independence so difficult to achieve.

The core of the problem lies in a direct and irreconcilable legal conflict. The US CLOUD Act of 2018 allows American authorities to compel US-based technology companies to provide requested data, regardless of where that data is stored globally. This places European organizations in a precarious position, as it directly clashes with Europe's own stringent privacy regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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TikTok not only tracks its users while they are using the TikTok app itself, but it is increasingly integrated with many other websites and apps. For example, TikTok was able to track a person’s Grindr usage on his smartphone. However, that’s not all: In addition to tracking users across the digital space, TikTok also refuses to provide an interested users with a copy of all of their personal data. Therefore, noyb has filed two complaints against TikTok and its data-sharing partners AppsFlyer and Grindr.

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A satirical sculptor from Düsseldorf has expressed bewilderment after Russian prosecutors charged him in a Moscow court with criminally defaming the country’s army.

Jacques Tilly, 62, is Germany’s most prominent designer of carnival floats and has spent 40 years creating outsized and grotesque papier-mâché models of figures including President Trump, Angela Merkel and Baroness May of Maidenhead.

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, his floats have repeatedly mocked President Putin’s brutality.

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This year’s float for the Düsseldorf carnival depicted Trump and Putin shaking hands, with President Zelensky crushed in their grip and haemorrhaging blood, along with the caption: “Hitler-Stalin pact 2.0”.

Previous editions have shown Putin choking on a map of Ukraine and posing naked alongside Trump and President Xi of China, with a gigantically enlarged scrotum emblazoned with the words “Make Russia great again”.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6267965

Archived version

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“A Russian soldier came to her house in May 2022, smashed her face with his rifle butt and broke her teeth, slashed her stomach with a knife, and raped her. He then stole her bicycle and left her a Kalashnikov bullet as a souvenir.”

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“How can you look in the eyes of this 75-year-old woman and say there won’t be punishment for what that Russian soldier did to you?” said Kovalenko, her own eyes wet with tears.

The 38-year-old [Ukrainian documentary-maker Alisa Kovalenko] from Zaporizhzhia was one of a group of four Ukrainian survivors of sexual violence and activists who came to London last week to lobby MPs, members of the House of Lords, and Foreign Office officials to try to get British support against the proposed amnesty.

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https://archive.is/GmyLR

Soriot points out that Europe now faces a double threat. On one hand, major pharmaceutical companies are investing heavily in the United States to avoid their products being heavily taxed by the Trump administration. On the other, China is already a leader in generics and has become a formidable competitor in innovative medicines.

In 2023, Chinese media systematically avoided directly recognizing Russia as a party to aggression. The war was presented as a “conflict” or “crisis” that allegedly arose due to NATO expansion, US actions, and internal processes in Ukraine. Official statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which were published without alternative assessments or verification, often served as sources of information.

Such narratives included allegations of US-funded biolaboratories in Ukraine, the presence of NATO military personnel on Ukrainian territory, and the treatment of the Azov unit as a “neo-Nazi group.” All of these messages coincided with key elements of Russian propaganda and were aimed at removing responsibility from Russia.

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In 2025, in statements that are actively quoted by the [Chinese propaganda outlets] Global Times and China Daily, Russia appears as a party ready to end the conflict provided its demands are taken into account, while the US and the West are presented as factors that either put pressure on Ukraine or are not interested in a real settlement ...

An important feature of the current rhetoric is the active promotion of the image of China as a responsible global actor and potential mediator. Calls for “creating a stable European security architecture” and emphasizing the need for negotiations allow Beijing to position itself as a neutral party interested in stability.

At the same time, the very logic of these calls remains close to the Russian interpretation of the war: the root causes of the conflict are sought not in an act of aggression, but in the security architecture, NATO actions, and US policy.

Chinese media less often resort to outright fakes like bio-laboratories or “Nazi Ukraine”, but they continue to avoid clearly naming the aggressor and continue to blur responsibility for the war.

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Web archive link

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/44153480

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Certainly on the surface it appears China’s alliance with Russia has only grown stronger since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Nowhere has this been more evident than when looking at trade between the two countries, which has boomed ever since the West slapped Putin with massive sanctions.

Last year, the value of trade between Russia and China hit a record $245bn (£182bn), fuelled by Xi becoming the world’s largest buyer of Putin’s oil and gas. Overall, China also became Russia’s biggest supplier of goods.

However, closer ties with China have come at a cost.

In particular, Russian businesses have grown increasingly frustrated at a flood of cheap Chinese goods.

Vladimir Milov, who worked in the Russian government from 1997 to 2002 before becoming a vocal Putin critic, says the economic alliance is backfiring badly for Russia.

“It is deeply disadvantageous,” he says. “China is taking advantage because it knows that Russia has nowhere to go.”

Such warnings could signal that the economic ties between the two countries are beginning to fray.

While mutual trade hit a record high in 2024, it has fallen by nearly a tenth so far this year.

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One key area of tension is cars.

After Western manufacturers cut ties with Russia in 2022, Chinese competitors duly stepped in.

In the two years to 2024, Chinese car exports to Russia have increased sevenfold, prompting a growing number of complaints from domestic manufacturers.

Maxim Sokolov, the chief executive of Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ, has accused the Chinese of “unprecedented dumping”, which he said in December has crossed “all imaginable boundaries”.

Sales of his company’s signature Lada car have plunged, pushing the company to slash production by nearly half and move to a four-day work week at the end of September.

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There are signs that Russia’s steel sector is also hurting.

Andrey Gartung, chief executive of the Chelyabinsk Forging and Press Plant, warned last year: “Russian enterprises competing with Chinese ones are holding on by the skin of their teeth.”

Not one to shy away, China has hit back with trade restrictions of its own.

Most notably, Xi reintroduced tariffs on Russian coal in January 2024, two years after the restrictions were first lifted.

This has already hit exports to China, with Milov claiming that the levies are adding to what is the worst crisis for Russia’s coal industry since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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Elsewhere, China has so far refused to lift a longstanding ban on imports of Russia’s largest agricultural exports – winter wheat and barley. Instead, it buys from Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

What China does import from Russia, it gets incredibly cheaply because it has a monopoly as one of Russia’s only buyers, says Milov.

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The average annual flow of Chinese investment into Russia has plummeted from an average of $1.2bn from 2011 to $400m, says Milov ... In 2022, China dropped Russia from its Belt and Road financing programme, while in July, China’s commerce ministry “strongly advised” carmakers against investing in Russia.

Many major projects that were previously announced with Chinese backing have now been scrapped or are on hold.

Russia quietly disappeared from what was supposed to be a joint development of a long-haul aircraft with the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China.

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Plans for Chinese CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles to build a high-speed rail line between Moscow and Kazan in south-west Russia have also been paused.

Separately, there has been no progress on the development of the Tianjin oil refinery, a joint venture between Rosneft and the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which was approved in 2014.

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This may be a sign that, for all the pomp and ceremony, the countries’ authoritarian alliance may be weaker than it appears.

“Despite all these hugs and kisses at summits, China and Russia are very much far apart,” says Milov.

Web archive link

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6271670

The EU has outlined a clear roadmap to secure Europe’s technical and economic independence in AI. A central component of this strategy is access to world-class computing power. OpenEuroLLM is now the first AI project to be granted strategic access to several of EuroHPC’s supercomputers simultaneously, including LUMI, Leonardo, Jupiter, and MareNostrum 5.

These resources will be used to train and develop a family of high-performance, open-source language models for all official EU languages. The decision secures the infrastructure to build next-generation, transparent and legally compliant language models that reflect Europe’s languages and cultural diversity.

"This is the fuel we need," says Magnus Sahlgren, Head of Research, NLU, at AI Sweden.