***European Politics Thread***

15,785 Views | 119 Replies | Last: 3 days ago by Who?mikejones!
Fat Black Swan
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5:23p, 12/10/24
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Fat Black Swan
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5:25p, 12/10/24
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nortex97
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7:16p, 12/10/24
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This will not end well.
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nortex97
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5:53a, 12/14/24
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Georgian parliament to go ahead with their presidential election today, and the current president has vowed to remain in her home office, and is an election-denier.


Romanian police drive out TikTok influencers ahead of the next round of voting, hoping to convince voters to choose more wisely.
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Georgescu, who openly embraced pro-Russian stances during his campaign, officially declared zero campaign expenses. However, intelligence documents revealed that TikTok influencers played a central role in a covert, multi-million-euro effort to amplify his messaging. Authorities believe the campaign is connected to Russian "hybrid attacks" that targeted Romania's electoral process during the election.

Last week, the European Commission ordered TikTok to preserve data linked to potential risks during the Romanian elections and upcoming EU elections, amid concerns of foreign interference and disinformation.
Analysts say the disinformation campaign in Romania resembles what happened in Moldova during presidential election and a referendum on EU accession, when a Russia-linked operation used a similar strategy to try to sway voters toward a pro-Moscow candidate.
It's all pretty comical, really. More:
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There are whole decades when nothing happens and then days when Romanian elections happen. The last few weeks in Romania have been tumultuous even by 2020s standards: after the first round of presidential elections on November 24 was won by Clin Georgescu, a far-right, Vladimir Putincurious independent who seemingly came out of nowhere, the parliamentary elections on December 1 saw (another) far-right party, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), come in second place. The result: to force all mainstream parties into negotiations for a "government of national unity." More than ever, Romanian society has become polarized between the "sovereigntist" camp (including AUR) rallying behind Georgescu, and the pro-Western bulk of the political establishment and civil society. In effect, it's a battle between the nationalist right and the neoliberal right.
…
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Surprisingly, both Georgescu and the pro-Western candidate who had made it into the second round, Elena Lasconi from the neoliberal Save Romania Union (USR), criticized the decision. So did Donald Trump Jr, who deplored this "[George] Soros/Marxist attempt at rigging the outcome and denying the will of the people." This compelled both candidates to write to his dad and argue their case, like schoolchildren in front of the headmaster. Lasconi ostensibly the candidate defending democracy, the rule of law, and all the rest started by praising Trump "for the great things you have done, and will continue to do, to put America first and for your continuous fight for the American people." Georgescuwent as far as suggesting that this is in fact a plot to drag NATO into the war in Ukraine and thereby block Trump's investiture in January. His characterization of Trump echoed the old Wallachian delegations kowtowing to the sultan: "They want to stop the Peace-Maker Donald Trump from keeping world peace."
I've never followed Romanian politics at all, but that article (from msn?) is pretty fascinating. Much more at the link.
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FancyKetchup14
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10:07a, 12/16/24
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And Germany is headed to a snap election in a couple months after Scholz loses the confidence vote.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-election-scholz-loses-confidence-vote/live-71063891
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Chancellor Olaf Scholz's minority coalition government has lost a confidence vote, paving the way for new elections in February.
Some 394 lawmakers cast their votes against the government, with 207 voting in favor.
Another 116 abstained, leaving Scholz far short of the majority of 367 needed to win.
The confidence vote came after the Free Democrats (FDP) left the coalition government with Scholz's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens following disputes over the budget.
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nortex97
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9:16a, 12/21/24
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LOL, what?


I don't think many Romanians are convinced the elections warranted cancellation because of "russian TikTok videos" at this point. Curious what follow on steps happen here. Martial law for a year or two to make sure the EU/Nato is in charge?
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nortex97
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6:50a, 12/29/24
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A win for sovereignty in Georgia.




And solidarity with/charity for Russians dislocated by the Ukrainian invasion:

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Who?mikejones!
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In reply to nortex97 • 8:49a, 12/29/24
Russians dislocated by the Ukrainian invasion? That's too bad.

You're a real something.

Russia invaded Georgia in 2008. Russia has a real problem with invading sovereign countries that were once a part of the Soviet union.

Further, such claims as a "color revolution," at least as you insinuate, is highly unlikely there. If anything, the billionaire "dream party" leader who is basically a Russian oligarch might be russia's color leader.
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3 edits
nortex97
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10:49a, 12/29/24
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Qatari's doing…jihadi stuff as usual.


Kind of incredible.

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A strange insanity is sweeping across Europe, with state after state seemingly dedicated to destroying both its own credibility and very existence. The terrible fate befalling Germany, France and Britain has already been touched on. Now it is Ireland's turn to commit hara-kiri, though with that bombastic and proudful swagger that marks out the Irish whenever they are most faithful to their own worst caricature. The issue is one at which the Irish are most vulnerable: their unmitigated hostility towards the aspirations and identity of the Jewish people.

The entire Irish political spectrum has in the past year effectively aligned itself with the foulest foes of Israel Iran, Hamas and South Africa. It has done so with a preposterous boastfulness, as if all the sensors of both decency and restraint had been cauterised, though the sacrifice of a state's defining urge self-interest is clearly the most perplexing. Together, the Irish President, the Irish political classes, the polyglot mandarins of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish media have been infused with a sanctimonious hubris that blinds them to the irrefutable realities of the new world that was born with the re-election of Donald Trump.

The message from the US is clear: do not mess with Trump as his incoming administration prepares to deal ruthlessly with the axis of evil linking Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. And what has Ireland done, but aligned itself with that axis, even as it denies having done so. This is more than stupid. It is suicidal. For Trump has made it clear that he will go after US companies that engage in global tax-evasion through off-shore financial finagling, and the EU country most guilty of this is Ireland. One-fifth of Ireland's GDP comes from Apple alone and foreign firms pay 80 per cent of Irish corporation tax, much of it through creative accounting. God help Ireland when Trump's team arrives in office and starts looking at the books.
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nortex97
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4:05a, 1/1/25
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Brits EV mandates are working out just swell:
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Ford's EV numbers are dismal, and it's time for freak-out mode.
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One of the largest car brands in the world could face fines of more than 100million for failing to meet Government targets on electric vehicle sales in the UK.
Ford has emerged as the worst-performing major manufacturer in the electric car market, with just 6.8 per cent of its sales being electric vehicles in the first 11 months of 2024.
This falls significantly short of requirements under the Government's Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which demands manufacturers achieve 22 per cent electric vehicle sales in 2024.
They should have saved the money they spent on the factory re-do.



Quote:
...Carmakers at the meeting argued for greater flexibilities on the UK's zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which forces brands to sell an increasing proportion of electric cars each year. Some carmakers want the government to allow them to sell more hybrids in the next couple of years, when electric car sales targets are likely to be hardest to meet.
...Peter Godsell, a vice-president of Ford in Europe, also called for a relaxation of rules.
"The UK ZEV mandate is challenging," Godsell said. "The market conditions are making it unworkable at the moment. It's a really unstable environment."
Separately, good piece about how 'progressive democracy' is under threat from Austria, to Switzerland and Romania by…voters not re-electing the current political order.
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Take Austria, where populist-right leader Herbert Kickl has come under political and judicial attack for having the gall to win his country's parliamentary elections in September. Other major party leaders referred to Kickl as a "threat to democracy," even though he had never actually done anything to threaten Austria's democracy. He had never called for armed uprisings, nor had he stolen an election. He had not manipulated ballots or attempted to change laws to decrease freedom of speech.
He did, however, argue that Austria's massive illegal migrant population should be remigrated into their own communities.
Another, even more frightening example, is that of Romania's recent election cancellation. As has been well-documented, a populist-right candidate unexpectedly jumped from fifth in the polls to first place in the country's first-round presidential elections. Their supreme court ruled that, due to suspected Russian interference (via the buying of bots on TikTok to support the populist candidate), the elections had to be run again.
But it turns out that it was not Russia paying for the TikTok accounts it was Romania's establishment liberal party, which had sought to boost someone they thought was an unpopular candidate in order to take votes away from the other right-wing candidate they had assumed would win. Which means the story, essentially, is that Romania's establishment bought TikTok influence. It backfired, they blamed Russia, and had the elections cancelled in order to cover up for their mistake.
This is perhaps as anti-democratic as it gets. But it strikes at the core of what democracy is all about: voting for someone. Even if it had been Russia, the election would still have been "democratic," because it involved people who cast ballots peacefully for a candidate they wanted to elect. The candidate happened to be anti-NATO and sceptical of Brussels' ideology but being anti-NATO does not make someone anti-democratic.
The same perplexing "anti-democratic" label has been applied to the German Alternative fr Deutschland (AfD), which has been designated an extremist party by the country's intelligence operations. But the ruling was perplexing: the court argued that the AfD sought "discriminatory objectives." But is wanting to eject migrants illegally in the country actually discriminatory? Discrimination based on race is of course a bad thing; ejecting migrants is simply border enforcement. If such a thing is anti-democratic, then "democracy" becomes essentially obsolete. It is, however, against "progressive democracy."
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nortex97
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4:55a, 1/6/25
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Goldman: Make Europe Great Again:
Quote:
European self-defense depends on conservative parties, not liberal cowards.

My advice to President Trump on how to deal with the mess in Ukraine is simple: you should pull the plug on the Biden Administration's flailing European peanut gallery. Your friends and allies in Europe want to shoulder the burden of their own defense, but they don't want to pour money down the drain and risk World War III in Ukraine. Get an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a war which no sane European wants to fight, and let the sovereigntist parties of the New Right mop up the globalist Left. They believe in their countries and will fight to protect them, unlike the Brussels liberals cowering behind the skirts of Mother America.

Ending the war won't happen without an agreement to keep Ukraine neutral and out of NATO. The Deep State will try to convince you that NATO can't afford to back down on eventual Ukraine membership, and that Russia is bleeding out and ready to fold. But the opposite is true: Europe's willingness to defend itself depends on a revival of nationalism and the ascent of the sovereigntist parties on the Right. Freeze the fighting and deliver a political victory to European patriots whose watchword is "Make Europe Great Again."

A recent poll found most Germans probably wouldn't fight to defend their country, and that two-fifths wouldn't fight under any circumstances. Most striking is the breakdown by party affiliation. Only 9% of supporters of Germany's Green Partythe most extreme backer of the Ukraine Warsaid they would personally take up arms to defend their country, the lowest of any group by party affiliation. Led by the bumbling, malapropism-prone Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the Greens act like the German branch of the Biden State Department.

The highest proportion of individuals ready to fight for their country came from supporters of the Alternative fr Deutschland (AfD), the conservative upstart party now polling at 20% of the national vote. In a more recent poll, 68% of AfD members said they would defend their country "with a weapon in their hand" if Germany were attacked, compared to just 22% of Green Party supporters.
He's right. More at the link.
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The AfD, like the ruling parties of Hungary, Slovakia, and Serbia, is not afraid of fighting. It opposes the Ukraine War because it is pointless and unwinnable. Germany's Greens, by contrast, oppose conscriptionin Germany, that is. They're all for conscription in Ukraine. Germany's Social Democrats and Christian Democrats meanwhile think it might be a good idea to revisit the idea of conscription sometime in the future, but they won't do anything nowor in any relevant time horizon.

Some Brussels hawks have floated the idea of European conscription to provide soldiers for Ukraine, a proposal denounced by Hungary's Foreign Minister, who declared, "We do not want Hungarian young people dragged into the Ukrainian-Russian war front. This is not our war." National conscription to defend national homelands is another matter.

Maligned as an extremist fringe group, the AfD stands to receive 20% of the vote in Germany's February 23 national elections. Its candidates won about 30% of the vote in three East German states that went to the polls in September. Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats are running at just 17% of the vote, and the Greens, which had 20% of the vote in Germany's last national election, are at just 11.5%. The AfD supports tight controls on immigration, tax cuts, and an immediate end to the Ukraine War. Its view of Ukraine is the same as that of Hungary's Viktor Orban, whom Trump has consulted repeatedly.
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nortex97
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1:01p, 1/7/25
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Notice this is not the AfD, but the CDU candidate for Chancellor in Germany now stating such a reality:

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As the Bundestag election campaign begins, CDU candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz has put forward an interesting proposal: in an interview with "Welt am Sonntag" he spoke out in favor of the possibility of revoking German citizenship for naturalized foreigners.

Merz said that "it should be possible to revoke German citizenship if we recognize that we have made a mistake with regard to people who commit crimes."

The CDU leader was referring to the Magdeburg attack. "In order to avoid attacks or further crimes, foreign criminals must be deported after the second crime at the latest," said Merz, explaining that the naturalization process facilitated by the "traffic light" coalition was fundamentally a problem. Dual citizenship is becoming "the norm," and: "We are bringing additional problems into the country with it."

What is explosive about Merz's move is the fact that the CDU leader is shaking up the constitution.

German Basic Law (Constitution) Article 16 states: "German nationality may not be withdrawn."
The jihadists have overplayed their hand in Europe.

Not sure Merz will really lead the CDU, however.

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PaulDicton
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In reply to 93MarineHorn • 4:42a, 1/8/25
You are right
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Fat Black Swan
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6:04p, 1/10/25
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Who?mikejones!
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In reply to Fat Black Swan • 6:31p, 1/10/25
Didn't that guy resign after the threatening letter hent sent to musk?
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