Cold war 2.0

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Europe eyes Sweden’s conscription model to solve troop shortage

 

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Vote on von der Leyen’s future: Live updates

It’s Christmas in July (for Commissioners)! Von der Leyen hands out policy gifts ahead of key vote


Today is the big day.
The day that will basically define if the mainstream has working majority in the EU parliament. What will be confirmed by choosing Ursula Von der Leyen for another term at the helm of EU. The vote should be any moment now and since by the rules it is not known who voted how tensions are high. Since people in parliament can say one thing and vote differently.

 

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Ursula von der Leyen wins second term as European Commission president

Ursula von der Leyen reelected for EU top job


With confirmation in the parliament the elections are officially over. What in the end means that there wouldn't be any large scale political crisis, since the system would had to search for a candidate that can pass the parliament (seats in the parliament are basically electoral votes). Therefore she is again basically the prime-minister of EU. However since EU formally isn't a country the position is called "the president of European commission". Since European commission is the executive arm of EU and commissioners are basically ministers when it comes to their job and duties.

What means that EU can now move and act much more freely.

 

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Someone here claimed that Germany shied away from helping Ukraine. That is obviously not true. Germany has taken up over 1 million Ukranian refugees, more than any other ally of Ukraine, and invested 34 billion Euros in support for Ukraine, making it the largest donor after the USA (which, at four times the German population, gave about 69 billion Dollars, so half as much per capita).

And if you think we are selfishly keeping all the good stuff to ourselves, let me tell you that not only do most planes in our airforce not fly... the German navy recently published an invitation to tender to replace the floppy disk system used by some of our older fregats! Floppy disks!

A wellknown bonmot around these parts is that the German army's mission in case of an attack is to keep the enemy at bay until real military arrives.

Edit: My husband (who has a certain interest in these things) just said that while the Bundeswehr equipment does suck their training tends to be rather good. Which reminds me that training for Ukrainian defense forces is obviously yet another form of support delivered by Germany.

 

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Someone here claimed that Germany shied away from helping Ukraine. That is obviously not true. Germany has taken up over 1 million Ukranian refugees, more than any other ally of Ukraine, and invested 34 billion Euros in support for Ukraine, making it the largest donor after the USA (which, at four times the German population, gave about 69 billion Dollars, so half as much per capita).

And if you think we are selfishly keeping all the good stuff to ourselves, let me tell you that not only do most planes in our airforce not fly... the German navy recently published an invitation to tender to replace the floppy disk system used by some of our older fregats! Floppy disks!

A wellknown bonmot around these parts is that the German army's mission in case of an attack is to keep the enemy at bay until real military arrives.

Edit: My husband (who has a certain interest in these things) just said that while the Bundeswehr equipment does suck their training tends to be rather good. Which reminds me that training for Ukrainian defense forces is obviously yet another form of support delivered by Germany.

Germany slashes Ukraine funding in savings push


The fact of the matter is that Germany is getting plenty of bad press when it comes to Ukraine. From day one of the war this is going on and thus people believe it. Even if a fair amount of data is missing or the context in simply incomplete.

If Germany is sleeping on the job then what should be said about countries like Spain. That are truly sleeping on the job based on what I have seen (and they have the volume to actually do something).

 

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Can Ursula von der Leyen save Europe?

 

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Middle East updates: Death toll up after strike on Hodeidah

North Korea flies more balloons across border with South

Ukraine updates: Deterring 'Putin's Russia' a must — Germany

Azerbaijan leader vows to support French territories against ‘colonial rule’

 

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Russo-Ukrainian War detailed map


How the situation looks like in detail on the field.
Bellow the map is explanation for all symbols.

 

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Poland warns Europe to prepare for ‘change’ in US ties, regardless of next president

Hungary demands EU action against Ukraine as Russian oil spat escalates

Ukraine strikes deal to delay debt repayments

Russia jails US-Russian journalist Kurmasheva

Are we seeing the end of ECOWAS?

Bangladesh protests: What's next after court cuts quotas?

 

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This is a few days old.

 

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EU ‘ready’ to negotiate as Hungary-Ukraine oil row boils over

If Ukraine fully closes the pipelines from Russia the Pro Russians in Hungary and Slovakia will be over their heads in economic problems. I mean lets be real, they had 2 years to adapt to new reality.



Poland’s Tusk sacks no-show MPs after abortion bill defeat

German parties reach deal to safeguard judiciary amid rise of far right

The green leftie lawmaker taking on Europe’s economy

Surprise as Czechia picks S. Korea to power nuclear drive

Nigeria lawmakers double minimum wage after labor dispute

Can India's new budget tackle growing job crisis?

Uganda protesters refuse to bow to official threats

 

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It seems that the Russians are crumbling in Kharkiv region.

 

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And now when election show is on the road we can return to real news.


Europe’s warplanes fly to Japan to keep an eye on Russia and China

US, Canada intercept Chinese and Russian aircraft off Alaska

Russia cracks down on personal phones on the frontline

Invisible and powerful: How Russian women are protesting

Spyware targeted MEP critical of Hungary

Philippine oil tanker sinks near Manila, risking major spill

End of world hunger by 2030 increasingly unlikely, UN report

 

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Germany — National parliament voting intention

The fact that center right is first and far right second isn't real news. However there is new element in the story: newly founded anti-woke socially conservative left (BSW) that is friendly to Russia. Which currently is only 2 percent away from the greens. So with current trends it will probably surpass them in incoming days/weeks.


Therefore since now center left and the greens have only 26% of the vote there is no way that they would be able to make another liberal left government if elections are today. In other words the odds that they will have much better numbers on election day next year are actually pretty slim.

 

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