Will Mr. Sanchez raise this issue of the Chinese soldiers fighting for Russia against Ukraine? I mean, as “China would be a key strategic partner for Spain and Europe” …

Might not be a bad idea to collaborate with China …

This is exactly the point. Renewables are the future, but Europe must not replace its dependence on Russian oil with dependence on Chinese tech. Given that China is a decisive supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine (and falsely claims that former Sovie-republics like Ukraine, the Baltic states, and others have no independent legal status), it is clear that Beijing is not exactly a friend of Europe to say the least.

It is absolutely necessary for the EU to (re-)build its wind and solar sector.

I agree. Unfortunately there is a lot of this bs here in this community, and it appears to come form always the same accounts.

FoxNews’ Watters on American TV: “We are not in high school. We don’t need friends … if we have to burn down a few bridges with Denmark to take Greenland … we’re big boys … we dropped A-bombs on Japan and now they are our ally… America is not handcuffed by history.”

Addition: Here is an alternative link to Mastodon if you don’t want to click Xitter: https://eupolicy.social/@Squig/114245727346349844

It’s one of the few English speaking sources from China.

China’s Global Times is an English-language propaganda outlet in English. The Chinese Communist Party’s news agency Xinhua publishes in English (as well as in German, French, and many other languages). And then there are many propaganda outlets in English and other languages in the world.

Sometimes these are openly influenced by China. The Chinese government has been spending billions of dollars (in the single-digit billions, if I recall correctly) over the last decade or so to establish a network of such propaganda outlets all across the globe (publishing news in English and other local languages), all of them collaborating with the so-called “International Communication Centers” inside China for fine-tuning Chinese anti-democratic narratives.

Other propaganda outlets are hiding their connections to the Chinese Communist Party, the recent most prominent example likely being “NewsBreak”, that was once (or still is?) the most downloaded US news app, and in 2024 turned out to be of Chinese origin, and spreading AI generated ‘fiction’ and Beijing’s propaganda.

Your statement is absolutely baseless and even downright naive if it comes from a moderator dealing with such content.

[Edit for clarity.]

Pikachu Spotted Fleeing Police Crackdowns During Turkey Protests – [Real news, not The Onion]

People are protesting in several major cities in Turkey, and Pikachu was at one in Antalya, according to local news outlets and social media. In the video, the person in the mascot suit hauls yellow nylon ass as fast as a pair of short, inflated legs can carry them—which is surprisingly fast, actually, considering how they’re keeping up with the people running all around them. The original video was captured by Ismail Koçeroğlu, a photojournalist at Akdeniz University in Antalya […]

And because nothing good is safe from AI—not even Protest Pikachu, arguably one of the purest pieces of iconography to come out of the resistance to the worldwide creep of authoritarianism yet—an AI-generated image of Pikachu rushing through the streets alongside protestors went viral shortly after Koçeroğlu’s video. Several local outlets have debunked the image, which is made to look like a high-resolution photojournalism shot from the ground, as being generated with AI.

If the sanctions end they’ll be able to wind down and focus on peaceful development.

Where do you get this? Even the Russian experts -those from the Central Bank, from the universities, and other entities under the direct control of the Kremlin- openly refuse such claims. The numbers -from Rosstat, Russia’s national statistics office, and other Kremlin-affiliated institutions- are painting a completely different picture. Even the Russian state-media openly say that Russia’s economy is in for a long-term winter, e.g., the country will be facing severe labour shortage, staggering inflation, troubles to payout state pensions.

@queermunist@lemmy.ml

@rimu@piefed.social

Mr. Obermann may have a business interest here, but his remarks regarding Russia’s economy are absolutely valid. Putin has turned Russia into a ‘war economy’ with the whole country depending on war. Even Russian economists -including from the Central Bank- warn that the country will be facing difficult times if peace breaks out (which may also mean it would be difficult for Putin to stay in power as soon as the war ends and there is no enemy anymore).

So Obermann’s comment that “the internal pressure [in Russia] to deliver new victories through military conquest likely will grow”, is very real. Putin put his country on a war path for the long term. For example, Russia’s defense minister is an economist claiming that war would be a requirement for economic growth (this is, of course, complete rubbish, but this comes from Russia’s government).

I wrote a comment regarding Russia’s economy in a different thread and don’t want to repeat it, so here is the link if you are interested: https://slrpnk.net/post/19670037/14488418

Rutte according to a report by AP:

“If anyone were to miscalculate and think they can get away with an attack on Poland or on any other ally, they will be met with the full force of this fierce alliance. Our reaction will be devastating. This has to be very clear to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and anyone else who wants to attack us."

[Edit typo.]

Nah, the others must say thank you ;-)

In a not so funny note, egg prices in the U.S. are up 19,19% in February (month-on-month).