Geopolitics and the global economy

[Ian Hall]

Noting that joint debt effectively means that stronger economies take more of the financial risk.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politi ... nce-bonds/

[SW1]

The UKs China first industrial strategy continues apace cloaked in the vail of the net zero nonsense

https://news.sky.com/story/tata-steel-t ... t-13051377

We become the only g20 nation not able to produce our own steel

[Ian Hall]

The UKs China first industrial strategy continues apace cloaked in the vail of the net zero nonsense

https://news.sky.com/story/tata-steel-t ... t-13051377

We become the only g20 nation not able to produce our own steel

But that's not what the article says.

[SW1]

The UKs China first industrial strategy continues apace cloaked in the vail of the net zero nonsense

https://news.sky.com/story/tata-steel-t ... t-13051377

We become the only g20 nation not able to produce our own steel

But that's not what the article says.

I didn’t say it did it’s just an article reporting on the closure . The article waffles on about co2 emissions and the usual net zero nonsense typical of our now activist media.

If you want one that tells it like it is try this one

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/arti ... -zero.html

[Ian Hall]

https://www.handelsblatt.com/meinung/ko ... 07839.html

English version via Google translate option:

National reflexes dominate European defense
National defense budgets have increased significantly. Nevertheless, the coordination of European procurement still hardly works.

But the EU initiatives lack the necessary financial and political support from the member states.

In Germany in particular, there is strong skepticism about a stronger role for the EU in the area of ​​defense.

In particular, Berlin does not want a stronger role for the European Commission at the expense of the national capitals

This is due, among other things, to the fact that NATO is still the most important framework for the defense of Europe for Germany. The idea of ​​European "strategic autonomy" has never been popular in Berlin - and since the beginning of the war there has been a stronger view than ever that the USA is indispensable to the defense of Europe.

This “NATO first” approach has in the past led to deep-rooted skepticism about efforts to strengthen the EU’s role in European defense.

[SW1]

[Ian Hall]

https://www.euractiv.com/section/global ... itors-say/

[SW1]

https://en.mercopress.com/2024/02/19/fo ... 2-conflict

UK Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron has arrived in the Falkland Islands for a two-day visit, emphasizing the UK's commitment to upholding the Falkland Islanders' right to self-determination. Governor Alison Blake CMG welcomed the news, expressing her delight at Lord Cameron's visit to the Islands.

[Ian Hall]

An interesting analysis:
https://www.swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2024C08/

Geostrategic positioning
Relations with Russia have long been a cen­tral point of contention between the vari­ous European far-right parties. How­ever, the differences extend deeper and also apply to other subjects and can be found both between the ECR, ID and NI parties as well as within those three groups.

For a better understanding of the geostrategic positioning of the far-right parties, we have therefore analysed the voting be­haviour of their MEPs in the European Par­liament in the current legislative period. Foreign and security policy resolutions are often not binding in the Parliament, yet this is the very reason why the parties have the opportunity to position themselves through roll-call votes of the MEPs. To this end, a total of 74 votes between July 2019 and December 2023 were analysed for this publication. In none of these were the ECR or ID parties crucial in securing a majority, meaning that the votes would not have failed without them. We examined votes in five dimensions: relations with Russia, China, the United States and NATO, respec­tively; issues relating to EU foreign, security and defence cooperation; and finally en­largement of the EU, including Ukraine, Moldova, and potentially Georgia and the Western Balkan states.

[Gtal]

Reading what Nicolai von Ordanza has to say about the EU is a waste of time.

In 2018/19 this guy was advocataing for giving the UK special access to EU defence initiatives as if he wasn't aware that the UK had been often singlehandedly(with US support of course) blocking and disrupting all initiatives in that space for 2 decades.

He also suuggest that Germany take a neutral stance on "the bilateral dispute between the UK and Ireland regarding the GFA"...
As if the EUs external border was something that Germany could or would ever in any circumstance be neutral on!!!!!?!!?


This guy is clearly a deeply committed collaborator of Pax Americana whose job is to advocate NATO first and downplay the EU.
Notice how he is always completely ignored by decisionmakers, even when the media provides him with excessive attention and he has a lot of access!!!!





Jana Puglierin is by the way exactly the same. Her "analysis" is not supposed to provide a objective eval, but to disseminate positions that align with US interests. She got on the fricking Spiegel Bestseller List with a book demonising China, but have you noticed how it had zero influence on policy and german and Eu policy continue to diverge from the US?

[Ian Hall]

France and Central Europe Are Converging on Security

DAVID CADIER

France and Central Europe have often stood on opposite sides of European foreign policy debates. But Russia’s war and Donald Trump’s shadow are making their strategic outlooks align.

https://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/91826

[Ian Hall]

Worth a read.

https://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/en/ ... e-premium/

[Ian Hall]

[Ian Hall]

https://dgap.org/en/research/publicatio ... -revisited

[Ian Hall]

Meanwhile, Europe watched helplessly from the side, underscoring the continent’s irrelevance.

Exhibit A, from a European point of view, is Tehran’s emerging military cooperation with Russia, which entails providing drones and, reportedly, missiles for the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.

For Europe, this means it has to see Iran as what it is, rather than what it wants the latter to be, whether powerful bogeyman or doomed villain.

At the same time, the EU’s own approach—sanctions and even more sanctions—seems to have reached a dead-end. Only with a sober and comprehensive assessment of the set of challenges Iran poses for Europe can Brussels devise a policy that stands a chance of being effective on the ground

[Ian Hall]

The EU’s selective application of international law has tarnished its reputation in the Middle East and the Global South. Repairing the damage will be extremely difficult.

The bottom line is that the EU has long been seen as a “payer” and not as a “player” in the MENA region. It is also a fact that the Europe’s large say-do gap has existed for years.

The EU’s cacophony has further imploded what was left of the EU’s credibility as a coherent actor in the Middle East.

Europe’s long-standing reputation as an “honest broker” in the Middle East is certainly damaged. But the damage can be repaired over time if the Europeans realize why.

In Gaza and elsewhere, the EU is in the process of learning the hard way what it means to be a geopolitical player.

Rebuilding the EU’s credibility as an ethical geopolitical player post-Gaza will be a massive challenge.

Truth be told, the European voice is not as respected as it used to be, particularly in the Global South.

Europe has faltered in presenting a united front and a strong policy response.

The European Commission’s recent announcement of plans to expand aid measures for the people in Gaza is an important signal. However, it will not be able to make up for the Europeans’ loss of reputation and influence.

Europe’s response to the war in Gaza has greatly undermined its credibility in the Middle East and beyond.

most European countries fail to recognize Gaza for the watershed it is becoming

It would be hazardous to pretend that on the war in Gaza, Europe maintains much credibility in the Arab world or even amid its Global South partners.

[SW1]

While we close strategic industries because of their coal use the rest of world laughs

[Ian Hall]

[Ian Hall]

https://www.politico.eu/article/iran-is ... -gaza-war/