EU Today’s Post

It is curious where Mr. Assange has been acquitted by a US Court, but not in one of its 50 States. The trial was held in the Mariana Islands, an archipelago in the Pacific, formerly a Spanish dominion and a belligerent scenario during WWII. Now, it seems the perfect place to retire and live your golden years. The Mariana Islands are a US territory with a particular administrative status. Their citizens are Americans but cannot vote in the presidential elections. It is a sort of neo-colonialism without the marks of the violent colonialism of the 20th century but still keeps the reminiscences of imperialism and past times. Not only does the US have dominion over this kind of territory. The UK, Russia, Denmark, Norway, China, France, etc., have control or attempt to have control under a sui generis political status in archipelagos or peninsulas in different coordinates to develop monetary or strategic interests. And that struggle for exploring and conquering goes farther and beyond, as new disciplines of study and work are deployed into the field, such as the Space Economy, which now offers some academic institutions. https://lnkd.in/ddsz2i99

LUXON JUST DOESN'T GET IT! His reflection that he knows Māori are frustrated reveals his intrinsic comprehension that his policy and behaviour in re this Bill (and other Maori-stomping policy) is terminally racist bc it does in fact target Māori. "Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says his Government’s Treaty Principles Bill is a “disservice” to the Treaty and he gets the “immense frustration” among Māori." His loose inherent signalling to other non-Māori is that he still thinks only Māori are interested in or have an interest in te Tiriti - 'but we'll still rely on it as the source of sovereignty!' How wrong and misinformed he is. SO, HE STILL DOESN:T GET IT! Te Tiriti is for all of us. We are all allowed to embrace it. Even white people, like me. And white people like him. And we do embrace it! Does he not see this? We are allowed to think: te Tiriti is just; te Tiriti is fair for our nation, here in Aotearoa; or we are allowed to think and feel ‘we are in fact bound by it - let's explore it’. We don't have to remain in the white silence, or the white fragility - we don;t have to be dominated by those white voices who say the Treaty is only for Maori.... We have simply said that for too long. We have ecshewed responsibility and hidden away, and some who hid away, who shied away, now even say 'there's been no debate!' Does he not watch the news, do his advisors keep it from him? New Zealanders of all kinds are frustrated by his Prime Ministerial decisions which have led to this outcome. He cannot hide from his role in this. To offer a trite reflection on his commercial background: He is now the Chairman of the Big Board, and he has knowingly taken the Big Company down this path. It might be actually a great magic trick by Seymour. He has brought his agenda to the fore but he is not responsible for it getting to where it is. That responsibility lies squarely with the Chairman. Do not let the PM snake through the grass and distance himself from these cabinet actions that he controls.

Prince Andrew was not special. China sends government officials and Communist Party officials – almost always one in the same – to the UK to meet with a whole range of people in business, politics and culture. It’s not a secret. It’s transparent, mostly. (*I’ll come back to this in a bit). They want access, on occasion influence, but more than anything they are trying to understand. Understand more about our society, the way our government works and how our media and other institutions interact. Crucially they are trying to also understand more about how their country, their government, their people are perceived abroad. These visits have resumed for the time since the pandemic. I was involved, for an afternoon, at one gathering earlier this year at a university in London. I talked about trust and openness when it comes to decision making. The group I was with were polite and respectful. Then some complained about elements of my reporting from China when I was based there for the BBC. All par for the course. I knew who was in the room. I knew why I was there. There was a necessary transparency. (*Although you should always be thoughtful about what information and views you impart to a room full of China provincial government propaganda experts, some of whom may have ‘additional’ roles.) But the United Front Work Department is not so. It’s not an out and out clandestine service, but it is opaque in its workings. Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee described it as an ‘intelligence-gathering organisation’ in its 2023 report: ‘one of the most important departments of the Chinese Communist Party’.  Let that sink in. This is a crucial part of the Party apparatus. Its role is to maintain primacy for China’s communist rulers. Many in the west fail to grasp that distinction. This isn’t just about government or diplomacy or terms of trade, this is about influence, control, co-option and interference to protect the interests of the Party. Mostly aimed at Chinese communities and individuals abroad, it is an organisation that China’s leader Xi Jinping has expanded and attached increased importance too. It’s at the forefront of advancing China’s interests and it has considerable resources. Quelling dissident voices is on its radar. So is influencing elites. Prince Andrew, whom I watched alongside Xi Jinping at a trade expo in pre-Covid Shanghai, brought kudos and access. The latter was key. (Search New York Times + John Chan for an even more staggering story). Journalists, or should I say ‘journalists’, were another way to try to achieve the same thing. An American government official once told me they knew some of the Chinese state media employees given journalist visas to work in the US were not real journalists. Engaging in intelligence gathering and trying to win influence over elites are nothing new. They’re a bedrock of statecraft. Prince Andrew has helped highlight how China’s UFWD has been doing this, out in the open, for years.

This story of a Chinese spy on the rocks, however British it may seem, could erupt anywhere in the world, including France. In fact, It's always the same story with the same conclusion: only the top of the iceberg... (quote): -“but, of course, we are concerned about the challenge that China poses” (...) - “Our approach is one of engagement: of cooperating where we need to cooperate, particularly, for example, on issues like climate change (…) - To challenge, where we must and where we should, particularly on issues like human rights. And to compete when it comes to trade. So that's the strategic approach that we've set out as a U.K. government (end quote). I dare to ask: is there a middle ground between good faith and bad faith? How can we, within the same government - and more fundamentally the same individual - play one side and the other without falling into scysophrenia, while among our adversaries it is obvious that bad faith prevails everywhere, in all areas of so-called cooperation? This kind of triptych between what we must do and what we can't do, while continuing to do above all else, is simply untenable insofar as it is self-proclaimed strategy in broad daylight. A real strategy can't be stated, it has to be implemented, and it has to be the subject of endless conjecture on the part of our opponents, doesn't it? We pretend to deploy a grand strategy in full mastery of our art. In fact, we are self-destructing who we are by salami-slicing our values and integrity. All this must come to an end. When are we going to tackle the Chinese Iceberg from the bottom and stop waiting to be spooked by its topping? https://lnkd.in/eiZU2_W8

President #mattarella, in his statements to the press yesterday on the occasion of the visit of the Spanish royals, shared his thoughts on the future of the EU in common with King Felipe: that the European institutions (particularly those democratically legitimised as the European Parliament and indirectly the European Commission) have the arduous task of building a comprehensive reform of the EU. As the latest resolution voted by the UEF Federal Committee stated, the governments of Italy and Spain should have similar stance as their heads of state and openly choose to side with the political strengthening of the EU.   ‘In our talks, we looked at Europe. We shared a reflection on the future of our Union in an increasingly treacherous global context.   The new legislature and the new Commission are called upon to undertake a task, in the Union, that is both demanding and unavoidable, for a comprehensive reform of the Union, concerning decision-making methods, the revival of competitiveness, first and foremost through the completion of the single market and the financial system.   Reform that moves with determination towards a true common European defence.   Of course, also emphasising two other central issues for the life of the Union: enlargement, a geostrategic priority for the Union, as well as for the candidate states, and the full implementation of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum’.

A remarkable move by #MikhailFridman, who was a focus case study in #oligarchsgrip written by our co-founders David Lingelbach and Valentina Rodríguez. #Fridman is employing one of the four strategies documented in that book--secrecy and stealthiness--to obscure his relationship with #VladimirPutin, and then monetize that stealthiness with a legal claim. Our co-founders have been skeptical that #sanctions against #Russia would be effective. If Fridman's claim is successful--and that's a big if--the implications for #Luxembourg and the #EU would be substantial. Some observers may see Fridman's move as a form of economic warfare by Russia against the West. We don't have enough evidence to support that claim, but it is not impossible. De Gruyter Business & Economics De Gruyter Brill Universidad De Los Andes Facultad de Administracion Universidad de Los Andes University of Baltimore Merrick School of Business University of Baltimore https://lnkd.in/d9Sa9cKE

But preserving good relations with America was more important https://econ.st/3LURRKs

Why MAGA? Here is one reason! https://lnkd.in/ecp-wzeH https://lnkd.in/etAZ9hYK If China is a “pacing threat” who we helped build its industrial base while ours was collapsing, then why is our Government arranging for “American” Businessmen a meeting with XI to help them—the “American” businessmen improve their ability to do business in China? Who is our Foreign and Defense policies— Why MAGA?— We already and have since the Post WW11 provided the maritime security/stability on the high seas so China and the rest of the world could import the resources and energy they do not have and so they could then make and export to the World (42%of its GDP is from exports). That is the foundation of Globalization—our US Navy which today provides security so the world can import and export even to disadvantage of our American Constitutional Republic

Dear American Civil Liberties Union Sir, This email was sent by: American Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004, USA As you allowed me to raise my truthful voice of struggle of ex-Vietnamese American prisoners of war to talk out my opinion that I would solemnly like to appreciate you so much. Let me ask your American Civil Liberties Union some questions. My questions have asked the American Leaders within their United States Constitution that's belongs to the Vietnam War in order to protect American Democracy forever without having had animosity and discrimination against the national color, racism. 1, Why didn't the United States Department of Justice prosecute its President Kennedy because he violated criminals to the United States Constitution when President Kennedy assassinated President Ngo Dinh Diem? 2, No Articles of the United States Constitution allowed any American leaders who have contorted their Constitution, let them build invasion and subversion wars to the foreign nations like President Kennedy and Congress seized and sold the Republic of Vietnam to socialism. Why have they distorted their Constitution without having Department of Justice prosecuted them? 3. Why have the American leaders violated to Article Third of the United States Constitution while the American Leaders have been signed four multilateral and the thirty-seven bilateral treaties with their allies of the Republic of Vietnam without having carried out their international treaties? 4. Why hasn't the United States enforced the Hague Convention on July 29, 1899, for the Law and Customs of war on land to why had the United States played hands-off policy in the Vietnam War after sold and betrayed the Vietnam Armed Forces on 30 April 1975? By the way, I would like to share the experiences of my exact life with you-and here is: Mr. Putin is one of five great powerful nations when he has not only invaded and subverted the foreign nation but also seized the national lands of Ukraine. He calls for the ending war which is why he has the right to bully his national neighbor without having repay the lands of Mr. Putin has seized, so comparation, communism seized the foreign lands and genocide's humankind. Yet, capitalism has been built so many wars to freely kill innocent human beings without having compensated any pennies, and capitalism socialism have freely robbed the small and weak of foreign nations, let it sell to other powerful nation to letting it protect the core of national interests without having respected other foreign nations' interests. In contrast, the sea-robbers robbed the properties of the rich men and then, they shared it for the poor. Finally, the value of the robbers is higher than five great powerful countries of the world when the sea-robbers didn't have any constitution and a people's congress.  Respectfully yours Bright Quang

Who is next? "Greenland’s elected leader said the gigantic Arctic island is not for sale after Donald Trump once again raised the issue of “ownership and control” of the vast territory that has been part of Denmark for more than 600 years. “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” Greenland’s prime minister, Múte Egede, said in a written comment. The US president-elect on Sunday announced that he had picked Ken Howery, a former envoy to Sweden, as his ambassador to Copenhagen, and commented on the status of Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark. “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Trump, who takes office on 20 January, did not elaborate on the statement. For many observers Trump’s comment triggered a sense of deja vu. During his first term Trump suggested in 2019 that the US should buy Greenland – which is home to the strategically important Pituffik US space base. That idea was roundly rejected by Denmark as well as by the island’s own authorities before any formal discussions could take place. It also prompted widespread ridicule and became emblematic of the chaos that Trump brought to traditional global diplomacy – something now expected to happen again once Trump returns to the White House next month. The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, in 2019 labelled Trump’s first offer as “absurd”, leading the then US president to describe her as “nasty” and to cancel a visit to the Danish capital of Copenhagen." #trumpgreenland https://lnkd.in/gYvF6bzW