@westerneuropean
@westerneuropean.bsky.social
Retired university administrator. Interests include: Climate change, Brexit, UK Economy, Politics, Education, History and Music. Based in Devon, UK
1/ Russian bloggers are upset that the Russian Ministry of Defence has drastically expanded military recruitment offices' access to citizens' personal data, including virtually everything about people's lives. They complain, with no apparent irony, that it's like '1984'. ⬇️
Now this I can get behind! waterfordwhispersnews.com/2026/08/26/i...
Ireland’s First Data Centra Opens To The Public
A MAJOR new player has entered the information storage game and it now comes with a deli counter, WWN can reveal. Centra, the beloved convenience shop chain, has announced the construction of its fir...
waterfordwhispersnews.com
A great example of how the United States sees dominating the computing capacities of countries around the world as a geopolitical priority, because it knows if countries are locked into its tech it can maintain power over them.
Huawei AI Data Center Bid in Egypt Spurs US to Mull Counter
Huawei Technologies Co. has bid to build AI data centers for the Egyptian government, demonstrating its global chip ambitions and drawing alarm in Washington — where officials are working to assemble ...
bloomberg.com
According to the @wsj.com, the deal in Venezuela will "give the US a "stake in a private company that would be granted centurylong rights to some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves" and also tie the U.S. to the "unelected government that is granting those rights." www.wsj.com/business/ene...
Exclusive | Inside Trump’s Plan to Give the Pentagon a Stake in Venezuela’s Oil Riches
The deal capped months of secretive negotiations to give the U.S. rights to the some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
wsj.com
This is obvious to anyone who knows even a little bit about trade. "The other side can retaliate," is one of the first lessons we learn in economics.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch@stltoday.com · 5h agoA reignited trade war between the United States and Canada means some prices are likely to rise for consumers in both countries.
A few days ago I published a piece about conspiracy theories that "failed". Then a fella asked a question that turned out to be much more consequential than it first appeared. "Is there a mathematical model for how misinformation spreads?" It turns out there are quite a few.
I wonder why none of them have thought of the revolutionary strategy of talking to women and listening to what they say
Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net · 6h ago“So-called "pheromone-maxxing" is a viral TikTok trend primarily associated with teen boys and young men that involves skipping showers and deodorant before a date. Some proponents go so far as to wear unwashed shirts or drink their own urine in an effort to "sweat out toxins," Please kill me
Gov. Pritzker: I have to find money that we don’t have to fight problems that didn’t exist before Donald Trump. I’m not the only one.
Looks like the US is advocating a European army. Thought opposition to that was one of the arguments for Brexit? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
‘If made in Europe excludes the UK I think it’s existential for Sunderland..it will die’ - Hello poster boys for Brexit! And hello Prime Minister too - when will this farce be reversed? www.theguardian.com/business/202...
On long road back from Brexit, north-east’s recovery rides on survival of Nissan’s ‘shining star’ plant
Operating at only half its capacity, Japanese carmaker’s Sunderland factory seeks deal with China’s Chery as it battles Brexit threats
theguardian.com
Belgium is standing firm against using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine despite a renewed push by Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain. "This is non-negotiable, the door is closed," Defense Minister Theo Francken said. Most of the roughly €200 billion in assets are held in Belgium. #EU
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin resumes strikes on Kyiv amid outrage over 34 deaths at care home - The Independent apple.news/AgYYuJl7uQMi...
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin resumes strikes on Kyiv amid outrage over 34 deaths at care home — The Independent
The Ukrainian president has promised to punish those responsible as munitions were unknowingly stored in the area causing a huge fire to spread from the explosion
apple.news
I don't expect much change. Burnham has backed Brexit and is simply not that interested in Europe. That only changes when his incentives change. Thanks for reading. Sorry for the downer. This'll cheer you up👇👇 👇👇👇👇 Let's build Europe Ends eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/world/e...
Euro banknotes: a chance to be bold about European identity
The euro’s new banknotes offer an opportunity to express what Europeans share – if the ECB is bold enough to take it
eastangliabylines.co.uk
Trump: “We don’t need no stinking’ Welland Canal! Niagara Falls is wide open for ships! Checkmate, Canada!”
💙Christine Slemmer💙@slem63.bsky.social · yesterdayJust a reminder that every ocean ship entering the Great Lakes goes through the Welland Canal. Eight locks, twenty-seven miles, all of it in Ontario. That is the route. $26.3 billion of American trade depends on it. Trump didn’t think this through.
There's no forgiving this. No living it down. It's a stain on our humanity. When all this is over, the monsters who did this should be pariahs. And the soulless thugs who cheered it on while dehumanizing Haitian immigrants should be reminded of what they did every day of their lives.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d agoThe situation in Haiti is terrifying. On Sunday, 150 gunmen swept down on a town to kill, rape, loot, and burn. 22 people were executed in a churchyard. 52 were taken hostage. Stephen Miller mockingly says Haiti is safe and ICE just sent its second deportation flight this month; with kids on board.
The area hit by Russian drones in Kyiv today is the epitome of civilian area . People go there for a walk, a coffee, a promenade . Now, all packed with ambulances , police in bulletproof vests and yellow neon jackets, windows of stores broken , blood on the yellow bricks . And that’s the thing :
Aaaand back to Cofnas. It’s is so clear how lousy his scholarship is, what a facile, shallow intellect he has, and what a committed ideologue activist he is.
1/2 An old fashioned imperialist coup. It’ll generate a client group who’ll do well from rapacious exploitation of the environment & less empowered Venezuelans. Trump hails 'historic' deal for US to control 65bn barrels of Venezuela's oil www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Trump hails 'historic' deal for US to control 65bn barrels of Venezuela's oil
Venezuelan interim president says the unusual agreement will help revive her country's economy.
bbc.co.uk
🔴 NEW: Special advisers accepted hospitality from lobbyists and businesses 700 times + since Labour took power Glastonbury tickets, Taylor Swift, UFC fights + more SpAds sit outside the UK lobbying rules. So no one knows what was actually discussed🧵 democracyforsale.substack.com/p/the-700-fr...
The 700 freebies: how lobbyists and businesses courted Labour's special advisers
A Democracy for Sale investigation reveals the scale of hospitality accepted by ‘spads’ – and how little the public is allowed to know about it
democracyforsale.substack.com
What kind of half-assed convoluted illogical gibberish is this? Brown wants Irish unity but opposes Scottish independence. The two are essentially the same. You either support self-determination for all or for no one. It’s daft biased nonsense that really isn’t worth reporting apart from to laugh at
Child poverty in Middlesbrough is around 48%. The UK average is just over 30. If Cleveland Police's budget had kept up with inflation since 2010 it would be £246m this year. Instead, it's £196m.
The Middlesbrough I know has become a nightmare
For communities that feel left behind and abandoned, the deafening silence from those at the top won’t change any minds about whether or not politicians care about their fate, says Leigh Jones
independent.co.uk
Critically Low Missile Stocks Put US Deterrence in Europe and Asia in Doubt · Clash Report clashreport.com/defense/arti...
Critically Low Missile Stocks Put US Deterrence in Europe and Asia in Doubt · Clash Report
Large transfers of Patriot, ATACMS, THAAD, and other weapons to the Middle East have pushed some U.S. stocks in Europe and Asia to critically low levels, sharp…
clashreport.com
“The officer was also targeted, in part, because of an essay he wrote in a graduate program on the implications of political polarization on the Army’s ability to recruit & retain talent, said officials familiar…It is unclear why Mr. Hegseth or members of his team found the essay objectionable.”
Kai Ryssdal@kairyssdal.bsky.social · 2d agoOnce again and as a reminder, the Secretary of Defense is afraid.
