Europe
- Jewish group blocks entrance to Britain’s Foreign Office to demand end to Zionist arms saleswww.middleeasteye.net Jewish group blocks entrance to Foreign Office to demand end to Israeli arms sales
Naamod also called on Britain to reverse its decision to defund UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa
>Among the calls by Naamod include calls on the government to reverse its decision to defund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), which supports millions of Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and regional countries. > >“We're here today because, even as the UN Security Council has come to the belated conclusion that a ceasefire can't wait, the UK gov drags its feet in drawing a line in the sand,” Naamod said on X, formerly Twitter. > >“In the face of unimaginable catastrophe in Gaza, we demand that our government follows others and restore funding to Unrwa. > >“Unrwa is the only hope of reaching civilians desperately in need of life-saving aid. Every day the Foreign Office delays, it allows famine to continue.”
- El País says that the German economy to the brink of the abysselpais.com ¿Por qué es tan débil la economía alemana?
La industria del gran país europeo vive en el pasado y ese declive acaba teniendo consecuencias, sobre todo políticas
- German state bank freezes account of Jewish peace activist groupwww.middleeasteye.net German state bank freezes account of Jewish peace activist group
Berliner Sparkasse Bank demanded that Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East disclose list of members, including addresses
Hmm… something about this feels oddly familiar.
- Poland votes to suspend participation in Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europenotesfrompoland.com Poland votes to suspend participation in Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
The move is part of a wider NATO decision to suspend operation of the treaty in response to Russia's decision to withdraw from it last year.
- First drop of aid to Ukraine opens $60 billion pipelinewww.workers.org First drop of aid to Ukraine opens $60 billion pipeline
The Biden administration announced March 12 that it will rush a new $300 million military aid package to Ukraine. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters: “This ammunition will keep Ukraine's guns firing for a period, but only a short period. … It is not a sustainable way of
>While $300 million is a mere band-aid, it is an important signal of continued U.S./NATO intervention. There is still a funding package before Congress for Ukraine, [Zionism] and Taiwan in the pipeline. The supplemental package, which would provide $60 billion more for Ukraine, expanded from $105 billion to $118 billion after weapons lobbyists worked the Senate and House. > >This same package includes more than $14 billion to finance [neocolonialism’s] war in Gaza against the Palestinian people. > >Supplemental bills for current wars are used to add tens of billions of additional dollars to a military budget that is already the largest in history. This year’s supplemental funding is on top of the $886 billion military budget passed by both houses of Congress in December. > >All the most sophisticated and fantastically expensive Western weapons in NATO’s armories have failed to reverse the defeats of the corrupt Ukrainian military. Thousands of Western sanctions have failed to collapse the Russian economy. Nevertheless, the weapons and the sanctions keep piling on.
- Europe sleepwalks through its own dilemmaspeoplesdispatch.org Europe sleepwalks through its own dilemmas : Peoples Dispatch
Amid waning support for the war in Ukraine, leaders across Europe have found themselves at a difficult crossroads
- Stop NATO moves into Ukrainewww.workers.org Stop NATO moves into Ukraine
With the Ukrainian regime in Kiev apparently on the verge of collapse, some of the governments in the U.S.-led NATO are discussing a new escalation. Working-class forces in these imperialist countries must mobilize to stop the drive to escalate. First, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
>There is pressure on Scholz to send long-range TAURUS cruise missiles to Ukraine, missiles that could reach Moscow. So far, Scholz has refused. But recall that Scholz caved to pressure to join U.S. sanctions on Russian energy sources in 2022, despite the cost to German industry. > >Russian intelligence reports an intercepted discussion among German officers about how the TAURUS missiles could be used to destroy the long bridge connecting Crimea, which is part of Russia, with Ukraine. > >Russian President Vladimir Putin then reminded the [neo]imperialist governments in the West that Russia is also a nuclear power and that Russian strategy allows for the use of these weapons if its existence and sovereignty are threatened. > >Perhaps Macron finally heard Putin. Perhaps he heard the workers and farmers of France. On March 16 he walked back his threat to send ground troops. He started muttering about brokering a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Olympic Games, which begin in Paris July 26.
- West may decide on sending troops to Ukraine in 2-3months: Hungary PMenglish.almayadeen.net West may decide on sending troops to Ukraine in 2-3 months: Hungary PM
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reveals that what is absurd and impossible now will turn into a reality in two to three months.
- Absolute poverty: UK sees biggest rise for 30 yearswww.bbc.com Absolute poverty: UK sees biggest rise for 30 years
The energy price crisis caused the sharpest increase in absolute poverty in 30 years, official figures show.
- Von der Leyen wants to be a wartime president. Now she has to convince EU leaders.www.politico.eu Von der Leyen wants to be a wartime president. Now she has to convince EU leaders.
Commission president wants to use a defense boost to help her get a second term.
- Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People faction close to disorganisation due to lack of motivation – Ukrainska Pravda sourcewww.pravda.com.ua Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People faction close to disorganisation due to lack of motivation – Ukrainska Pravda source
An Ukrainska Pravda source has stated that Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People faction is nearing complete disorganisation, with several dozen of its MPs expressing a desire to resign due to lack of motivation.
- Swiss neutrality initiative gains momentumwww.swissinfo.ch Swiss neutrality initiative gains momentum - SWI swissinfo.ch
No more Russia sanctions: initiative would prohibit Switzerland from adopting sanctions against belligerent states.
- The boss of Dow Inc. said the price of electricity in Europe is so high that there are doubts about the long-term future of some of the chemical company’s industrial customers in the region.www.bloomberg.com Dow Says High Power Costs Cast Doubt on Europe’s Demand Outlook
The boss of Dow Inc. said the price of electricity in Europe is so high that there are doubts about the long-term future of some of the chemical company’s industrial customers in the region.
- German living standards plummeted after Russia invaded Ukraine, say economistswww.theguardian.com German living standards plummeted after Russia invaded Ukraine, say economists
Energy price shocks had huge knock-on effect, with real wages falling further in 2022 than in any year since 1950, says report
- Everyone is aware of German deindustrialization by now, but industrial production in other major European countries is not looking much better.
source senior economist at Pictet Asset Management https://twitter.com/skhanniche/status/1768188763841200364
- Europe’s soldiers keep quitting, just when NATO needs themwww.politico.eu Europe’s soldiers keep quitting, just when NATO needs them
Western allies weigh up conscription or national service, as the threat from Russia grows.
- German children ‘should be prepared for war’ 🤡www.telegraph.co.uk German children ‘should be prepared for war’
Minister says civil defence ‘is immensely important and also belongs in schools’ as tensions with Russia grow
- The UK's record on child poverty is dire (both in absolute terms of worsening & in comparison to other countries).
https://www.ft.com/content/55072b2c-539d-4511-98d6-0761fd3a0882 (archived https://archive.ph/t541e)
- Ukrainian refugee returned to Kyiv due to state of Swansea homewww.bbc.co.uk Ukrainian refugee returned to Kyiv due to state of Swansea home
Taisiia returned to Kyiv for 21 days due to the state of the home she was offered in Swansea.
- Nearly two million Brits only wash their towels once a yearwww.mirror.co.uk Nearly two million Brits only wash their towels once a year
Research has shown that nearly two million Brits only wash their towels once a year, so experts are urging people to wash them more often to avoid becoming seriously poorly
- Pro-Palestine activists deface Lord Balfour painting at University of Cambridge’s Trinity College
>In 1906, the British House of Commons was engaged in a debate about the native blacks in South Africa. Nearly all the members of Parliament agreed that the disenfranchisement of the blacks was evil. Not so Balfour, who — almost alone — argued against it. > >“We have to face the facts,” Lord Balfour said. “Men are not born equal; the white and black races are not born with equal capacities: they are born with different capacities which education cannot and will not change” > >Balfour’s racist views were not limited to Africa. In fact, despite his now iconic support for Zionism, he was not exactly a friend to the Jews. In the late 19th century, pogroms targeting Jews in the Pale of Settlement in Russia had led to waves of Jewish flight westward, to England and the United States. This influx of refugees led to an increase in British anti-immigrant racism and outright anti-Semitism. Support for political action against immigrants grew as the English racists demanded immigration control to keep certain immigrants, particularly Jews, out of the country. > >“The racists found a sympathetic ear in Balfour. In 1905, while serving as Prime Minister, Balfour presided over the passage of the Aliens Act. This legislation put the first restrictions on immigration into Great Britain, and it was primarily aimed at restricting Jewish immigration. According to historians, Balfour had personally delivered passionate speeches about the imperative to restrict the wave of Jews fleeing the Russian Empire from entering Britain.” [2]
And also:
>The most important British anti‐Semite of that age, in terms of his eventual services to Zionism, was the fanatical Jew‐baiter Lord Arthur Balfour. In a parliamentary debate on the immigration issue, Balfour made a speech in which he put forward a case for anti‐Semitism that is all too familiar. He declared: “It would not be to the advantage of the civilisation of the country that there should be an immense body of persons who, by their own action, remained a people apart, and not merely held a religion differing from the vast majority of their fellow‐countrymen, but only intermarried among themselves.”7
(Source.)
- Europe is Fearful and Desperateenglish.almayadeen.net Europe is Fearful and Desperate
What is spooking the West more immediately is the cascading defeats inflicted on Ukrainian forces, after the Avdeevka rout.
- Spanish state: Demonstrations in 100 cities demand immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gazawww.workers.org Spanish state: Demonstrations in 100 cities demand immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza
By the Solidarity Network Published Feb. 25,2024, in the web edition of El Salto, a left-wing daily in the Spanish state, with participation from many regions. Translation: John Catalinotto The Solidarity Network against the Occupation of Palestine (RESCOP), which brings together more
>RESCOP stated that “neither the European Union nor the Spanish government, which has legal obligations as a member of the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, has done anything to comply with the Court’s ruling. Moreover, only a few days ago we learned that the Spanish government lied about arms shipments to [Zionism’s neocolony], in breach of state and international law and incurring in a possible crime of complicity with acts of genocide.” > >RESCOP calls on the Spanish state to lead an immediate and permanent ceasefire and to put an end to the sale of arms and military and security technology with [the neocolony]. It also asks [the Spanish government] to support the lawsuit filed by South Africa in the International Court of Justice against [the neocolony] for genocide and to break diplomatic, institutional, economic, sporting and cultural relations with [it], among other measures.
- EU moves to slap retroactive tariffs on electric vehicles from Chinawww.scmp.com EU moves to slap retroactive tariffs on electric vehicles from China
Vehicles imported before the probe is concluded could be slapped with anti-subsidy duties.
- European Union representative admits that the ‘era of Western dominance has indeed definitively ended’www.workers.org ‘The West against the Rest’
Recently, the European Union’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, made a surprising admission in a blog post on the official website of the EU’s diplomatic service. Borrell confessed, “If the current global geopolitical tensions continue to ev
>His honest assessment that, “The era of Western dominance has indeed definitively ended,” is a bold disclosure. Such a statement from any EU official, especially a high-ranking member, is unprecedented. > >[…] > >Working and oppressed people around the world are fed up with Western powers and their [neo]imperialist policies. Even within the U.S., young people and families within oppressed communities are challenging the decaying political system. The recent “uncommitted” votes against Joe Biden in Michigan, led by the state’s Palestinian community, is another indication of how Western dominance is diminishing.
- Millions of travellers stuck as transport union members strikewww.euronews.com Millions of travellers stuck as transport union members strike
Rail and air workers' unions are threatening to resort to even more disruptive striking tactics in the future.
- EU could halt weapons exports to Britain if war breaks out with Russiawww.telegraph.co.uk EU could halt weapons exports to Britain if war breaks out with Russia
Brussels seeks powers to control arms production so that it can secure European capitals in case war in Ukraine escalates over its borders
- Palestinian resistance factions meet in Moscowwww.workers.org Palestinian resistance factions meet in Moscow
The following statement was issued by Palestinian resistance factions who met in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 29, 2024, and released by the Resistance News Network on March 1, 2024. The Palestinian factions gathered in the city of Moscow express their gratitude and appreciation to the Russian leader
>Amidst the Zionist criminal aggression our people are facing, the factions highlighted the constructive and positive spirit that prevailed during the meeting. They agreed that their meetings would continue in future dialogue rounds to achieve comprehensive national unity that encompasses all Palestinian forces and factions within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
- Politico writes about the madness coming out of the French government. The reporter views French statements as simply Macron having "taken up the mantle of the grand master in grandstanding."www.politico.eu Macron: The grand master of grandstanding
The French leader’s rhetorical bombs demonstrate a lack of seriousness — they also undermine the Ukrainian cause.
- Neoimperialist hypocrisy marks Assange persecutionwww.workers.org Imperialist hypocrisy marks Assange persecution
The contrast of Western treatment and coverage of the cases of Julian Assange and Alexei Navalny typifies imperialist hypocrisy. There is a double standard in the way Washington officials and the corporate media discuss “free speech” and “freedom of the press,” or justify who they endorse and who th
>Representatives of Washington have no right to talk about the conditions of prisoners in other countries. The U.S. has more prisoners than any other country in the world, even those with much larger populations. Among the workers incarcerated are political prisoners being held captive for their political convictions. Two of the most well-known U.S. political prisoners are Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier. Both Mumia and Peltier have been wrongfully incarcerated for over 40 years and suffer from severe health problems. > >U.S. leaders only care about “free speech” and “freedom of the press” when it suits their narrative. Ruling-class surrogates and pro-imperialist propagandists who shed tears over Navalny’s death are the same ones who wish to silence political prisoners such as Mumia, Peltier and Assange for challenging their power and exposing their lies.
- U.S.-NATO war on Russia in Ukraine now two years oldwww.workers.org U.S-NATO war on Russia in Ukraine ends second year
On Feb. 16, the Kiev regime withdrew Ukraine’s army from the key town of Avdiivka in a precipitous, disorganized fashion. It is not clear if Ukrainian forces have a stable, fall-back defensive line. This development followed months of turmoil within the Ukraine regime and among the top military lead
>The sanctions that the EU, and British and U.S. régimes were in such a hurry to impose in early 2022 have failed to destroy Russia’s economy, which has continued to grow, albeit slowly. A report from the U.S. Congressional Research Service indicates that sanctions on Russia have had a negative impact on the world economy. > >The struggle over Avdiivka began in October 2023 after the failure of the much ballyhooed Ukrainian counteroffensive. (The Ukrainian forces couldn’t breach the Russian minefields, and their attack brigades were effectively targeted by Russian airpower.) Using its superiority in soldiers, while accepting heavy casualties, Russia maintained multiple ground assaults, which wore away Ukrainian defenses, which were also subject to major air assaults. > >Ukraine has a population of 36.7 million people while Russia’s is 143.4 million, and its economy is much larger. Only the U.S.-NATO decision to keep supplying weapons to Kiev keeps the war going — with Ukainians serving as cannon fodder for imperialist interests. > >While most European NATO governments have mobilized to support the war aims — to the detriment of the working class in Europe — the Joe Biden administration has up to now been unable to get a new $60 billion aid package through the House of Representatives.
- While two thirds of Europe's CEOs are planning to change their supply chains over the next two to five years, less than two percent plan to exit China.www.prnewswire.co.uk Survey: Exiting China is an Unpopular Choice for Europe's CEOs
/PRNewswire/ -- While two thirds of Europe's CEOs are planning to change their supply chains over the next two to five years, less than two percent plan to...
- Ukraine war has cost Germany more than 200 billion euros so farwww.spiegel.de Ukraine-Krieg kostete Deutschland bislang mehr als 200 Milliarden Euro
Der Überfall Russlands auf die Ukraine ist an der deutschen Wirtschaft nicht spurlos vorübergegangen. Experten schätzen den Schaden auf mehr als 200 Milliarden Euro, mindestens.