www.bbc.com Australia and Vanuatu agree to $328m security and business deal
Australia is trying to grow its influence in the Pacific region, to counter China's increased power.
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The Lithuanian banks do not operate in China ,,, The Baltic nation has drawn China’s ire for years. Beijing expelled Lithuania’s ambassador in 2021 in response to Lithuania allowing Taiwan to open a liaison office in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.
Guess this is more an attempt of bullying a European country than economic sanctions based on reasonable ground. It's somewhat ridiculous, but the Chinese government shows once again that it is an unreliable partner.
cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4036685
Australia and Vanuatu have agreed to a 10-year deal, aimed at strengthening security and economic ties, worth A$500m ($328m; £241m).
The so-called Nakamal agreement - the result of months of negotiations - will transform Australia's relationship with its Pacific neighbour, leaders from both countries said on Wednesday.
"We are family," Australia's deputy prime minister Richard Marles said, adding, "Our future is very much bound together". Vanuatu's leader Jotham Napat described the deal as "win-win situation" for both nations.
The deal, to be officially signed in September, comes as Australia tries to grow its influence in the region, to counter China's increased spending and power.
While the Australian government did not provide further details of the deal, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports it will provide funds to build two large data centres in the capital, Port Vila, and Vanuatu's
It’s oversimplified on purpose. The message needs to be crystal clear, and it needs to be repeated so often that no politician can go into a Talkshow without having to explain themselves why they are not taxing the rich.
Is this the solution or part of the problem? Don't get me wrong I don't question your good intentions, but I am not sure whether this is the right way to get there. Our information pipelines - and the talkshows - are crammed full of simple would-be solutions that doesn't bring us any further imo.
What we needed is a broad public discussion across the whole society asking questions like, "What should the state and our democratic communities be responsible for?", "How much money should the government spend, and for what?" (These are, btw, the same questions any university lecture on Public Finance starts with.)
Are talkshows (or big tech's social media such as Tiktok, Facebook, and the like) the right tools to discuss these? I don't think so. I used to believe that decentralized platforms like Lemmy may offer an opportunity to initiate such a debate, but after a few days here I am not so sure anymore. There is as much partisanship and totalitarian gibberish as anywhere else.
Maybe this comment is a bit off-topic, so just ignore it (and feel free to delete it), these are just my 2 cents.
I personally support 'taxing the rich', but I also think presenting this as a solution is hopelessly oversimplified. We need to rebuild the complex social contract, and this goes well beyond taxes imo.
So Russia and China, number 2 and 3 world gas consumers, are increasing their gas consumption independently, right? Is is that what you say? For the world climate it doesn't make a difference.
A lot of western countries are following usa lead
The comment and the data on the linked sites say that gas demand has spurred by China, Russia, and the USA.
Did China and Russia also follow the US lead? Or did they increase their gas consumption independently?
One such incident occurred in the UK in October 2022, when a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester was dragged into the grounds of a Chinese consulate in Manchester and beaten, in events captured on camera
[Exiled Chinese pro-democracy activist Carmen Lau] argues that the UK should not allow China's "authoritarian regime" to have its new embassy in such a symbolic location. One of her fears is that China, with such a huge embassy, could harass political opponents and could even hold them in the building.
Even the UK Socialist Workers association says that "the Chinese state is no alternative to Western imperialism."
There have been more reasons and 'incidents' regarding Chinese transnational repression, it's easy to find.
UK: China’s London mega-embassy meets vast rejection as residents fear espionage, human rights violations, tourism deterrence
euroweeklynews.com China’s London mega-embassy meets vast rejection
The place where China has plans to build a mega-embassy that has met rejection, protests and a vast UK government inquiry, is set to be built in a quiet, unassuming road that lies a stone’s throw away…
cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3988737
...
China is pushing forward with designs for its new diplomatic outpost at Royal Mint Court, a large plot in the heart of London, near Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. The imposing building, which currently lies empty, was once home to the facility that manufactured Britain’s coinage.
...
If the proposal is greenlighted by UK authorities, China has plans to invest several hundred million dollars to transform the building, on the historic parcel it purchased in 2018 for the not-so-shabby price of 280 million pounds.
But China’s plans have raised espionage fears, rattled locals in the area, who are nervous for their personal security, and come at a time when Beijing has issued bounties for Hong Kongers in the UK.
...
After much government c
UK: China’s London mega-embassy meets vast rejection as residents fear espionage, human rights violations, tourism deterrence
euroweeklynews.com China’s London mega-embassy meets vast rejection
The place where China has plans to build a mega-embassy that has met rejection, protests and a vast UK government inquiry, is set to be built in a quiet, unassuming road that lies a stone’s throw away…
cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3988737
...
China is pushing forward with designs for its new diplomatic outpost at Royal Mint Court, a large plot in the heart of London, near Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. The imposing building, which currently lies empty, was once home to the facility that manufactured Britain’s coinage.
...
If the proposal is greenlighted by UK authorities, China has plans to invest several hundred million dollars to transform the building, on the historic parcel it purchased in 2018 for the not-so-shabby price of 280 million pounds.
But China’s plans have raised espionage fears, rattled locals in the area, who are nervous for their personal security, and come at a time when Beijing has issued bounties for Hong Kongers in the UK.
...
After much government c
UK: China’s London mega-embassy meets vast rejection as residents fear espionage, human rights violations, tourism deterrence
euroweeklynews.com China’s London mega-embassy meets vast rejection
The place where China has plans to build a mega-embassy that has met rejection, protests and a vast UK government inquiry, is set to be built in a quiet, unassuming road that lies a stone’s throw away…
...
China is pushing forward with designs for its new diplomatic outpost at Royal Mint Court, a large plot in the heart of London, near Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. The imposing building, which currently lies empty, was once home to the facility that manufactured Britain’s coinage.
...
If the proposal is greenlighted by UK authorities, China has plans to invest several hundred million dollars to transform the building, on the historic parcel it purchased in 2018 for the not-so-shabby price of 280 million pounds.
But China’s plans have raised espionage fears, rattled locals in the area, who are nervous for their personal security, and come at a time when Beijing has issued bounties for Hong Kongers in the UK.
...
After much government controversy, Angela Rayner, the UK’s deputy prime minister and housing secretary, is expecte
I am sorry, but this is almost hilarious. Russia runs a plot to trigger a migrant crisis in Europe, not France. I am far from being the French government's greatest admirer, but this is really odd.
It relates as France is willing to work alongside Russian interests in North Africa, if France believes it to serve their own interests. Now it backfires and that was predictable.
What was predictable?
France may or may not have collaborated with the Haftars in Libya, but if so, how was it predictable that Russia would collaborate with a warlord in Libya to trigger a migrant crisis in Europe?
It also raises questions about France reliability in fending off Russian threats to the EU.
As someone already said, all the governments cooperate at least in some areas, this may be sometimes wrong and misguided, but I feel raising the France's Libya connection in this context and then claiming Russia's move was predictable is a bit far-fetched.
Russia’s Secret War and the Plot to Kill a German CEO
Armin Papperger runs a German defense company arming Ukraine. The efforts have brought the weapons supplier unprecedented riches, and put a target on his back.
On a clear night at the end of April 2024, arsonists slipped into a tidy residential neighborhood in Hermannsburg, a German village of about 8,000 people surrounded by flat farm fields, heathland nature reserves and military bases. Under the cover of darkness, they arrived at a large redbrick home, where they set fire to a clapboard garden house and a towering beech tree out front. They escaped undetected before the fire brigade arrived. Neighbors awoke the next morning to the smell of still-smoldering wood.
The home belonged to Armin Papperger, the chief executive officer of Rheinmetall AG, Germany’s largest defense company. Papperger, a stocky, whi
It says that the two European countries (France and Italy) see Libya as a key partner in stopping the wave of migration from sub-Saharan Africa.
Is there more about the France-Libya relationship than these three lines in an article that writes about another topic so that one can dig a bit deeper?
And, if so, if France's alleged backing of Libya's Haftar has nothing to do with the Russia-Libya cooperation aiming at initiating a migrant crisis in the EU, why do we even bring in France into this discussion? Is it just as a means of distraction? Whataboutism? I don't understand that.
France has also provided tacit backing for Mr Haftar, which has resulted in a public falling out with Italy, which supports the UN-backed government.
The two European countries see Libya as a key partner in stopping the wave of migration from sub-Saharan Africa.
France, for example, carried out unprecedented air strikes on the LNA's biggest opponents - Chadian opposition fighters - in the midst of battles in the south.
Good article about Libya (as far as I can tell as a layman for this topic), but there are only three sentences that mention France. How does this relate to Russia's cooperation with Haftar trying to cause a migrant crisis in Europe?
Hafta is ... also backed by the UAE and France, among others, seeking to undermine Lybian stability and the internationally recognized government.
I am not an expert for Libya, so I may be wrong, but what does being "backed" mean? France and other may back Haftar as well in some way, for some purpose, but here we have Russia collaborating with a Libyan warlord to trigger a migrant crisis in the EU.
Even if France and others back Libya, how does this relate to this issue?
76% of Ukrainians Reject Russia’s Peace Proposal While Vast Majority of U.S. Voters Want To Ramp Up Support For Ukraine, Polls show
- 76% of Ukrainians firmly reject a hypothetical peace deal on Russian terms, with only 17% willing to consider such a compromise, according to data from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), published on August 7.
- Support for a joint Ukraine-EU peace initiative has increased slightly, with 54% of respondents backing the plan, up from 51% in May. Only 30% found this option completely unacceptable, down from 35% earlier this year.
- 39% of Ukrainians are viewing a US-driven peace plan as potentially acceptable, a notable increase from 29% in May. However, 49% still say the American proposal is entirely unacceptable, though this marks a drop from 62% in May.
The KIIS writes:
As part of a regular survey (especially a telephone one), we cannot discuss the plans in detail with the respondents in full, because each plan includes many components. Therefore, we have prepared three shortened versions with, in our opinion, particularly important (from the point of view o
That doesn't make a difference. They are responsible for what they publish, it doesn't matter whether its own research or agency news.
The KIIS poll, which began a day after the controversial vote on July 22, found that 58 per cent of Ukrainians currently trust Mr Zelensky, down from an 18-month high of 74 per cent in May and 67 per cent in February-March.
This poll was made before Zelensky reversed his questionable decision and reinstated the anti-corruption bodies' independence. Publishing this more than two weeks later when the situation has already changed is dishonest and has nothing to do with objective, independent journalism. The Straits Times discredits itself with this.
Finland: Linux reaches desktop market share of 19.1% in July - up from 5.4% in January
gs.statcounter.com Desktop Operating System Market Share Finland | Statcounter Global Stats
This graph shows the market share of desktop operating systems in Finland based on over 5 billion monthly page views.
cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3907142
In all other countries worldwide, Linux market shares are well below 10%.
Linux market shares in July 2025:
- Africa: 3.1%
- Europe: 4.6%
- Asia: 2.4
- North America: 4.9%
- South America: 3.6%
- Oceania: 2.3%
- Worldwide: 3.9%
What happens in Finland?
UPDATE: There was apparently a similar development in 2022 according to the stats when Linux market share in Finland went up to +18 by July and then dropped sharply to 4% by the end of the year. I don't understand that, but maybe the data is flawed? (My apologies for any confusion this may cause.)
Finland: Linux reaches desktop market share of 19.1% in July - up from 5.4% in January
gs.statcounter.com Desktop Operating System Market Share Finland | Statcounter Global Stats
This graph shows the market share of desktop operating systems in Finland based on over 5 billion monthly page views.
In all other countries worldwide, Linux market shares are well below 10%.
Linux market shares in July 2025:
- Africa: 3.1%
- Europe: 4.6%
- Asia: 2.4
- North America: 4.9%
- South America: 3.6%
- Oceania: 2.3%
- Worldwide: 3.9%
What happens in Finland?
UPDATE: There was apparently a similar development in 2022 according to the stats when Linux market share in Finland went up to +18 by July and then dropped sharply to 4% by the end of the year. I don't understand that, but maybe the data is flawed? (My apologies for any confusion this may cause.)
Due to the trade deficit and the service sector that America has over Europe. They simply have more leverage
The U.S. trade deficit with the EU would shrink considerably if and when we account in the service sector, so that's a leverage the EU has over the U.S. rather than the other way around.
There is a strong body of research regarding the U.S. tariffs conundrum in the meantime (including here in this comm as I just read) revealing that Trump hurts the U.S. more than any other country or region. (And the EU is indeed the least carbon-intensive economy globally due its environmental laws that - as much as we need to improve also here- are stronger than anywhere else in the world.)
Op-eds like this one are being written these days on a daily basis, but they are exaggerated. The EU could maybe retaliate more (would this hurt the European economy as U.S. tariffs do in the U.S.?), but I wouldn't say it is 'cowering'. The Florida man says something every day, and it wouldn't make sense imo to 'bully back.' Economic forecasts for the U.S. are much worse than Trump and these op-eds make it seem.
[Edit typo.]
I fully agree. I just posted an article in this community right before this one that I find very illuminating and discusses also this issue (here again).
I don't know where you have got this, but do yourself a favour and stay away.
This survey says that job opportunities are more important to refugees from Ukraine than social benefits, and it means that job opportunities are more important to refugees from Ukraine than social benefits. Nothing else.
Yes, for the moment it seems so. But as the article discusses, it is unsure what the future holds for such politics. "Voters may worry about immigration, but that doesn’t mean they won’t blame the government if they can’t pay their bills and there is no one to look after their ageing parents."
The competition for skilled workforce will intensify in the very near future, and a large part of the world -with all Western democracies among them- are facing a decline in population. Indeed, only a few countries - notably China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan - have lower fertility rates than we in Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, while Africa is clearly winning the global demography game in the next decades.
[Edit to correct a typo.]
Demonising migrants won’t fill jobs or boost falling populations
observer.co.uk Demonising migrants won’t fill jobs or boost falling popu...
‘Stop the boats’ is a popular refrain but it obscures the real issues rich countries across the world are facing
cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3891369
Migration has rocketed worldwide, driven by warfare, climate change, rapid population growth in lower-income countries and the relative ease of travel ... But as well as greater supply, there has been rising demand. The birth rate in all rich countries ... has fallen well below the replacement rate at which population levels are stable ... As a result, more and more countries are becoming dependent on migrant labour to sustain shrinking and ageing workforces.
Germany will need annual net migration of close to 300,000 until 2040 to sustain its labour force. In the US, immigrants account for about one in five healthcare workers and the sector faced acute staff shortages even before the second Trump administration. In Britain, the care se
Job opportunities are more important to refugees from Ukraine than social benefits, a survey over Ukrainians in Europe finds
www.ifo.de Job opportunities are more important to refugees from Ukraine than social benefits | ifo Institute
Ukrainian refugees prefer countries with better job opportunities to countries with higher social benefits. This is the finding of a recent study by the ifo Institute, which surveyed over 3,300 Ukrainian refugees in Europe. “The prospect of a job that matches their qualifications and a higher wage l...
Ukrainian refugees prefer countries with better job opportunities to countries with higher social benefits. This is the finding of a recent study by the ifo Institute, which surveyed over 3,300 Ukrainian refugees in Europe.
“The prospect of a job that matches their qualifications and a higher wage level has a much stronger effect on refugees than social assistance or child benefits,” says Panu Poutvaara, Director of the ifo Center for Migration and Development Economics. “We see that wage differences play an almost four times greater role in the choice of destination country of Ukrainian refugees than differences in social benefits. That, of course, does not mean that social benefits play no role at all.”
[...]
Job opportunities and higher wages are decisive factors also to refugees who are currently unemployed. They apparently plan to enter the labor market in the future. In addition, friends or family in the destination country are 8.5 percentage points more important than imme
Why Europe could quietly win the humanoid race --
thenextweb.com Why Europe could quietly win the humanoid race
Europe is betting on real-world deployment, ethical design, and legal clarity — not flashy demos — to lead the next era of humanoid robotics.
[...]
While the US often relies on innovation funded by Big Tech monopolies and China leans on state-driven manufacturing strategies, Europe’s robotics sector is built on modular collaboration. Startups and research labs spin out into well-funded clusters, often supported by EU-backed initiatives like RI4EU and EIC Accelerator. These programs offer access to testbeds, pilot funding, and collaborative R&D networks.
Furthermore, Europe’s geographic and industrial structure gives it a special advantage: close proximity to real-world use cases. Having neighbouring logistics hubs, manufacturing zones, and retail chains in contiguity helps speed iteration and aligns development with the continent’s actual operational pain points. McKinsey estimates that in some of Europe’s critical sectors — including retail and logistics — payroll alone amounts to $1.7 trillion (€1.55 trillion). This makes automation highly profitable and ripe for disruption.
[...]
There are still concerns in European
Europe is breaking its reliance on US science, moves to ramp up its own climate data collection
- European governments are taking steps to break their dependence on critical scientific data the US historically made freely available to the world
- Data on sea-level rise and extreme weather events put at risk by cuts to National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration [NOAA]
- Over the next two years the EU plans to expand its own European Marine Observation and Data Network which collects and hosts data on shipping routes, seabed habitats, marine litter and other concerns.
- In addition, the EU is considering increasing its funding of the Argo program, a part of the Global Ocean Observing System which operates a global system of floats to monitor the world's oceans and track global warming, extreme weather events and sea-level rise.
- Nordic countries met to coordinate data storage efforts with Norway setting aside $2 million to back up and store U.S. data to ensure stable access. The Danish Meteorological Institute in February started downloading historical U.S. climate data in case i