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Europe At The ‘Hot Gates’!

July 19, 2024 Jack Rasmus, LA Progressive. , , , ,
2,500 years ago, the myth goes, 300 Spartans faced a much larger military force from the East at Thermopylae, a small mountain pass in ancient central Greece. Thermopylae is the Latin word for ‘Hot Gates’, as the area featured hot springs. In European history the ‘hot gates’ battle ended with the 300 Spartans annihilated. The Persians had opened a second front to the rear of the Spartan line which then collapsed, wiping them out to the man. The ‘hot gates’ was thus a defeat, although in later mythology it was spun as a strategic victory that bought time for the Greeks to mobilize to fight another day. Having bought time at Thermopylae is debatable, however, given that the battle of the ‘hot gates lasted only three days!

Spain Is First European State To Back ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel

July 1, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. , , , , , , ,
Spain filed a Declaration of Intervention on 28 June in the case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), becoming the first European state to do so. “This intervention is motivated by our responsibility as a State party to the Genocide Convention and our firm commitment to international law,” said the Spanish Foreign Ministry. In December, South Africa brought the case against Israel to the ICJ, the world’s highest court, alleging that Israel’s ongoing war on Palestinians in Gaza is a breach of the Genocide Convention. “We seek to contribute to bringing peace back to Gaza and the Middle East,” the Spanish Foreign Ministry added, emphasizing the need for a two-state solution to ensure lasting peace and stability for Palestinians and Israelis.

Europe’s Elections As A Mirror

June 16, 2024 Patrick Lawrence, Scheer Post. , , ,
Ah, those elections last week to the European Parliament, in which voters across the European Union administered a sound whack to the technocrats, market fundamentalists, and liberal authoritarians who now hold power across much of the Continent: Let us attempt what we are not supposed ever to undertake. Let us try to understand them. The E.U. Parliament, to get straight a few basic details, is one strut of the three-legged stool of which the union is made: The unelected technocrats are in Brussels, the unelected central bankers are in Frankfurt, and the elected legislature is in Strasbourg. Belgium, Germany, and France: The distribution of institutional power in this way is meant as a display of the Continent’s hard-won unity.

Democracy Will Not Come Through Compromise And Fear

June 14, 2024 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , , , , ,
Half of the world’s population will have the opportunity to vote by the end of this year as 64 countries and the European Union are scheduled to open their ballot boxes. No previous year has been so flush with elections. Among these countries is India, where a remarkable 969 million voting papers had to be printed ahead of the elections that culminated on 1 June. In the end, 642 million people (roughly two-thirds of those eligible) voted, half of them women. This is the highest-ever participation by women voters in a single election in the world. Meanwhile, the European Union’s 27 member states held elections for the European Parliament, which meant that 373 million eligible voters had the opportunity to cast their ballot for the 720 members who make up the legislative body.

European Nuclear Deterrent A Harebrained Illegal Proposal

June 14, 2024 Alice Slater, Inter Press Service. , , , , ,
It is quite astonishing and clearly insane, that Manfred Weber, the German leader of the European Union’s center-right European People’s Party, now expected to come in first in the European Parliament election scheduled on June 6-9th, is calling for the EU’s own nuclear “deterrent”—arguing that the US-stationed nuclear weapons in five NATO states, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherland, and Turkey, may be inadequate protection for Europe’s security should Trump, that great friend of Russia, be elected! There is a total disconnect from reality in the western world. It is driven by what has been described as an expansion of the warning of former General Eisenhower, commander of US World War II forces that worked with Russia to defeat the Nazi onslaught, which happened to kill the astounding number of 27 million Russians, in his outgoing presidential address.

Europe’s Shift To The Right Must Be Countered With Mass Mobilization

June 12, 2024 Giuliano Granato, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
The composition of the new European Parliament will more or less trace the outgoing one. Much ado about nothing? Not really. It’s not just a question of how many votes and seats you get—the conservative European People’s Party (EPP) increased their share by 10 seats, and the ultra-right parties Identity and Democracy and European Conservatives and Reformists by 13—but also where and how. The ultra-right is the leading force in two key countries such as France and Italy, where it won around 30% of votes (40% if we add the votes of Zemmours Reconquuête in France and Salvinis Lega in Italy).

Far-Right Surge In Elections Shakes Up European Parliament

June 10, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
The European Union woke up to a grim reality, albeit with few surprises, after the European Parliament elections concluded on Sunday, June 9. As predicted by polls, far-right parties emerged gleeful. According to preliminary results, combined, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID) groups secured only four fewer seats than the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the second-largest group in parliament. Including mandates won by unaffiliated parties close to ECR and ID, the far-right easily overtakes the center. The conservative European People’s Party (EPP) received 186 of the 720 seats, and remains the largest group in parliament.

How Europe Outsourced Border Enforcement To Africa

June 7, 2024 Andrei Popoviciu, In These Times. , , ,
When Cornelia Ernst and her delegation arrived at the Rosso border station on a scorching February day, it wasn’t the bustling artisanal marketplace, the thick smog from trucks waiting to cross, or the vibrantly painted pirogues bobbing in the Senegal River that caught their eye. It was the slender black briefcase on the table before the station chief. When the official unlatched the hard plastic carrier, proudly unveiling dozens of cables meticulously arranged beside a touchscreen tablet, soft gasps filled the room.

European Farmers Shun Anti-Green Deal Protest In Brussels

June 1, 2024 Katharina Wecker, DeSmog. , , , , , ,
Europe’s largest farming unions representing millions of agricultural workers have rejected calls to join next week’s protest against EU green reforms, DeSmog can reveal. Smaller groups have also shunned the demo – some wanting to avoid the prospect of violence, others claiming they didn’t know it was happening. Preparations for the June 4 demo have been ramping up ahead of the start of the EU elections next Thursday, with protesters set to gather in Brussels days before European citizens head to the polls. The hardline Dutch group Farmers Defence Force (FDF) has urged farmer “warriors” to attend the demo, with its spokesperson claiming: “we are defending the rights of farmers and the standards of the European Union as it’s supposed to be”.

Revealed: Far-Right Links Of Polish Farmer Hunger Strikers

May 28, 2024 Marta Kasztelan, Claire Carlile and Phoebe Cooke, DeSmog. , , , , , , ,
An obscure far-right linked farmers group has risen to prominence in Poland after it was championed by populist politicians ahead of the EU elections, DeSmog can reveal. Orka, a new farmers’ movement that materialised earlier this month, entered Warsaw’s parliament building on May 9 to protest against EU climate plans and Ukrainian food imports. Protesters suspended a 10-day hunger strike last week after winning the attention of Polish President Andrzej Duda, who invited them to talks, and reportedly offered one member a role on his council for agriculture. The protest group was accompanied by the far-right Confederation Party’s Marta Chech, who is running as a candidate in the June 6-9 EU ballot.

Top EU Official Accused At ICC Of ‘Complicity’ In Gaza Genocide

May 27, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. , , , , , ,
The Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI) has submitted a request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for complicity in Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip. A communication submitted by GIPRI on 22 May details “through facts and evidence, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the current president of the European Commission … is complicit in a number of violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC, committed by the Israeli armed forces against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including the Gaza Strip.”

European Campuses Erupt In Protest Over Gaza Genocide

May 9, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. , , , ,
More European college campuses have erupted in protest over Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, as the massive pro-Palestine movement at US universities continues to inspire students worldwide. According to a police statement, 169 people were detained on Monday evening and early Tuesday at the University of Amsterdam. Clashes with police and arrests have taken place as campuses in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Austria broke out this week. Hundreds of protesters resumed a demonstration at the University of Amsterdam on the evening of 7 May, a day after Dutch riot police stormed the protest site and violently cleared out their encampment.

Sustainable Food Systems: Feeding Ourselves Across Europe

May 6, 2024 Louise Kelleher, Resilience. , , ,
Brussels is currently not the most hopeful place for those wishing to see EU food systems in a fair, ecological transition. But hope is on the ground. Not waiting for the impetus to come from above, many communities, food policy councils, solidarity farming initiatives, food cooperatives, as well as rural and urban municipalities have already established their own democratic, economic and social frameworks in order to create sustainable food systems. At Feeding Ourselves 2024, a roundtable on Bottom-Up Approaches to Sustainable Food Systems was a chance to connect partners of two ARC2020 projects, Rural Resilience in France and Rural Europe Takes Action – Germany* with kindred spirits in Ireland.

Greece Rocked By Massive Protests Over NATO And EU’s Warmongering

April 22, 2024 Steve Topple, The Canary. , , , , , , ,
On Sunday 21 April massive anti-imperialist events took place all over Greece. They were protesting against Greece’s involvement in US-NATO-EU militarism and the ongoing bloodshed of the Palestinian people. Thanasis Paphilis, secretary general of the World Peace Council, spoke at the event and noted: We are here today, outside the Ministry of National Defence, at the end of the 41st Marathon March to condemn Greece’s involvement in the murderous US-NATO plans. To demand the closure and removal of the US-NATO-EU bases and barracks that have turned our country into a military base and our people into a target for retaliation. To return here and now the frigate ‘HYDRA’ and the Armed Forces personnel from the Red Sea.

The European Court of Human Right’s First Climate Ruling

April 13, 2024 Isabella Kaminski, DeSmog. , , ,
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has today ruled that insufficient action to tackle climate change is a violation of human rights. In a historic judgement, the court ruled that Switzerland’s failure to do enough to cut its greenhouse gas emissions breached the rights to respect for family and private life of some of its most vulnerable citizens. It is the first time this court, which is responsible for interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty signed by all members of the Council of Europe (including the UK), has ruled on a climate change-related matter.
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