Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

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Europe

Trump Effect: NATO Nations Agree to Increase Defence Spending to Five Per Cent of GDP

2025-06-23

[Breitbart] Members of the Western NATO military alliance reportedly agreed to increasing defence spending to five per cent of GDP within the next decade in a major victory for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has long demanded that America’s allies pay more for their defence.

Ahead of the NATO summit this week at The Hague in the Netherlands, members agreed in principle to increasing individual nation-state defence spending to five per cent of GDP by the year 2035 at the latest, German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported. The figure would be the first time NATO has set itself a formalised, increased spending floor since the two per cent agreed on at the Cardiff summit in 2014.

“Those damned Americans always demand we live up to our treaty commitments! We were so excited about Barack Obama finally being one of us, but he’s just a cowboy like the rest of them.”

Even over a decade later now a considerable number of NATO members still don’t hit that two per cent, though, including Portugal, Italy, Canada, Belgium, and Spain.

They never intended to, and so they didn’t.

Nevertheless the new deal, which came in the wake of pressure from the Trump administration, stipulates that at least 3.5 per cent of GDP must be spent directly on military needs, while the additional 1.5 per cent can be devoted to related defence costs.

With all the social spending promised to their illegals and Moslem colonists, can they afford so much as 2%, let alone the higher number?

While socialist-run Spain had initially threatened to block the agreement, Madrid is said to have dropped such plans after securing an exemption from the new spending target.

Nice to have formalized what they intended anyway…

Spain has frequently failed to meet the current NATO spending obligations of 2 per cent of GDP, including last year, when it ranked dead last among all NATO members having spent just 1.28 per cent of its GDP on defence.

Embattled Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez said that the scale of the expected military investment is “disproportionate and unnecessary,” while openly declaring that his nation would not abide by requirement.

In contrast, Poland, long one of the top contributors in Europe, committed earlier this year to reaching the five per cent threshold, after having already surpassed four per cent last year amid growing concern over Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

Guarding the gates of Europe since the Ottomans tried to come through.

The reported move by NATO to collectively agree to increasing defence spending to five per cent will represent a significant victory for U.S. President Donald Trump.

…only if they actually do it instead of just trying to placate him. Being played for a sucker is no victory.

Dating back to his first term in the White House, President Trump was openly critical of prosperous European nations leaning on American might and wealth to subsidise their defence.

A particular punching bag for the American leader was Germany, which he frequently lambasted for failing to meet their NATO defence spending commitments while being the richest country in Europe and while forking over billions to Moscow in exchange for Russian natural gas.

In 2018, then-President Trump accused Germany and others of being “captive” to Russia, paying Moscow billions in exchange for natural gas, as they demanded American protection from Putin.

While figures within the liberal political establishment and legacy media often attempted to cast Trump’s approach as alienating other Western allies, his novel tactics were later credited for increasing NATO power.

In 2019, then-NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that President Trump’s hardline methods were critical in securing an additional $100 billion in spending from NATO allies.

Which certainly is something, if not enough to allow Europe to defend itself, should Russia actually surge over the border. Though why Russia would want to is beyond me.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Mayor Brandon 'Bear of Little Brain' Johnson Is Having a 'Come at Me Bro' Meltdown

2025-06-18

[Hot Air] I suppose while I'm on a pathetic, big, blue city mayor kick this afternoon, I might as well update y'all on the goofiest, least competent, most anxiety-ridden, saddest creature ever to occupy the mayor's office in Chicago - Brandon Johnson, Bear of Little Brain.

The teachers' union tool is having a whale of a year, and nothing is slowing down the man down on his self-paved highway to hell.

We've been over all the looming financial ruin and skullduggery that preceded the still percolating teachers' union pension payment and the payday loan situation.

The fired head of the Chicago Public Schools system, long-suffering Pedro Martinez, is finally leaving after a heroic fight to safeguard the schools. On his way out, he had a few choice words for Hizzoner, starting with how he was asked to resign to facilitate the mayor's payoff scheme. Something that mayor, bastion of integrity that he is, has denied.

Link

Europe

Spain reneges on $325m purchase of anti-tank missiles from Israel’s Rafael

2025-06-04

[IsraelTimes] Withdrawal from deal to buy 168 launchers and 1,680 missiles, signed days before the Oct. 7 attack, comes as Madrid calls for sanctions and arms embargo on Israel over Gaza war

Spain has canceled another arms deal with Israel, the Spanish Defense Ministry said Tuesday, confirming local media reports, as Madrid and other European governments urged sanctions on Jerusalem due to the Gaza war.

More for the IDF to use in the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon. The fix, too, is easy: any future contract with Spain for at least a generation needs a 100% penalty for cancellation or alteration-of-terms clause. Come to think of it, what is the cancellation penalty in these two contracts?

The cancellation will affect the purchase of SPIKE LR2 anti-tank missile systems with an estimated value of 285 million euros ($325 million). The systems would have been developed in Spain by Pap Tecnos, a subsidiary of Israel’s Rafael Advance Defense Systems, according to local press.

The deal included 168 launchers and 1,680 missiles, according to Israel’s market daily Globes, which added that Spain might purchase American-made Javelin missiles instead.

This could be fun. Untrustworthy customers discover they are presented with a large security mark-up and cancellation fee built into the contract. Perhaps they should go straight to Russia or China, despite the quality downgrade.

The Rafael deal was finalized four days before the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists invaded southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the Gaza war.

Responding to Spanish reports that the deal was scrapped, Rafael said it was unaware that Madrid had reneged on the purchase.

Spain had in April canceled an order for 15 million Israeli-made bullets. The government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had been briefly thrown into disarray after he had announced the purchase would go forth despite earlier promising to scrap the deal. Sanchez canceled the sale after his hard-left coalition partners threatened to resign.

Spain is a long-time critic of Israel’s policies toward Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Speaking in the Spanish parliament last month, Sanchez called Israel a “genocidal state.”

His foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, told reporters last month that Spain would request the “immediate suspension” of the European Union’s cooperation deal with Israel, and would also urge partners to impose an arms embargo on Israel.

The EU commenced a review of its cooperation deal with Israel last month, as Israel launched a renewed offensive in Gaza that aims to seize 75 percent of the Strip. The renewed offensive was accompanied by a US- and Israel-backed aid distribution scheme meant to circumvent Hamas, after some two months in which no aid entered the Strip at all.

Spain had already outraged Jerusalem by recognizing Palestinian statehood in May 2024, in a joint move with Ireland and Norway, which have also been highly critical of Israel’s policies in Palestinian territories.

Amid the aid block and renewed offensive, countries that have had warmer ties with Israel have also stepped up criticism of the war in Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron has recently indicated his country would recognize a Palestinian state as well. Macron, who last year expressed support for an arms embargo on Israel, has also been accused by Jerusalem of blocking Israeli arms firms from holding displays in French weapons expos.

Germany, Israel’s largest arms supplier after the United States, has also recently hardened its tone against the war in Gaza, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz last month saying Israel’s conduct “is no longer comprehensible.”

His foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, has threatened “steps” against Israel, and last week said Berlin would decide whether to approve new arms shipments based on an assessment of the humanitarian situation in the Strip.

Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom have also threatened “concrete actions” against Israel if it doesn’t end the war and increase the flow of aid into Gaza. Canada and the UK have already suspended some arms export licenses to Israel.

The UK has also frozen trade talks with Israel over what London said was the “indefensible” decision to widen the Gaza war and halt the flow of aid to the Strip. Canada, meanwhile, confirmed Monday that it has been investigating war crimes in Gaza.

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

Divers make incredible discovery in hunt for missing submarine that has a haunting history

2025-05-25

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A military submarine that crashed over 100 years ago has finally been found on the bottom of the ocean.

The huge Navy vessel was discovered off the coast of California after being lost during a training accident in 1917.

It was spotted in sand next to a training aircraft that had crashed into the sea in an unrelated incident in 1950.

Researchers released incredible images of the sunken vehicles after finding them using advanced underwater technology and expert divers.

The US Navy submarine USS F-1 collided with its sister sub - USS F-3 - during surface exercises off the coast of San Diego on December 17, 1917.

The F-3 tore a massive hole in her sister ship's port side, causing the F-1 to sink in just ten seconds, the Submarine Force Library and Museum Association says.

Nineteen out of its 24-man crew were unable to escape, going down with the vessel as it sank to the seafloor.

Underwater Archaeologist Brad Krueger said: 'It was an incredibly exciting and humbling experience to visit these historically significant wrecks and to honor the sacrifice of these brave American Sailors.

'All of us at the NHHC are grateful for this collaboration, which also enabled us to document and assess the condition of the crafts.'

He continued: 'USS F-1 was conducting a 48-hour engineering run and performance test traveling from San Pedro and San Diego, CA, when the accident occurred.

'USS F-2 and USS F-3 were alongside performing similar testing when all three vessels entered a fog bank.

'USS F-3 collided with USS F-1, and following the collision USS F-3 remained on scene to help rescue survivors from the water.'

The wreck remained undiscovered for nearly 60 years until it was located by a Navy deep submersible vehicle looking for a jet fighter that crashed in 1972.

In October of 1976, Lt. Dave Magyar took a deep-sea rescue submersible down off the coast where he found the submarine 'intact'.

'It looked like a big ax had hit her,' he said about the discovery. The 142-foot, 330-ton submarine was found lying on its right side, facing west-northwest on the ocean floor.

'It will remain the grave of 19 men,' Captain Willard Johnson, commander of Submarine Development Group I, said. 'There is no reason at this time to bring it up.'

Link

Europe

Spain hit by more blackouts as 'tens of thousands' left without power in Canary Islands

2025-05-10

[Daily Mail, where America get its news] A power outage hit several areas of the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canary Islands on Thursday, just a week after national outages.

Local media reported that thousands of locals and holidaymakers across the island were left without power for nearly two hours after a blackout occurred at around 10am local time.

The affected areas included Los Llanos de Aridane, Breña Alta, Santa Cruz de La Palma and Fuencaliente.

More than twenty towns were left without in the dark in these areas, stretching from north to south of the island, before Endesa and Red Eléctrica begun working on restoring power.

Javier Llamas, the mayor of the town of Aridane, told a local radio station at around midday that: 'More than half of the power outage has already been restored.'

Local media reports explained how the power outage could potentially affect up to 30,000 people in La Palma.

'The source is unknown for now, but everything points to a problem at the Los Guinchos power plant,' La Radio Canaria said.

La Palma was not affected by the massive blackout that hit most of Spain and Portugal, including their capitals, Madrid and Lisbon, on April 28.

Airports were disabled, and shops and offices were left in the dark.

Traffic was gridlocked, flights were grounded, and trains were suspended while people waited to be rescued from elevators and were left without water supplies.

Whole cities were cut off with mobile networks, Wi-Fi, ATMs and card machines inoperative during the disruption, which began around 12.30pm last Monday.

Renfe, the national rail operator in Spain, confirmed the outage and its impact in a statement at the time.

'At 12:30 p.m., the entire national electricity grid was cut off. Trains stopped and there were no departures at any station,' the statement said.

By 7am local time on April 29, more than 99 per cent of energy demand in Spain had been restored, the country's electricity operator Red Eléctrica said.

Portuguese grid operator REN said the following morning all the 89 power substations had been back online since late the night before and power had been restored to all 6.4million customers.

'We have never had a complete collapse of the system,' Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a televised address following the chaos.

He described the problem in the European grid as a 'strong oscillation' and added that the cause was still being determined.

Sanchez asked the public to refrain from speculation and said no theory about the cause of the outage had been discarded.

He also thanked the governments of France and Morocco where energy was being pulled from to restore power to north and southern Spain.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

‘Precise Operation' ‐ Marco Rubio Announces Daring Rescue of Venezuela Regime Hostages

2025-05-08

[Breitbart] U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that the five Venezuelan dissidents trapped in the shut down Argentine embassy in Caracas for 14 months were rescued in a "precise operation" and are now on U.S. soil.

"The U.S. welcomes the successful rescue of all hostages held by the Maduro regime at the Argentinian Embassy in Caracas," Rubio said. "Following a precise operation, all hostages are now safely on U.S. soil. Maduro’s illegitimate regime has undermined Venezuela’s institutions, violated human rights, and endangered our regional security."

"We extend our gratitude to all personnel involved in this operation and to our partners who assisted in securing the safe liberation of these Venezuelan heroes," the secretary of state added.

Although Sec. Rubio did not disclose details of the rescue operation, "unobjectionable sources" confirmed to the Argentine outlet Infobae that "it was a military operation commanded from the United States." Neither socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro — who was just arriving in Russia at the time of Rubio’s announcement — nor any regime member or Venezuelan propaganda outlet has publicly commented on the matter at press time.

The five Venezuelan dissidents — Pedro Urruchurtu, Magallí Meda, Claudia Macero, Humberto Villalobos, and Ómar González — are close associates of María Corina Machado, who leads Venezuela’s only mainstream center-right party, Vente Venezuela. The now-rescued five dissidents sought shelter in the Argentine embassy in March 2024 after Venezuelan authorities issued arrest warrants and remained there up until the unspecified rescue operation.

A sixth dissident, 70-year-old Fernando Martínez Mottola, was also part of the group sheltered in the embassy, but voluntarily turned himself in to Venezuelan authorities in December. Martínez Mottola died from a stroke in February.

The group was among those targeted by the "Bolivarian Fury," a violent dissident crackdown campaign Maduro launched in 2024. Maduro justified the crackdown by claiming that those targeted were involved in dubious and unproven assassination plots against him and other members of his authoritarian regime.

Maduro launched the crackdown campaign shortly after receiving a generous oil and gas sanctions relief package from former U.S. President Joe Biden in exchange for vague promises that he would take actions leading to the holding of a "free and fair election."

No such free election took place in Venezuela. Instead, Maduro held a fraudulent "election" on July 28, 2024, proclaimed himself the "winner" while refusing to show any kind of documentation corroborating the claimed results, and launched an even more brutal dissident crackdown campaign. The opposition candidate in the sham election, 75-year-old diplomat Edmundo González, fled to Spain in September while Machado, who was banned from running, remains in hiding facing threats of arrest.

The Maduro regime repeatedly refused to grant safe passage to the dissidents, forcing them to remain inside the embassy for 14 months. The regime kept the embassy itself in a constant state of siege, cutting its access to running water and power, stealing the building’s fuse box, and constantly harassing the dissidents, among other actions.

After Maduro cut ties with Argentina and several other countries that refused to acknowledge his "victory" in the sham July 2024 election, Brazil agreed to take custody of the Argentine embassy and the sheltered dissidents in August. A month later, the Maduro regime revoked Brazil’s custody permission. Brazil responded to Venezuela at the time that it would nevertheless continue to protect the Argentine embassy and the Venezuelan dissidents until the government of President Javier Milei designated another country "acceptable" to the Venezuelan regime.

President Milei welcomed the unspecified rescue operation and the dissidents’ transfer to the United States in a statement on Tuesday expressing gratitude to those involved — especially thanking Rubio for his "personal commitment" to the operation, "which has made it possible for these true heroes to finally regain their freedom."

Link

Europe

What could have caused the major power outage in Spain and Portugal?

2025-05-03

[EuroNews] POSSIBLE GRID ISSUES
Onyema Nduka, a senior lecturer in power sustainability at the University of London, said that power networks are normally interconnected because the generation plants that power them are located far away from the cities.

That means that a power cut in one part of the grid could "lead to a cascading effect in other areas".

"Ideally, redundancies are built into the system, such as having multiple supply points, backup generators sited at different locations, interconnected wires and cables etc," he said.

The solution is for energy companies to restore electricity to the affected customers as soon as possible, but the procedure for completing this feat "has not yet been revealed," Nduka added.

Portuguese officials quoted by the AP and local media have so far blamed the outage on unspecified technical issues that stem from outside the country, but noted that the investigation is still ongoing.

CYBERATTACK RULED OUT BY SOME, NOT ALL
Juanma Moreno, president of the Andalusian regional government, said on Monday that a cyberattack has not been ruled out and advised citizens to be cautious.

However, the cyberattack claim has been refuted by officials, including Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s premier, Luis Montenegro, Portugal’s prime minister, and Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council.

"Spain has mechanisms to deal with these types of situations," Sanchez posted on social media platform X.

"Once again, I appeal to the public to cooperate with all authorities and act responsibly and civilly, as we have always done".

The Portuguese National Cybersecurity Centre also said in a statement that there was no indication the outage was due to a cyberattack.

In comments to Euronews, Taco Engelaar, managing director at energy infrastructure experts Neara, posited that the interconnectivity of the national grids and their systems would mean a fault or attack would have the same net result.

"Such a widespread grid failure is extremely unusual and could be caused by a number of things: there could be a physical fault in the grid which brings down power, a coordinated cyberattack could be behind it, or a dramatic imbalance between demand and supply has tipped the grid system over the edge," he said.

"If it's a system fault, then the interconnectivity between different regional and national grids could be leading to the large footprint of outages we're seeing today [Monday]," he added.

"The same goes for a cyberattack - lots of these systems are connected and share assets - taking down one could take down many".

Link

Europe

Spain and Portugal begin restoring power supply after blackout

2025-04-29

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] In Spain and Portugal, power has been partially restored after a massive power outage on the Iberian Peninsula. This is reported by the Reuters agency.

Officials from both countries said the reasons for the outage were unclear, with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro stressing there was "no indication" a cyberattack was to blame.

"We do not yet have definitive information about the causes of this (power outage. - Ed.)," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez noted in his address to the nation.

According to him, almost 50% of electricity supply has been restored in Spain by now. The country's leadership was forced to resort to using fuel reserves, he added.

The agency notes that in Spain, power began to return to the Basque Country and Barcelona early in the day, and to some parts of Madrid on Monday evening.

Power supply also gradually began to be restored in various municipalities in Portugal late in the evening, including Lisbon, as well as in the cities of Porto and Coimbra.

In some parts of the Pyrenees, the power outage lasted more than 9 hours. Local media reported that the Spanish and Portuguese began stocking up on food and water amid the outages.

As reported by the Regnum news agency, a large-scale power outage in Spain and Portugal occurred on April 28. Traffic was in chaos on city streets due to the shutdown of traffic lights, there were disruptions at the Madrid-Barajas International Airport, and the operation of the Lisbon Airport was paralyzed.

The Spanish government called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council in connection with the blackout. Among others, the Prime Minister, the Chief of the General Staff and the Director of the country's intelligence service were summoned to it.

Sky News, citing information from Portuguese electricity grid operator Redes Energéticas Nacionais, reported that a "rare atmospheric phenomenon" was the cause of the widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal.

According to the TV channel, the blackout affected Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Lisbon in particular. Water supply stations were left without electricity, and the Internet was down. Restoration work is underway. At the same time, the situation in Spain has begun to normalize.

At the same time, another Portuguese power grid operator, E-Redes, said that the blackout was caused by problems with the European power supply system. Officially, the reasons for the large-scale accident have not yet been named.

Link

Europe

Spain’s leftist government in jeopardy after PM backtracks on cancellation of Israeli bullets order

2025-04-25

[IsraelTmes] Smaller partners of minority government accuse Pedro Sanchez of ‘breach of contract’ after he includes already agreed upon 6 million-euro bullet purchase in defense spending boost

A decision by Spain’s Socialist government to backtrack on a promise to cancel a contract to buy bullets from an Israeli firm drew a rebuke on Wednesday from its junior coalition partners, with some allies threatening to withdraw support.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government has struggled to pass legislation since securing a new term by cobbling together an alliance of left-wing and regional separatist parties in 2023.

On Wednesday, the ministry said it had been advised by Spain’s state attorney that breaking the contract would have meant paying the full amount without receiving the shipment.

On Tuesday, Sanchez angered far-left junior partner Sumar after unveiling a plan to boost defense spending.

Spain is a long-time critic of Israel’s policies toward Paleostinians in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
and the West Bank, and has outraged Jerusalem by recognizing Paleostinian statehood last May, along with Norway and Ireland.

Sanchez’s government pledged to stop selling arms to Israel shortly after October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas
Hamas

..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
-led bully boyz stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Last year, the government widened that commitment to include weapons purchases from Israel.

Sumar, a platform of left-wing parties that controls five ministries led by deputy premier Yolanda Diaz, said Wednesday that the decision to go forward with the arms purchase was "a flagrant violation" of the alliance’s coalition agreement with Sanchez’s Socialists.

"We demand the immediate rectification of this contract," Sumar said in a statement.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said last October it was canceling a contract worth 6.6 million euros ($7.53 million) to buy more than 15 million 9-millimeter rounds from Guardian LTD Israel.

On Wednesday, the ministry said it had been advised by Spain’s state attorney that breaking the contract would have meant paying the full amount without receiving the shipment.

*Snicker*

Guardian LTD Israel did not immediately comment on the decision.

Izquierda Unida (United Left) politician Enrique Santiago, whose party is part of Sumar, suggested there were legal grounds to cancel the contract without paying, but that even "a breach of contract of only about six million [euros] will be applauded by the whole country."

Asked if IU could abandon the coalition government, he told news hounds: "We are currently considering all scenarios."

Before the news of the ammunition contract broke, Diaz had said her group disagreed with the increase in defense spending, particularly a plan to procure more weapons, but that the coalition was in good health and would see out the legislative term ending in 2027.

Link

Economy

China raises tariffs on US goods to 125% as it slams Trump for 'defying basic economic laws and common sense'

2025-04-12

"We have all this cheap crap stuck in ports and ships. Buy now!"
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] China will raise its tariffs against the U.S. to 125% from Saturday in the latest escalation in the burgeoning trade war, the finance ministry announced today.

The new duties are a significant climb from the 84% announced on Wednesday, rising to meet the current U.S. tariffs imposed on Chinese goods.

Beijing said that the U.S. tariffs against China defy 'basic economic laws and common sense' after Donald Trump raised the rate on Chinese imports to 125%.

A statement from the finance ministry said the imposition of 'abnormally high tariffs' amounted to 'unilateral bullying and coercion'.

China's tariff hike only moves in line with Trump's latest raft of duties; Washington said yesterday the 125% announced Wednesday compounded an existing 20%.

Beijing did say that it would not respond to any more tariffs imposed by the U.S.

The Trump administration has kept up the pressure on China despite climbing down from high, and varied, duties on dozens of other trading partners this week.

While the EU now faces a baseline 10% rate pending 90 days for negotiations, leaders are still contemplating countermeasures should talks falter.

Meeting with Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday, Xi Jinping urged cooperation with China to resist what he called 'unilateral bullying' from the U.S.

The three-month reprieve on hefty tariffs against 57 countries followed 'pressure from China', Beijing said in a show of goodwill.

'China and Europe should fulfil their international responsibilities... and jointly resist unilateral bullying practices,' Xi said on Friday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

This, he stressed, would not only 'safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests, but also... safeguard international fairness and justice.'

Sanchez, in turn, told a press conference following his meeting with Xi that tensions over trade should not impede cooperation between the European Union and China.

Spain buys about 45 billion euros ($49.1 billion) of goods every year from China, its fourth-largest trading partner, but sells around 7.4 billion euros' worth.

'Both Spain and Europe have a significant trade deficit with China that we must work to rectify,' he admitted.

But, he said, 'we must not let trade tensions stand in the way of the potential growth of the relationship between China and Spain and between China and the EU'.

Sanchez broke with the rest of the European Union on his last trip to China in September 2024, urging the bloc to reconsider plans to impose high tariffs on Chinese electric cars and calling for a 'fair trade order'.

China has found itself largely isolated in Trump's trade war, heavily penalised with tariffs as the new administration looks to encourage domestic manufacturing.

There is no winner in a tariff war, and going against the world will only push the U.S. into self-isolation, President Xi said during his meeting with Sanchez.

Beijing has vowed not to shy away from the fight should Trump insist upon his economic conflict with China.

But Xi did say any further tariff hikes from the U.S. would be 'ignored' by China.

'Even if the U.S. continues to impose higher tariffs, it will no longer make economic sense and will become a joke in the history of world economy,' he said, per CNBC.

China's mission to the World Trade Organization did, however, say today that it had filed an additional complaint to the trade body over U.S. tariffs.

'On 10 April, the United States issued the Executive Order, announcing a further increase of the so-called 'reciprocal tariff' on Chinese products.

'China filed a WTO complaint against United States' latest tariff measures,' the statement from China's mission said, citing a ministry of commerce spokesperson.

With tensions mounting, Elon Musk's Tesla suspended new orders on its Model S and Model X electric cars in China.

Musk has tried to maintain cordial ties with Beijing. China represents a huge market for the car manufacturer and extracts precious metals used in its batteries.

In Shanxi, China, jewelry stores raised large red banners announcing that American customers would face 104 per cent 'service fees' in store.

The Zhangji BBQ Beef Offal Restaurant in Wuhan lifted similar banners, local media reports.

Meanwhile, China's e-commerce giant JD.com said on Friday it would launch a 200 billion yuan ($27.35 billion) fund to help the country's exporters sell their products domestically over the next year, as a U.S.-China trade war intensifies.

JD.com said in a statement that it would send its employees to Chinese companies involved in foreign trade, directly purchase their 'high-quality products' and set up a special area on its e-commerce platform to sell these products and direct traffic and marketing support to this area.

Separately on Friday, supermarket chain Freshippo, owned by JD.com rival Alibaba and known as Hema in Chinese, said it had opened a fast-track path for export companies to explore the domestic market.

The support programmes for Chinese exporters could help them re-coup some of their losses stemming from reduced sales overseas by quickly starting or increasing domestic sales, although they will face intense competition in a slowing economy.

Like JD.com, Freshippo will set up a special zone on its platform where only products from these companies will be sold.

It said it will also make it easier for exporters to get on its platform by simplifying registration procedures and would allow these exporters to make use of the company's warehouse network.

In a twist on the trade war, social media users have relished in content poking fun at the Trump administration and its radical tariff regime.

A trend has emerged of AI-generated videos circulated on TikTok and Chinese app Douyin depicting Trump and his White House staffers working in sweatshops.

One video showed Trump and his Vice President, JD Vance, stitching MAGA hats in a factory.

'Factories are being located to the United States,' read the overlay in Mandarin, next to three laughing emojis.

Another video circulating this week showed Trump, Elon Musk and JD Vance working on a production line making trainers.

Concerns mount that should the economic stand-off with China continue, consumer goods like the Nike shoes featured in the viral video could skyrocket in price.

At the moment, 62 per cent of the shoes sold in the United States are imported from China, with other nations like Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and India providing the rest. Just one per cent of shoes are produced domestically.

China is a key trading partner with a large manufacturing industry, producing huge quantities of inexpensive goods for American consumers.

Good to know.

Link

Europe

'Facing the threat from Putin': Is Spain ready to send troops to Ukraine

2025-03-06

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Vladimir Dobrynin

[REGNUM] Unexpectedly for many, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez showed demonstrative concern for Ukraine, publicly promising it a billion euros of Spanish generosity. But money alone will not do in this matter. In Europe, there is talk of sending troops to Ukraine.

No sooner had the sounds of the latest speech about military support for Ukraine died down at the London meeting of the heads of 12 European countries than the Spanish TV channel LaSexta immediately began to find out whether Spanish politicians from the parties represented in parliament agreed with the idea of sending troops.

95.2% of Socialist MPs, 87.5% of the leftist Sumar party, and 77.2% of the opposition People's Party voted in favor of sending military units to Ukraine.

The right-wing populist group Vox came out strongly against this initiative - 77.8% of its deputies rejected the proposal to send troops, while only 20.4% were in favor. However, given the small number of right-wing "ultras" in Congress, the final percentage of those who supported sending troops to Ukraine was simply overwhelming - 81.7%.

True, one can assume that the opinion of ordinary Spaniards will differ greatly from what the deputies showed, but the television people did not poll the street on this topic.

In an interview with the Telecinco (Fifth Button) television channel, the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albarez, expressed a reserved attitude towards the possibility of sending troops to ensure peace in Ukraine.

This measure, according to the head of the Spanish Foreign Ministry, is part of the points agreed upon this Sunday at a meeting of Western leaders in London under the leadership of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and in the presence of the head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky. Agreed upon, but not yet approved, Albarez emphasized.

“It seems to me premature to talk about peacekeeping forces when there is still no peace and when we still do not know whether what some call peace is just a ceasefire that will become chronic, or, even worse, just an intermediate stage between two wars,” the minister said rather confusingly on Monday.

Prime Minister Sánchez declined to comment on the recent talks between the "coalition of the willing," as the Spanish press calls the group of European dignitaries meeting in London. This behavior gave opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who leads the Popular Party, the opportunity to take another jab at his political rival.

"In the current circumstances, we are forced to insist that the Prime Minister disclose to the members of Congress both the content of the initiatives to establish peace in Ukraine and specify what is meant by the 1 billion euros he recently promised in aid to Kiev, " El Periodico quotes Feijóo as saying. "We must know where our government is leading us."

The publication's correspondent Ivan Khil believes that "Pedro Sanchez is trying to remove the issue of sending troops to Ukraine on a peacekeeping mission from the agenda at the European level. And here he has to fight against the Starmer-Macron tandem, who again and again insist on the need to introduce a NATO peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine."

It was not possible to find confirmation of the Spanish Prime Minister’s peaceful attitude in other publications in the kingdom.

"In Moncloa (the seat of the Spanish government. - Ed.) they assure that they are not avoiding debates in parliament on the topic of participation in the NATO peacekeeping mission, " an anonymous source in the government assured Gil. "But they simply believe that the time has not yet come. There is no point in talking about anything until an agreement on at least a ceasefire in Ukraine is signed."

Other government sources give the impression that peace on the terms demanded by European countries is still a long way off. Even if talks take place in the short term, they say, the debate over troop deployment will be nuanced, starting with whether peacekeepers will operate under the flag of the North Atlantic alliance, the United Nations or the EU.

Foreign Minister Albarez assured that Spain will be "among those who write history" as a "leading actor" in the decisions taken, and not as a secondary player "uncritically joining the consensus."

For this reason, he "did not close the door" to sending Spanish troops to Ukraine on a "peacekeeping mission." However, he would like to stress that the current discussion is "political and diplomatic, not military and implementation-oriented."

In connection with the issue of sending troops to Ukraine, Spanish politicians are also discussing the EU and NATO directives calling for each of the alliance member states to increase their defense spending to 2% of annual GDP. Madrid “still aims to achieve this figure by 2029.” In other words: we’ll try sometime later. There is no money here and now.

Sanchez intends to take steps to strengthen European defense "in the face of the threat posed by Putin." At the same time, the Spanish Prime Minister expects that both Spain and the EU as a whole will be able to achieve this "outside the national budgets." That is, by creating another fund of hundreds of billions of euros, which will have to be borrowed from somewhere and then gradually repaid.

Such debts may have to be repaid over several decades, some experts believe.

They also do not rule out that the same thing could happen to this fund as happened to the billions with which the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “on behalf and on behalf” of the European Union and “in one person,” purchased several billion doses of the so-called anti-Covid vaccine from Pfizer.

The court, the prosecutor's office and a team of investigative journalists are now working to clarify the details of this operation.

Several small parliamentary factions representing small parties in Spain are not thrilled with the “two percent prospect” (and also with the proposed introduction of troops into Ukraine).

For example, the once-powerful but now dwarfed Podemos party called for Spain to leave NATO. Others, such as the Catalan ERC and the Basque EH Bildu, took a less radical stance, merely questioning the need for increased defense spending. Vox simply declared that it would not accept the idea of sending Spanish troops “beyond NATO’s eastern border.”

ElPeriodico's anonymous experts independently expressed a unanimous opinion that Sánchez will bet on dragging out the troop-sending talks, possibly in the hope that the situation will somehow resolve itself.

Link

Europe

Europe’s dangerous delusion of defense without the US

2025-03-03

[Asia Times: Uwe Parpart] Europe can dream about strategic autonomy but the reality is it wholly lacks the military means to defy Trump’s Ukraine peace plan

US President Donald Trump unceremoniously showed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky the door following an acrimonious exchange at the White House on Friday. Trump’s angry words for Zelensky were televised for all of America to hear, and no doubt shocked many in the viewing audience.

“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump said. “You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out.”

Just as shocked as the American TV audience about Trump’s blunt “make a deal or you’re on your own message” were the US’s European allies and rushed to pledge their support for Zelensky and condemn Trump –moves and words they may soon live to regret.

European Union chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa jointly tweeted: “Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President@ZelenskyyUa.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “Ukraine, Spain stands with you”; his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk wrote: “Dear [Zelensky], dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone.”

Incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed a tweet directly to “Dear Volodymyr” and vowed to stand with Ukraine “in good and in testing times.”

Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Keir Starmer chimed in with similar profundities.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat and former prime minister of Estonia, outgunned them all: “Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine. We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the aggressor. Today it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.”

Most of them were scheduled to meet the Ukrainian leader on March 2 in London for a summit on Ukraine organized by Prime Minister Starmer. Zelensky was set to be honorably hosted by King Charles III at his Sandringham country retreat.

As a welcome to London on Saturday, Zelensky was handed a 2.6 billion pound check (a loan), a down payment on the UK’s “standing with you as long as it takes to protect the integrity of your country.”

Hit the link for the actual opinion piece. It's painfully accurate.

Painfully blunt as well. Mr. Parpart, who served in the West German military in the decade before the Berlin Wall fell, explains that at the current procurement rate some German weapons systems will take a century to be fully supplied.

Link

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