Here’s why EU leaders really want to send troops to Ukraine

Energy News BeatUkraine

Fearing being excluded by Trump, Kiev’s European backers see ‘boots on the ground’ as a political foothold in the crisis

Nothing is certain regarding the Ukraine conflict. Except two things: Russia is winning and, under new ownership, the US leadership is searching for a novel approach. As Russian foreign policy heavyweight Sergey Ryabkov has noted, there is now a window of opportunity for a compromise to, in essence, help end this senseless conflict and restore some normalcy to US-Russian relations and thus global politics as well. But that window is small and will not be open forever.

Beyond that, things remain murky. Is the end to this madness finally in sight? Will Washington now translate its declared intention to change course into negotiating positions that Moscow can take seriously? Those would have to include – as a minimum – territorial losses and genuine neutrality for Ukraine, as well as a robust sense that any peace is made to last.

Last but not least, will the West compel Kiev to accept such a realistic settlement? ‘Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine’ may still sound terribly nice to those selfish enough to mistake international politics for a virtue-signaling beauty contest. Yet – like the daft, hypocritical cant of ‘agency’ – it was never true in the first place, has served to shield the Western abuse of Ukraine and Ukrainians, and must be abandoned if this meatgrinder of a conflict is to end.

Or could everything turn out the other way around? Could Western and especially US hardliners still prevail? Whispering into Trump’s ear that ‘winning’ will just take a bigger, Trumpier push, with even more money and arms for the Kiev regime and more economic warfare against Russia, and that making peace would actually cost more than continuing the proxy war? Yes, the first is pure wishful thinking, going against all recent experience; the second is an absurd non-argument sitting on top of a mountain of false premises; and yet, this nonsense is still all too popular in the West, which has a habit of building its foreign policy on illusions.

Washington’s recent signaling has been ambiguous enough, whether by design or clumsiness, to raise hopes among the many remaining diehards in the West. The British Telegraph, for instance, is fantasizing about “Trump’s playbook for bringing Putin to his knees”; the Washington Post interprets the new American president’s recent (online) speech at the Davos World Economic Forum as “putting the onus on Russia”; and the New York Times desperately sifts through Trump’s words for anything that is harsh about Russia or its president, Vladimir Putin.

In the end, all of the above will probably turn out to be nothing but clutching at straws. While any Washington-Moscow negotiations are bound to be complicated, a return to the demented mutism of the Biden administration is unlikely. Communication will become the default again, as it should be among sane adults. And as long as there is no foul play – an assassination of Donald Trump, for instance – the US will, in one way or the other, extricate itself from the Ukraine conflict. If only because Trump is, at heart, a businessman, and will not throw good money after bad. It’s a harsh, cold reasoning, but if it leads to the right results – an end to senseless fighting and unnecessary dying – then it will have to do.

That US extrication, it bears emphasis, need not wait for a settlement with Russia or even the start of serious negotiations. Indeed, the extrication isn’t one thing but a process, and it has already begun. First, immediately after Trump’s inauguration, support to Ukraine was reduced, but military aid was still upheld. Not for long though. Only days later, Politico reported that a second general order to suspend aid flows for 90 days also applied to military assistance for Kiev.

But there is a catch. If the US distances itself from its lost proxy war, that does not necessarily mean that its clients and vassals in the EU and NATO will follow, at least not immediately. That is counterintuitive, admittedly. If EU leaders were rational, acting in their countries’ best interest – and, in fact, that of Ukraine, too – they would not even consider going it alone. But then, if they were rational, they would have refused to join the US proxy war from the beginning and long have stopped listening sheepishly to bossy tirades by Ukraine past-best-by-date president Vladimir Zelensky. And yet they have just done it again at Davos.

So, instead of rationality, we now see unending affirmations that peace will not and must not come soon. Sorry Ukrainians, your European ‘friends’ believe you haven’t done enough dying yet.

French President Emmanuel Macron, for one, seems to be going through a manic phase, again. Clearly with reference to Trump’s very different ideas, the comically unpopular leader, whose ratings have just dived to a six-year low, has declared that the Ukraine conflict will not end soon, neither today nor the day after today.” German Foreign Minister Annalena ‘360 degrees’ Baerbock is throwing tantrums when she can’t have as many billions for Ukraine as she wants. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer – another European incumbent on very thin ice at home and with abysmal ratings – has made his first pilgrimage to Kiev and concluded a 100-year partnership agreement with Ukraine, including a secret part and worth, again, billions and billions of pounds. Because, you see, Britain is doing so incredibly well at home – except not really. Take just one data point: British factories have just registered their worst slump in orders since Covid.

Against this Euro-Conga-on-the-Titanic backdrop, another upshot of the persistent European refusal to get real is re-emerging talk about sending large numbers of Western ground forces to Ukraine, specifically from NATO-EU countries. True, Zelensky’s demands at Davos for 200,000 troops – that’s more than landed in Normandy on D-Day 1944, but why be modest when you are riding high in Kiev? – are ludicrous. Yet smaller but still substantial numbers – 40,000 or so – are still under consideration.

What exactly these troops would be doing in Ukraine remains hazy. They would not be a peacekeeping force because they would be siding with one party of the conflict, Ukraine. And yet, proponents of these schemes promise they would not be on the front lines fighting against Russia because they would either be introduced only after an end to the fighting, or they would somehow remain in the hinterland, thereby freeing up Ukrainian forces for the front.

None of the above makes sense. As long as the fighting continues, there is no hinterland in the sense that the troops would be spared real fighting and dying, because Russian airstrikes can reach them everywhere even now, and, depending on further developments, so may Russian land forces in the future. Moreover, once these troops enter the country, Kiev would, of course, do its best to get them embroiled in great bloodshed, including by provocations and false flag operations. The aim would be to drag these ‘allies’ so deep into the quagmire that they wouldn’t be able to get out again.

Introducing boots on the grounds from NATO-EU countries after the fighting, however, won’t work either. Russia is fighting to have a genuinely neutral Ukraine and will not agree; and as long as Russia does not agree, there won’t be any end to the fighting. If these troops were to turn up anyhow, the conflict would start again. Indeed, Kiev would have an incentive to restart it once they are in Ukraine (see above).

Of course, NATO-EU states already have black ops operators and mercenaries on the ground. But while Moscow has wisely decided not to take this degree of intervention as a reason for attacking beyond Ukraine, regular forces in large numbers would obviously be a different matter. The proponents of this type of deployment argue that the US contingent in South Korea and KFOR troops in Kosovo (of all places!) show that these deployments are possible without further escalation. This, too, is nonsense. KFOR’s presence is based on several 1999 agreements and, crucially, a UN Security Council resolution (1244). Its sad but very low fatalities (213 as of 2019), some caused by accidents, cannot remotely be compared with what would happen to NATO-EU troops clashing with the Russian Army; finally, those KFOR casualties that did not come from accidents, and were not inflicted by a state’s regular forces but by protesters and irregulars. A scenario in which thousands of EU troops die in a fight with the regular army of a nuclear-armed Russia is incomparable.

Regarding the US troops in South Korea, their presence is based on a mutual defense treaty concluded in 1953. Again, exactly the type of arrangement Moscow will not accept. And also one that the NATO-Europeans would be very wise to shy away from, because, once again, it would suck them deep into the next war. Finally, obvious but worth stating: Those US forces in South Korea have the backing of the US. They are a classical tripwire. Attack them, and face the whole US military. EU forces would not have US backing; and if Europeans want to underwrite such a tripwire with their own flimsy armies, they are suicidal.

If large-scale deployment of EU boots on the ground is such an obviously bad idea, why will it not finally go away? There are really only two possible answers: Either those dreaming such dreams are really so shortsighted and irresponsible (think Kaja Kallas and similar intellectual lightweights) or they are not quite honest about their motives. In reality, we are probably dealing with both.

Regarding the genuinely confused, let’s not waste time on them. But what about those who are really after something else? What could that be? Here is a plausible guess. The talk about sending major contingents to Ukraine has two real aims, one targeting the new American leadership and the other, Ukrainian domestic politics.

With regard to Washington, the real purpose of speculating about EU ground troops is a desperate attempt to secure Brussels a say in the coming negotiations between the US and Russia. And there, the Europeans are right about one thing: They may well be excluded, which will be an ironic outcome after their self-destructive obedience toward the Biden administration. But there’s a new sheriff in town now, and he might well cut them loose no less than Ukraine.

In Ukraine, the real purpose is to exert outside influence on the sore issue of mobilization: Ukraine is running out of cannon fodder, as observers as different as the new US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the slavishly NATO-ist German magazine Spiegel now admit. Mobilization of those who are still there is a creeping catastrophe; its violence and the mass evasion practiced by its victims demonstrating every day that many Ukrainians have had enough. The Zelensky regime’s proposed answer is to lower the mobilization age even further, to 18. Importantly, this is supposed to happen even if there is peace.

And would it not be convenient for this type of policy to point to troops from the West and tell unwilling draftees and their families: Look, if even those foreigners are coming to help, how can you stay at home? Yet they are unlikely to ever turn up. Once again, Ukrainians will be fed bloated rhetoric about and by false friends from the West – to, in the end, be left alone to keep dying and lose more territory. The way out of this is not more of the same. Even if it could work – which it cannot – NATO-EU mass deployment would only make everything worse. Because the real way out of this is a compromise with Russia – and the deployment of Western troops would prevent that compromise.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Source: Rt.com

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Notorious Scottish pedo gang jailed

Energy News BeatScottish

The ring of drug addicts committed some of the most depraved acts of child abuse, police said

Notorious Scottish pedo gang jailed

Seven Scottish pedophiles have been handed stiff prison terms for committing what authorities described as some of the most “monstrous” cases of child abuse.

The six men and one woman were convicted in November after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Four of them, including the woman, were found guilty of attempting to murder a child by placing her in a microwave oven, while all seven were found guilty of gang raping a minor. One man and the woman were convicted of multiple counts of assault, sexual assault, rape and causing a child to ingest drugs and alcohol.

The group, all of whom are in their 40s and addicted to heroin, were handed ‘Orders for Lifelong Restriction’ on Monday, and will not be eligible for parole for between nine and 20 years. If released, they will be monitored for the rest of their lives.

The group’s victims told police that they were plied with alcohol and cocaine and taken to “rape nights” at a house in Glasgow, with some of them forced to abuse other children for the entertainment of the gang. The pedophiles told their victims that they were “witches and wizards,” who could summon demons if the children refused to submit to the abuse, prosecutors told the court in 2023.

During the trial, Judge Lord Beckett described this testimony as “unpleasant and shocking,” adding that the perpetrators’ behavior “plunges to the depths of human depravity.”

“The levels of depravity shown in this case are extremely rare in Scotland and the courage of the victims was essential in securing this conviction,” Detective Superintendent Nicola Kilbane told Sky News.

“There have been some horrendous cases over the decades. But this one is truly shocking and the public will find it difficult to think that children…can be exposed to such willful and awful treatment, such horrendous abuse,” National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children spokesman Matt Forde told the British broadcaster.

Orders for Lifelong Restriction are rarely handed down in Scotland, and are typically reserved for violent and sexual offenders. Prisoners serving such sentences cannot be released unless they can prove that they pose no threat to the wider community.

Source: Rt.com

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WATCH robo-dog and drone fight (VIDEO)

Energy News Beatrobo-dog

 

A short clip making rounds on Chinese social media depicts the two machines firing pyrotechnics at each other

A short video clip capturing a ‘firefight’ between an unmanned aerial vehicle and a robotic dog has been making rounds on Chinese social media.

The UAV hovering about two meters (6.5 feet) above the ground is seen showering its opponent with fireworks attached to its landing gear. The robo-dog returns fire with pyrotechnics, while both machines constantly manoeuvre, apparently trying to avoid being hit.

It is not clear which of the two eventually came out on top. As the South China Morning Post notes on Monday, there is no information available on the provenance of the video, nor whether the UAV and the robo-dog were being controlled remotely or were operating autonomously. According to the newspaper, the drone resembles a DJI T-series agricultural model, while its rival appeared to belong to the Go series produced by the Hangzhou-based robot developer Unitree Robotics.

Though drones have emerged as a key element of a modern battlefield during the course of the ongoing Ukraine conflict, ground robots are still somewhat less commonplace, while a number of militaries have already either started testing or put such systems into operation. During Russia’s Army expo in August 2022, the company Intellect Machine unveiled its first prototype of the M-81 robot dog system, furnished with a rocket launcher.

Earlier this month, Indian troops paraded the first batch of locally-manufactured four-legged, AI-powered robots. Dubbed MULES (Multi-Utility Legged Equipment) and fitted with advanced thermal cameras and sensors, the machines are suited for surveillance as well as combat missions, with the possibility to equip them with small arms.

Back in October, a US Army Central spokesperson confirmed to the Military.com media outlet that the Pentagon had deployed at least one AI-enabled robot dog with what appeared to be an AR-15/M16-type rifle mounted on a rotating turret to drills in Saudi Arabia several weeks prior. The Department of Defense then released a photo of the Quadrupedal-Unmanned Ground Vehicle (Q-UGV).

During the joint Golden Dragon 2024 drills with Cambodia last May, the People’s Liberation Army of China demonstrated a number of military robots, including a dog-like, remotely-operated machine equipped with an assault rifle and capable of planning its routes and avoiding obstacles on its own.

Source: Rt.com

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Serbian deputy PM slams Russia’s exclusion from Holocaust commemoration

Energy News BeatHolocaust

Not inviting the country to the ceremony marking the liberation of Auschwitz risks fostering “new evil,” Aleksandar Vulin has warned

Serbian deputy PM slams Russia’s exclusion from Holocaust commemoration

Excluding Russia from the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation has turned the ceremony into a gathering of descendants of Holocaust perpetrators and their collaborators, Serbian Deputy PM Aleksandar Vulin has said.

Speaking on International Holocaust Remembrance Day – January 27, when Soviet troops captured the death camp in 1945, established by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland – Vulin harshly criticized Warsaw’s decision not to invite a Russian delegation to the ceremony over the Ukraine conflict.

“The unthinkable crimes of the German people and state were ‘rewarded’ by the unification of Germany. Eighty years later, the liberation of Auschwitz is celebrated with the participation of countries that organized the Holocaust in Auschwitz, such as Germany and its allies, or countries that provided guards, such as Poland or Croatia,” Vulin stated.

Every new evil begins with the oblivion of an old evil… The grandchildren of the guards and perpetrators of Auschwitz are not ashamed of the crimes of their grandfathers, they are ashamed of their defeat. 

The exclusion of Russia from the ceremony is another revisionist move and an attempt to rewrite history by EU member states, Vulin said. “If there are still living prisoners of Auschwitz among us, ask them to whom they owe their lives – to the grandchildren of the Red Army soldiers or to the grandchildren of the SS and Wehrmacht soldiers.”

The Nazis opened Auschwitz in 1939 as a concentration camp but expanded it later to carry out mass exterminations. According to various estimates, at least 1.1 million people, predominantly Jews, were killed at the death camp through gassing, starvation, fatal medical experiments, and so on.

Around 7,000 prisoners were rescued by Soviet troops from Auschwitz, while most were forced by the Nazis to march away from the advancing Red Army.

Around 50 former prisoners and survivors are taking part in the ceremony this year. Senior officials from 53 countries and seven international organizations also traveled to Poland for the commemoration. They include King Charles III, the first British monarch to visit Auschwitz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Source: Rt.com

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SBI Leasing inks leasing deal for TMS LNG carrier

Energy News BeatLNG carrier

The LNG carrier in question is the 174,000-cbm Athos LNG.

SBI Leasing announced the deal with LNG Ships in a statement on Friday.

However, the firm did not provide further details regarding the leasing agreement.

Economou’s TMS Cardiff Gas took delivery of this LNG carrier in September last year.

It is the first in a series of TMS newbuild LNG tankers.

The vessel is equipped with MAN ME-GA propulsion, a shaft generator, and an air lubrication system.

Athos LNG serves a multi-year charter with Osaka Gas International Transport, a unit of Japan’s city gas supplier and LNG importer Osaka Gas.

VesselsValue data shows that TMS ordered this LNG carrier and another vessel at SHI in May 2022. TMS paid about $231 million per vessel.

The data shows that TMS has six LNG carriers on order at SHI and Hanwha Ocean scheduled for delivery by 2027.

In May 2021, TMS Cardiff Gas took delivery of LNGShips Manhattan, wrapping up its 2020-2021 newbuild program which included eleven 174,000-cbm vessels.

The company’s website shows its fleet includes four 2014-built ships, the 2004-built Fuji LNG, and the 2006-built Condor LNG.

Source: Lngprime.com

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Trump ridicules Denmark’s military

Energy News BeatTrump

Copenhagen has announced plans to boost its military presence on the island, while reminding Washington “how good an ally” the country is

Trump ridicules Denmark’s military

Denmark is not capable of adequately protecting its strategically important territory of Greenland, US President Donald Trump has claimed. Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Saturday, Trump appeared to ridicule the Danish plan to increase its military presence on the Arctic island.

Trump first floated the idea of purchasing Greenland during his first term in office, and revived the idea following his victory in the presidential election on November 5. The US president has spoken of Greenland’s significance for US national security, refusing to rule out the use of military force to obtain it.

Denmark has firmly rejected any suggestion that Greenland could be sold.

Trump stated: “I do believe Greenland, we’ll get – because it really has to do with freedom of the world. It has nothing to do with the United States, other than we’re the one that can provide the freedom. [Denmark] can’t. They put two dog sleds there two weeks ago, they thought that was protection,” he said, as quoted by the Financial Times.

Trump was apparently referring to an announcement by Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen earlier this month. He said Copenhagen was planning to add two inspection vessels, two drones, and two dog sled patrols to its current force of 75 personnel, four ships, and a surveillance plane.

“I don’t really know what claim Denmark has to it, but it would be a very unfriendly act if they didn’t allow that to happen,” Trump said over the weekend. He also claimed that the “people [of Greenland] want to be with us.”

Speaking to local broadcaster TV2 on Sunday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen emphasized “how good an ally Denmark has been” to the US. The Nordic country is a NATO member state that participated in US-led military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Frederiksen also reiterated that Greenland was not for sale, and its population has an exclusive right to determine its future.

According to a Financial Times report on Friday, citing several anonymous European officials, the US president and the Danish prime minister had a “horrendous” phone conversation earlier this month. Trump was reportedly “very firm” about his intention to purchase Greenland, threatening Denmark with tariffs if it continues to resist his bid.

The confrontational tone of the phone call is said to have “freaked out” officials in Copenhagen, making them realize that Trump’s intentions were “serious.”

Source: Rt.com

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US army needs huge shakeup – Vance

Energy News BeatVance

The vice president has called for “big change” in the Pentagon, citing systemic cost overruns and recruitment issues

US hasn’t won a single war in 40 years – J.D. Vance

The US has failed to win a single war in several generations despite spending staggering sums of money on its army, Vice President J.D. Vance has said, calling for a major military overhaul.

In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Vance defended the confirmation of Pete Hegseth as the new secretary of defense, which narrowly passed the Senate with a 50-50 tie broken by the vice president himself. Hegseth has faced criticism over his controversial public comments about Islam, limited leadership experience, and accusations of sexual assault, which he has denied.

Vance described Hegseth as a “disruptor” and said he was the right person to usher in long-overdue change. “We fought many wars over the last 40 years, but haven’t won a war about as long as I’ve been alive,” Vance said.

“They’ve got us a military with a major recruitment crisis, a procurement price crisis that’s totally dysfunctional, where we buy airplanes for billions and billions of dollars, terrible cost overruns, the delivery dates are always delayed. So we need a big change,” he said.

The US has “gotten into way too many wars that we don’t have a plan for winning,” Vance said, adding that “we have to really, top to bottom, change the way that we fund the procurement of weapons.”

Hegseth “is the guy to lead the job,” he insisted, adding that the new secretary, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the one who sees “not through the perspective of the generals or the bureaucrats, [but] through the perspective of the men and women that we send off to fight.”

US President Donald Trump has vowed to end the current conflicts, having already credited himself with brokering the recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, while vowing to prioritize domestic issues. Shortly after his inauguration, he ordered additional troops to the US-Mexico border to stave off the migration crisis.

In November, the Pentagon failed its seventh consecutive audit, having been unable to fully account for its $824 billion budget. It has not passed a single audit since 2018, when it became a legal requirement to do so. However, officials have pointed to visible progress, promising to achieve a clean audit by 2028.

Source: Rt.com

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Russia releases file on Polish-born Auschwitz Nazi collaborator

Energy News BeatNazi

 

The publication of archive files coincides with the anniversary of the liberation of the death camp by Soviet troops

Russia releases file on Polish-born Auschwitz Nazi collaborator

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has released declassified documents describing the involvement of a Polish Nazi collaborator in the mass executions at Auschwitz. The disclosure coincided with the 80th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation by the Red Army.

Soviet troops captured the facility, which had been established by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland, on January 27, 1945. Poland did not invite a Russian delegation to commemorate the liberation, citing the ongoing Ukraine conflict. The documents released on Monday highlight the role of Polish collaborators in the crimes committed there.

An estimated 1.1 million individuals were killed at Auschwitz due to forced labor, malnutrition, disease, summary executions, and systematic mass killings. While the majority of victims were Jews, other groups targeted included Soviet POWs, Roma, homosexuals, people with disabilities, and criminals, all of whom were deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime.

The operation of death camps relied on inmate collaborators known as “kapos.” The newly released documents focus on Josef Pietzka, born in Chorzow, Poland in 1914. Initially imprisoned at Auschwitz from 1940 to 1943 for evading military service, Pietzka was later released under police supervision in Katowice.

RT

During interrogation by Soviet authorities, Pietzka claimed he snubbed an opportunity to escape because he was comfortable with his kapo role, according to the FSB. He reported brutalizing laborers for lagging with tasks. His work gang hauled cargoes, including the bodies of dead inmates and the ashes from the crematoriums. He claimed the unit carried 100 to 500 bodies each day.

Soviet prosecutors concluded that Pietzka was mentally ill and required mandatory treatment. In 1955, he was handed over to Soviet-allied East Germany, the agency said, without clarifying his subsequent fate.

The Nazis opened Auschwitz in 1939 as a concentration camp but later expanded it to carry out mass exterminations. Upon liberation, Soviet troops discovered approximately 7,000 emaciated prisoners, as most of its inmate population had been forced to march away from the advancing Red Army.

Source: Rt.com

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France’s far-right asks EPP to end the Green Deal together

Energy News BeatGreen Deal

 

The President of France’s Rassemblement National, Jordan Bardella, will send a letter to the President of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber, asking to join forces to end the Green Deal.

Bardella, chairman of the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group at the European Parliament, will “suggest that we mutualise forces and together look to suspend the green deal” along with the EPP, he said in his yearly address to the press.

The letter, to be sent “in the next few hours” on Monday, will also be addressed to hard-right Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) group co-presidents René Aust and Stanisław Tyszka and far-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki.

Bardella has long vowed to “suspend” the Green Deal, but it is the first time he has proactively prodded his conservative counterparts in yet new evidence of an alternative, right-leaning majority taking shape in the European Parliament.

Back in October, this new right-to-far-right coalition successfully joined forces to pass a non-binding resolution in the European Parliament about the rigged Venezuelan election.

Bardella has repeatedly said he wants the EU ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035 to be dropped altogether. He also said all other Green Deal “constraints” must be “reexamined. ”

Bringing the Green Deal to a halt “is a reaction to incredibly attractive measures Donald Trump is putting in place for the [US] economy and firms,” Bardella said.

The European Green Deal, once Europe’s flagship pro-environment programme, has been questioned in the past year. Lawmakers from centrist Renew to the far right, including the EPP, have raised concerns that it would hamper economic growth.

In November 2024, the EPP provoked the fury of centrist and social-democratic lawmakers by siding with the far right to weaken anti-deforestation rules.

RN MEP Fabrice Leggeri told Euractiv that the Patriots and ECR fully support suspension, and even the EPP’s ‘soft’ right is starting to “wake up.” He also said some EPP MEPs have nudged their far-right counterparts to “address the question.”

Just last week, Polish conservative Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country is heading the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, called for a “full and very critical review” of all Green Deal laws. He blamed European environmental regulation for high energy prices and a continent-wide loss of competitiveness.

Senior EPP figures, including Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and German chancellor-hopeful Friedrich Merz, have made similar claims.

[ATB]

Source: Euractiv.com

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Nasdaq futures tumble on Chinese AI fears 

Energy News BeatChinese AI

The tech sector has plunged after China released a free ChatGPT rival operating on cheaper and less advanced chips

Nasdaq futures tumble on Chinese AI fears 

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek sent shockwaves through global tech stocks on Monday, causing Nasdaq futures in Japan to dip more than 3%, sparking concerns among market players about US technological dominance.

Nasdaq 100 futures dropped by as much as 3.2%, and S&P 500 contracts declined 1.9% as of 3:23am in New York. In early European trading, Frankfurt-listed Nvidia shares fell around 7%, while Tesla, Amazon, and Meta saw drops of over 2%. Shares of Dutch computer chip maker ASML Holding NV were down more than 8%.

Stock futures tumbled after DeepSeek rolled out its new AI model, which is reported to be cost-effective and able to run on less advanced chips than tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The newly launched free assistant has cast doubt on the high valuations of companies like Nvidia, a leader in the global AI stock boom, whose chips have been considered essential for the technology’s growth.

“DeepSeek shows that it is possible to develop powerful AI models that cost less,” Vey-Sern Ling, managing director at Union Bancaire Privee, told Bloomberg. “It can potentially derail the investment case for the entire AI supply chain, which is driven by high spending from a small handful of hyperscalers.”

The Chinese startup’s AI model, founded by quant fund chief Liang Wenfeng, is quickly gaining recognition as a strong competitor to OpenAI and Meta Platforms’ latest offerings. Its assistant outperformed ChatGPT to become the top-rated free app on Apple’s App Store in the US on Monday.

The new assistant is set to challenge Silicon Valley’s dominance, potentially disrupting the global tech landscape and shifting the course of the “AI arms race,” said Nigel Green, CEO of financial advisory deVere Group, as quoted by CNBC.

DeepSeek researchers revealed in a paper last month that their DeepSeek-V3 model, launched on January 10, was trained using Nvidia’s H800 chips, costing under $6 million, according to Reuters. The H800 chips, while not top-tier, were reportedly developed as a lower-capacity option to bypass sales restrictions to China, before later being banned under US sanctions.

“The idea that the most cutting-edge technologies in America, like Nvida and ChatGPT, are the most superior globally, there’s concern that this perspective might start to change,” Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, told Reuters.

Experts say the emergence of DeepSeek signals intensifying competition in the AI sector with future competitors likely to evolve rapidly, presenting greater challenges to established companies.

Source: Rt.com

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