I'm posting in ~enviro because the clear underlying motive and financing for these authoritarian maneuvers is to remove any chance of controlling Big Carbon. It doesn't require particular...
I'm posting in ~enviro because the clear underlying motive and financing for these authoritarian maneuvers is to remove any chance of controlling Big Carbon. It doesn't require particular conspiracy-mindedness to understand the Trump administration's newfound "drill, baby, drill" coziness with Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other fossil fuel-dependent states.
Excerpts from the article:
The Polish investigative outlet VSquare revealed that the Heritage Foundation gathered hardline conservative groups on 11 March to hear how they would overhaul the current structures of the EU.
The “closed-door workshop” featured a debate on a new paper produced by the lobby groups MCC and Ordo Iuris entitled: “The Great Reset: Restoring Member State Sovereignty in the 21st Century”.
The paper proposes dismantling the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. It claims that the “EU is evolving into a quasi-federal state, limiting national decision-making power” and is imposing “ideologically motivated policies on member states, without any mandate”. Under the plan, the EU would cease to function in its current guise, and would instead be renamed the European Community of Nations (ECN).
Kenneth Haar, a researcher and campaigner at the transparency watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory, said it was “quite simply terrifying” to see the Heritage Foundation moving its attention to Europe.”
“Most of the attacks made by the Trump presidency in recent weeks on civil rights, on migrants, on LGBTQ+ rights and more, can be traced back to Project 2025,” he said. “We should be worried about them building up ambitions and strength in Europe.”
DeSmog can also reveal that the Heritage Foundation has been holding private meetings with European politicians in recent months, as the group attempts to forge new alliances on the continent.
...
The Heritage Foundation led the way in creating Project 2025, the 922-page guide to radically retrenching the U.S. government. The blueprint urged Trump to “dismantle the administrative state”, reverse policies on climate action, slash restrictions on fossil fuel extraction, scrap state investment in renewable energy, and gut the Environmental Protection Agency.
...
MCC, which helps to spread Orbán’s ideologies at home and abroad, is funded heavily by fossil fuel finance.
In 2020, Orbán’s administration gave MCC a 10 percent stake in Hungarian oil company MOL, a 10 percent stake in the pharmaceutical firm Gedeon Richter, plus $462 million in cash, and $9 million in property. In 2023, MCC received €50 million in dividends from MOL, a firm that receives 65 percent of its oil from Russia, according to an investigation by German broadcaster ZDF.
The group’s Brussels arm has called on the EU to “ditch the net zero madness” and has helped to convene anti-green groups from across Europe over the past year. It recently stated that one of its key campaigning objectives in 2025 was to help create “a Europe unshackled from environmentalism”, and has called for the introduction of an EU DOGE.
...
“What we see in the European Parliament at the moment, is a love affair between traditional conservatives and the far-right,” said Kenneth Haar from Corporate Europe Observatory.
“They command a majority, and they have already shown to be willing to use it to roll back democracy, climate policies, and environmental protection. They could change the face of the EU decisively in the coming years.”
Edit: More on the "Alliance for Responsible Citizenship" if you can stomach it, investigative journalism also from DeSmog and Canada's National Observer.
Good?! Personally I’m for a more federal EU, all in all. 🇪🇺 The mandate is clearly there (and renewed every five years), which these people might’ve known had they done about a minute of reading...
The paper proposes dismantling the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. It claims that the “EU is evolving into a quasi-federal state, limiting national decision-making power”
Good?! Personally I’m for a more federal EU, all in all. 🇪🇺
and is imposing “ideologically motivated policies on member states, without any mandate”.
The mandate is clearly there (and renewed every five years), which these people might’ve known had they done about a minute of reading up on the basics.
Under the plan, the EU would cease to function in its current guise, and would instead be renamed the European Community of Nations (ECN).
Well, let’s hope the cretins and otherwise ghouls on society are shown the way out with more resistance and activity like the current protests in Hungary. If the (long overdue) end of Orban leadership arrives, who is left in the current EU that’s pro-Russia and pro-US, but wouldn’t be harmed by a more isolated Europe?
I wouldn't underestimate these thugs. Given an almost unlimited lobbying and propaganda budget, they've captured the conservative and far-right political blocs in Germany, France, the Czech...
I wouldn't underestimate these thugs. Given an almost unlimited lobbying and propaganda budget, they've captured the conservative and far-right political blocs in Germany, France, the Czech Republic, most of Eastern Europe, Greece... All in the name of "restoring sovereignty", "traditional values", restricting immigration, and so on. There's a coordinated international strategy unlike anything liberal states have had to contend with before. It's the reactionary ideological equivalent of the old threat of Communism, but using modern communication tools against populations that have little or no immunity.
Yeah, and if you ask me - when the consequences of the Cheetolino gangsters start rolling in and the USA becomes more unstable, which is more likely than not, it's going to become mighty difficult...
Yeah, and if you ask me - when the consequences of the Cheetolino gangsters start rolling in and the USA becomes more unstable, which is more likely than not, it's going to become mighty difficult for them to keep their act straight. You already see this in NL with Wilders and the PVV having to juggle their Ukraine position.
Oh definitely. I at least like to think that I’m not underestimating. These are literal evil, anti-democratic actors, and work will need to be put in in order to deflect them from succeeding. For...
Oh definitely. I at least like to think that I’m not underestimating. These are literal evil, anti-democratic actors, and work will need to be put in in order to deflect them from succeeding. For example, I don’t know how to solve the current issues within the “fake news” and social media-news-manipulation lane, as you mentioned/implied.
In the same vein, I think it’s dangerous to dismiss these figures as “stupid” in some way. Much, if not most of what they do is planned out and coldly calculated behavior…
In addition to that, I think it’s true what @CptBluebear noted — although I’d personally argue it started even earlier, namely with Brexit (albeit in far lower intensity than currently). After that fiasco, you’d seriously have to live under a rock to still be for an end of the Euro currency and Schengen trade zones, for example, and I like to think most people have hopefully come to realize that, too.
I don't necessarily have hope that we will solve the problem quickly here in the US. The Ayn Rand, Grover Norquist disciples have full control here and are attempting to speed run the...
I don't necessarily have hope that we will solve the problem quickly here in the US. The Ayn Rand, Grover Norquist disciples have full control here and are attempting to speed run the implementation of that ideology.
However, speaking more generally, I am liking the amount of naked hubris that I am seeing from players who previously operated in the shadows, or who like Musk, had the option to operate in the shadows and chose not to. I'm not saying that what they are trying to do is at all a good thing but I'm hoping for Icarus moments for all of them.
Revulsion is a reasonable response to a lot of what conservatives are doing publicly right now, and we are seeing a fair amount of it. Also, in the face of the geopolitical threats, I'm not sure an ideological rejection of regulatory power is going to sell well? Just reasoning and speculating here in the States. I'm not saying I know anything about how Europeans feel, but we all have moved mentally within a couple of months, from easy reliance on old alliances to something else entirely, a new order that is not yet formed or shaped.
I joined a political party a few weeks ago, actually. The turning point for me was Vance's speech in Munich. Which... still feels surreal at times. As being a member of a political party isn't...
I joined a political party a few weeks ago, actually. The turning point for me was Vance's speech in Munich. Which... still feels surreal at times. As being a member of a political party isn't quite what I though I'd ever be.
This timeline is just wild man. I miss the previous decade. And yes, there was one Trump term there, but it was nothing like this...
I'm posting in ~enviro because the clear underlying motive and financing for these authoritarian maneuvers is to remove any chance of controlling Big Carbon. It doesn't require particular conspiracy-mindedness to understand the Trump administration's newfound "drill, baby, drill" coziness with Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other fossil fuel-dependent states.
Excerpts from the article:
Edit: More on the "Alliance for Responsible Citizenship" if you can stomach it, investigative journalism also from DeSmog and Canada's National Observer.
Good?! Personally I’m for a more federal EU, all in all. 🇪🇺
The mandate is clearly there (and renewed every five years), which these people might’ve known had they done about a minute of reading up on the basics.
Well, let’s hope the cretins and otherwise ghouls on society are shown the way out with more resistance and activity like the current protests in Hungary. If the (long overdue) end of Orban leadership arrives, who is left in the current EU that’s pro-Russia and pro-US, but wouldn’t be harmed by a more isolated Europe?
I wouldn't underestimate these thugs. Given an almost unlimited lobbying and propaganda budget, they've captured the conservative and far-right political blocs in Germany, France, the Czech Republic, most of Eastern Europe, Greece... All in the name of "restoring sovereignty", "traditional values", restricting immigration, and so on. There's a coordinated international strategy unlike anything liberal states have had to contend with before. It's the reactionary ideological equivalent of the old threat of Communism, but using modern communication tools against populations that have little or no immunity.
Ironically, Trump's actions have severely undermined anti-EU sentiment. Even our hardline anti-EU parties have softened since it's deeply unpopular.
Yeah, and if you ask me - when the consequences of the Cheetolino gangsters start rolling in and the USA becomes more unstable, which is more likely than not, it's going to become mighty difficult for them to keep their act straight. You already see this in NL with Wilders and the PVV having to juggle their Ukraine position.
Oh definitely. I at least like to think that I’m not underestimating. These are literal evil, anti-democratic actors, and work will need to be put in in order to deflect them from succeeding. For example, I don’t know how to solve the current issues within the “fake news” and social media-news-manipulation lane, as you mentioned/implied.
In the same vein, I think it’s dangerous to dismiss these figures as “stupid” in some way. Much, if not most of what they do is planned out and coldly calculated behavior…
In addition to that, I think it’s true what @CptBluebear noted — although I’d personally argue it started even earlier, namely with Brexit (albeit in far lower intensity than currently). After that fiasco, you’d seriously have to live under a rock to still be for an end of the Euro currency and Schengen trade zones, for example, and I like to think most people have hopefully come to realize that, too.
I don't necessarily have hope that we will solve the problem quickly here in the US. The Ayn Rand, Grover Norquist disciples have full control here and are attempting to speed run the implementation of that ideology.
However, speaking more generally, I am liking the amount of naked hubris that I am seeing from players who previously operated in the shadows, or who like Musk, had the option to operate in the shadows and chose not to. I'm not saying that what they are trying to do is at all a good thing but I'm hoping for Icarus moments for all of them.
Revulsion is a reasonable response to a lot of what conservatives are doing publicly right now, and we are seeing a fair amount of it. Also, in the face of the geopolitical threats, I'm not sure an ideological rejection of regulatory power is going to sell well? Just reasoning and speculating here in the States. I'm not saying I know anything about how Europeans feel, but we all have moved mentally within a couple of months, from easy reliance on old alliances to something else entirely, a new order that is not yet formed or shaped.
I have a sudden urge to get more involved in local politics
I joined a political party a few weeks ago, actually. The turning point for me was Vance's speech in Munich. Which... still feels surreal at times. As being a member of a political party isn't quite what I though I'd ever be.
This timeline is just wild man. I miss the previous decade. And yes, there was one Trump term there, but it was nothing like this...