EU battery regulation having global impact.

What Europeans also don't realize is that they have the political leverage. In a market-moving US-EU economic spat, European voters would back their leaders, as they want to punch the US bully. Americans would just be exasperated. We'd think this was dumb why and blame Trump for it. Hence, TACO.

I also appreciated my conversations with SPD members that see the moment & are pushing for evolution and change. Their position is not easy. No one faction alone can do it & everyone has a role to play. Made me curious about the upside of more precise, cross factional but values based relationships

Now that the Supremes have humiliated Trump, it’s time to invade the Falkland Islands, I mean, bomb Iran.

3) we are seeing so many countries pushing for a backlash against international cooperation to "retaliate" against maltreatment/unfair surplus/etc yet Brexit is a spectacular illustration of how the nation that hurts most under withdrawal from integrated int'l orgs is the withdrawing nation.

Although the speech that Marco Rubio delivered to the @munsecconf.bsky.social was softer in tone than VP J.D. Vance’s in 2025, the Europe he celebrated was that of the ethno-nationalist far right. @markhleonard.bsky.social This was first published by Project Syndicate. ecfr.eu/article/maga...

Important editorial: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

#politics #tech

New experimental study publshed in Nature confirms what we all largely expected, that "X" was algorithmically redesigned to promote a right-wing ideological pipeline. Full study here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

As we speak: the biggest move of 🇺🇸military assets we've seen in years in preparation for war with Iran This right here is why the US will never voluntarily pull out of Europe. Without these European bases, the Americans can't launch their military adventures in the Middle East.

”We should not [allow ourselves to be] blackmailed by him," Austrian State Secretary for Energy Elisabeth Zehetner said. … ”I can’t understand the argument of the U.S. … Maybe it’s an ideological thing.” Just maybe, yeah.

A one-time buffer of 20 million emission allowances watered down to possibly 2 x 40 million annually until 600 million allowances has been added in total? 😵‍💫 Difficult to see how that facilitates not only our common 2040 climate goal but also our need for lower fossil fuel imports dependence.

Johan Britz är klimatminister under Romina Pourmokhtaris föräldraledighet. Han var chef för "politik och påverkan" på Svenskt Näringsliv när organisationen år 2016 sa nej till ett klimatneutralt Sverige 2045. www.regeringen.se/sveriges-reg...

Chinese automakers BYD and Geely are finalists to acquire a Nissan–Mercedes plant in Mexico, highlighting Beijing’s manufacturing ambitions.

Green groups fear backroom talks signal further EU deregulation

"Alongside broader green and low-carbon development targets, national policies impose explicit power usage effectiveness requirements on data centres, further encouraging the adoption of higher-efficiency liquid-cooling solutions" www.scmp.com/tech/article...

EU's climate policymaking continues. "Governments will be required to ensure that 25% of steel used under public procurement and subsidy programs is low-carbon. The bloc will apply similar rules for aluminum and cement." 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Nalins bok om hennes liv och hennes strider. Välkomna till ABF-huset för ett samtal med @nalinbaksi.bsky.social och mig!

It’s telling what the White House highlights with regard to Rubio’s speech. „Shared heritage“, „Christian foundations“, „cultural legacy“, „cultural preservation“, and a rejection of globalism. That‘s at the heart of its understanding of „Western civilization“.

"Russia killed Alexei Navalny with frog toxin, UK and four European allies say" www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Important assurance from Keir Starmer to the Baltic countries and others (in contrast to Marco Rubio): "Our commitment to article 5 is as strong as ever". #MSC #Nato

"The time has come to bring the EU´s mutual defence clause into life", says Ursula von der Leyen at #MSC

Agreed. Rubio's speech all about shared enemies (woke, industrial rivals) & historical civilisational kinship. Merz and Macron speeches rooted in today's geopolitics (eg, err, Ukraine) & values (the former paraphrasing Immanuel Kant, latter literally using the word "Aufklärung).

Rubio: „Make Western Civilization great again“ (and save it from „civilizational erasure“, caused by „mass migration“ and „climate religion“). Wang Yi: „Let‘s save the UN, global governance and multilateralism“. 🤡

#NIH to deprioritize pandemic preparedness and biodefense research, @nature.com reports, saying director Jay Bhattacharya wants to focus on known diseases, not possible future threats. What could possibly go wrong? www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Just the kind of thing you’ll want to come home to on a frigid day; these mildly spiced meatballs are the essence of winter comfort food. Serve them with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam, if you want something sweet. nyti.ms/46Aj9k9

This episode of @markhleonard.bsky.social's World in 30 Minutes podcast features a live recording of a conversation with US undersecretary of war for policy, Elbridge Colby, which took place during the Munich Security Conference 2026. ecfr.eu/podcasts/epi... @ecfr.eu

This week, we also explore the EU’s #competitiveness 🇪🇺 Instead of deregulation, the EU needs a competing vision of competitiveness grounded in building capacity Read the Progressive Page by @cmstahl.bsky.social 🗞️ feps-europe.eu/europe-needs...

Climate change, the huge challenge of our generation.

So Europe should weaken carbon pricing to protect the climate? Well, hard to argue that convincingly. Better that #CEFIC and others are honest and just demand less ambitious climate policies. Then elected politicians have to decide. #Antwerp. antwerp-declaration.eu/the-antwerp-... #AldenBiesen

Good piece by @westervangaal.bsky.social euobserver.com/202590/dereg...

"It should be Made with Europe, not Made in Europe" www.ft.com/content/ebb6...

Proposed 28th regime for start-ups in the EU does not address the real problems of attracting qualified workers, investment and underresourced public administrations Austerity measures have led to underfunding resulting in waiting times and waiting lists Do something about that @epsu.bsky.social

So Europe should weaken carbon pricing to protect the climate? Well, hard to argue that convincingly. Better that #CEFIC and others are honest and just demand less ambitious climate policies. Then elected politicians have to decide. #Antwerp. antwerp-declaration.eu/the-antwerp-... #AldenBiesen

I did not expect to see this in the WSJ: "Reducing reliance on fossil fuels looks like Europe’s best shot at saving its domestic manufacturing and stopping other governments from pushing it around" Agreed!

The final agreement - adopted with significant delay - include three elements that increase the policy uncertainty in EU climate policy: • backdoors to revisit the target • unspecified flexibilities (CDR & international credits) • conditionalities for the upcoming reforms of policy instruments /2

Review backdoor: Art. 11 now explicitly allows revisiting the 2040 target - both in general and specificially in relation to LULUCF. If the land sector underperforms, the 2040 target could be adjusted. With the EU land sink deteriorating, this creates real policy-uncertainty risks for the 2030s. /5

Worth reading. We want long lasting competitiveness and wealth creation. We can get both, being truth to our goals and principles.

OPINION: As the current consensus goes, Europe has smothered itself in unnecessary regulation, and growth will return once red tape is cut. This agenda is bound to disappoint.

Good piece by @nkurmayer.bsky.social on the #Antwerp meeting: www.euractiv.com/news/antwerp...