Es ist der bisher kühnste Versuch der Europäer, den wirtschaftlichen Druck auf Russland zu erhöhen und dem Land die Kriegsführung in der Ukraine zu erschweren. Seit Montag ist ein Embargo in Kraft: Ölimporte aus Russland in die EU über den Seeweg sind verboten. Pipeline-Öl darf nur für Ungarn und die Slowakei fließen. Europäischen Redereien und Versicherern ist es nicht mehr erlaubt, russisches Öl zu transportieren oder Lieferungen zu versichern, wenn der Rohstoff für mehr als 60 Dollar je Fass verkauft wird.
Category Archives: European Union
Marseille’s battle against the surveillance state
Heading toward Marseille’s central train station, Eda Nano points out what looks like a streetlamp on the Rue des Abeilles. Its long stand curves upward to a white dome shading a dark bulb. But this sleek piece of urban furniture is not a lamp. It’s a video camera, with a 360-degree view of the narrow street.
Nano, a 39-year-old developer, wants to make residents of Marseille more aware that they are being watched. She is part of a group called Technopolice that has been organizing efforts to map the rise of video surveillance. With some 1,600 cameras in the city, there is plenty to find. Mixed in among them, Nano says, are 50 smart cameras designed to detect and flag up suspicious behavior, though she is unsure where they are or how they are being used.
Across the world, video cameras have become an accepted feature of urban life. Many cities in China now have dense networks of them. London and New Delhi aren’t far behind.
Now France is playing catch-up. Since 2015, the year of the Bataclan terrorist attacks, the number of cameras in Paris has increased fourfold. The police have used such cameras to enforce pandemic lockdown measures and monitor protests like those of the Gilets Jaunes. And a new nationwide security law, adopted last year, allows for video surveillance by police drones during events like protests and marches.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/06/13/1053650/marseille-fight-surveillance-state/
Ma non è solo fatalità I tanti allarmi inascoltati
Non ne possiamo più, di piangere per Ischia. Le nuove ed ennesime vittime travolte dall’ennesima frana venuta giù dal Monte Epomeo (guai a chiamarlo vulcano: porta iella…) vanno piante, onorate e affidate alla terra col cordoglio di tutti gli italiani. Non meno doveroso, però, sarà rispettare lo strazio delle famiglie nel modo più serio e severo, con un’inchiesta che dia il giusto peso alla gravità dell’evento atmosferico ma spazzi via i tentativi di dare tutta la colpa alla fatalità. Si sapeva, che poteva succedere ancora. Si sapeva.
The Blackstone rebellion: how one country took on the world’s biggest commercial landlord
Blackstone is the largest commercial landlord in history. Over the past two decades, it has quietly taken control of apartment blocks, care homes, student housing, railway arches, film studios, offices, hotels, logistics warehouses and datacentres. Blackstone doesn’t just own real estate, it owns everything – or that’s how it can feel when you start to examine its bewildering array of assets. If you wear Spanx, have ever matched with someone on Bumble, stayed in a Hilton hotel or a CentreParcs resort, visited Legoland, Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeon or an elderly relative at a Southern Cross care home, you have encountered a company that forms, or has recently formed, part of the Blackstone empire.
The New York headquarters of Blackstone are located in a skyscraper on Park Avenue. Every Monday, the firm’s founder Steve Schwarzman and chief operating officer Jon Gray gather with senior partners around a large conference table on the 31st floor to discuss investment memos sent the previous week by teams in the company’s 26 offices in the US, Europe and Asia. It’s here that Blackstone’s investment decisions are made. Last year, the company invested $270bn, bringing the total value of the assets it manages to $881bn, slightly more than the gross domestic product of Switzerland, and more than twice that of Denmark. The Monday meeting resembles an intense seminar whose participants zero in on the weaknesses in proposals that pass before them. Some investments can return to this table three or four times for approval before they’re ultimately killed.
Blackstone is an asset manager, a type of private financial firm that invests the wealth of pension funds and insurance companies. It is not to be confused with BlackRock, an asset management firm founded by Larry Fink, who worked for Blackstone in the 1980s and set up its bond-investment business. In 1994, BlackRock became an independent firm and Blackstone sold its shares in the company. Fink and Schwarzman now work on opposite sides of Park Avenue. Fink’s company dwarfs Blackstone, but when it comes to property, Blackstone is the giant. Its $320bn real estate portfolio is more than six times larger than that of BlackRock. “For Blackstone, real estate is the goose that lays the golden egg,” Brett Christophers, a professor of geography and author of a forthcoming book about the asset management industry, told me.
The reality of Sweden’s far-right future
The 11th of September marked the biggest shift in Swedish politics in modern history. Voters ousted the Social Democratic government and, for the first time, the radical right party, the Sweden Democrats, attained real political power. I am now left with the realisation that the country I grew up in exists only as a memory. It has been destroyed by a coalition of spineless conservatives, opportunistic liberals and the right-wing extremists who now de facto run the country. And not to forget: the ousted Social Democrats, who defined and built the Swedish welfare state, have no clear plan to change the new political reality.
The Sweden Democrats aren’t part of the new government led by the Moderate Party’s Ulf Kristersson that took office on October 18 but the party will have a major influence over the government’s policies, which have been negotiated between the parties in government and the Sweden Democrats. It is an alarming shift. The Sweden Democrats were founded in the Eighties by Swedish Nazis and its current leadership, including party leader, Jimmie Åkesson, became members in the Nineties during the party’s most radical years. On 11 September it became, for the first time, the second biggest party in parliament. The reason for their new position of influence, however, isn’t that they gained a lot of new voters but that the mainstream right-wing parties changed their position from vowing to keep the Sweden Democrats out of power to actively including them. The party is not officially part of the new coalition government, but the 60-page long negotiated policy platform makes it abundantly clear that it dominates Swedish politics.
The European Project Is Now at the Mercy of the Weather
Right now, the sobering truth is that the future of Europe hinges on the weather. It seems absurd. But whether the winter ahead is cold or warm will determine if Europe gets through the next six months without major economic, political, and social stress.
We are in this situation because, thanks to the clash with Russia over Ukraine, Europe has lost roughly a third of its regular gas supply. Much of Europe, particularly in the former Soviet bloc, relied on Russian gas for electricity generation, home heating, cooking, and industrial purposes. Germany and Italy, the largest and third-largest economies in the Eurozone, were also heavily dependent on Russian gas.
Since the spring, as the scale of the conflict became clear, Europe has been bracing for the worst. While buying as much Russian gas as it can, Europe has been scrambling to sign new gas deals and make up the impending shortfall by buying up cargos of liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Over the summer, as Russia’s situation became more dire, deliveries of Russian gas slowed to a fraction of their normal level. Europe’s purchasing went into overdrive, pushing gas prices to extraordinary levels—equivalent to roughly $400 per barrel of oil or more. As a result, the gas storage facilities are now full. Gas prices, at least for the next few months, have plunged. There is simply nowhere to put more of the stuff. It’s now the daily charges for LNG tankers that have gone through the roof, as shippers wait offshore for European demand to return. It is only a matter of time. The gas storage facilities are sufficient to cover no more than a few months. Gas prices for next year and for the foreseeable future remain severely elevated—in the $200-per-barrel range, around 8 times their precrisis levels. With no prospect of a resumption of Russian gas deliveries in sight, the outlook is grim—unless, that is, the weather stays warm.
Schikken, je uitspreken of vertrekken
We waren nog maar net Tbilisi uitgereden toen de vraag zich voordeed in de vorm van een zoektocht naar het juiste woord. Hoe zouden we ze noemen, de mannen die we gingen ontmoeten, die met een tempo van zo’n tienduizend per dag vanuit Rusland de grens met Georgië overstaken om Vladimir Poetins mobilisatie te ontwijken?
‘Ik betrapte mezelf er gister op dat ik het woord “vluchteling” gebruikte. Maar toen dacht ik terug aan die keer toen ik Syrische vluchtelingen filmde in een tentenkamp in Hongarije en dacht ik: nee, dit kun je geen vluchtelingen noemen’, zei cameravrouw Sasja.
Haar eigen status was een stuk minder problematisch, net als die van de andere martovskije, de duizenden journalisten, activisten en intellectuelen die Rusland voor of vlak na het begin van de oorlog waren ontvlucht. Natuurlijk waren er genoeg leden van deze groep, juist deze groep, die zich in lange, zelfkastijdende posts op sociale media afvroegen of zij niet medeverantwoordelijk waren voor het bloedbad van Boetsja. Maar ondanks de oprechtheid van de emotie troffen de mea culpa’s mij als abstract, de gewetensvraag als retorisch, het lijden als enigszins misplaatst.
https://www.groene.nl/artikel/schikken-je-uitspreken-of-vertrekken
Fake news, la lotta della Finlandia è un modello da copiare
In Finlandia la lotta alle fake news è iniziata nel 1950. Nel Dopoguerra, prima della televisione e di internet, il paese aveva lanciato un programma di educazione ai media nelle scuole, al fine di insegnare agli studenti come approcciarsi alle notizie lette sui giornali o ascoltate alla radio. La tradizione è continuata fino ai giorni nostri: già nel 2002 il ministero dell’Educazione di Helsinki ha promosso lezioni di media literacy e cybersecurity che proteggono i lettori finlandesi dalla disinformazione. Oggi la fiducia nel giornalismo è al 70% in Finlandia, la più alta percentuale d’Europa, mentre in Italia si attesta al 35% secondo i dati di Reuters. La Finlandia è un passo avanti nella lotta contro le fake news e ha molto da insegnare agli altri stati europei, minacciati dalla crescente diffusione di notizie false sui social media.
https://www.wired.it/article/fake-news-finlandia-scuola/
Limba romani te ajută să înțelegi cine ești
Când Ionela Pădure se plimbă după-amiaza prin sat cu fiul ei, Milanko, zeci de copii îi salută veseli. Cu puștiul de aproape 4 ani în frunte pe bicicletă, cei doi trec pe lângă terenul de fotbal și pe lângă școala din Vizurești, aflate la câțiva pași de curtea lor.
„Bună ziua, doamna profesoară!” și „Ce faci, Milanko?” răsună din toate părțile, ca vocea unui coridor școlar mutat în aer liber.
Sunt mai bine de zece ani de când coloana sonoră a Ionelei, o profesoară de limba romani în vârstă de 35 de ani, e construită din vocile copiilor.
La început au fost elevii de gimnaziu în risc de abandon școlar din cartierul bucureștean Ferentari, unde făcea educație remedială – adică îi sprijinea să recupereze lacunele și să descopere că pot să reușească la școală. Apoi au fost copiii imigranți de la periferia Parisului, pentru care a predat franceză și i-a ajutat să se simtă mai puțin străini în noua țară.
Acum vocea principală e a fiului ei, dar de doi ani de când s-au mutat în Vizurești, un sat din Dâmbovița la 40 de km de capitală, Ionela are mereu brațele deschise pentru îmbrățișat și alți zâni și zâne, cum își numește elevii.
Acasă și în clasă răsună vocea ei fermă, care acoperă orice zumzet. Dar cuvintele pe care le folosește sunt desprinse din cărțile moderne despre creșterea copiilor, axate pe observații pozitive: „Mulțumesc că ai pus carioca la loc”, „Apreciez că ai încercat singur”, „Mă bucur că ai cerut ajutorul”.
„Ia să vedem cine poate să traducă următoarea propoziție”, le-a spus elevilor de primară într-o dimineață de primăvară când exersau verbul „a avea”. A scris cu markerul pe tablă „Kana me sem xoliame, man si man asva p-o muj”. Copiii au citit în cor și mâinile au zbârnâit prin aer.
L’Église italienne laisse une porte ouverte à Giorgia Meloni car elle ne compromet pas le christianisme
La victoire électorale de Giorgia Meloni s’inscrit dans une montée des mouvements populistes d’extrême droite en Europe. Tous ces mouvements partagent l’hostilité envers les migrants et l’islam, l’euroscepticisme et la défense d’une identité nationale, voire, paradoxalement, européenne. Ils diffèrent néanmoins dans leur rapport au christianisme, même s’ils évoquent souvent l’identité ou les racines chrétiennes de l’Europe.
Une telle référence est, dans le nord de l’Europe, purement négative : elle sert à faire de l’islam l’autre par excellence, mais n’implique en rien la promotion de normes ou de valeurs chrétiennes. Les populistes du nord de l’Europe ont entériné l’évolution de la société et ne mettent pas en avant la lutte contre l’avortement ou le mariage homosexuel, quand ils n’ont pas tout simplement adopté les nouvelles valeurs libérales et féministes (comme le parti de Geert Wilders aux Pays-Bas).
En France, Marine Le Pen se rapproche de ce modèle : elle fait de la laïcité le cœur de l’identité française et ne remet en cause ni l’avortement, ni le mariage pour tous ; les idées de sa nièce « catho-tradi » ne percent pas dans le populisme français, comme l’a illustré l’échec électoral de Zemmour. Il se pourrait que ce modèle, laïque, anti-migrant, illibéral mais libertaire, se répande d’ailleurs vers le sud : le mode de vie des dirigeants populistes est la plupart du temps celui de leur génération, ayant grandi dans la permissivité (même Giorgia Meloni, qui défend les valeurs de la famille, a oublié de se marier et n’a rien d’une femme au foyer, tout en élevant sa fille). Les Églises n’ont donc pas trop de problèmes à prendre leur distance avec ces populistes.
Idler on a hammock 