Europe

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – Russia and Belarus signed a deal on Thursday formalizing the procedure for deploying Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Control of the weapons will remain with Moscow. The move formalized the deal agreed on earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Putin previously announced in March that his country planned to deploy tactical, comparatively short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus. The inking of the deal comes as Russia braces for Ukraine´s much-anticipated counteroffensive. Both Russian and Belarusian officials framed the step as driven by hostility from the West. Russia has Trained Belarussian Pilots to Deploy Nuclear Weapons, Defence Ministry Claims https://t.co/zcYutffUjV — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 14, 2023 “Deployment of nonstrategic nuclear weapons is an effective response to the aggressive policy of countries unfriendly to us,” Belarusian Defense … [Read more...] about Russia Formalises Agreement to Deploy Nuclear Weapons to Europe

Nations in Western Europe are in “complete denial” about the growing influence of the Chinese Communist Party, an EU insider has warned. Ivana Karásková, a Czech foreign influence specialist working within the European Union, has said that many nations across the bloc are asleep at the wheel when it comes to growing Chinese influence campaigns. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, tensions between China and the West have steadily increased, with both the United States and Europe seeing various warnings of increased Chinese Communist Party spy and influence campaigns within their territories. Speaking to POLITICO , Karásková warned that many nations within Europe have not been paying enough attention to the dangers posed by China, singling out the entirety of the continent’s West as not taking the threat seriously enough. “In some countries, awareness of [Chinese influence operations] is high because they have a history of Russian-backed action. Elsewhere, it’s complete … [Read more...] about Western Europe in ‘Complete Denial’ About Growing Chinese Influence

French President Emmanuel Macron has admitted that he should have previously listened to Eastern Europe regarding the threat Russia posed. Speaking at a security conference in Slovakia on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to admit that he failed to take warnings about Vladimir Putin’s Russia seriously before the Ukraine war. Macron was one of the last Western politicians to recognise the threat posed by Russia before its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the French head-of-state even once saying that he had received assurances from Putin that now military escalation with the Kyiv would occur just weeks before the invasion. According to a report by France24, Macron admitted that he, along with others in the West, missed their chance to heed the warnings of those in the East. I came all the way to Bratislava to deliver one message: we will not let Europe be kidnapped a second time. pic.twitter.com/SMCglLBr5F — Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 31, … [Read more...] about Macron: I Should Have Listened to Eastern Europe on Russian Danger

Wall Street tactics akin to the ones that fostered subprime mortgages in America have worsened the financial crisis shaking Greece and undermining the euro by enabling European governments to hide their mounting debts. As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels. Even as the crisis was nearing the flashpoint, banks were searching for ways to help Greece forestall the day of reckoning. In early November — three months before Athens became the epicenter of global financial anxiety — a team from Goldman Sachs arrived in the ancient city with a very modern proposition for a government struggling to pay its bills, according to two people who were briefed on the meeting. The bankers, led by Goldman’s president, Gary D. Cohn, held out a financing … [Read more...] about Wall St. Helped to Mask Debt Fueling Europe’s Crisis

Britain Italy Germany +28 % +17 % +40 % Britain Italy Germany +28 % +17 % +40 % Britain Italy Germany +28 % +17 % +40 % Source: Britain’s Office for National Statistics, Italy’s Industry Ministry and Germany’s Federal Statistical Office By Rebecca Lieberman Agricultural and energy costs are falling, but basic items remain stubbornly expensive for consumers. By Eshe Nelson Reporting from London It is the most basic of staple food items: sliced white bread. In Britain, the average price of a loaf was 28 percent higher in April, at 1.39 pounds, or $1.72, than it was a year earlier. In Italy, the price of spaghetti and other pasta, a fixture of the Italian diet, has risen nearly 17 percent from the year before. In Germany, the European Union’s largest economy, cheese prices are nearly 40 percent higher than a year ago, and potatoes cost 14 percent … [Read more...] about Why Are Food Prices So High in Europe?

CANAZEI, Italy — Days before a glacier in the Italian Dolomites broke off with the force of a collapsing skyscraper, crushing at least 10 hikers under an avalanche of ice, snow and rock, Carlo Budel heard water running under the ice. “I heard what sounded like a river’s torrent,” said Mr. Budel, who lives in an isolated refuge next to the glacier on the 11,000-foot Marmolada mountain . At the mountain’s base, he watched a yellow helicopter fly overhead searching for signs of life, or remains. Mr. Budel recalled that when he first scaled the glacier at the end of summer, not even a decade ago, he hardly needed ropes, there was so much snow. “The difference between now and then is scary,” he said. “At this point we are on another path.” It is an increasingly common path for a world confronting the deadly consequences of extreme weather brought on by man-made, and irreversible, climate change. A year after Greece lost lives, livestock and entire swaths of forest to … [Read more...] about Glacier Tragedy Shows Reach of Europe’s New Heat