Europe

There were many lingua francas of which French was supposedly the first global lingua franca. That changed and it became English (from what I understand). We will probably see another language become the lingua franca, so my question is: should it be English? Are there better candidates out there? Why / why not?

Just go the vote, and make sure your family and friends go to give their votes.

I'm not local, I cannot vote over here, but had seen multiple times in modern times voter suppression has been a big deal, it's easier to make you not to bother to vote than change your mind who to vote.

I had worked brexit UK, where people voted it due they weren't happy about the PM. As it was good time to vote against him. Without thinking what brexit actually was. So use your voice by voting. What do you wish the future of country will be in this new era.

I know German has issues, as every Europe union contries. If the problems are easy to solve they would have been solved already, don't belive one tag line promises.

I'm just wanna say, as a fellow user. Just go to vote.

Germany is at a crossroads when it comes to its security policy — one of the deepest upheavals of the post-War era.

President Donald Trump plans to pull about 20,000 U.S. troops from Europe, according to a leading Italian news agency.

A European diplomatic source told ANSA that Trump, who entered office on Monday for a second term, wants to reduce the American contingent in Europe by about 20 percent and plans to ask for a "financial contribution" for the maintenance of the remaining troops.

• According to Whittaker, the bill requires the encrypted messaging app Signal to install so-called backdoors in the software.

The group that drafted a key blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term convened a meeting in Washington D.C. this week to consider proposals for bulldozing the European Union (EU).

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”.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.26-113538/https://www.ft.com/content/eeb1ee80-00b8-4f9f-b560-a6717a80d58d

EU households should stockpile essential supplies to survive at least 72 hours of crisis, Brussels has proposed, as Russia’s war in Ukraine and a darkening geopolitical landscape prompt the bloc to take new steps to increase its security.

The continuing conflict in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic that brutally exposed a lack of crisis response capabilities and the Trump administration’s adversarial stance towards Europe have forced the continent to rethink its vulnerabilities and increase spending on defence and security.

The new initiative comes as European intelligence agencies warn that Russia could attack an EU member state within three to five years, adding to natural threats including floods and wildfires worsened by climate change and societal risks such as financial crises.

Europe faced increased threats “including the possibility of armed aggression against member states”, the European Commission warned on Wednesday as it published a 30-step plan for its 27 capitals to increase their preparedness for crisis and mitigation measures.

A cargo ship, linked to the Russian ghost fleet, which has been investigated for suspicious activity in the Baltic was spotted by an Irish Air Corps aircraft dropping an anchor close to an undersea cable in Irish waters.

It has emerged that the incident earlier this year occured in waters off the north east coast. The Air Corps had dispatched an aircraft to monitor its movements as it is a list of Russian related vessels.

There has been several incidents in the Baltic Sea where anchors, dropped by Russian linked vessels, have damaged critical internet cables.

The Air Corps was able to film the ship, dropping the anchor in the area, and following communication from the Irish crew the cargo vessel fled. It was not confirmed if the ship was intentionally targeting undersea infrastructure or if it was a case of bad seamanship.

The ship, sailing under a flag from Caribbean region, had been in trouble in the Baltic Sea in the same month. German authorities escorted it out of the area along with Swedish and Danish naval colleagues.

On that occasion she was sailing from St Petersburg en route through the waters near Gotland, an island off Sweden.

The sighting of it in Irish waters was made earlier this year and it was being monitored after intelligence was shared from a friendly nation with the Irish State.

An Irish Air Corps maritime patrol vessel was despatched to keep watch – it is understood that they recorded it, using specialist camera equipment, as it dropped the anchor.

It is understood the ship was contacted by radio by the Irish Defence Forces and directed to haul its anchor back up and it departed the area.

The Journal has learned that the ship is back in Irish waters and is heading towards the west coast.

It is understood that the ship has steamed from the Bay of Biscay and is currently off the Cork and Kerry coast.

Using an open source flight monitoring service The Journal was able to follow an Air Corps CASA 295 aircraft which went to a location near the ship this afternoon.

This publication has previously revealed that Ireland held a major exercise behind closed doors to test how Ireland will deal with a complete loss of the internet after a targeted attack.

It is understood that the event, known as a tabletop exercise, was held in February and involved multiple Government departments and agencies including the Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána and other emergency services.

The scenario was a concerted cyber attack which was combined with the loss of multiple undersea cables.

There are a large amount of fibre optic internet cables connecting Europe to the US and other parts of the world running through Irish waters. They carry all high speed internet traffic, including banking and other critical data.

Interest in Canada joining the EU has increased amid US tensions, with 44% of Canadians supporting the idea. While the EU acknowledges shared values, Canada's geographic distance and historical precedent present challenges for membership.

The response to Donald Trump's policy initiatives, the fate of Ukraine, and the issue of massive investment and record debt are on German voters' minds two weeks after the federal election.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/27232360

https://archive.ph/mhPRN

geteilt von: https://feddit.org/post/8357814

The left side of the graph shows the results, the right side shows possible coalitions

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundestagswahl-2025-ergebnisse-so-hat-deutschland-gewaehlt-aktuelle-daten-a-6ace92df-43cc-48de-b183-2c98c7c19c2f

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Weidel admitted meeting Wu but said she met him once in months. As for their discussions, Weidel said that she sought an understanding of China’s position on Germany.

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The damning findings come days ahead of German parliamentary elections in which AfD has rattled mainstream politicians. As per latest opinion polls, the party stands second in popularity and way ahead of incumbent SPD. While AfD’s links to the neo-Nazi movement have led to widespread concerns and contributed to its ostracisation by German parties, the links to China have led to fresh concerns whether a top contender for German chancellorship has been groomed by China.

The findings are all the more damning as European far-right has long been supported by Russia and China is Russia’s principal ally. The AfD is so extremist that even French far-right party, National Rally (RN), broke ties with it in the European Union (EU) elections last year. Moreover, AfD has previously been charged with spying for China and such allegations contributed to the RN-AfD split.

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AfD leader Alice Weidel’s long relationship to China

In light of revealation of Weidel’s secret meetings with the top Chinese diplomat in Germany, fresh attention has come on her long relationship with China that goes back to decades. It is bound to be explored whether she has been groomed by China to do the Communist Party’s bidding in Germany and Europe.

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As an economist, Weidel worked for the state-owned Bank of China and lived in China for six years. It has been reported that she was on scholarship during those years. Her doctoral thesis was also written on Chinese pension system.

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In China, Weidel worked at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

While Weidel today leads a party linked to neo-Nazis, her grandparents were members of the Nazi Party. Her grandfather, Hans Weidel, was a prominent Nazi judge who persecuted political opponents of the Nazi regime. He was appointed by Adolf Hitler himself.