this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2024
28 points (67.5% liked)

Europe

6729 readers
973 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media. Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/22969795

top 24 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] fantawurstwasser@feddit.org 68 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's not "Germany". It's german factory owners, who are chasing profits. That is a big difference and we should use the correct language here.

[–] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I mean, VW is at least partially owned by a federal state of Germany

[–] fantawurstwasser@feddit.org 6 points 7 months ago

Yeah, but VW is not the norm, but a really special case

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

AFAIK not. You mean the state of Lower Saxony?

[–] federalreverse@feddit.org 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

... and Lower Saxony is a federal state (as in, "one of the 16 federal states").

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 4 points 7 months ago

Yeah, I need to learn how to read it seems.

[–] germanatlas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 36 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Germany’s reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, combined with the phasing out of nuclear power, has increased the country’s reliance on imports and caused severe price volatility, ultimately putting pressure on both industry and taxpayers

This is false on multiple accounts, our massive reliance on Russian gas, Russias war in Ukraine and the subsequent boycott of their gas increased energy prices, not our renewables. They were the biggest factor that helped in these times because guess what, they are an independent source of energy, unlike imported gas.

Also the nuclear phaseout also wasn’t a factor, as a conservative politician recently got corrected on a very similar topic. In fact, Germany sold more energy to France (massively dependent on nuclear) in 2022 than it bought.

And wtf saying that phasing out nuclear puts pressure on taxpayers, nuclear is cheap in France exclusively because it gets heavily subsidized by French taxpayers, if wind or solar got similar subsidies energy consumption would probably be paid instead of cost something.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Maybe we shouldn't trust any media owned, operated, or financed by wealthy sociopaths?

Sondhi Limthongkul[a] (born 7 November 1947) is a Thai media proprietor, conspiracy theorist, pro-Beijing anti-democracy reactionary activist, demagogue, and leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

The owners devoted his life to overthrowing democracy and returning to Monarch-ruled authoritarian dictatorship.

[–] federalreverse@feddit.org 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

This guy appears to be the founder not the owner:

Asia Times Online was created early in 1999, at atimes.com, describing itself as a successor in "publication policy and editorial outlook" to the print newspaper Asia Times, owned by Sondhi Limthongkul, a Thai media mogul and leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, who later sold his business. -- source, emphasis mine

Media Bias Fact Check lists them as "mostly factual".

None of which makes the paragraph cited by thread op any more correct, obviously. (Fwiw: coal power is cheap in China because it is heavily subsidized & there's no CO2 trading scheme, afaik. Overall, German companies opening factories in China because they're cheap tracks, however.)

[–] 0x815@feddit.org 5 points 7 months ago

The Asia Times is based in Hong Kong in the meantime, so the Chinese government will have a close hold on what they publish. That's why I'd agree with what others already said to not trust them to much ...

Just fyi: China does have its own national carbon trading scheme, but it appears to be as ineffective as those in the West.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Wow, they're hitting all the propaganda birds with this stone, aren't they?

[–] elvith@feddit.org 34 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] Kissaki@feddit.org 5 points 7 months ago
  1. Sell factory linked to forced labor
  2. Invest elsewhere
[–] 0x815@feddit.org 17 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

In other news, it is said that companies around the world are starting to cut prices and costs and scale back activity in China.

The interesting bit is that the Asian Times doesn't mention too many specific new German companies which allegedly have been investing in China recently. It just says things like German energy costs are higher.

[Edit for clarity.]

[–] Viri4thus@feddit.org 4 points 7 months ago

Was just seeing the same. The Asia Times is likely referring to the explosion of dropshippers in Germany, where everyone and their mother has a storefront to ship trash from China to the EU.

[–] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 13 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Surely moving all the worlds factories into one country isn't a smart idea.

[–] GenosseFlosse@feddit.org 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

This Excel Sheet says it's very profitable. Isn't that the same? /s

[–] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Srsly, those stupid managers.

Now, on an unrelated note, let me invest my retirement funds into whatever ETF that performs the best.

[–] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Actually you bring up an important point. I feel like any investment into shares makes you complicit. Is such thing as an ethical ETF possible? What do you do with money you want to invest instead?

[–] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It's almost like the entire system of finance capitalism is completely broken. Almost.

[–] B0rax@feddit.org 4 points 7 months ago

But think of the profits!

[–] qyron@sopuli.xyz 2 points 7 months ago

What I find more difficult to fit in my head in all of this is that it was Germany one of the first supporters of re-industrializing Europe, to off-set the huge dependency on foreign production.

And now this?

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

BOOO! HISS! BOOO!

Stop empowering China while weakening your own country.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 0 points 7 months ago

Well that's not very nice of them!