#G7 2024 news

[latestnews-now]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss trade and tariff tensions between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. With billions at stake, their conversation covered trade, border security, and more. Watch to learn how this meeting could impact North America’s economy and trade policies. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more global news updates!

[bopinion]

2024 / 24

Aperçu of the Week

"It is an old German disease that by pointing to the best of tomorrow, one does not do the good of today, and the bad of yesterday remains."

(Klaus Töpfer, former German Environment Minister and long-time Executive Director of the UN Environment Program, died last week at the age of 85)

Bad News of the Week

Biologically speaking, humans are just one of many vertebrates. And yet we consider ourselves to be the "crown of creation" - in other words, something better. And reserve basic rights for most other vertebrates. After all, they are "only" animals. I don't want to start talking about cruel animal husbandry or the ruthless repression of habitats here, even if this receives too little attention. Instead, I would like to talk about a species that would not exist in this form without human intervention: Pigeons.

Most of the populations that live in our cities today can be traced back to pets that were released into the wild. And have since been reviled as "rats of the air". And at the same time highly stylized as a symbol of peace, innocence and loyalty. Their phenomenal sense of orientation with the help of their magnetic sensory perception makes them clearly superior to us humans, at least in this respect.

Due to a lack of natural predators, pigeon populations are getting out of hand in some places (at least in the estimation of the top vertebrate). One proven effective method - albeit relatively costly - is the construction of pigeon lofts in which their eggs are replaced with plaster eggs. The inhabitants of Limburg, a town with a population of almost 40,000 in Hesse, evidently find this too laborious.

In a sensational referendum, the majority of Limburg residents opted for a, well, rather radical method of population reduction: a falconer is to lure the animals into a crate, stun them with a blow to the head and kill them by breaking their necks. Creepy. And quite medieval. But Limburg already existed in the 10th century. It's a shame that civilization there hasn't developed in line with the times in all areas.

Good News of the Week

There have been many international summits in the last few days. Including a meeting of the G7 in Italy. There was one real highlight that all participants were able to agree on - despite many differences in day-to-day political business. Namely, further support for Ukraine. This time it is less about the promise of military support and more about cash. Specifically, Russian money. State assets that are also held in accounts in the USA, Germany, Canada, France, the UK, Japan and Italy - and have been frozen since the start of the war against Ukraine.

Legally (as if that were the point) the assets obviously cannot simply be confiscated. But money continues to "work" even when it is frozen. By earning interest. And apparently Russian money earns a lot of interest. Because the G7 is now using the interest from frozen Russian state assets to finance a Ukraine aid package worth USD 50 billion. And money can be used in more ways than weapons. Because it can not only be used to buy ammunition. It can also be used to buy medicines. And pay bus drivers. And rebuild destroyed schools. Who knows, maybe there will soon be a "Vladimir Putin Primary School" in Kharkiv. Because he not only bombed it, but also rebuilt it with his money.

Personal happy moment of the week

I play Wordle. In English and German. And I score quite good. But winning at the second try is pure luck. But it's nice anyway, when you are called "Genius!". Even if it's just by an algorithm. There are weeks when this is enough for the personal happy moment.

I couldn't care less...

...that the UN Security Council has come out in favor of the plan for a ceasefire in Gaza. Because if any country gives a shit besides the US what the UN thinks or says, it's Israel.

As I write this...

...the European Men's Football Championship is underway. And Germany is dreaming of another "summer fairytale". When Germany hosted the 2006 World Cup, a special, light atmosphere prevailed for the four weeks of the tournament, in which it was easy to forget the hardships of everyday life. Especially now, in this culmination of crises, that would be pleasant again. Even if it doesn't fundamentally change anything.

Post Scriptum

The AfD (Alternative for Germany / Alternative for Germany) member of parliament Petr Bystron - yes, as you can see from the name, there are also xenophobes with a migration background - is under investigation for money laundering and bribery. These must now be dropped, at least for the time being. This is because Bystron was elected to the European Parliament in second place on the AfD party list. And therefore enjoys immunity. At least until it is officially withdrawn at official request. It is absurd that legislators, of all people, should be above the law. Even if it is just a formality.

[head-post]

G7 leaders gather in Italy to discuss conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine

G7 foreign ministers will meet near Rome on Monday for two days of talks with regional counterparts on the Middle East before discussing the military conflict in Ukraine.

The G7 ministers will also discuss the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Hamas leader, “as well as possible implications for the ongoing crises in Lebanon and Gaza,” Italy’s foreign ministry said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend the talks in Fiuggi and Anagni along with ministers from the other G7 countries – Britain, Canada, Germany, France and Japan – which will be organised by Italian representative Antonio Tajani.

The first meeting on Monday afternoon will focus on the situation in the Middle East and the Red Sea region, in particular efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

According to Rome, ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt, as well as the secretary-general of the Arab League, will attend one of the meetings. Tajani said in a statement:

“We have asked for the presence of partners in the region to foster dialogue with the members of the G7. Only together can we find concrete solutions that can bring peace and stability to the region.”

In Brussels, ambassadors from NATO and Ukraine will hold talks on Russia’s launch of an experimental medium-range hypersonic missile.

Tensions in the Asia-Pacific region are also on the agenda for the G7 meeting, and the Italians have invited the foreign ministers of South Korea, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

G7 ministers are also expected to discuss the ongoing crises in Haiti and Sudan, as well as the political situation in Venezuela.

Arrest warrants for Netanyahu

On Thursday, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas spokesman Mohammed Deif, in response to charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by an attack by the Palestinian group’s militants on October 7, 2023.

Israel and its allies condemned the decision, but it was welcomed by Turkey and human rights groups.

Several countries have said they will honour ICC warrants and arrest Netanyahu if he is on their territory, while other states are still mulling their reaction to the decision.

The news of Netanyahu’s arrest warrant sparked a massive reaction from political leaders on social media Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis tweeted:

“Germany will not arrest genocidal Netanyahu “because of its Nazi history,” says Chancellor Olf Scholz. He forgot to add that Germany has no problem arresting Jews who dare oppose genocide. Is this also because of Germany’s Nazi past?”

Read more HERE

[3nn-express]

G7 Summit 2024 Live Updates.

The G7 Summit 2024 takes place in Italy’s Apulia region. It shines a light on Italy’s rich culture and history. It’s also a key spot for talking about how the world is run and handling global money issues.

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #22

June 7-14 2024

Vice-President Harris announced that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is moving to remove medical debt for people's credit score. This move will improve the credit rating of 15 million Americans. Millions of Americans struggling with debt from medical expenses can't get approved for a loan for a car, to start a small business or buy a home. The new rule will improve credit scores by an average of 20 points and lead to 22,000 additional mortgages being approved every year. This comes on top of efforts by the Biden Administration to buy up and forgive medical debt. Through money in the American Rescue Plan $7 billion dollars of medical debt will be forgiven by the end of 2026. To date state and local governments have used ARP funds to buy up and forgive the debt of 3 million Americans and counting.

The EPA, Department of Agriculture, and FDA announced a joint "National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics". The Strategy aimed to cut food waste by 50% by 2030. Currently 24% of municipal solid waste in landfills is food waste, and food waste accounts for 58% of methane emissions from landfills roughly the green house gas emissions of 60 coal-fired power plants every year. This connects to $200 million the EPA already has invested in recycling, the largest investment in recycling by the federal government in 30 years. The average American family loses $1,500 ever year in spoiled food, and the strategy through better labeling, packaging, and education hopes to save people money and reduce hunger as well as the environmental impact.

President Biden signed with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy a ten-year US-Ukraine Security Agreement. The Agreement is aimed at helping Ukraine win the war against Russia, as well as help Ukraine meet the standards it will have to be ready for EU and NATO memberships. President Biden also spearheaded efforts at the G7 meeting to secure $50 billion for Ukraine from the 7 top economic nations.

HHS announced $500 million for the development of new non-injection vaccines against Covid. The money is part of Project NextGen a $5 billion program to accelerate and streamline new Covid vaccines and treatments. The investment announced this week will support a clinical trial of 10,000 people testing a vaccine in pill form. It's also supporting two vaccines administered as nasal sprays that are in earlier stages of development. The government hopes that break throughs in non-needle based vaccines for Covid might be applied to other vaccinations thus making vaccines more widely available and more easily administered.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $404 million in additional humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the region. This brings the total invested by the Biden administration in the Palestinians to $1.8 billion since taking office, over $600 million since the war started in October 2023. The money will focus on safe drinking water, health care, protection, education, shelter, and psychosocial support.

The Department of the Interior announced $142 million for drought resilience and boosting water supplies. The funding will provide about 40,000 acre-feet of annual recycled water, enough to support more than 160,000 people a year. It's funding water recycling programs in California, Hawaii, Kansas, Nevada and Texas. It's also supporting 4 water desalination projects in Southern California. Desalination is proving to be an important tool used by countries with limited freshwater.

President Biden took the lead at the G7 on the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. The PGI is a global program to connect the developing world to investment in its infrastructure from the G7 nations. So far the US has invested $40 billion into the program with a goal of $200 billion by 2027. The G7 overall plans on $600 billion by 2027. There has been heavy investment in the Lobito Corridor, an economic zone that runs from Angola, through the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Zambia, the PGI has helped connect the 3 nations by rail allowing land locked Zambia and largely landlocked DRC access Angolan ports. The PGI also is investing in a $900 million solar farm in Angola. The PGI got a $5 billion dollar investment from Microsoft aimed at expanding digital access in Kenya, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The PGI's bold vision is to connect Africa and the Indian Ocean region economically through rail and transportation link as well as boost greener economic growth in the developing world and bring developing nations on-line.

[fellshish]

Good news?

Looks like there might be a ceasefire and hostage release coming soon in Israel/Gaza.

That's nice, right? Sort of?

uh, what else..

The first round of NEA (National Endowment of the Arts) grants for 2025 were announced the other day. $36,790,500 for 1,474 arts projects across the 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico.

MacKenzie Scott gave a (rare) third big donation to Undue Medical Debt a few weeks ago. Another $50million. Enough for them to wipe out potentially as much as five BILLION dollars of medical debt.

apparently the UK might actually be on track to meet its 2030 climate targets. last year it became the first G7 country to end coal burning for power. nearly 60% of the UKs energy was generated by renewables (wind and solar) in 2024. also electric vehicle sales increased every month in the UK in 2024 while petrol (gas) powered car sales dropped to record lows.

that old fascist in France (Jean-Marie Le Pen) finally died last week.

Portugal's government announced a new plan to help make the national diet more plant-based. they're becoming world leaders in vegan food and climate action.

a summer camp for HIV positive kids in Minnesota recently shut down.. because there aren't enough kids with HIV anymore (thanks to antiretroviral medications perinatal transmission (in utero transmission from mother to baby) has fallen to below 1%. globally the number of new HIV infections among under 14s has declined 38% in the past ten years.

#goodnews

thank you so much i wish all news bulletins were like this forever

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from RMI:

1. Batteries Become Everybody’s Best Friend

Battery prices continue to drop and their capacity continues to rise. The cost of electric vehicle (EV) batteries are now about 60 percent what they were just five years ago. And around the world, batteries have become key components in solar-plus-storage microgrids, giving people access to reliable power and saving the day for communities this past hurricane season.

2. Americans Get Cheaper (and Cleaner) Energy

State public utility commissions and rural electric co-operatives around the country are taking steps to deliver better service for their customers that also lowers their rates. At the same time, real momentum is building to prevent vertically integrated utilities from preferencing their coal assets when there are cleaner and cheaper alternatives available.

3. A Sustainable Shipping Future Gets Closer

More than 50 leaders across the marine shipping value chain — from e-fuel producers to vessel and cargo owners, to ports and equipment manufacturers — signed a Call to Action at the UN climate change conference (COP29) to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission fuels. The joint statement calls for faster and bolder action to increase the use of zero and near-zero emissions fuel, investment in zero-emissions vessels, and global development of green hydrogen infrastructure, leaving no country behind.

4. Corporations Fly Cleaner

In April, 20 corporations, including Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, Autodesk, and more, committed to purchase about 50 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), avoiding 500,000 tons of CO2 emissions — equivalent to the emissions of 3,000 fully loaded passenger flights from New York City to London. SAF is made with renewable or waste feedstocks and can be used in today’s aircraft without investments to upgrade existing fleets and infrastructure.

5. More and More Places Go From Coal to Clean

Around the world, coal-fired power plants are closing down as communities switch to clean energy. From Chile to the Philippines to Minnesota coal-to-clean projects are creating new jobs, improving local economic development, and generating clean electricity. In September, Britain became the first G7 nation to stop generating electricity from coal — it’s turning its last coal-fired power plant into a low-carbon energy hub. And in Indonesia, the president vowed to retire all coal plants within 15 years and install 75 gigawatts of renewable energy.

6. Methane Becomes More Visible, and Easier to Mitigate

Methane — a super-potent greenhouse gas — got much easier to track thanks to the launch of new methane tracking satellites over the past year. In March, the Environmental Defense Fund launched MethaneSAT, the first for a non-governmental organization, and the Carbon Mapper Coalition soon followed with the launch of Tanager-1. By scanning the planet many times each day and identifying major methane leaks from orbit, these new satellites will put pressure on big emitters to clean up.

7. EVs Speed By Historic Milestones

This past year was the first time any country had more fully electric cars than gas-powered cars on the roads. It’s no surprise that this happened in Norway where electric cars now make up more than 90 percent of new vehicle sales. And in October, the United States hit a milestone, with over 200,000 electric vehicle charging ports installed nationwide.

8. Consumers Continue to Shift to Energy-Efficient Heat Pumps for Heating and Cooling

Heat pumps have outsold gas furnaces consistently since 2021. And while shipments of heating and cooling equipment fell worldwide in 2023, likely due to broad economic headwinds, heat pumps held on to their market share through. And over the past 12 months, heat pumps outsold conventional furnaces by 27 percent. Shipments are expected to continue increasing as states roll out home efficiency and appliance rebate programs already funded by the Inflation Reduction Act – worth up to $10,000 per household in new incentives for heat pump installations. Link: Tracking the Heat Pump & Water Heater Market in the United States – RMI

9. China Reaches Its Renewable Energy Goal, Six Years Early

China added so much renewable energy capacity this year, that by July it had surpassed its goal of having 1,200 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy installed by 2030. Through September 2024, China installed some 161 GW of new solar capacity and 39 GW of new wind power, according to China’s National Energy Administration (NEA). China is deploying more solar, wind, and EVs than any other country, including the United States, which is — by comparison — projected to deploy a record 50 GW of solar modules by the end of 2024.

10. De-carbonizing Heavy Industry

For steel, cement, chemicals and other heavy industries, low-carbon technologies and climate-friendly solutions are not only increasingly available but growing more affordable. To speed this process, Third Derivative, RMI’s climate tech accelerator, launched the Industrial Innovation Cohorts to accelerate the decarbonization of steel, cement, and chemicals. Also on the rise: clean hydrogen hubs — powered by renewable energy — designed to supply green hydrogen to chemical, steel, and other heavy industries to help them shift to low-carbon production processes.

[attheexactlyrighttimeandplace]

It has been more than 24 hours since the last massacre of Palestinian civilians organized by the Americans and jewish zionists in Gaza, and Algeria has still not officially reacted to the crimes committed.

No declarations from the usual communication channels which are our Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Algerian Press Agency which exclusively represents the voice of our President since last April (he "appropriated" it by decree because the war approaches our borders).

I wonder if this silence is a turning point. The final nail in the coffin on what has been a very turbulent journey to try to change our relationship with the United States.

The journey began with the war in Ukraine in 2022: like all Arab countries, we really angered the United States by refusing to side with the EU against Russia. And we reached the point of open conflict with the United States (they sent their deputy secretary of state in March 2022) when we terminated our energy contract with Spain (we are their main supplier of gas) after the Spanish Prime Minister began supporting Morocco's claims on Western Sahara's land.

But Algeria surprisingly backed down on many points and began to rapidly improve its relations with the United States - Blinken, the US Secretary of State came to Algeria several times, our Foreign Ministry was invited to Washington - to the point that our country, which has been a faithful ally of Russia for 60 years seemed on the verge of joining NATO last April (I think Algeria might become a Major Non Nato Ally but is hidding its true intention for various reasons linked to the international context in North Africa, more precisely in the Sahel where 3 countries have expelled, under the influence of Russia, the American and French military bases from their lands and are openly eyeing the Algerian borders to destabilize us, in addition to the conflict with Morocco).

A few decades ago, the genocide of the Palestinians would have stopped these efforts very quickly, probably leading to a further breakdown in diplomatic relations with the United States.

Not this time: Algeria was still signing massive contracts in fossil fuels and unconventional energy (shale gas) with major American companies like Exxon Mobile and Chevron (although at a slower pace than expected) in May 2024, and our president was invited to the G7 summit which will take place next week in Italy, an invitation designed as a reward for Algeria's support for Europe's energy security and for its fight against illegal immigration which largely benefits Europeans.

This is why the decision of the Algerian mission to the UN to oppose the very important vote scheduled for Friday, June 7 to transform Biden's plan for Gaza into a resolution at the UN Security Council, was the most stupid move ever taken.

Blinken, the US Secretary of State, made a very special call to our Department of Foreign Affairs to obtain our consent to the plan proposed by Biden. This call was heavily promoted as a turning point by the entire US diplomatic network on all social media platforms, including on X: from the US Embassy in Algiers to the US State Department account, and their X account in Arabic for the MENA region.

Algeria obviously adhered to this plan, there is no other way to explain our pure and simple abandonment of the resolution we wrote to implement the latest decision of the ICJ which ordered the end of all operations in Rafah.

It is therefore easy to measure the extent to which Algeria has been incoherent, senseless and dangerous for itself and for Palestine in this context where the United States show no mercy, approve of genocide and have repeatedly rejected our demands during the previous negotiations in the UN Security Council to save more lives - when through the voice of our ambassador to the UN, Algeria gave the feeling of thinking that it could once again stop the vote, and try to negotiate new demands regarding Palestinian prisoners.

This is not surprising when you consider who our ambassador to the UN is: an overly old diplomat who has been unable to include the American point of view in his analysis. His conviction of being right against the rest of the world, his romantic views on resistance and his desire to play the savior of Palestine lead him to demonstrate a lack of humility and a lack of relevance in his analysis (like in his speech on terrorism at the UN where he asked for compassion for terrorists as if we hadn't lost 100,000 people in a civil war because of terrorism (!).

However, I do not believe that it was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or by our President. We have experienced a lot of management problems in the last 15 days at the highest level of the state, due to keeping the wrong people in important positions for the wrong reasons, to the point that it has had disastrous consequences, with deadly human consequences. Last week, some civil servants were fired and others were forcibly transferred, but explaining that doesn't cover the extent of the problem.

But back to the UN, after a revised version of Biden's plan was presented, we were given a 48-hour period of silence to object. In the end, the vote was to take place on Friday June 7, 2024, but due to Algeria's intervention in the Security Council, it was postponed until next Monday. There is no doubt that Algeria is responsible for the breakdown of consensus on the plan, because China seems to have forgotten the issue and only reacted and opposed it after us, and Russia only followed China!

The next day, the massacre took place in the Nuseirat camp: the latest reports say that there were 274 deads, 814 injured.

I really wonder, given the timing, how it would be possible that Algeria's decision, which comes after a long period of tense disagreements with the United States in the UN Security Council, not only on Palestine but also Africa and the Arab world, might not have triggered the so-called rescue? The United States had known for weeks where the hostages were because English planes had been flying over the area to gather information for weeks as well, so the plan was set and ready to be executed in case it was needed.

Which to me is the decisive proof that this was an American operation from conception to execution, Netanyahu would not have waited a second to take the opportunity to increase his popularity, and could never have carried it out without American support (his genocidal zionist soldiers only know to drop bombs on civilians). On the same day of the Nuseirat massacre, Gantz, a member of Netanyahu's war cabinet and government, was expected to resign. A few weeks ago, at the request of the United States, he issued an ultimatum to Netanyahu to find a solution for Rafah, or to accept his (Gantz) resignation which would have led to new elections that Netanyahu was certain to lose. Yesterday, not knowing what to do after the rescue, Gantz asked the United States what they wanted and the United States' response was that they do not interfere with Israel's internal politics! Algeria probably also ruined this plan indirectly.

My impression is that the United States did not betray Algeria: it did not intend to carry out its rescue mission because it was more concerned about the potential support Algeria could provide in the war against Russia (the Algerian army has been training with live ammunition for weeks, and my theory is that a large Algerian contingent is going to be sent to Ukraine), than they cared about the zionist settlers and zionist soldiers being held hostage by Hamas.

But Algeria's inability to keep its word after Biden's plan was officially accepted by our officials made us truly unreliable, even to be sent to Russia, and even though Algeria is the best card the West has, given the Ukraine's lack of soldiers (Algeria has been Russia's main customer for all types of military contracts for decades and is very familiar with Russian aircraft and equipment, and has conducted joint military exercises with Russia even deep within Russian territory).

If our president decides to save Algeria's commitments to the West: he should really fire our ambassador to the UN, and completely review and change our internal process of opposition to resolutions at the UN (we have a status of non-permanent membership until the end of 2025, which the United States helped us gain).

If he doesn't save it, and doesn't go to the G7 summit, I don't know how we will survive future wars to come: Morocco has expansionist views, and its military capacity is currently being improved by the genocidal Israeli. who are building a drone factory on our borders and launching two satellites for Morocco; Russia, which threw us under the bus because we refused to help Putin in his plan to destroy the EU's energy security, entered Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Libya militarily, made them its vassals and now claims a percentage of our oil and gas resources!

I don't know what the future holds for us….

[darkmaga-returns]

By Rodney Atkinson Freenations

December 24, 2024

Britain’s new Labour Government has managed in six short months to reduce an economy growing at the fastest rate in the G7 group of leading economies to falls of -0.1% in both September and October with no growth in the large services sector as fearful consumers reduced spending and business paused investment. With manufacturing and construction declining at a pace of 0.6% and 0.4% respectively in October, annual inflation has risen to 2.6% and the 10 year government bond interest rate has risen from 3.8% to 4.6% – a massive vote of no confidence in Government debt management.

The largesse distributed by Prime Minister Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves to doctors, train drivers and the nationalised sickness service (NHS – £25 billion extra) led to a budget in which the State raised taxes by a staggering £40 billion, increased the minimum wage, increased already crippling business rates and increased employers’ national insurance payments for each worker.

[abr]

In base alle statistiche dell’Organizzazione mondiale del commercio (Wto) relative al 2023 l’Italia figura sesta nell’export mondiale, con un export di 670 miliardi di dollari (626 miliardi di euro secondo l’Istat). Escludendo i Paesi Bassi, le cui esportazioni sono costituite in gran parte da merci in transito nei porti e non da effettivo export di prodotti olandesi, l’Italia è in realtà il quinto esportatore mondiale, dopo Cina, Stati Uniti, Germania e Giappone. 

Se poi escludessimo le auto (...) che costituiscono soltanto il 3 per cento degli scambi mondiali, l’Italia è addirittura il quarto esportatore nel restante 97 per cento del commercio internazionale, in virtù di una specializzazione merceologica estremamente diversificata e non legata a pochi macrosettori dominanti. Infatti, escludendo le auto, l’export italiano (657 miliardi di dollari) è ampiamente superiore anche a quello del Giappone (607 miliardi).

Un bel successo per un paese come il nostro che fino a una decina di anni fa era considerato in declino dalla maggior parte degli economisti (specie di casa nostra) e giudicato come un perdente sicuro nel quadro della competizione globale. (...)

Rispetto al 2015, l’export totale di merci dell’Italia è stato il più dinamico del G7 ed è cresciuto in dollari correnti del 48 per cento, cioè quasi del doppio rispetto a quelli di Francia (+28 per cento) e Germania (+27 per cento) e di oltre il triplo rispetto agli export di Giappone (+15 per cento) e Regno Unito (+12 per cento). (...)

Chi, sulla base di vecchi luoghi comuni o di analisi superate, continua a descrivere un’Italia come un paese industriale con bassa produttività o non competitivo, arretrato sul piano della tecnologia e dell’innovazione, sta semplicemente guardando un altro film rispetto alla realtà. (...)

La nostra forza risiede in un nucleo di circa 9 mila aziende esportatrici medie, medio-grandi e grandi con 50-1.999 addetti, che realizzano i tre quarti del nostro export manifatturiero, nonché in un ulteriore ristretto gruppo di una quarantina di imprese con oltre 2 mila occupati, che esportano un altro 12 per cento circa.(...)

Un altro nostro asso nella manica è la differenziazione dei prodotti esportati.

I “magnifici 7” settori del made in Italy si suddividono nelle “3F” (...): Fashion, Food, wine and tobacco e Furniture and building materials (e) le “4M” (...): Metal products, Machinery, Motor yachts and other transport equipment, Medicaments and personal care products. (...) L’Italia è stata nel 2022 il primo esportatore mondiale di 201 prodotti (...).

via https://www.ilfoglio.it/economia/2024/05/13/news/come-l-italia-ha-scalato-l-export-mondiale-6537828/

[tomorrowusa]

Russia started its unprovoked full scale invasion of Ukraine 864 days ago. Putin knows he cannot win the war but he continues it despite enormous losses of Russian military personnel and equipment. And he certainly hasn't done anything for Russia's reputation as a competent military power.

If these sorts of losses don't do anything to make Russia change course, it's time to seize Russian assets and use them to defend and rebuild Ukraine. But there's some reluctance to do so in some countries.

The biggest slice of the pie is Russian state assets (reserves of the Russian Central Bank, Russia’s central financial institution) – approximately $300 billion. They’ve been frozen in banking institutions across the G7 countries. So why are these assets parked there in the first place? At the time of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia kept some assets in money and securities abroad in reliable banks, scooping up foreign currency. The lion’s share of these assets, €192 billion, is held in Euroclear, a financial institution headquartered in Brussels specializing in the safekeeping and settlement of securities. The rest of the assets’ exact size and location are a bit of a mystery since that information is classified, but it’s a safe bet that a hefty chunk is in the USA.

The USA, you say? Now that the US Supreme Court has given presidents immunity, Biden should just scoop up all that Russian loot and put it into an account which Ukraine could draw from for its national security and reconstruction. 😉

Our G7 partners are a bit more skittish about seizing Russian assets. This is what happens when certain countries become too dependent on Russian fossil fuels and other trade with Russia.

One big step forward to the confiscation of these funds was the US passing the REPO (Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians) Act on 23 April 2024. While successfully implementing it depends on further actions and certifications, the REPO Act lays out a legal mechanism for asset confiscation, gives the President the power to start the confiscation process, and allows for coordination with G7 countries, the EU, and other partners. It could potentially give Ukraine access to several billions of Russian sovereign assets located in the US. However, the G7 did not follow the US’s lead. Instead, on 3 May 2024, the Financial Times reported that the G7 was no longer considering a full confiscation of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, with an official saying that these assets could be used as leverage in potential peace negotiations with Russia. This stance fails to recognize Russia’s true objectives and the pointlessness of using these assets as a bargaining chip, given Russia’s continued escalation of aggression and substantial revenues from fossil fuel exports.

On a slightly different note, the change in government in the UK will make no difference regarding support for Ukraine. It's one area where Labour and the Conservatives see eye to eye. Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited President Zelenskyy in Kyiv last year.

Sir Keir spoke with President Zelenskyy on Friday – his first day in office.

Zelenskyy had a conversation with the new British Prime Minister: an unprecedented agreement was discussed

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 17, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 18, 2024

Leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) met for their fiftieth summit in Italy from June 13 to June 15. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States formed the G7 in 1975 as a forum for democracies with advanced economies to talk about political and economic issues. The European Union is also part of the forum, and this June, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky also attended.

This summit was a particularly fraught one. When it took office, the Biden-Harris administration, along with the State Department under Secretary of State Antony Blinken, set out to reshape global power structures not only in light of Trump’s attempt to abandon international alliances and replace them with transactional deals, but also in light of a larger change in international affairs. 

In a speech at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in September 2023, Blinken explained that the end of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union had promised a new era of peace and stability, with more international cooperation and political freedom. But while that period did, in fact, lift more than a billion people out of poverty, eradicate deadly diseases, and create historic lows in conflicts between state actors, it also gave rise to authoritarians determined to overthrow the international rules-based order. 

At the same time, non-state actors—international corporations; non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, that provide services to hundreds of millions of people across the globe; terrorists who can inflict catastrophic harm; and transnational criminal organizations that traffic illegal drugs, weapons, and human beings—have growing influence.

Forging international cooperation has become more and more complex, Blinken explained, at the same time that global problems are growing: the climate crisis, food insecurity, mass migration and mass displacement of populations, as well as the potential for new pandemics. In the midst of all this pressure, “many countries are hedging their bets.” 

They have lost faith in the international economic order, as a handful of governments have distorted the markets to gain unfair advantage while technology and globalization have hollowed out communities and inequality has skyrocketed. “Between 1980 and 2020,” Blinken noted, “the richest .1 percent accumulated the same wealth as the poorest 50 percent.” Those who feel the system is unfair are exacerbating the other drivers of political polarization. 

These developments have undermined the post–Cold War political order, Blinken said. “One era is ending, a new one is beginning, and the decisions that we make now will shape the future for decades to come.”

In his inaugural address on January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden vowed to “repair our alliances and engage with the world once again.” Saying that “America’s alliances are our greatest asset” just weeks later at the State Department, the president and officers in the administration set out to rebuild alliances that had fallen into disrepair under Trump. They reinforced the international bodies that upheld a rules-based international order, bodies like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) organized in 1947 to stand against Soviet aggression and now a bulwark against Russian aggression. They began the process of rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization, both of which Trump had abandoned. 

Officials also worked to make international bodies more representative by, for example, welcoming into partnerships the African Union and Indonesia. They also broadened cooperation, as Blinken said, to “work with any country—including those with whom we disagree on important issues—so long as they want to deliver for their citizens, contribute to solving shared challenges, and uphold the international norms that we built together.”

At home, they worked to erase the “bright line” between foreign and domestic policy, investing in policies to bring jobs back to the U.S. both to restore the economic fairness they identified as important to democracy and to stabilize the supply chains that the pandemic had revealed to be a big national security threat. 

On April 28, 2021, in his first address to a joint session of Congress,  President Biden said he had told world leaders that “America is back.” But they responded: “[F]or how long?”  

That question was the backdrop to the G7 summit. Trump has said he will abandon international alliances, including NATO, in favor of a transactional foreign policy. He supports Russian president Vladimir Putin’s attempt to replace the rules-based international order with the idea that might makes right and that any strong country can grab the land of weaker states. 

Earlier this month, Biden used the occasion of the commemoration ceremonies around the 80th anniversary of D-Day to reinforce the international rules-based order and U.S. leadership in that system. On June 4, before Biden left for France, Massimo Calabresi published an interview with Biden in Time magazine in which Calabresi noted that the past 40 months have tested Biden’s vision. Russia reinvaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Putin is trying to create “an axis of autocrats,” as Calabresi puts it, including the leaders of China and Iran, the state that is backing the non-state actors Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis of Yemen, and Hezbollah in Lebanon in order to destabilize Israel and the Arab states. China is threatening Taiwan. 

Calabresi pointed out that Biden has responded to these threats by shoring up NATO and welcoming to it Finland and Sweden, with their powerful militaries. His support has enabled Ukraine to decimate the Russian military, which has lost at least 87% of the 360,000 troops it had when it attacked Ukraine in February 2022, thus dramatically weakening a nation seen as a key foe in 2021. He has kept the war in Gaza from spreading into a regional conflict and has forced Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, although the Palestinian death toll has continued to mount as Netanyahu has backed devastating attacks on Gaza. Biden’s comprehensive deal in the Middle East—an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages held by Hamas, a big increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, and an enduring end to the crisis with the security of both Israelis and Palestinians assured—has yet to materialize.

In Italy the leaders at the G7 summit stood firm behind Biden’s articulated vision, saying that the G7 “is grounded in a shared commitment to respect the U.N. Charter, promote international peace and security, and uphold the free and open rules-based international order.” On hot-button issues, the G7 backed Biden’s Middle East deal and support for Ukraine, agreeing to transfer $50 billion to Ukraine from the interest earned on Russian assets frozen in the European Union and elsewhere. 

The Biden administration announced additional economic sanctions to isolate Russia even more from the international financial system. At the summit, on June 13, 2024, Presidents Biden and Zelensky signed a ten-year bilateral security agreement that commits the U.S. to supporting Ukraine with a wide range of military assistance but, unlike the NATO membership Ukraine wants, does not require that the U.S. send troops. The agreement is legally binding, but it is not a treaty ratified by the Senate. If he is reelected, Trump could end the agreement.

Immediately after the G7 summit, world leaders met in Switzerland for the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held on June 15 and 16. Ukraine called the summit in hopes of persuading major countries from the global south to join and isolate Russia, but the group had to be content with demonstrating their own support for Ukraine. Vice President Kamala Harris, who attended the summit, today posted: “The more than 90 nations that gathered at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine hold a diverse range of views on global challenges and opportunities. We don’t always agree. But when it comes to Putin’s unprovoked, unjustified war—there is unity and solidarity in support of Ukraine and international rules and norms.”

Earlier this month, Finnish software and methodologies company Check First released a report exposing “a large-scale, cross-country, multi-platform disinformation campaign designed to spread pro-Russian propaganda in the West, with clear indicators of foreign interference and information manipulation.” The primary goal of “Operation Overload” is to overwhelm newsrooms and fact-checkers and spread “the Kremlin’s political agenda.” 

Foreign affairs journalist Anne Applebaum told Bill Kristol of The Bulwark that China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea do not share an ideology, but “they do share a common interest, and the common interest is undermining…America, Europe, the liberal world, the democratic world.” They do this, she said, because the oppositions in their own countries are inspired by and use the democratic language of freedom and liberty and rights and rule of law, and leaders need to undermine that language to hold onto power. They also recognize that chaos and uncertainty give them business opportunities in the West. Disrupting democracies by feeding radicalism makes the democratic world lose its sense of community and solidarity.

When it does that, Applebaum notes, it loses its ability to stand up to autocrats. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[eaglesnick]

“No government that is for the profiteers can also be for the people, and I am for the people, while the government is for the profiteers.”— Rose Pastor Stokes

There is a cost of living crisis and it is not about to end anytime soon.

Food and non-alcoholic drink inflation reached a peak of 19.2% in October 2022. Although food and drink inflation is now much lower, it is never the less still rising, being 1.8% higher than a year ago. Today, the Uk  has the highest core inflation rate among the G7 countries as well as the highest level of food price inflation. A study by BravoVoucher predicts the cost of everyday food items will increase rapidly by 2030.

“This research provides a scary look into the future of food prices if current inflation trends continue. The dramatic increase we’ve seen in prices for everyday essentials like olive oil and baked beans is particularly concerning. It highlights the urgent need for effective economic policies to stabilize inflation and protect consumers.” (Social Equality: 22/07/24)

While food inflation is set to rage, super markets continue to make record profits. 

Asda reported  £1.1bn in profit for year ending 31st December 2023, a 24% increase on the previous year. Tesco reported raking in a massive £2.83bn in profit, a 12.7% increase on the year before. Simsbury’s is predicting profits of £1bn in 2024, and Waitrose has reported a 17% increase  in profits.

The lower end supermarkets are making even bigger profits. Lidl reported a quadrupling of profits for the year ending February 2022, and Aldi tripled their profits over the same period.

The point I am making is that while the cost of living crisis continues unabated the major supermarkets are busy increasing profits for their shareholders. There are many reasons the cost of food has increased, from global supply chain disruption, a rise in energy costs, to increased food production costs, but one that is never mentioned is the massive spike in supermarket profits.

Yesterday I talked about dynamic pricing – the practice of changing prices to match demand and supply – the most ridiculous example of this new form of greed being walking into a Stonegate pub at 8pm and being charged 20p more for a pint than if you had ordered the exact same drink a few hours earlier.

Tesco already use dynamic pricing for their online shopping platform, to allow:

“the company to optimise its pricing for maximum profitability” (The Strategy: Tesco Marketing Mix)

OK, so dynamic pricing is employed for Internet food sales. Most of us still prefer to go to the supermarket in person and “feel the goods” as it were. So we are safe from dynamic pricing. NOT SO!

More and more of British supermarkets are introducing dynamic pricing to the “in-store” experience in the form of electronic shelf-edge labels. (ESL’s)  Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda and M&S are all reported to be experimenting with ESL’s using Artificial Intelligence to generate algorithms to determine price minute by minute. Electronically displayed prices on the edge of shelving means prices can be changed minute by minute depending upon demand and supply.

Gone is the notion of value for money. The only thing that will matter  will be how much the customer is willing to pay for any particular item at any given particular moment in time, regardless of what it cost to produce.

If price is going to be determined by how much people are willing to pay, how long before we have the scenario of the  sole remaining can of baked beans on a Tesco shelf being sold not at its current price of  £1.40 per can but at £2.50 simply because one shopper has more money than another?

Profiteering has been described as:

“The practice of making or seeking to make excessive or unfair profit, especially illegally or in a black market”

Profiteering now has another definition: dynamic pricing.

[head-post]

Italy warns G7 of growing global terrorism threat

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi opened the G7 interior ministers’ summit with a warning that international conflicts, especially in the Middle East and Ukraine, increased the risks of terrorist attacks.

The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine “are contributing to a growing polarisation in our societies, increasing the risk that some individuals may embrace violent ideologies and commit terrorist acts on our soil,” Piantedosi said.

We cannot afford to be unprepared; we must sharpen our ability to prevent such acts. There is no alarm but a heightened state of vigilance.

The G7 meeting in the town of Mirabella Eclano hosts the interior ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US, Vice President and Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, as well as Interpol representatives.

The ministers focused on “the exchange of information to detect potential threats at an early stage.” The focus then shifted to migration issues on Friday. This is a key day to discuss border affairs against the backdrop of recent tensions between European countries.

Ministers from Algeria and Libya, the deputy minister of Tunisia, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the director-general of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) also take part.

Rad more HERE

[3nn-express]

G7 Summit 2024 Live Updates: Get Latest News & Coverage.

World powers are pledging over $50 billion for Ukraine at the G7 Summit 2024. They are meeting in Apulia, Italy. Leaders commit to ending the use of unabated coal by 2030, pushing for a greener, fairer future. Join us for live updates on these big decisions, detailed talks on climate change, and how new partnerships will make a difference.

Article Source Link

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #17

May 3-10 2024

Vice President Harris announced 5.5 billion dollars to build affordable housing and address homelessness. The grants will go to 1,200 communities across all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico. 1.3 billion will go to HUD's HOME program which builds, buys, and rehabs affordable housing for rent or ownership. 3.3 billion is headed to Community Development Block Grants which supports housing as well as homeless services, and expanding economic opportunities. Remaining funds focus on building housing for extremely low- and very low-income households, Housing for people struggling with HIV/AIDS, transitional housing for those with substance-use disorder, and money to support homeless shelters and homeless prevention programs.

At the 3rd meeting of the Los Angeles Declaration group in Guatemala Security of State Blinken announced $578 million in new US aid to Latin America. The Los Angeles Declaration is a partnership between the US and 20 other nations in the Americas to address immigration, combat human trafficking, and support economic development and improved quality of life for people in poor nations in the Americas. The bulk of the aid, over $400 million will go to humanitarian assistance to the Venezuelan people. Inside of Venezuela over 7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance due to decades of political and economic instability. Over 7 million more have been forced to flee the country and live in poverty across the Americas. The aid will help Venezuelans both inside and outside of Venezuela.

The Department of Energy lead an effort to get the G7 to agree to phase out coal by the early 2030s. The G7 is a collection of the 7 largest Industrial economies on Earth, the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Italy. To avoid catastrophic climate change the International Energy Agency believes coal needs to be phased out by 2035. However this has been a sticking point with the G7 since 1/3rd of Japan and 1/4th of Germany's energy comes from Coal. This agreement to phase out represents a major breakthrough and the US plans to press for even wider agreement on the issue at the G20 meeting in November.

President Biden announced a major investment deal in Racine, Wisconsin, site of the failed Trump Foxconn deal. In 2018 then President Trump visited Racine and declared the planned Foxconn plant "the eighth wonder of the world.". However the promised 13,000 jobs never materialized and the Taiwan based Foxconn after bulldozing 100s of homes and farms decided not to build. President Biden inked a deal with Microsoft for the land formally given to Foxconn which will bring 2,000 new jobs to Racine to help replace the 1,000 job losses during Trump's Presidency in the community.

200 tribal governments and the US territories of American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, published climate action plans. The plans were paid for by the Biden Administration as part of a 5 billion dollar Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program. The federal government is supporting all 50 states, territories, DC, and tribal governments to draft climate action plans, which will be used to apply for more than 4 billion dollars in grants to help turn plans into reality

As part of marking Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), the Biden Administration announced a number of action aimed at combating antisemitism and supporting the Jewish Community. This included $400 million in new funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The Program has supported Synagogues and Jewish Community Centers with security improvements like bullet proof windows and trainings for staff in how to handle active shooter and hostage situations. The Department of Education issued guidance to all schools districts and federally funded colleges stressing that antisemitism is banned under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These actions come as part of the Biden Administration's National Strategy To Counter Antisemitism, the first ever national strategy addressing the issue by any Administration.

USAID announced $220 million in additional humanitarian aid to Yemen. This new funding will bring US aid to Yemen over the last 10 years to nearly $6 billion. Currently 18 million Yemenis are estimated as needing humanitarian assistance, 9 million of them children, and the UN believes nearly 14 million face imminent risk of famine. The US remains the single largest donor nation to humanitarian relief in Yemen.

The Department of Interior announced nearly $150 million to help communities fight drought. The funds will support 42 projects across 10 western states. This is part of the President's $8.3 billion dollar investment in the nations water infrastructure over the next 5 five years.