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NATO tanks for Ukraine provoke contradictions in the alliance

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After a drawn-out back and forth between Ukraine, the U.S. and European NATO countries, the first deliveries of Western-made tanks for the Ukrainian military have been announced, informs MSN.

According to CNN, Germany reportedly did not want to take the step of delivering the tanks without their U.S. partners also doing so despite the UK having pledged 11 Challenger-2 tanks previously. Since then, the U.S. has announced to deliver one battalion, or 31 Abrams tanks. Germany has said it will part with 14. Poland, the most outspoken about wishing to deliver its Leopard 2s, will reportedly also sent 14, while 18 will come out of the Netherlands. More deliveries are expected from Norway, Finland and Spain, while Portugal is also in the process of officially signing off on the matter.

Mean while Brazil refuses to sell tank ammo for Ukraine and Brazilian President Lula da Silva shot down an offer to sell tank ammunition to Germany for use in Ukraine, Brazilian newspaper ‘Folha de Sao Paulo’ reported. A vocal critic of the West’s policy toward Ukraine, Lula has striven to remain neutral on its conflict with Russia.

Lula reportedly considered asking Berlin to guarantee that it would not send the ammunition to Ukraine, but ultimately declined the offer, “arguing that it was not worth provoking the Russians.”

Lula has condemned the US for pouring tens of billions of dollars into Ukraine’s government and military, and suggested last year that US President Joe Biden “could have avoided [the conflict], not incited it.”

He also declared that NATO leadership should have reassured Russia that Ukraine would never be allowed to join the US-led military bloc, which was one of Moscow’s key demands for peace before it sent troops into the country.

The transfer of Leopard tanks to Ukraine does not end the problems of the German government, stress Polish press. The avalanche caused by this brawl could sweep away not only Olaf Scholz’s office, but Germany itself. Geopolitical delay and constant maneuvering between Moscow and Kyiv have seriously undermined the international prestige of Germany. Now Berlin must maintain its influence in the European Union and NATO and restore its credibility as an ally in the international arena.

Germany will supply Ukraine with fourteen Leopard 2 A6 tanks from the resources of the Bundeswehr. This is the second most modern model in the German army. However, this is a drop in the ocean of what actually Germany could pass on to Ukrainians attacked by Russia. Leopard manufacturer Rheinmetall said that Germany could supply as many as 139 Leopards from the resources of the Bundeswehr, although not immediately and not in the latest version. By April, 29 modern vehicles could be delivered to Ukraine, and 22 more by the end of the year.

It’s no secret that the Germans were not going to make such a decision regarding the Leopards, and certainly not so soon. Scholz did not want to go overboard and subject himself to accusations from the Kremlin that Berlin was leading to an escalation of the conflict. The German chancellor hoped that the Americans, and possibly other countries, would also hand over their vehicles (modern M1 Abrams tanks), which would disperse responsibility.

However, Washington had other plans.

After almost a year of war, it finally wanted to force the Germans to make an ‘independent, courageous decision’ that clearly supported the Ukrainians. That is why it delayed the announcement of the transfer of “Abrams” to Kyiv until the last moment. However, in the end, American tanks will go to the front.

We are witnessing the end of the domination of the Franco-German tandem in Europe. Europe has become polycentric, and the last year has deprived Germany of its special role on the continent.

This change is connected with the “Easternism” of the EU. This is the effect of shifting the EU’s point of view more towards its eastern members, who understand better than the “old EU” what is happening on the continent now.

The war in Ukraine and the approach of the German authorities to this conflict also portend serious social and cultural changes in Germany itself.

But not only the culture of pacifism and unconditional dialogue is coming to an end in Germany. The war in Ukraine has exposed with great force the failure of the concept of the postmodern state, which Berlin began to implement during the rule of Chancellor Merkel. Germany has imagined itself as a big Switzerland, which invests in the economy and the well-being of its own citizens, and allied obligations are a secondary issue.

The dispute over the transfer of Leopards to Ukraine showed everyone another consequence of Germany’s policy in the field of diplomacy and security. Germany has ceased to be not so much a global, but even a continental leader. To make matters worse, there is a growing question in NATO about whether Germany remains even an ally to count on in times of trouble.

What is the future for Germany in the European arena? The answer is co-leadership. Germany (but also France) will have to look for different allies for their plans and ideas in various fields.

However, this is good news for other EU countries. Many of them will now be able to enter the game and have more influence on decision making. “Now it will be possible to exert much more pressure on Germany, but only some countries will be able to do this.

However, the end of unconditional dominance in the EU does not mean the end of the geopolitical problems that Germany has brought upon itself. The situation is unfavorable either within NATO or, more broadly, in the world. The fall of the political significance of Germany on the European and world scene has become a fact.

This is largely due to the growing tension between Berlin and Washington. The Americans are tired of hedging the German government and constantly playing along with each other. They see Germany as the European leader, but they are annoyed that this leader has run away from responsibility whenever he could during the last year.

Germany is becoming more and more isolated in security policy. Not only in Europe, but in the world as a whole. They are unable to cooperate with either France or the United States; key partners in the EU and NATO.

The degradation of the international position and confidence of foreign partners in Germany is also a serious problem for NATO. The war in Ukraine has threatened the unity of the Alliance, as some countries, despite the emergency nature of the situation, continue to play primarily against themselves…

This article is another disturbing evidence of serious contradictions within the European Union. Eastern countries are trying to seize the initiative in the Allience, relying on the support of the US and Britain. Old Europe is losing authority and strength. But will the EU survive under the new “eastern leadership”?

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Shedding light on the Sun

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This image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on June 20, 2013 shows the bright light of a solar flare on the left side of the Sun. Credit: NASA/SDO

As questions abound about the Earth’s closest star, scientists are seeking answers critical to forecasting solar flares that threaten satellites and other electronics.

By ANTHONY KING

For most of humankind’s history, it has been hard to explain the Sun as anything other than a powerful deity.

For instance, the ancient Greek god Helios – the personification of the Sun – raced his chariot across the sky to create night and day, whereas the ancient Egyptians worshipped their falcon-headed sun god, Ra, as creator of the universe.

Powerful surprises

Since then, science has revealed that, for example, the Sun on average turns on its axis once every 28 days. But at its equator, the hot plasma ball rotates once every 25 days, while it takes around 35 days at the poles, creating a swirling soup of piping hot plasma.

Nonetheless, the power of the Sun can still offer surprises, with blasts fierce enough to fry communication satellites or electronics on Earth. Scientists warn of more powerful solar flares as a peak of activity approaches in late 2024 and early 2025.

‘There is this turbulent motion inside our star, called convection, that is a bit like how water wrinkles just before it boils,’ said Professor Sacha Brun, director of research at CEA Paris-Saclay, part of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission.

An infamous magnetic storm that hit Earth in September 1859, known as the Carrington Event, triggered spectacular auroras far from polar regions and sizzled telegraph systems around the world.

There have been more since. In 1989, a geomagnetic storm caused a blackout in Quebec, Canada, according to Brun.

Greater knowledge about the Sun is needed to predict and understand such events.

That swirling ball of hydrogen and helium is also unimaginably hot – with core temperatures of 15 million °C. And it’s ginormous – more than 1 million Earths fit inside the Sun.

Its peaceful presence on a summer’s day belies the intense nuclear reactions at its core that generate vast amounts of energy. The Sun is a churning ball of plasma, with gases so hot that electrons are booted out of atoms, generating intense magnetic explosions from its surface that spew billions of tonnes of matter into space.

Magnetic charm

As it spins, the Sun’s mechanical energy turns into magnetic energy – a bit like the dynamo on a bicycle light, where pedal motion is converted into magnetic energy.

On the Sun, twisty ribbons of magnetism rise and break out as sunspots, dark patches at the surface where the magnetic field is 3 000 times more intense than in the surrounding areas.

Sunspots can trigger those solar flares that damage electrical equipment. But this activity isn’t constant.

‘The magnetism of the Sun is variable over an 11-year cycle,’ said Brun, an astrophysicist.

Over that cycle, coronal mass ejections rise in frequency, from one every three days to an average of three per day at its peak.

‘As we go further into the cycle, more outbursts will emerge from the Sun,’ Brun said. ‘People don’t realise that the Earth bathes in the turbulent magnetic atmosphere of our star.’ 

So there’s an obvious need to anticipate when such solar storms approach. For example, a solar flare in February 2022 knocked out 40 SpaceX commercial satellites by destroying their electronics.

Those energetic particles take just 15 minutes to reach Earth from the Sun. The threat posed by magnetic clouds usually takes a few days, offering more time to brace for any onslaught.

Brun co-leads an EU-funded project called WHOLE SUN to understand the interior and exterior layers of the only star in the Earth’s solar system.

Running for seven years through April 2026, the initiative focuses on the inner turbulence of the Sun and the complex physics that turns the inner turmoil into magnetism in the outer layers.

This requires the most powerful supercomputers in the world. Yet forecasting solar flares means that scientists gain greater understanding of the insides of the Sun.

A star is born

What about the distant past of the Sun? It has been around for 4.6 billion years – 100 million years before Earth. Where and how it was formed would seem to be an impenetrable mystery.

Not so, according to Dr Maria Lugaro at the Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Lugaro, an Italian astrophysicist, is researching this very question in the EU-funded RADIOSTAR project. It began in 2017 and runs through August this year.

‘We believe that the Sun wasn’t born alone, but was born in a star-forming region where there’s lots of stars,’ Lugaro said.

She is looking into this past by examining chemical fossils in meteorites today.

Radioactive atoms are unstable. They release energy and decay into so-called daughter atoms, over a certain length of time, which are measurable. The daughters are therefore chemical fossils, offering information about long-gone radioactive atoms.

Lugaro’s research suggests that the Sun originated in a stellar nursery that contained lots of siblings, including exploding stars – supernovas. But digging into the Sun’s history first requires finding meteorites, bits of rock formed before Earth.

These meteorites can contain traces of the radioactive atoms such as aluminium-26 and hafnium-182. It is known that these lived only a certain length of time. Together, traces of such atoms can be used as a radioactive clock to compute the age of the stars that made them, relative to the age of the Sun.

Vivid discourse

Some radioactive atoms are made in only certain types of stars. Their presence in meteorites helps to recreate a picture of the Sun’s birthplace, albeit one that’s up for debate.

It may be that the Sun was birthed amid dust and gas clouds in a tempestuous region alongside supergiant stars and exploding stars.

Within perhaps 20 million years, the different stars begin to make their own way out of the nursery. But things are far from being scientifically settled.

‘Every year there’s debate: is the Sun normal or is it a weird star?’ said Lugaro. ‘It’s quite fun.’

Research in this article was funded via the EU’s European Research Council (ERC). The article was originally published in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine. 

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Biden is preparing Americans to lose the Second Cold War?

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Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz

Vladimir Putin’s approval  rating is 82%. Joe Biden’s  is 42%. Xi Jinping’s is anyone’s guess, but the Chinese near-unanimously trust their government. More than half of Russians trust their government. Less than a third of Americans trust theirs. These statistics are not random but speak to America’s imminent loss in this, the Second Cold War, writes ‘The American Thinker’.

Why aren’t Americans rallying around the flag? Pride, approval, and support for their respective flags in China and Russia, but not the same in America, is not an accident. All governments influence the memories they want their people and foreigners to have of them. It’s called political memory.

A look at how the governments of Russia, China, and the United States are leveraging political memory sheds light on why Russians and Chinese love their governments and rulers, and Americans are souring on America and Biden. This simultaneous occurrence is not an accident. Russia and China are preparing to win the second round of the Cold War, and America is handing them the opportunity to do this.

The goal of Russia’s political memory is “to give students and ordinary citizens a simple and consistent narrative of a powerful nation they can take pride in.” School begins by singing the national anthem and raising the Russian flag. Taking a knee or disparaging the Russian flag is unthinkable. Putin, to be certain of unified support for the actions taken, restore Ukraine to its rightful place, and prepare for Cold War II, launched a new patriotic history in 2022. Putin described the purpose: “A deep understanding of our history… to draw correct conclusions from the past.”

Russia’s political memory constantly conditions Russians to fear existential threats, particularly from the West. It’s why they revere their militaries and have always been prepared to endure heavy casualties in war. The military prevents the Russian state from being subjugated.

Russia’s approach to political memory is consistent with China’s approach and motivated by the same theme: China lives with a perceived existential threat to its independence, particularly from the west. Cold War II will test its resilience.

China began preparing for round two at the end of Cold War I. This is when it began its “Patriotic Re-education Campaign.” Cementing patriotism in China, as in Russia, is key to preparing for and achieving victory in Cold War II.

China’s and Russia’s approaches to political memory are contrary to the U.S. government’s. Instead, America appears to be preparing to wave a white flag, or maybe a rainbow-colored one. Pride in America has been sinking, and this ties to the government’s design for America’s political memory.

This political memory could emphasize things such as America being the first colony to defeat a European empire or its WWII victory over fascism. Or it could tell how, in just over 150 years, America became an economic powerhouse on the back of capitalism and then sustained this with an education system designed to unify Americans and later foster innovation.

Instead, the center of history in 4,500 schools is to depict American slavery via exaggerated interpretations of personal memories, untempered by facts. Instead of a history of patriotism and achievement, the American government is supporting a history of trauma, including systemic racism and inequality.

In 2022, it was reported that the average IQ of Americans dropped for the first time in 100 years. The researchers speculated that it was due to changes in the educational system.

The Biden government’s trauma-centered political memory strategy to divide America politically, and racially has motivated this Russo-Chinese partnership and escalated the likelihood of Cold War II, – writes the “American Thinker”.

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Riyadh joins Shanghai Cooperation Organization

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Saudi Arabia’s cabinet approved on Wednesday a decision to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), as Riyadh builds a long-term partnership with China despite U.S. security concerns.

Saudi Arabia has approved a memorandum on granting the Kingdom the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, state news agency SPA said.

The SCO is a political and security union of countries spanning much of Eurasia, including China, India and Russia.

Formed in 2001 by Russia, China and former Soviet states in Central Asia, the body has been expanded to include India and Pakistan, with a view to playing a bigger role as counterweight to Western influence in the region.

Iran also signed documents for full membership last year.

Dialogue partner status will be a first step within the Organisation before granting the Kingdom full membership in the mid-term.

The decision followed an announcement by Saudi Aramco, which raised its multi-billion dollar investment in China, by finalising a planned joint venture in northeast China and acquiring a stake in a privately controlled petrochemical group.

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