Yeah, not just redirecting funds, they can also use forced labour to lower their production costs.

They have already done that, just read their Project 2025.

@[email protected]

These comments have nothing to do with economics.

The member countries approved the Commission’s move already.

May I ask where this happend?

Yes, and according to an EU report in 2023, only 0.065% of the bloc’s sheep population had been killed by wolves and there had been no reports of fatal wolf attacks on humans for 40 years. Source (you need to scroll down to the end of the article for these numbers).

it’s not implausible that this operation could have been setup without Chinese government involvement

Sure, the Chinese government knows nothing. It’s not that the CCP is surveilling every inch in the country, including in Xinjiang and Tibet. This is just a small firm which does that without any knowledge by the government (/s, just to be safe).

Suppose you see such posts on social media, would you really think, “Ah, that’s a funny joke”, and laugh about it?

As the article suggests, there haven’t been too many with that sense of humor to say the least.

I don’t omit the context. They say it was intended as a joke after it backfired on social media, and the company’s apology - as the article states - is somewhat quiet (on the other hand, the Chinese government - usually not averse to censor content it deems unpleasant - apparently had no problem with it).

A detail that is buried somewhere in this article is that Fico’s government apparently takes de facto control of Slovak parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, which is traditionally controlled by the opposition. So there is no independent oversight at all.

It’s time for the EU and its member states to ban any surveillance software and protect EE2E (including abandoning such things like ‘chat control’) if they want protect Europe from the further rise of authoritarian regimes.

I didn’t edit out anything. Everyone can read the the article to understand the issue and its context.

And there appear to be many who do not understand this ‘joke’:

Internet users responding to the apology, numbering more than 60,000 by noon Thursday, remained mostly unmoved. Some called on the company to make a public apology directly to the employees, while others suggested a video apology would be more appropriate. For most, it was reminder of the pitfalls of jumping on the video humor bandwagon.

I have to admit that I didn’t think about that until I read your comment (shame on me). That’s a good idea …

Mein Arzt sagt, ich bin eine humanoide Lebensform, und nachdem er von Medizin mehr versteht als ich, glaube ich ihm das eben mal (Bot bin ich sicher nicht, dazu kann ich zu schlecht rechnen). Seltsam ist, dass Du einer so einfachen Frage ausweichst, aber das musst Du selbst wissen.

Das klingt alles sehr allgemein, und es beantwortet meine Frage nicht. Aber selbst jetzt sieht es in DACH und anderen Staaten in Europa viel besser aus als in Autokratien wie China und Russland. Dort erlauben die Parteien gar keine Demokratie. Da wirst Du mir ja wohl zustimmen?

… sondern was die Parteien an Demokratie erlauben, und da schaut‘s düster aus.

Man muss immer verbessern und ausbauen. Aber selbst jetzt sieht es in DACH und anderen Staaten in Europa viel besser aus als in Autokratien wie China und Russland. Dort erlauben die Parteien gar keine Demokratie. Da wirst Du mir ja wohl zustimmen?

Was Du vorschlägst -niemanden zu wählen- ist genau das, was der Autokratie-Doktor verschrieben hat. Das ist China und Russland (und einige andere). Wir brauchen aber mehr Demokratie, nicht weniger.

@[email protected] Wenn Du keiner Partei Deine Stimme geben willst, was würdest Du denn dann vorschlagen?

And in addition to that, let’s not forget that the cheap price comes from a country with intransparent supply chains and from the use of forced labour.

I added a paragraph in the body of the text (sorry, I should have done in the first place). It says:

The case has been filed in Austria under universal jurisdiction, allowing states to prosecute serious international crimes regardless of where the crime was committed or the nationality of those involved.

I don’t know for sure, but the women may have fled to and now live Austria, but I’m not a lawyer and not sure about that.

The original title is “Russian University Launches ‘Social Rating’ Platform”, which could be misleading. Readers in a community called ‘Europe’ may understand this rating is for students of this university, but the university developed this for the Russian citizens. I edited the title for clarity, which is sometimes necessary.