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Power Plays, Inequality And Big Tech: Europe's 2021 Challenges Have Already Started
Just a week into 2021, political tensions in Europe and the bloc’s power play with China and the United States have already come to the fore.
The new year also brings new political dynamics to Europe as the coronavirus pandemic and the economic consequences make foreign and security policy even more vital.
As the European Commission continues its aim to become a “geopolitical” player the top challenge will be navigating between the U.S and China.
Europe finalized an investment agreement with China on December 30, which is the first step towards negotiations towards a free-trade deal.
The Comprehensive Agreement on Investments (CAI), which took seven years in the making, will remove barriers to foreign investments in China and allow European companies to compete more equally.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pascaledavies/2021/01/10/power-plays-inequality-and-big-tech-europes-2021-challenges-have-already-started/?sh=607621c063ed
Spain Paralysed by Snowstorm, Sends Out Vaccine, Food ConvoysMADRID (REUTERS) - THE Spanish government will send convoys carrying the COVID-19 vaccine and food supplies on Monday to areas cut off by Storm Filomena which brought the heaviest snowfall in decades across central Spain and killed four people.
Across central Spain, over 430 roads were affected by the rare blizzard and hundreds of travellers were stranded at Madrid's Barajas airport, which closed on Friday but will reopen gradually later on Sunday.
Forecasters warned of dangerous conditions in the coming days, with temperatures expected to fall to up to minus 10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit) next week and the prospect of snow turning to ice and damaged trees falling.
"The commitment is to guarantee the supply of health, vaccines and food. Corridors have been opened to deliver the goods," transport minister Jose Luis Abalos said on Sunday.
About 100 workers and shoppers have spent two nights sleeping at a shopping centre in Majadahonda, a town north of Madrid, after they were trapped by the blizzard on Friday.
"There are people sleeping on the ground on cardboard," Ivan Alcala, a restaurant worker, told TVE television.
Dr Álvaro Sanchez walked 17 km through the snow on Saturday to work at a hospital in Majadahonda, prompting owners of 4x4 vehicles to give health workers lifts to work.
One man and a woman in a car drowned after a river burst near Malaga in the south, while two homeless people froze to death in Madrid and Calatayud in the east, officials said.
Train services from Madrid, which were cancelled since Friday, resumed on Sunday.
The State Metereological Agency (Aemet) said up to 20-30 cm (7-8 inches) of snow fell in Madrid on Saturday, the most since 1971.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-01-10/spain-sends-out-vaccine-food-convoys-after-snowstorm-paralyses-roads
Trump crowd stormed meeting, threatened officials in rural California
The rebellion that took place inside a government building in rural Northern California happened the day before the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Trump
The Shasta County Board of Supervisors had planned to meet virtually Jan. 5 because of an uptick in coronavirus cases. The supervisors’ chambers in Redding were closed. Seats had been removed. The public speakers’ microphone was disabled.
But, in protest, a newly elected supervisor unlocked the doors. In poured dozens of people, unmasked, to vent their fury. Three supervisors attending virtually watched from afar as threats flew amid the speeches.
“When Joe Biden’s long winter sets and the dark night comes in this country, do you think you’re going to get to see the dawn?” Timothy Fairfield, 44, of Shingletown asked the supervisors. “No, you will not. Flee now while you can. Because the days of your tyranny are drawing to a close, and the legitimacy of this government is waning.
“When the ballot box is gone,” he added, “there is only the cartridge box. You have made bullets expensive. But luckily for you, ropes are reusable.”
In some ways, the rhetoric in that officially closed county government facility carried a hint of the rage that would boil over 2,800 miles away when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol the next day. Five deaths, including that of a U.S. Capitol Police officer and the police shooting of an Air Force veteran from San Diego County, have been linked to the siege.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-day-before-capitol-attack-pro-trump-crowd-stormed-meeting-threatened-officials-in-rural-california/ar-BB1cCVFp