The dictatorship here is not just ‘corporate’ I would say …

Mistral is a European AI company.

According to the original report:

“The model offerings are undergoing revision, especially in light of availability of open-source and EU sovereign models from sovereign cloud providers recently contracted by the European Commission,” the European Commission’s press service said.

That paints a different picture than the headline, but it doesn’t serve OP’s desired propaganda narrative.

Both.

Not yet, but the Metropolitan Police in London have launched an investigation into allegations that security personnel at the Chinese Embassy in London brandished high-voltage stun batons—classified as prohibited weapons under UK law—to threaten peaceful protesters.

Will the UK also sell oil to China, the world’s largest oil importer?

the argument could be made that by giving them publicity you are (indirectly) funding them.

I don’t think money or funding has anything to do with this (and the money comes from the Russian state - or the Russian tax payer - anyway).

Furthermore, according to the court ruling, the content from the sanctioned platforms is prohibited

including in the context of a non-remunerated activity or in the operation of a website financed by voluntary contributions from third parties.

As the ruling says,

only that interpretation makes it possible … to prevent the broadcasting of the propaganda put in place by the Russian Federation and, consequently, to protect public order and security in the European Union.

Emphasis mine.

This isn’t about funding or anything related to money.

These platforms aim to undermine democracy by sowing division, inciting hatred, intentionally spreading fake news. This is why these platforms are banned, maybe comparable with laws on hate speech, Nazi propaganda or Holocaust denial in Germany or similar laws in other Western countries. But this is not censorship.

Aren’t EU sanctions economic?

No, not necessarily (in that case, it;s not).

This ruling, though, seems aimed at enforcing a ban on discussing certain ideas.

What does that mean? Which certain ideas?

That’s not my understanding. The ruling finds that

… profit motives are irrelevant to determining who is an ‘operator,’ the court confirms that these sanctions also apply to individuals running websites that disseminate prohibited content …

and

… refers to any natural or legal person directly or indirectly responsible for making available or transmitting that content to the public.

I am not a legal expert, so please correct me if I am mistaken, but I understand that if you are a private individual posting something on your private social media account, the ruling does not apply to you.

However, if you run a platform to disseminate content - such as a blog on a website, a small non-profit radio station, or the like - then the law does apply.

[Edit typo.]

In a related report from end of June, France uncovered a network of fake news sites managed by Chinese state media

… Viginum, France’s national agency for countering foreign digital interference, [at the Chinese propaganda network’s] centre is not loud propaganda, but an entire network of news portals that look like ordinary media outlets and focus mainly on how successful, innovative and essential to the world China supposedly is.

According to Viginum, the network consisted of 13 websites operated by China’s state broadcaster CGTN, or China Global Television Network. The portals published articles in English, French, Spanish and Vietnamese, presenting themselves as independent media outlets. In reality, they were part of a coordinated influence operation, which French authorities named Fawn Mianju.

This is not a story about isolated fake news. It is a story about how propaganda is increasingly being made to look like real journalism.

While Russian propaganda is often dominated by conflict, threat perception and confrontation, China’s goal is to build a positive image of itself. Freedom House describes this as a long-term strategy aimed at “telling China’s story well”. At its core is the image of China as a successful, trustworthy and indispensable partner.

Although the investigators conclude that Beijing’s malign activities weren’t successful in that case, the report shows how China’s state media tries is using AI trying to control the narrative by literally faking news sites that look like independent media.

There is no need for loud voices, militant slogans or obvious fake news. A website that resembles an ordinary news portal is enough. An article about China’s green transition or technological success is enough. And so is artificial intelligence that can adapt the same message for dozens of different target audiences within minutes.

The question is no longer only whether a news story is true or false. The question is who is telling stories about the world, what kinds of stories are being told, and whether the reader even notices that the “news” in front of them was not produced in an independent newsroom, but far away in Beijing …

The entire report makes a very informative read.

Yes. The Russian Energy Ministry this week has introduced an import mechanism for diesel. Under the scheme, which already applies to petrol imports, oil and gas companies that import fuel will receive state subsidies to offset the difference between global and domestic prices. The ironic bit here is that Russia, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel producers and historically largest net exporters, now needs to import fossil fuels.

So you can click “zero tip” and pay it in cash, no?

Interesting view and maybe true, although from the article I can’t infer “decades of under-financing the health sector and infrastructure in favor of taxing the middle and lower classes” by “conservative governments and coalitions.”

Climate related deaths increase not only in Europe but across the globe, not just in Germany and Europe. DW, the same source as the linked article, also reports that severe storms bring death and destruction in China.

So what led to the deaths in other countries like those in China? Was is also under-financing at the cost of the middle and lower classes? (Official Chinese numbers don’t tell much as negative news about China are heavily censored, but independent scientists outside the country paint a devastating climate-related picture about China, too.)

I don’t say everything is perfect in Germany, but headlines such as this one perfectly aligns with OP and other propagandists’ desired narrative (just look at OP’s post history], dragging down Western countries, sowing division, inciting hatred. It is easier then to portray autocracies - like China - as the better alternative.

There is nothing in the linked article that supports the claim of “decades of rule by conservative governments and coalitions” that were “under-financing the health sector and infrastructure in favor of taxing the middle and lower classes”. But I argue that it is exactly why users like OP are posting such headlines.

changes would ensure the ETS was aligned with the EU’s goal to reduce carbon emissions by 90% by 2040, compared with 1990 levels.

This is not good, it would be much better if the EU would reduce its emissions faster as the bloc isn’t on track to meet the Paris goal.

The sad thing is that the EU is nevertheless among those world regions that rank ahead of others when it comes to emission reduction, especially when we compare large emitters. While the EU plans to phase out fossil fuels by 2050, the world’s worst emitter China plans to do so by 2060.

For comparison you may look here.

No, the opposite is true.

When oil prices are high — a state that would ordinarily benefit the federal budget — the Russian government is obligated to pay hundreds of billions of rubles to domestic oil companies while also providing compensation to fuel importers.

That’s the result at least in part of ongoing Russian propaganda to sow division.

Each of these incidents is a disaster for the affected individuals, but the number of hate crimes rose from 140 to 180. Using percentage (+30%) for such rare events is disingenuous.

Yeah, like the China-Russia friendship, right?

You are repeating the same propaganda narratives over and again. Such a conversation is waste of time very much as with a Chinese LLM.

It doesn’t make your arguments better (nor true) of you constantly repeat them.

That’s the result at least in part of ongoing Russian propaganda to sow division.

Each of these incidents is a disaster for the affected individuals, but the number of hate crimes rose from 140 to 180. Using percentage (+30%) for such rare events may serve OP’s ongoing propaganda drive, but it is disingenuous.

This ‘mass migration experiment’ is just a distraction for Sanchez as he fights for his political survival over a series of corruption cases. Such a move must be done in collaboration with other EU partners, not alone. Sanchez hasn’t even tried that.