domusaltera

I will admit, as a brit, that my automatic reaction to being startled is “Good Lord!”… 🧐

An interesting point (and I like your username 🙂) But not what I was talking about. Maybe you should post this point as a post of it’s own? It’s certainly a thought-provoking topic.

By harmony I mean the people of the UK making peace with each other again in order to present a united front against external threats (I thought that was obvious but my bad if it wasn’t). Putin has tried to divide us in a bunch of different ways from amplifying our differences over Brexit to encouraging people in the UK to hate immigrants. I’m not making any of that up. For example just check where Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales is right now and why…

I’ve come to realise over the years that it’s the people fanning the flames of discord on both sides (edit: of the Brexit argument) that are helping the external forces that want to sow division in the UK. There are many who benefit from a divided Europe, including Putin and his orange puppet. These days I focus on the voices (edit: in the UK) that want to move us towards harmony rather than away from it. Unfortunately, there are fewer of those voices on social media than there should be and it’s a pity.

It’s not that simple for Slovakia…

Firstly Fico risks isolating Slovakia now that he doesn’t have Hungary as an ally to protect him from any disciplinary actions from the EU.

Secondly, the EU has developed a bilateral loan system from individual member states that doesn’t require a unanimous EU vote.

Thirdly, there’s also a “enhanced cooperation” system now that allows groups of countries to proceed without unanimity.

Fico is going to have to balance the benefits he gets from doing Putin’s bidding with the blowback he is going to get and the consequences that will generate for Slovakia.

…and with him goes the most significant and consistent opponent to funding for Ukraine within the EU. Good.

A battery icon feels like an odd choice as a container of anxiety. A ball of squiggly lines or some lighting bolts that disappear gradually would make more sense to me but hey, it still conveys the message.

Why doesn’t he give Churchill a call

This raises an interesting point actually… I have a new Win11 machine but my old Win10 one is just being kept around for low level, non essential tasks. I don’t have any essential apps left on there really now. I signed up for that extra year of Microsoft support that was offered but when that runs out I guess what a perfect time to have a play with Linux and see what all the fuss is about.