Politics & Stuff

[Fulham Broadway 16,946]

6 minutes ago, robsblubot said:

Pretty safe to assume he's indeed intelligent. When he ceases to be an engineer/entrepreneur and verges into world politics is that I see a problem: he's just not emphatic enough to other human beings who are way too different from him to relate to his views.

His lack of empathy is pretty evident when you actually listen to him in interviews... at least to me.

High functioning aspergers/autism means totally unaware of other peoples feelings, can not see nuances or non verbal signals. 

[Vesper 29,075]

Danish king changes coat of arms amid row with Trump over Greenland

Design shows intent to keep control of Faroe Islands and Greenland – which Trump says he would like the US to buy

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/06/danish-king-changes-coat-of-arms-in-apparent-rebuke-to-donald-trump

The new design (right) features a large polar bear and ram, representing Greenland and the Faroes. Composite: Kongehuset.de

 

The Danish king has shocked some historians by changing the royal coat of arms to more prominently feature Greenland and the Faroe Islands – in what has also been seen as a rebuke to Donald Trump.

Less than a year since succeeding his mother, Queen Margrethe, after she stood down on New Year’s Eve 2023, King Frederik has made a clear statement of intent to keep the autonomous Danish territory and former colony within the kingdom of Denmark.

For 500 years, previous Danish royal coats of arms have featured three crowns, the symbol of the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which was led from Denmark between 1397 and 1523. They are also an important symbol of its neighbour Sweden.

But in the updated version, the crowns have been removed and replaced with a more prominent polar bear and ram than previously, to symbolise Greenland and the Faroe Islands respectively.

The move comes at a time of increased tension over Greenland and its relations with Denmark, which continues to control its foreign and security policy.

Incoming US president Trump last month said again that he wants the US to buy Greenland, and the Greenlandic prime minister, Múte Egede, recently accused Denmark of genocide in response to investigations of the forced contraceptive scandal of the 1960s and 70s. In Egede’s own new year’s address he accelerated calls for Greenlandic independence and called for the “shackles of the colonial era” to be removed.

The royal household said the coat of arms, which is used on official documents and seals and elements of which date back to the 12th century, “strengthens the prominence of the commonwealth”. The three crowns, it said, had been removed “as it is no longer relevant”.

The changes, it said, were made after a recommendation from a committee that was appointed straight after his accession on 14 January 2024.

Last week, in his first new year speech, the king said: “We are all united and each of us committed for the kingdom of Denmark. From the Danish minority in South Schleswig – which is even situated outside the kingdom – and all the way to Greenland. We belong together.”

Since 1819, the royal arms have been changed three times before now, in 1903, 1948 and 1972. But the latest changes have been met by shock in some quarters.

Ever since the peace treaty of Knäred in 1613, which ended the Kalmar war, Sweden was “forced to accept the Danish king’s rights to use the Swedish symbol of the three crowns, said Dick Harrison, a history professor at the Swedish University of Lund, making its removal from the Danish coat of arms now “a sensation”.

“The symbol survived the huge defeats in the wars against Sweden in the 1640s and the 1650s, the loss of Norway in 1814, the loss of Schleswig to Germany in 1864, the transition to modernity, the loss of Iceland and the German occupation in world war II,” he said. “Thus, from the point of view of history, the fact that King Frederik X has decided to remove the symbol is a sensation.”

But Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen, a historian at the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said it sends clear signals about current geopolitics, especially amid Greenlandic calls for independence.

“When the Greenlanders, and in a sense also the Faroese, toy with the idea of achieving full independence, the royal house shows they support the state’s policy, which is to preserve the unity of the realm,” he told Berlingske.

Royal expert Lars Hovbakke Sørensen believes the changes reflect the king’s personal interest in the Arctic, but also send a message to the world.

“It is important to signal from the Danish side that Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of the Danish realm, and that this is not up for discussion. This is how you mark it,” he told TV2.

The government of Greenland has been contacted for comment.

[Fulham Broadway 16,946]

20 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Danish king changes coat of arms amid row with Trump over Greenland

Design shows intent to keep control of Faroe Islands and Greenland – which Trump says he would like the US to buy

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/06/danish-king-changes-coat-of-arms-in-apparent-rebuke-to-donald-trump

The new design (right) features a large polar bear and ram, representing Greenland and the Faroes. Composite: Kongehuset.de

 

The Danish king has shocked some historians by changing the royal coat of arms to more prominently feature Greenland and the Faroe Islands – in what has also been seen as a rebuke to Donald Trump.

Less than a year since succeeding his mother, Queen Margrethe, after she stood down on New Year’s Eve 2023, King Frederik has made a clear statement of intent to keep the autonomous Danish territory and former colony within the kingdom of Denmark.

For 500 years, previous Danish royal coats of arms have featured three crowns, the symbol of the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which was led from Denmark between 1397 and 1523. They are also an important symbol of its neighbour Sweden.

But in the updated version, the crowns have been removed and replaced with a more prominent polar bear and ram than previously, to symbolise Greenland and the Faroe Islands respectively.

The move comes at a time of increased tension over Greenland and its relations with Denmark, which continues to control its foreign and security policy.

Incoming US president Trump last month said again that he wants the US to buy Greenland, and the Greenlandic prime minister, Múte Egede, recently accused Denmark of genocide in response to investigations of the forced contraceptive scandal of the 1960s and 70s. In Egede’s own new year’s address he accelerated calls for Greenlandic independence and called for the “shackles of the colonial era” to be removed.

The royal household said the coat of arms, which is used on official documents and seals and elements of which date back to the 12th century, “strengthens the prominence of the commonwealth”. The three crowns, it said, had been removed “as it is no longer relevant”.

The changes, it said, were made after a recommendation from a committee that was appointed straight after his accession on 14 January 2024.

Last week, in his first new year speech, the king said: “We are all united and each of us committed for the kingdom of Denmark. From the Danish minority in South Schleswig – which is even situated outside the kingdom – and all the way to Greenland. We belong together.”

Since 1819, the royal arms have been changed three times before now, in 1903, 1948 and 1972. But the latest changes have been met by shock in some quarters.

Ever since the peace treaty of Knäred in 1613, which ended the Kalmar war, Sweden was “forced to accept the Danish king’s rights to use the Swedish symbol of the three crowns, said Dick Harrison, a history professor at the Swedish University of Lund, making its removal from the Danish coat of arms now “a sensation”.

“The symbol survived the huge defeats in the wars against Sweden in the 1640s and the 1650s, the loss of Norway in 1814, the loss of Schleswig to Germany in 1864, the transition to modernity, the loss of Iceland and the German occupation in world war II,” he said. “Thus, from the point of view of history, the fact that King Frederik X has decided to remove the symbol is a sensation.”

But Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen, a historian at the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said it sends clear signals about current geopolitics, especially amid Greenlandic calls for independence.

“When the Greenlanders, and in a sense also the Faroese, toy with the idea of achieving full independence, the royal house shows they support the state’s policy, which is to preserve the unity of the realm,” he told Berlingske.

Royal expert Lars Hovbakke Sørensen believes the changes reflect the king’s personal interest in the Arctic, but also send a message to the world.

“It is important to signal from the Danish side that Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of the Danish realm, and that this is not up for discussion. This is how you mark it,” he told TV2.

The government of Greenland has been contacted for comment.

Should be pic of a viking giving the finger. 

What with Elon Skum wanting to invade the UK, Trump intent on buying Greenland, the next four years look like fun. 

I swear the World is regressing. Its like when will the adults take over ? Reagan suddenly looks the full ticket, and all are light years away from Carter who believed in truth, respect, equality, dignity....

[Fulham Broadway 16,946]

A new era of lies: Mark Zuckerberg has just ushered in an extinction-level event for truth on social media

In a bizarre video message posted to his personal Facebook page on Tuesday, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the platform is getting rid of its 40,000-strong content moderation team. In their place? Mob rule.

Zuckerberg has said that the platform, which has more than 3 billion people worldwide logging on to its apps every day, will be adopting an Elon Musk-style community notes format for policing towards whoever can shout the loudest.

The most dog-whistle comment was a throwaway remark that Meta would be moving what remained of its trust and safety and content moderation teams out of liberal California and into staunchly Republican Texas. All that was missing from the video was Zuckerberg wearing a Maga hat and toting a shotgun.

Reuters

[Vesper 29,075]

Meta is ushering in a ‘world without facts’, says Nobel peace prize winner

Maria Ressa warns of ‘dangerous times’ for journalism and democracy after move to end factchecking in US

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/08/facebook-end-factchecking-nobel-peace-prize-winner-maria-ressa

The Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa has said Meta’s decision to end factchecking on its platforms and remove restrictions on certain topics means “extremely dangerous times” lie ahead for journalism, democracy and social media users.

The American-Filipino journalist said Mark Zuckerberg’s move to relax content moderation on the Facebook and Instagram platforms would lead to a “world without facts” and that was “a world that’s right for a dictator”.

“Mark Zuckerberg says it’s a free speech issue – that’s completely wrong,” Ressa told the AFP news service. “Only if you’re profit-driven can you claim that; only if you want power and money can you claim that. This is about safety.”

Ressa, a co-founder of the Rappler news site, won the Nobel peace prize in 2021 in recognition of her “courageous fight for freedom of expression”. She faced multiple criminal charges and investigations after publishing stories critical of the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.

Ressa rejected Zuckerberg’s claim that factcheckers had been “too politically biased” and had “destroyed more trust than they’ve created”.

“Journalists have a set of standards and ethics,” Ressa said. “What Facebook is going to do is get rid of that and then allow lies, anger, fear and hate to infect every single person on the platform.”

The decision meant “extremely dangerous times ahead” for journalism, democracy and social media users, she said.

Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said on Tuesday he would remove factcheckers in the US and replace them with a crowd-sourced moderating service similar to the “community notes” feature on the rival social media platform X.

He added that Meta would also “get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse” and “work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more”.

Meta has said it has “no immediate plans” to remove factcheckers outside the US, although the rest of the changes will be implemented worldwide.

Ressa said she would do everything she could to “ensure information integrity”. “This is a pivotal year for journalism survival,” she said. “We’ll do all we can to make sure that happens.”

In October, the human rights group Amnesty International claimed that authorities in the Philippines were using Facebook to “red-tag” young activists, a term referring to the labelling of campaigners and others as alleged “communist rebels” and “terrorists”.

In 2021 a Meta whistleblower, Frances Haugen, claimed there was a lack of safety controls in non-English language markets, such as Africa and the Middle East, and that Facebook was being used by human traffickers and armed groups in Ethiopia.

“I did what I thought was necessary to save the lives of people, especially in the global south, who I think are being endangered by Facebook’s prioritisation of profits over people,” she told the Observer.

At the time, Meta, then operating under the corporate brand of Facebook, said the premise that it prioritised profit over safety was “false” and that it had invested $13bn (£11bn) in protecting users.

In 2018, after the massacre of Rohingya Muslims by the military in Myanmar, Facebook admitted that the platform had been used to “foment division and incite offline violence”. Three years later, the human rights group Global Witness claimed that Facebook was promoting content that incited violence against political protesters in Myanmar. Facebook said it had proactively detected 99% of the hate speech removed from the platform in the country.

[Vesper 29,075]

Germany and France warn Trump against use of force over Greenland

Olaf Scholz says borders are inviolable after president-elect talks of using US military or tariffs to take control of island

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/08/france-warns-trump-against-threatening-eu-sovereign-borders-greenland

Germany and France have warned Donald Trump against any attempt to “move borders by force” after the incoming US president said he was prepared to use economic tariffs or military might to seize control of Danish-administered Greenland.

In a hastily called televised statement, Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said Trump’s remarks had triggered “incomprehension” among European leaders. “The principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country – regardless of whether it is east of us or to the west – and every state must respect that, regardless of whether it is a small country or a very powerful state.”

Earlier, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said that Europe would stand up in defence of international law. “There is no question of the EU letting other nations in the world, whoever they may be, attack its sovereign borders.”

Barrot added on France Inter radio, that, while he did not believe the US “would invade” Greenland, “we have entered an era that is seeing the return of the law of the strongest”.

Denmark has said it is open to dialogue with Trump about working together to address his legitimate security concerns when it comes to Greenland, while rejecting any threat of force or coercion.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the experienced Danish foreign minister, said it was in everyone’s interests to lower the temperature in the discussions.

“I have my own experiences with Donald Trump and I also know that you shouldn’t say everything you think out loud,” he said. He also played down the possibility that Greenland would ever become part of the US, adding: “We fully recognise that Greenland has its own ambitions. If they materialise, Greenland will become independent, though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States.”

Denmark is caught in a double bind, confronted by the increasingly serious threats from Trump to take over the island for US geostrategic reasons, but also growing demands from Greenland’s political class for full independence from Denmark.

Greenland’s prime minister, Múte B Egede, held talks with the Danish king in Copenhagen on Wednesday, a day after Trump’s remarks thrust the fate of the mineral-rich and strategically important island into the spotlight.

In his new year remarks Egede had said that Greenland was now ready to take the next big step in the effort to break the “shackles of colonialism”. A self-government act has already been passed that opens the way to a referendum on independence. Local elections are due to be held in April that could turn into a test of opinion on Greenland’s constitutional future.

The president-elect’s son Donald Trump Jr flew briefly to Greenland on Tuesday in a trip coinciding with his father’s call for the US to run the island, and returned trying to stoke a mood for it to be sold to Washington.

He said: “These are people who feel they’ve been exploited. They haven’t been treated fairly by Denmark. They’re being held back from exploiting their natural resources, whether it’s coal, uranium, rare earths, gold or diamonds. It’s really a great place.”

The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said on Tuesday that she could not imagine Trump’s ambitions leading to US military intervention in Greenland. In 2019 she had called Trump’s demand that Greenland be put up for sale “absurd”. Since then there has been a collective decision by the Danish government to try to soothe emotions.

Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953 but is now a self-governing territory of Denmark and in 2009 achieved the right to claim independence through a vote.

Danish politicians are hoping a confrontation can be avoided by a meeting between senior officials from Denmark and the US to discuss any update required to the many post-second world war security agreements signed by the two countries. The US has a military base in Greenland, Pituffik space base (formerly Thule base), first established in 1941. It provides critical early-warning systems necessary to monitor Russian activity. Other bases were abandoned in the 1970s. But with the melting of the ice around Greenland, the possibility of new trade routes opening has transformed the Arctic’s importance.

In Berlin, Scholz said that Russia’s “brutal war of aggression” against Ukraine had prompted Germany as the EU’s top economy to strongly increase defence spending to 2% of GDP, amounting to it more than doubling in the last seven years. He noted that his country had worked closely with the US to protect Ukraine’s national “sovereignty and integrity”. “Borders must not be moved by force,” he said.

In an hour-long press conference on Tuesday, Trump refused to rule out using military force to take the Panama canal and Greenland, and also suggested he intended to use “economic force” to make Canada part of the US.

Egede, a member of the pro-independence Community of the People (IA) party, said last week Greenland “is not for sale and will never be for sale”.

Arriving at Copenhagen airport late on Tuesday night, Egede responded to Trump’s refusal to rule out military or economic pressure in order to gain control of Greenland, saying they were “serious statements”.

His original meeting with the king, scheduled for earlier in the day, was cancelled at the last minute, with Egede’s office citing “diary gymnastics”. Donald Trump Jr’s visit to Greenland on Tuesday led to the cancellation being viewed by some as a snub and embarrassment to the king, who recently changed the royal coat of arms to more prominently include symbols of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are both autonomous territories of Denmark.

Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, the Greenlandic MP who represents the Siumut party in the Danish parliament, told the Guardian she took Trump’s comments about coercion as “directed more toward Panama than Greenland”. But, she said, his comments “underscore the growing geopolitical importance of Greenland”.

She added: “It also highlights a critical need for constructive dialogue. While I do not interpret his remarks as a threat of military force against Greenland or Denmark, they do suggest the United States may feel compelled to act if the kingdom of Denmark is unable to address security concerns effectively.”