@Che

So it’s only slavery if it’s in China?

Who says that?

Yeah, there are many FOSS organizations in the U.S. like the Open Source Lab by the Oregon State University, the Open Source Software Institute, and many others. I guess they could do it, possibly if some join forces.

I agree in principal with that view, but there was pressure from VW’s top investors (Union Investment, Deka) to clarify the situation in Xinjiang. An audit turned out to be extremely flawed which put further pressure on the management. It’s hard to tell how much this contributed to the decision, but at least some shareholders weren’t indifferent about the situation.

The USA can certainly do this, they have all what it takes. Public investments for such stuff will be hard to get in the next four years I guess, but there could be some private initiative?I don’t know the U.S. good enough in that respect, though.

Strange. Here is the Reuters news about it: https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-proposes-sanctions-against-chinese-firms-helping-russia-bloomberg-news-2024-11-25/

This has long been done :-)

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In related news, Ukrainian and independent (exiled) Russian media report that Russian consumer loans are hitting 44%.

As of the beginning of November, consumer loan rates in Russian banks ranged from 25% to 38% per annum, but by 19 November, the maximum rate had risen to 44%.

It is noted that almost half of borrowers have problems with loan repayment: 35% have minor difficulties, 12% have serious ones, and 1% admit that they can no longer pay at all.

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As I said multiple times, this is one reason among others why we need transparent supply chains. It is exactly China which opposes this. This is bad for world (and bad for China, too).

In addition to that from another source, the Climate Action Tracker for China:

Policies and action against fair share: Insufficient

NDC (nationally determined contributions ) target against modelled domestic pathways: Highly insufficient

NDC target against fair share: Insufficient

Net Zero Target = Year 2060: Comprehensiveness rated as Poor

Overall rating: Highly insufficient

Governments could enforce laws to reduce their emissions, but they don’t.

The only way to measure it is where it is produced. This is what this and other reports are doing. Governments could reduce their emissions, especially in countries where they are high. It’s not the case, though.

Again, this is not about assigning blame. This is just a simple fact.

This is not a blame game. Humanity is failing as a whole as the climate doesn’t know borders or politics as we know. It is important that we track numbers, though. As the report says:

Historical CO2 emissions matter for climate change, because there is a finite “carbon budget” that can be released into the atmosphere before a given level of global warming is breached.

For example, in order to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, only around 2,800GtCO2 can be added to the atmosphere, counting all emissions since the pre-industrial period […] Cumulative emissions since 1850 will reach 2,607CO2 by the end of 2024, according to Carbon Brief’s new analysis, meaning that some 94% of the 1.5C budget will have been used up.

We are all doing too little (and too late?). Climate change has already been affecting all countries across all continents for some time. What we needed imo is more global collaboration, but it doesn’t seem to happen.

I am afraid they already did:

Commission concludes that online social networking service of X should not be designated under the Digital Markets Act – (October 2024) Please see the comment by @[email protected], I am mistaken here.

I would have loved to see the initiators to go the official way for the petition as I agree that change.org won’t change much. Here we go: https://commission.europa.eu/get-involved/engage-eu-policymaking/petition-eu_en

Having read the thread and all the numbers which are very interesting, I can’t help thinking that whatever the economic output is in whatever country or bloc, China must face higher cost for backing Russia in Ukraine.

LOL.

And?

No one talks about Ukraine losing. Any peace deal can only be reached according to Ukraine’s terms, this includes that Russia will have to leave the whole of Ukraine.