Tag Archives: Europe

New York Post: Elon Musk rips ‘moron’ Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro: ‘Dumber than a sack of bricks’

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It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and it’s always entertaining to see the mutts chewing on one another. “Dumber than a sack of bricks” applies equally to F’Elon Musk as well as to Peter Navarro.

Musk, 53, responded Tuesday to the trade adviser’s suggestion on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday that the Tesla boss was “not a car manufacturer” but “a car assembler,” pointing to the electric vehicle company’s importing of batteries and other key components to manufacture its cars. 

“Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false,” Musk wrote on X, adding in a subsequent post in which he tagged the “Re—d Finder”: “Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.”

Elon Musk rips ‘moron’ Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro: ‘Dumber than a sack of bricks’

Billionaire Elon Musk escalated his attacks against White House trade adviser Peter Navarro Tuesday, calling him a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.”

https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/us-news/elon-musk-rips-moron-trump-trade-adviser-peter-navarro

Guardian: Vance’s posturing in Greenland was not just morally wrong. It was strategically disastrous

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Thanks to Trump’s administration, the US could soon have to fight wars to get things that, just a few weeks ago, were there for the asking

The American vice-president, JD Vance, visited a US base in Greenland for three hours on Friday, along with his wife. National security adviser Mike Waltz and his wife also went along. Fresh from using an unsafe social media platform to carry out an entirely unnecessary group chat in which they leaked sensitive data about an ongoing military attack to a reporter, and thereby allegedly breaking the law, Waltz and Vance perhaps hoped to change the subject by tagging along on a trip that was initially billed as Vance’s wife watching a dogsled race.

The overall context was Trump’s persistent claim that America must take Greenland, which is an autonomous region of Denmark. The original plan had been that Usha Vance would visit Greenlanders, apparently on the logic that the second lady would be an effective animatrice of colonial subjection; but none of them wanted to see her, and Greenland’s businesses refused to serve as a backdrop to photo ops or even to serve the uninvited Americans. So, instead, the US couples made a very quick visit to Pituffik space base.

At the base, in the far north of the island, the US visitors had pictures taken of themselves and ate lunch with servicemen and women. They treated the base as the backdrop to a press conference where they could say things they already thought; nothing was experienced, nothing was learned, nothing sensible was said. Vance, who never left the base, and has never before visited Greenland, was quite sure how Greenlanders should live. He made a political appeal to Greenlanders, none of whom was present, or anywhere near him. He claimed that Denmark was not protecting the security of Greenlanders in the Arctic, and that the US would. Greenland should therefore join the US.

It takes some patience to unwind all of the nonsense here.

Vance’s posturing in Greenland was not just morally wrong. It was strategically disastrous | Timothy Snyder

Thanks to Trump’s administration, the US could soon have to fight wars to get things that, just a few weeks ago, were there for the asking, says professor Timothy Snyder of Yale University

Vance’s posturing in Greenland was not just morally wrong. It was strategically disastrous | Timothy Snyder | The Guardian

Business Insider: 17 Teslas destroyed following blaze at Rome dealership

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A fire broke out at a Tesla dealership in Rome early on Monday, destroying 17 cars and damaging the building, firefighters told Business Insider.

Emergency services were called to the site in Torre Angela at about 4:30 a.m. local time, they said.

No injuries have been reported and investigators haven’t specified the cause of the fire, adding investigators were looking into multiple causes, including possible malice.

Possible malice?

Imagine that!

17 Teslas destroyed following blaze at Rome dealership

17 Teslas destroyed following blaze at Rome dealership

The Independent: Under Trump, 80 years of collective security have been dismantled in as many days

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The Atlantic Alliance used to believe it had liberal democratic values in common and a shared interest in collective security and free trade. That, thanks to the US president, is no longer true. Europe must adjust to this altered reality, or die.

It may be that the US’s tilt to the Kremlin, accompanied by the twin-track diplomatic and trade wars now being waged on friends and allies, will before long drive Europe to stand on its own two feet and be the independent force in world affairs that the founding fathers of the project of European unity dreamed about. At long last, Europe begins to assert itself. To borrow a famous phrase from a happier era of US-European relations, Europe, like president Barack Obama, is saying: “Yes we can.”

The “coalition of the willing” (or “coalition of action”, as French president Emmanuel Macron prefers to call it) is a concrete example of this emerging European consciousness. The project is to provide a safe and secure future for Ukraine, irrespective of what Russia or the US might desire. Russia is rightly distrusted, while there is still hope that the Americans can contribute in some way to keeping the peace in Ukraine – and in Europe more widely.

Under Trump, 80 years of collective security have been dismantled in as many days

Editorial: The Atlantic Alliance used to believe it had liberal democratic values in common and a shared interest in collective security and free trade. That, thanks to the US president, is no longer true. Europe must adjust to this altered reality, or die

Under Trump, 80 years of collective security have been dismantled in as many days | The Independent

Raw Story: ‘It sort of doesn’t matter’: Trump envoy unconcerned with Putin taking over Europe

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“To me, it just — it just — I take him at his word in this sense,” he continued. “So, and I think the Europeans are beginning to come to that belief, too. But it sort of doesn’t matter.”

‘It sort of doesn’t matter’: Trump envoy unconcerned with Putin taking over Europe

‘It sort of doesn’t matter’: Trump envoy unconcerned with Putin taking over Europe

The Mirror: US ‘won’t bother defending Europe from Russia’, leaked Pentagon memo says

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A confidential Pentagon document suggests the United States may not come to Europe’s aid in the event of a Russian attack. The leaked internal memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is said to prioritise deterring China’s ambitions over Taiwan and bolstering defense measures on U.S. soil.

According to The Washington Post, parts of the memo are strikingly similar to a publication by a conservative think tank involved with Project 2025, with sections mirroring it word for word.

The memo outlines Hegseth’s stance that America is unlikely to offer significant support to Europe against Russian aggression. It highlights an expectation for NATO allies to assume the primary role in defending their territory.

The United States, the guidance suggests, will provide nuclear deterrence against Russia but will only commit forces that are not essential for homeland security or missions related to China.

US ‘won’t bother defending Europe from Russia’, leaked Pentagon memo says

The leaked memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instead focuses on deterring China’s seizure of Taiwan and shoring up homeland defense

US ‘won’t bother defending Europe from Russia’, leaked Pentagon memo says

New York Times: Inside Pete Hegseth’s Rocky First Months at the Pentagon

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The disclosure of battle plans on a chat app created a new predicament for the defense secretary.

There’s nothing that can’t be cured by few stiff drinks:

Even before he disclosed secret battle plans for Yemen in a group chat, information that could have endangered American fighter pilots, it had been a rocky two months for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Mr. Hegseth, a former National Guard infantryman and Fox News weekend host, started his job at the Pentagon determined to out-Trump President Trump, Defense Department officials and aides said.

The president is skeptical about the value of NATO and European alliances, so the Pentagon under Mr. Hegseth considered plans in which the United States would give up its command role overseeing NATO troops. After Mr. Trump issued executive orders targeting transgender people, Mr. Hegseth ordered a ban on transgender troops.

Mr. Trump has embraced Elon Musk, the billionaire chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla. The Pentagon planned a sensitive briefing to give Mr. Musk a firsthand look at how the military would fight a war with China, a potentially valuable step for any businessman with interests there.

Inside Pete Hegseth’s Rocky First Months at the Pentagon – The New York Times

UK Daily Mail: Whose side ARE they on? Fury at US plot to ‘extort’ Europe over key global shipping route as extraordinary security bungle reveals Team Trump branding closest allies ‘pathetic freeloaders’

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MPs voiced fury today after an extraordinary security bungle revealed some of Donald Trump’s most senior team condemning Europe as ‘pathetic freeloaders’.

A bombshell exchange on the Signal messaging app – accidentally shared with a journalist – showed an elite group including JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security advisor Mike Waltz voicing ‘loathing’ for their long-term allies.

They also discuss how to get money out of European countries in return for US military strikes intended to stop Houthi rebels disrupting critical shipping routes in the Red Sea.

But UK politicians said glimpse behind the scenes showed America was ‘unreliable’ and accused them of plotting ‘extortion’. One normally US-friendly MP described the situation as a ‘nightmare’ and warned Europe must ‘take it seriously and not think it’s just casual chat’. 

…

Fury as Team Trump voice ‘loathing’ for ‘pathetic freeloaders’ Europe

A bombshell exchange on the Signal messaging app – accidentally shared with a journalist – showed an elite group voicing ‘loathing’ for their long-term allies.

Whose side ARE they on? Fury at US plot to ‘extort’ Europe over key global shipping route as extraordinary security bungle reveals Team Trump branding closest allies ‘pathetic freeloaders’ | Daily Mail Online

The Hill: House Republican on war plans chat: ‘There’s no doubt that Russia and China saw this stuff’

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Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said there’s “no doubt” that Russia and China were monitoring the U.S. officials’ devices used for a war plan text chat.

“I will guarantee you, 99.99 percent with confidence, Russia and China are monitoring those two phones,” Bacon told CNN’s Manu Raju. “So I just think it’s a security violation, and there’s no doubt that Russia and China saw this stuff within hours of the actual attacks on Yemen or the Houthis.”

National security adviser Mike Waltz reportedly invited The Atlantic’s top editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, into the Signal group, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared secret war plans.

Bacon, a former Air Force brigadier general and a member of the House Armed Services committee, said he always was concerned about Hegseth, an Army veteran who was a longtime Fox News host.

Bacon called the group chat, which also included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President Vance, among others, a “gross error.”

“They intentionally put highly classified information on an unclassified device,” he told CNN. “I would have lost my security clearance in the Air Force for this and for a lot less.”

House Republican on war plans chat: ‘There’s no doubt that Russia and China saw this stuff’

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said there’s “no doubt” that Russia and China were monitoring the U.S. officials’ devices used for a war plan text chat. “I will guarantee you, 99.99 percent with conf…

Don Bacon says Russia, China likely saw war plans group chat