Report: German soft power has worked for decades to undermine nuclear energy in France, "to prevent French industry from ... gaining a competitive advantage"

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[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Excerpt:

Their names are Rosa Luxemburg and Heinrich Böll. These German political foundations don’t make the headlines, but they’re deliberately undermining the French nuclear industry according to a recent report by the School of Economic Warfare. Their weapons? Drafting documents according to an anti-nuclear narrative, guiding the elites through training courses … visiting and meeting foreign politicians, forming alliances with specific NGOs and environmentalist parties …

This influence peddling benefits from substantial financial resources. According to the report, the German Bundestag's overall allocation to all political foundations is constantly increasing: from €295 million in 2000, to over €466 million in 2014, and finally €690 million by 2023! For report author Christian Harbulot, the message is clear: Behind all the rhetoric about cooperation between EU member states, Germany is doing everything in its power to prevent French industry from benefiting from cheap energy and thus gaining a competitive advantage.

These comments echo those of former EDF [Électricité de France] head Henri Proglio. “The thirty-year German obsession has been the disintegration of EDF. They've succeeded,” he said last December during a hearing as part of the parliamentary enquiry into French loss of energy independence. In a recent report, L’Express also revealed German efforts across Europe to exclude nuclear power from all mechanisms of financial support. And with foundations like Heinrich Böll, which has offices in Paris, the project of undermining [French nuclear power generation] is also being carried out on French soil ...

[–]MeganDelacroix🤡🌎 detainee 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

I'm beginning to think Orban's attitude toward NGOs is entirely too lenient.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

You're probably right. I seem to recall that someone, maybe China?, outlawed NGOs. It's unfortunate, I'm sure (because I'm not a complete cynic) that there are at least some NGOs that are operating aboveboard and not trying to stealthily impose Western values or incite discontent. But it makes sense to outlaw them altogether when it's obvious foreign governments are using them to meddle in your internal politics. I remember there were some NGOs in Africa or the Middle East trying to vaccinate the population against things like typhoid and malaria that were up in arms because of the antics of these stealth NGOs that made all NGOs suspect.

[–]MeganDelacroix🤡🌎 detainee 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Yeah, my mom's whole career involved working with NGOs for rural development in the third world, but that was a long time ago, back before (I think? - I hope) they became instruments of cultural and economic warfare and colonization. The ones she worked with did a lot of good - microloans to lift women out of poverty, partnering with various churches for literacy and medical programs, basic sanitation and clean water projects, and so on.

What she says now? "Strangle them at birth. Like vipers."

It really is unfortunate.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

microloans to lift women out of poverty

I remember reading about how incredibly effective these were. "Micro" is right, it took very little to provide a woman/mother with the means to start a small business that would provide for her and her kids when there was no father-breadwinner or no jobs for anyone. It's a variation on the "teach a man to fish" philosophy.

[–]MeganDelacroix🤡🌎 detainee 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Exactly. The one I'm remembering was in India, or maybe it was Bangladesh, somewhere in south Asia anyway. We were there for a few months and the level of poverty and disease in the city was horrific. Out in the countryside though two young widows cut their expenses by moving in together (I remember that part because there was some sort of religious objection by other villagers, it was solved eventually, somehow), and started some sort of business with those savings plus the microloan, some kind of textile thing, and they were already paying off their old debts by the time we left. It was really inspiring.

That's the kind of thing Soros and his ilk have destroyed so much trust in, with their megalomania and one world order utopianism.

edit: ditzy me, I just realized I could call my mom and ask. It was Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, looks like they're still doing their thing :)

The bank grew significantly between 2003 and 2007. As of January 2011, the total borrowers of the bank number 8.4 million, and 97% of those are women. In 1998 the Bank's "Low-cost Housing Program" won a World Habitat Award. In 2006, the bank and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Grameen Bank is now expanding into wealthy countries as well. As of 2017, Grameen America had 19 branches in eleven US cities. Its nearly 100,000 borrowers were all women.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

That's really amazing, thanks for sharing those details and updates.

religious objection by other villagers,

May have no bearing on the objections the villagers had (that the women might be perceived as running a cathouse) but brought to mind a prank an acquaintance pulled. She loved romances - pretty tame ones despite their bodice-ripper covers - but her grown kids gave her such a bad time about it that one evening when she knew they were coming over she put a red light bulb in her front porch light. Never heard the outcome, unfortunately, but hopefully it provided them with a salutary lesson in "if you're going to make me do the time I may as well do the crime."