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More than 1,000 people were injured during the island’s biggest quake in a quarter century.

CONTRE-POINT - Cette contribution permettait de taxer les énergéticiens sur les revenus exceptionnels réalisés. Sauf qu’elle a rapporté moins que prévu.

Colombo has demonstrated its own brand of strategic autonomy on issues from Russia’s war in Ukraine to China’s global footprint.

Raphaël Glucksmann était en meeting en Normandie mercredi soir, aux côtés des anciens rivaux socialistes Olivier Faure et Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. Ensemble, ils ont porté un message d’espoir en affirmant que leur liste pouvait créer la surprise aux élections européennes du 9 juin et ainsi éviter le duel annoncé entre la majorité présidentielle et l’extrême droite.

Poland's poor availability of biological and biosimilar medicines is under the microscope, with policymakers pushing for new accessibility measures to benefit patients in need of advanced therapies.

Slovakian obesity rates have been rising steadily for a decade, mirroring global and European trends. Approximately 60% of Slovaks are either overweight or obese, highlighting the need for effective new public health interventions.

Shell is battling to persuade judges in The Hague to reverse a court ruling ordering significant reductions in climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday (3 April) confirmed that the military alliance's members will look into the organisation taking a greater coordination role in military aid deliveries to Ukraine, but stayed wary of giving way to a new fund.

DÉCRYPTAGE - Face à l’état préoccupant des finances publiques, LR se dit prêt à sanctionner le gouvernement, plutôt au lendemain des européennes.

DÉCRYPTAGE - Malgré ses promesses de ne surtout pas augmenter la fiscalité, le premier ministre laisse la porte de la taxation des superprofits entrouverte.

CNN reporter Jim Sciutto on the return of great-power conflict.

French Senators blamed the government for the eight-months freeze by the European Commission of the legislative process on a digital bill, considering that the government failed to prepare the bill efficiently.

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2024 - EP

Talking through Sparkasse's freeze of an anti-Zionist peace organisation, Turkey's election, German weed and Schengen neophytes.

A Turret, likely from a T-72, is embedding into the ground after being ejected from the hull of the tank after a catastrophic explosion.

While the impression most have of a Tank is of a shield of almost invincible armour that can push through any obstacle while under fire to reach their objective, these designs in warfare are more complex than these basic assumptions. Tanks as a concept were built as a strategic assets on the battlefield, and while in some cases they did have that Iron Man quality to them, even the first tanks were often damaged, mauled and burned in large numbers in the most horrific of ways.

Recently, the loss of upwards of four American M1 Abrams Tanks in Ukraine has followed the loss of other important assets like a NASAMS system, CAESAR and a HIMARS. None of these assets operated in a bubble, and the larger concern of progress for Ukrainian forces must account for losses of equipment in concert with the strategic gains/failures in losing these assets. Earlier losses of German made Leopard 2s after the initial start of the summer offensive in 2023 also raised concerns as they have with recent losses of Abrams. With additional and persistent losses of American Bradley Fighting Vehicles, the high morale of having Western equipment dominating the field of battle should have never presumed that any loss of valuable assets as a complete loss via binary measures in such conflicts.

Regarding the survivability of Western Tanks like the Leopard 2 and M1 Abrams vs. those ex-Soviet and Russian tanks, the massive losses of armour in the first year of the war in Ukraine by Russian forces and many losses of similar equipment by Ukrainian forces produced a narrative that ex-Soviet armour was poor equipment, and that such systems would be easily dispatched by Western tanks. Strategic mistakes by Russia in the early stages of the war mirrored those of past losses of Leopard 2s, as without infantry support most tanks would be unable to survive on their own, and could be disabled by two Bradleys or a group of determined fighters with RPGs. Even with modern equipment, disabling a modern tank that has no support is very possible, and tanks must never be used as an independent asset on the battlefield.

With modern advances in reconnaissance via optics, drone and satellite technology, tanks have a difficult time being elusive on the battlefield. Artillery systems, even ones upwards of fifty years old, can damage or destroy a modern tank if they receive correct and rapid targeting information from their support teams. Few tanks can stand up to a standard Soviet era 152mm shell if hit directly, and almost all tanks will be disabled by the blast and shrapnel effects of near hits from such shells. Shells have become one of the most important commodities in the field, and old stocks of North Korean and Chinese shells can be very effective, even if they are of a dated design and have been stored for a generation. This is the reason Russia has pursued purchasing old shells from China and North Korea, as they are still a key asset in this conflict.

Modern tanks have their advantage over older models in a few crucial areas. They are designed to be able to see their target first, and fire first, as in many cases the first to fire is the tank that survives. They are also coordinated digitally with the larger tank force and other assets to perform their strategic goals in a more rapid and organised fashion. An attribute that does stand out with later generations of tanks on both sides of the conflict is not producing an invincible tank, but one that can fire as many times as possible in reaching the objective while enabling the crew to survive their tank being disabled, or even destroyed. Systems such as cage and layered armour, ERA, sensor scrambling lasers, and explosive countermeasures exist on many modern tanks, and exist on both sides of the conflict. Crew survivability is very important to the side that has less soldiers on the battlefield, and perhaps is somewhat neglected by those armour forces that have a clear numerical advantages in the number of crews and tanks. For Ukraine, it is more important to save the crews of the tanks so they can fight in a new tank later on. For Russia, later variants like the T-90M focus on optics and survivability, with older Soviet era variants becoming famous for ejecting their turrets when the hull is breached. Tanks were never invincible, but crews of Ukraine’s Leopard 2s and M1 Abrams might survive to fight in future battles, if a new tank is available.

The EU and US are enticing developing countries into a partnership that looks to align measures on the supply of critical raw materials, a Commission official said on Wednesday (3 April). 

©European Union

Every Monday, a member of the international academic association ‘UACES’ will address a current topic linked to their research on euradio.

 

Listen to the podcast on eu!radio.

 

 

Petr Kaniok, you are professor of political science at the Masaryk University of Brno, beautiful city in the South-East of the Czech Republic. And you recall the moment when your country became a member of the European Union, twenty years ago, on the 1st of May 2004.

May 2004 – that is a long time ago! Twenty years is a small step for mankind, but it is a remarkable period for one person. Anyway, I still remember what I did and what the atmosphere was in the society. Why? Because this time was very special, vibrant and unique.

 

What were you doing at that time?

I was about to complete my first year of doctoral studies in the political science programme at Masaryk University. The exact location is important – the faculty was new, established in the late 1990s – there were no real “social sciences” in Czechia before the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Everything had to be built up from scratch – political science and subsequently European studies. So, I remember that even that being admitted to the political science branch, already during the first year I moved – surprise, surprise! – to the newly founded Department of International Relations and European Studies. And started my first research and PhD project there.

 

Had you always been interested in the European Union?

Yes, my move was not an accident. Even though I graduated from political science, I was interested in the EU politics already there. My master thesis had been about the EU Council presidency – a detail no one cared about at that time – apart from me!

To be honest – there was no great knowledge on the EU prior to accession. Both the people and the politicians perceived membership as a goal, a potential gate to heaven. Once I read the biblical metaphor of the “EU as the land of milk and honey” – and this is, I think, a very accurate description of the atmosphere in Czech society at the time. The EU was first and foremost perceived as a way to modernize the country. Particularly in economic terms – the EU was seen as a river of quick and easy money that would change everything and would make people richer. There was a dream of having the same salaries as people in Germany, the same living standards. But no one talked about or even mentioned the duties, possible problems or challenges that such a membership inevitably is associated with. Because no one knew, or no one believed this was important.

 

So how was the awakening?

The years after the accession was a kind of adapting to normality. Seeking for membership in a club is a different thing than being a member. This transformation happened both to Czech society and me personally.

People, as well as the politicians, had to absorb the first shocks. In particular, responsibility and activity – for example, the famous 2009 Czech EU Council Presidency, which the Czech government framed as “giving lectures and lessons to the EU”, but ended with the domestic collapse of the government and the change of prime minister in the middle of the presidency.

Or the famous EU funds which, as they were used in Czechia, quite quickly transformed into “toxic money” associated with corruption, scandals, and frauds. Both the people and the politicians started to realize – very slowly, sometimes without success – that the EU will not etake care of us”. We have to take care of the EU, as we are, more or less, the EU.

For me personally, the process was less dramatic but sometimes painful as well. Being a student and subsequently a young researcher operating mostly in a domestic context is something different than facing the EU context, EU-wide cooperation and EU-wide competition.

 

What conclusion do you draw at the end of these twenty years?

In a nutshell: “no pain, no gain!” I think that despite the bumpy road during the 20 years of the Czech EU membership, we are on today on a good track and the country – and I personally – benefit from the membership. It is not just about the new highways or hospitals built across the country. What I see is more cooperation, more communication, more openness and more willingness to take our own responsibilities.

 

Thank you very much, Petr Kaniok, for sharing both your personal testimony and your analysis as professor of political science at Masaryk University, in the beautiful city of Brno.

The post 20 years of Czechia in the EU appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Pro-transparency groups are demanding scrutiny into conflict of interests allegations of Markus Ferber, a centre-right MEP from Germany.

Eurozone inflation dropped from 2.6% in February to 2.4% in March: just 0.4 percentage points above the European Central Bank's target rate.