Notices by Kees van der Leun (sustainable2050@mastodon.energy)

85% of German voters today view their country as (rather) poorly prepared for the future: percentage sharply up in recent years.

As @RonRevog points out, the coalition parties lost a total of 18.4% of the vote, of which CDU/CSU only managed to pick up a quarter, to achieve its second worst result in history.
Not exactly a landslide.

In the end, it looks like BSW won't make it into parliament either. This means that SPD and CDU could build a majority coalition together. Won't be easy, though.

By now, it seems clear that Lindner's FDP has suffered a massive defeat and won't make it into parliament anymore (4.5%). The BSW (Sahra Wagenknecht) is still clinging on to 4.9-5.0% in the forecasts; she is against further military support for Ukraine like the Linke from which she split off.

Young voters (18-24) in Germany gave the Linke (27%) and AfD (21%) a boost. The former is against further military support for Ukraine ("negotiations, diplomacy"), the latter is Russia-friendly. A worrying development.

German polls closed. Forecast has far-right AfD, pushed by Musk, slightly below 20%. Not a bad as it could've been.
FDP and BSW on the edge of the electoral threshold.

Message to Dutch (and European) politicians: There are no peace negotiations.

Talking about European peacekeepers in Ukraine after an agreement is a nonsensical debate.
Putin doesn't even accept the existence of Ukraine, and he never engaged in any peace negotiations before.
https://mstdn.social/@kustawbessems/114052174953510502

Let the gasoline flow!

Trump to shut down all 8,000 EV charging ports at federal govt buildings
https://electrek.co/2025/02/21/trump-to-shut-down-all-8000-ev-charging-ports-at-federal-govt-buildings/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky

My TV interview on the plans of the province of Gelderland to build Small Modular Nuclear Reactors. Live on Omroep Gelderland this afternoon, but you can watch it here:
https://www.gld.nl/tv/programma/de-week-van-gelderland/223

Dutch far-right anti-immigrant Minister Faber parrots Trump's lie that Zelensky was not elected democratically, then is forced to take it back - https://nos.nl/l/2556801

I don't think we ever imagined that Russia would be OK with losing 865,000 of its troops (plus 10,000 tanks etc.) to occupy 20% of Ukraine. The Putin regime is totally ruthless.
https://masto.ink/@knotfeed/114040342169122363

Not the new Churchill.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/21/starmer-trump-zelenskyy-attack-ukraine

EU leaders plan €20B Ukraine aid package as Trump turns against Zelenskyy. The push to replenish Ukraine's arms supply is being coordinated by the bloc's top diplomat, former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-war-in-ukraine-military-aid-package-donald-trump-volodymyr-zelenskyy/
#Ukraine

Dow tumbles 800 points as inflation and tariff fears mount.
A survey found that Americans are losing confidence in the economy, driven primarily by worries over Trump’s tariffs potentially jacking up prices.
Finding out the hard way.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/21/investing/stock-market-dow-jones

17.9°C at the Netherlands' main meteorological station in De Bilt today.
Highest temperature this early in the year (1901-), beating the old record by a full degree!
#ClimateChange #globalwarming

By now, Ukraine has (tens of) thousands of experienced military drone operators. I wouldn't be surprised if that's more like dozens in some NATO armies.
https://www.forcesnews.com/ukraine/your-country-needs-you-especially-if-youre-drone-operator-ukrainians-told

Through tons of experience, its continuous rapid innovation, and manufacturing capabilities, Ukraine manages to always stay one step ahead in the drone warfare against the Russian invaders.
I guess most NATO armies are at least ten steps behind now.

In other words:
Without the Ukrainian military, Europe may not be able to defend itself.

#Ukraine #NATO #Europe #EU

Dutch civil servants pension fund ABP (one of the largest in the world) already sold off its shares in Musk's Tesla, Zuckerberg's Meta and Pichai's Alphabet/Google.
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/02/17/pensioenfonds-abp-stapt-na-tesla-ook-uit-amerikaanse-techbedrijven-meta-en-alphabet-a4883333?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bluesky&utm_term=20250217

1 year, 8 months, and 15 days to go until the midterm elections in the US.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_elections

By Portuguese editorial cartoonist Zez Vaz, via https://bsky.app/profile/mweinstock.bsky.social