Replacing US tech with European one is the sole reason I just came back to Lemmy.
I don't like you guys on Lemmy but I condone the independence from US tech overlords.
this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2026
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I don't like you too but I also do activism for technological autonomy
I am actually here, because I keep getting banned off the R website for my extreme views, but that's certainly a nice side effect.
Admins on that site are cucks, lemme (or lemmy, rather, HAHAHAHA) wish death on bad people / things, ffs. Fuck ICE, fuck Trump, fuck Putin. Death to them.
Musk treats critical infrastructure like a toy he can switch off whenever his ego needs attention. And the US calls this a strategic partnership: make Europe dependent on American corporations, then remind everyone who holds the kill switch. With allies like these, who needs hostile powers? We need: https://sovereignty.it/ π₯
"The message heard loud and clear here in Europe was that the U.S. is an unreliable security and technology partner willing to throw any partner under the bus, at any time, for any reason." I am sorry, but this has been the business model from the start
one more reason*
Yeah, it's been one reason after another since Trump took office. And it was already an issue before that.
And yet, I still do not see corporate Europe make even the tiniest move to hedge against the risk that at some point, oligarch-owned U.S. companies will pull the plug on them. I wonder what their rationale is. Are European corporate strategists just too stupid or stubborn to see this as an obvious threat to their companies' very existence? Do they believe this will just "blow over" and things will just return to normal after Trump? (Spoiler: they won't.) Are they planning to lobby European politicians into kissing ass and bending the knee once the U.S. returns with new demands running counter to European interests?
I assume the corporate ones are only looking for shortterm gains, and the strategists in government/politics that actually have influence are all bought.
Why should I buy a fire extinguisher? My house isn't on fire, so what am I going to do with that investment? In the meanwhile, I can use that money on something that will bring about an immediate benefit, such as a mini fridge for my 7up cans or a deep fryer for chicken wings.
Sounds stupid, I know. That's exactly how companies work. That old code written in the 1980s still works, so why bother rewriting it. This old server still runs and we're not even maxing out its capacity, so we're definitely not upgrading it. Instead we will keep on pouring millions on patching the old code even though there are only a handful of people who know that language. Meanwhile, we will also complain about electricity prices, even though newer servers would cut electricity expenses to a fraction. Companies are totally allergic to capex, but somehow they can always handle absurdly high opex.
I assume the corporate ones are only looking for shortterm gains
Plausible, unfortunately. After all, the first one to make a move is the first one to be hit with cost, and is thus exposed to a competitive disadvantage as compared to the other idio... err, corporations who do not take any action.
That said, I had hoped European corporate leaders would be less short-sighted. After all, the possibility of the U.S. leveraging big tech to rugpull the EU's economy is far from an abstract threat. At this point, not hedging against this scenario is like driving without a seatbelt. Yes, things might work out just fine for you - good if they do! But in the event of a collision, you're thoroughly fucked, and if and when that event will occur is not for you to decide...
I would guess the US tech companies have bribed, lobbied or otherwise bought the decision makers at these EU companies, and got them into contracts and sales deals.
U.S. companies kind of have, of course, kind of "bought" European CEOs, and not even in a sinister way: they showed them what they (the first-movers and quasi-monopolies in the market, chock-full with VC money) could offer, and at what cost. Of course, European alternatives to that would seem relatively limited and expensive. At the time, choosing U.S. hyperscalers certainly was the rational thing to do because they offered the best "bang for the buck" for European companies.
But now with the looming threat of these same hyperscalers having to cut off European companies' access, European companies need to reevaluate their cost-benefit analysis. By my estimate, the threat of somebody being able to remotely shut down your business from one day to the other should scare the living shit out of companies and leave them scrambling for alternatives, or a hedge against this risk at the very least. And yet: crickets.
Oh right, as if the other 28472 reasons were not enough.
People in power weirdly only decide to do something when the worst case scenario literally everyones been warning about comes true to either you or your close neighbor. The rest of the time is generally making the world worse and collecting a paycheck
Which shareholders of SpaceX should be suing the shit out for Musk for.
It's happening, he's finally driving SpaceX in to the ground too.
They can fire him.
Can they? I hope they can.
He wrote that nuh-uh they can't, but if they ever find the testicular fortitude to stop tolerating his bullshit, then presumably courts will say 'it's their company.' At best he can be CEO for life of an empty room with a scuffed Chromebook so he can cry about it on Twitter.
Nah, they can't.
Elon Musk owns approximately 46% to 48% of SpaceX's equity, while retaining about 82% of the total voting power through super-voting Class B shares
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Also, Teslas should be banned from Europe. Spyware on wheels
What car isn't spyware these days?
These days its more an iptuib of " should I let China steal all my data, or Russia, or perhaps the USA?
A lot of cheap ones, my friend. Shop more.
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Didnt germany just buy new fighter jets from the us for billions but without critical map data, with said killswitches, with undisclosed data sent to U.S. and not even the right to maintain them? Absolute crazy.
Germany bought a small number (35) US fighter jets as replacement for the aging Panavia Tornado used as bombers carrying US nuclear weapons as they are not allowed by their allies to have their own.
And they did so alongside ordering more Eurofighters (58 additional ones already ordered, more planned long-term) for all other roles (even ones where EF variants are still to be developed - EW for example which also is covered by Tornados at the moment) exactly for one reason: the alternative would be giving the US all details of the Eurofighter to get them certified for these bombs.
Context matters... and allies (France and UK in particular) are free to find another arangement than forcing Germany to use US equipment to fullfil NATO requirements. Alas... they won't because... reasons...
Rheinmetall and their stupid investment associated with the F-35 played a big role in the decision to accept the flying maintenance pig.
Germany bought a small number (35) US fighter jets as replacement for the aging Panavia Tornado used as bombers carrying US nuclear weapons as they are not allowed by their allies to have their own.
This is a very weird claim. If Germany wanted to build its own nuclear bombs, it could withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Germany could also have asked to host French nuclear missiles instead of US nuclear bombs, possibly as part of an EU-wide agreement rather than a bilateral deal.
If Germany wanted to build its own nuclear bombs, it could withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
They could, if there wasn't a certain piece of paper their own allies (France and UK in particular) forced upon them as a a requirement for German reunification.
The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany restored the country's full sovereignty. The positions it reaffirms don't limit what Germany is allowed to do under other treaties. It doesn't prevent Germany withdrawing from the NPT. It doesn't prevent Germany from doing anything that other sovereign states can do.
So you say that one side of the treaty (restoring Germany's sovereignity) is valid while the other side (Germany's assurance to never have nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, banning nuclear weapons stationed in former Eastern Germany and so on...) isn't?
That's an interesting idea, although one were you might not find a lot of people agreeing. Especially not as the the German side of assurances also includes no territorial claims over any former German areas now belonging to Poland. Do they know that international law is seemingly bullshit and you can just pick which agreements to uphold?
I'm saying your interpretation of the treaty is incorrect. Immediately after the two sentences you quoted is a third one clarifying that the βrights and obligations arising from the [NPT] will continue to apply to the united Germanyβ, meaning that Germany retains the right to withdraw from the NPT under Article X like any other signatory.
The actual text says the opposite as it continues:
"[...]They declare that the united Germany, too, will abide by these commitments. In particular, rights and obligations arising from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1 July 1968 will continue to apply to the united Germany."
Sorry, but reading those two sentences as "we will abide by the renunciation of nuclear weapons, by keeping the right to withdraw from the NPT" is quite frankly insane.
The letter and spirit of the paragraph both seem quite clear to me. The united Germany was to become party to the same treaties as West and East Germany with regard to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The NPT is the legal text of the βrenunciationβ of nuclear weapons, even though that specific word doesn't actually appear in the NPT. Germany's rights and obligations under the NPT are the same as those of all other signatories.
In this insane world order created by Trump a lot of countries including Poland, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Germany will need to build their own nuclear weapons soon enough.
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Just? He's been providing receipts for at least a couple of years.
I don't understand his thinking. Every government in the world is going to try to find other platforms now that they know Musk can pull the plug if he feels so inclined.
No.
Every population will advocate for finding another platform. The governments however are ~~bribed~~ ~~bought~~ lobbied to act against their countries interest, so they won't. Which weakens confidence in democracy even more.
So showing off their insanity while still getting away with it is in fact a double-win for such fascist-adoring oligarchs. For the same reason all those deeply corrupt right-wingers have no problem openly showing their corruption now. It has long become part of their "democracy doesn't work"-messaging.
Musk and Trump's apparent strategy of not being reliable is also why Canada has been making more deals outside the US lately.
Companies should have an inherent interest in at least appearing to be reliable partners. Some theoretical NSA backdoors, sure, these never concerned 99% of European companies or customers. But this behavior makes it clear, that anything goes if it serves a political, economical, narcissistic or really no purpose at all. We now need to move all our infrastructure off US systems and companies. Anything else is reckless.
Lol like we needed a reason
The reasons were obvious for decades but just renting AWS instead of making expensive investments was winning every single time.
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