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Silesianus's avatar

Europe went with conveniences of American tech due to their ties,to the empire, which, until recently, supported their views. The change of guard in the White House woke the EU to the fact that on so many levels - digital, energy, economy, military - American presence cannot be removed in a year. The building of a robust infrastructure and independent service takes decades, and no European country is capable of shifting US tech monopolies on their own, not with current political class and with current crop of people. Linux and free software is only a part of the story, because as you said, data centres and energy don't just get set up, which would require digital and industrial policy Europe simply does,not have.

As always, brilliant analysis.

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The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

Thank you!

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Ken Braun's avatar

Mandating the use of unsubsidized renewable power? Do they also command the Earth to spin slower while Germany is in daylight hours?

Germany is our first post-developed nation, having abandoned industrial civilization and the knowledge that got them there.

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The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

Commanding the Earth to spin slower seems like the logical next step!

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suet pudding's avatar

Modern day Cnuts...take it or leave it as a bonus anagram too

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dave walker's avatar

Maybe Trump is trying to show them the errors of their policies when it comes to net zero? An around the back move that forces them to be honest about the energy insecurity that is creating a lower standard of living for a multitude of reasons. Big Tech is as liberally minded as most of the European leaders, but they always think differently when money and power come to the forefront.

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The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

I wouldn’t bet on EU leaders picking up on that signal.

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dave walker's avatar

No doubt. It’s very disappointing to watch.

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Andy Fately's avatar

It seems to me, the last time Trump showed them the errors of their energy policies, in 2018 when he explained that relying solely on Russian gas was a mistake, they literally laughed at him. My take is they will never climb down from their high and mighty views and if that means their people suffer greatly, so be it.

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dave walker's avatar

That is a great reminder. 2018 seems like forever ago……. Gotta admit, Trump has made a lot of claims that were shrugged off, but a lot of them turn out to be at least in the ballpark of accuracy.

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Christian's avatar

Very good. I've mused about this myself, as I work in IT, more so that the likes of Microsoft have their client's by the short and curlys, and can pretty much increase prices annually ... and if the client objects, well, down with the applications. I'd not heard about the ICC story. I guess all clients have to toe the line

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The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

Thank you! "Down with the applications" sums it up perfectly.

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Kilovar 1959's avatar

Is that one of them thar holliwood dater centers?

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Andy Fately's avatar

I'm beginning to think that European policy is best understood as Cramer's stock picks, always wrong at all times.

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The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

This begs for an inverse EU ETF.

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Thomas Robinson's avatar

I’m enjoying your stuff more and more. I don’t always agree but I am interested. Thank you.

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The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

Thank you, Thomas! I really appreciate that. I’m always open to refining my views, so feel free to push back anytime.

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Andi's avatar

I didn't realize EU prices of AWS et al were being subsidized by operations outside of EU. The per-hour computing cost is only 10-20 % higher in EU vs US.

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American Psycho's avatar

Another very informative article. The subtext of the pictures are hilarious.

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The Brawl Street Journal's avatar

Glad you liked them! :)

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Felix MacNeill's avatar

Bullshit

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