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Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

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Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#31

Post by watwut »

huijzer wrote: post #23
cjfd wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Some questions from your side of the Atlantic (I’m Dutch): how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now? And while our governments are becoming as polarized as the US? And while electricity prices are so high that it’s cheaper to stick to fossil fuels? It all makes no sense. I don’t think it’s all hopeless in Europe. But pretending we are in good shape is also not the way to go.

The question was about bribes being legal. And while Europe is not perfect, overall it is not is a destructive mode USA is in.

And in order for that to not happen, arguing against spread of knee jerk lies is a good thing.

Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#32

Post by FirmwareBurner »

huijzer wrote: post #23
cjfd wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Some questions from your side of the Atlantic (I’m Dutch): how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now? And while our governments are becoming as polarized as the US? And while electricity prices are so high that it’s cheaper to stick to fossil fuels? It all makes no sense. I don’t think it’s all hopeless in Europe. But pretending we are in good shape is also not the way to go.

>how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now?

It's in a better shape because unlike the US leaders, European leaders are much better at pandering, being politically correct and saying the right socially acceptable things in public that get universal appraisal on the world stage, without them actually doing anything concrete or solving any of the issues. Basically, they win on optics. At least I'm sure that's what he meant with that virtue signaling attack.

Because if we look objectively at how the EU politics handled the economy, defense, illegal immigration, AI & tech innovation, domestic EV industry, rise of China, Russia's invasion of Crimea, etc. over the years, they're definitely not worth their salt.

Case in point, EU had the same GDP as the US 20 years ago. Now it's only half of that the US. So not only they've left us poorer, but also militarily weak and exposed to influence of China, Russia, and of course the Trump's new US policies.

IMHO, 20 years ago Trump wouldn't have the balls to try to boss the EU around like that but he can today because we're no longer peers but pushovers with no leverage, no military leverage, no economic leverage, no tech leverage, no natural resource leverage, nothing other than telling him he's being mean, because our useless politicians were asleep at the wheel and left us vulnerable to such bullies.

Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#33

Post by aoro30 »

benterix wrote: post #19
cursor_it_all wrote: post #5

[flagged]

>> Authorities suspect that Huawei lobbyists have paid bribes to MEPs in return for backing their cause in the European Union. > Isn’t that the cost of doing business in the EU? No, it's not. If you represent a business there is an official way to express your stance and lobby for your cause but bribing MEPs is a criminal offence (both for the perpetrator and those who receive personal benefits).

Its how all telco hardware companies operate - google "Ericsson/Nortel/Seimens bribe".

The only reason the EU has to depend on Huawei is because EU telco hardware which once ran most of China telco can't compete anymore. So they have to play this game until local players get their act together.

Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#34

Post by legacynl »

sunshine-o wrote: post #30

I believe people fundamentally misunderstand what the EU is and how it works. Here is what I have learned from people who know the system very well and after working with it myself: - The EU is designed to be influenced and run by lobbies. And it is in the open and assumed. - The Parliament is a joke. And you can partially blame the member countries who really do not send their best there, because they know it is jok…

You know the bots are out in full force, when the first comment on a China-critical post is what-about-posts about how bad EU is.

You can see how threatened they must feel by the amount of trolling they do

Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#35

Post by 2thumbsup »

sunshine-o wrote: post #30

I believe people fundamentally misunderstand what the EU is and how it works. Here is what I have learned from people who know the system very well and after working with it myself: - The EU is designed to be influenced and run by lobbies. And it is in the open and assumed. - The Parliament is a joke. And you can partially blame the member countries who really do not send their best there, because they know it is jok…

This does not make sense to me. I question how much you have worked for the EU.

1. EU is the most aggressive when it comes to legislation far exceeding the US in terms of privacy law, competition law and setting strict minimums for labor conditions etc.

2. Being a candidate to run for Member of European Parliament is considered to be available only to the Member of National Parliaments with the most personal votes and/or most influential. It is definitely not a job given to the low-performers, particularly because only a few seats are available per country.

Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#36

Post by mytailorisrich »

benterix wrote: post #19
cursor_it_all wrote: post #5

[flagged]

>> Authorities suspect that Huawei lobbyists have paid bribes to MEPs in return for backing their cause in the European Union. > Isn’t that the cost of doing business in the EU? No, it's not. If you represent a business there is an official way to express your stance and lobby for your cause but bribing MEPs is a criminal offence (both for the perpetrator and those who receive personal benefits).

Being an MEP is an absolute gravy train. They should not need bribes to make ends meet.

Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#37

Post by amarcheschi »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #32
huijzer wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some questions from your side of the Atlantic (I’m Dutch): how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now? And while our governments are becoming as polarized as the US? And while electricity prices are so high that it’s cheaper to stick to fossil fuels? It all makes no sense. I don’t think it’s all hopeless in Europe. But pretending we are in good shape is also not the way to go.

>how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now? It's in a better shape because unlike the US leaders, European leaders are much better at pandering, being politically correct and saying the right socially acceptable things in public that get universal appraisal on the world stage, without them actually doing anything concrete or solving any of the issues. Basically, they win on optics. At…

In other comments you talked about how eu spending money to defend eu[1] and the romanian candidate being arrested for violating the law weren't the right things to do[2], or at least complained about how they were done.

To my eyes, these things show that in fact, eu is actually doing something about defense and protecting democracy, and to your eyes you see this as more taxes and the death of democracy and an evidence of romania's corruption. What actions would you expect eu to take in regard to ukraine, defense, and protecting democracy?

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43287963#43288810

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43278705#43278894 (not just the first comment, the chain of answers is needed to be read as well)

Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#38

Post by FirmwareBurner »

amarcheschi wrote: post #37
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>how is Europe in good shape while Germany is in a recession for years now? It's in a better shape because unlike the US leaders, European leaders are much better at pandering, being politically correct and saying the right socially acceptable things in public that get universal appraisal on the world stage, without them actually doing anything concrete or solving any of the issues. Basically, they win on optics. At…

In other comments you talked about how eu spending money to defend eu[1] and the romanian candidate being arrested for violating the law weren't the right things to do[2], or at least complained about how they were done. To my eyes, these things show that in fact, eu is actually doing something about defense and protecting democracy, and to your eyes you see this as more taxes and the death of democracy and an eviden…

What's you point by moving the discussion to something else by bringing up tangential but unrelated comments I made a while ago?

Sorry, I'm not gonna bite and feed the trolls..

Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#39

Post by dachworker »

benterix wrote: post #19
cursor_it_all wrote: post #5

[flagged]

>> Authorities suspect that Huawei lobbyists have paid bribes to MEPs in return for backing their cause in the European Union. > Isn’t that the cost of doing business in the EU? No, it's not. If you represent a business there is an official way to express your stance and lobby for your cause but bribing MEPs is a criminal offence (both for the perpetrator and those who receive personal benefits).

Please do tell how lobbying without bribery is supposed to operate.

Re: Huawei targeted in new European Parliament corruption probe

#40

Post by Idesmi »

sunshine-o wrote: post #30

I believe people fundamentally misunderstand what the EU is and how it works. Here is what I have learned from people who know the system very well and after working with it myself: - The EU is designed to be influenced and run by lobbies. And it is in the open and assumed. - The Parliament is a joke. And you can partially blame the member countries who really do not send their best there, because they know it is jok…

> The Parliament is a joke. And you can partially blame the member countries who really do not send their best there

The European Parliament is not made of countries, nor it is meant to represent national interests. National governments don't "send their best there", because it is the doing of each party in each nation. Sometimes parties that are represented in the EU Parliament are not represented in a member country's parliament.

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