GeofCox

The Trump effect... The electrification push announced yesterday in France was really just the continuation of many previous environmental initiatives - electric heat pump, solar panel and vehicle subsidies, banning new gas boilers, etc - but there was something very new in it: the framing of the announcement not in environmental terms, but to 'stop importing global crises into French wallets'.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/04/24/france-unveils-22-measures-in-electrification-push-to-stop-importing-global-crises-into-french-wallets_6752763_19.html

It's similar to the recent announcement of the move of government to Linux. By aggressively backing US fossil fuel, tech, and other commercial interests, Trump is destroying their future multinational viability.

France unveils 22 measures in electrification push to 'stop importing global crises into French wallets'

Turnkey heat pumps, electric bread ovens and the selection of 100 pioneering territories: The plan aims to be 'broad in scope across sectors and actions.'

Le Monde
Apr 24 at 7:01amWeb
Show threadMUGISHA PHOCITApr 24
@GeofCox Most of the people are against Trump's actions but their respective national leaders support him!
Why is it so?
Show threadGeofCoxApr 24

@2003MugishaPhocit

I don't think many national leaderships really support Trump - especially after seeing what just happened to one that did - Orbán in Hungary. Mostly, they're just equivocating - balancing expression of their real feelings with the interests of their own countries' businesses that are invested in the US, fearing Trump's bizarre unpredictability, hoping that he'll soon be gone without them having to actually do anything about it.

That France, and Spain much more so, have been most outspoken against Trump in Europe is interesting, because these have always been amongst the least invested in NATO and other US links; both have big world languages that are not English, and lots of links with South America and Africa.

Sanchez for example has been more explicitly anti-Trump than most, partly because he is a decent socialist - but also partly because Spain has less to lose than, say, Starmer in the UK.

France is moving decisively to Linux now, partly in response to Trump - but on the other hand when I moved to France from the UK 14 years ago, I was delighted to find that my kids' school already mandated .odf rather than the US propriety .doc format. There is a deep background to these national differences.

Show threadMUGISHA PHOCITApr 24
@GeofCox okay,I understand what you say really.
But the much funds that is being used to destroy human diginity by the US and her allies would even help much more to cover world problems such as food crisis and climate change!
People are being given half baked social services yet a lot of taxes are paid!
Forexample,in uganda people are deing in from hospitals because they lack medicine.
USA led by Trump,abolished the USAID work allover the world yet it used to cover some challenges.
Crazy!!!
Show threadpoleguy looking for lost toolsApr 24
@GeofCox I'm glad to see Trump doing something good for the world. Having Trump cause the "year of the Linux desktop" would be a wild bingo win. :-)