•  hex_m_hell   ( @hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net ) 
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    7 months ago

    Wow, imagine how bad this would be if the Dutch had the ability to think less of the English.

    Edit: I imagine the plan involved British agents smelling like weed and standing in the bike lane yelling “woooo!” so as to go unnoticed.

      • It wouldnt be weaponized. The UK can still buy these products. It is only that the sale would incurr an additional tax that has to be paid by the exporting company.

        Also the EU supports the US in its sanctions against Iran and has supported the sanctions against Iraq, that killed more than half a Million Iraqi childrens in the 90s by affecting food and medicine. The reimposed sanctions have lead to drastic inflation for food and rising food insecurity in Iran.

        So it is not a moral stance of the EU. It is purely strategical and i find a strategic response to invasion plans perfectly appropriate

          • How is it “weaponized”? A weapon can injure and kill someone. If the UK needs to pay more for vegetables they import from countries they deemed an invasion discussable for, then this is hardly “weaponized”. If the UK fails to provide its citizens with normal goods then it is an expression of systematic failure. Also the EU used tariffs on food products to handle the trade war instigated by Trump. How is that not an appropriate response to plans of a military invasion?

    •  Loaf   ( @Loaf@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 
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      27 months ago

      Sounds like a great idea, I’m sure that’ll be a top quality learning experience for the poor who are already facing a cost of living crisis, that’ll really teach them…

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Boris Johnson’s appearance before the Covid-19 inquiry is not until Wednesday but it is already making headlines in the Netherlands amid a mixture of amusement and alarm at claims he asked for British spies to plan a “raid” on a Dutch vaccine plant.

    The operation – according to sources who briefed Johnson’s employer, the Daily Mail – would have taken place against the backdrop of a tit-for-tat row in March 2021 between the then prime minister and the EU, which was moving towards restricting exports of vaccines across the Channel.

    An “enraged” Johnson asked security services to draw up “military options” to obtain “impounded” doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from a plant in Leiden after Britain had negotiated a deal with the company.

    But while Britain’s security services were spared their biggest debacle on Dutch soil since Operation Market Garden, the claim has been widely reported on front pages in the Netherlands.

    Elsewhere, Russian state media generated a po-faced report on the claims, interspersing clips of Johnson with footage of British special forces and overlaying them with a sinister backing track.

    Johnson is expected to admit some fault when he is cross examined at the inquiry but will also seek to talk up the things that he believed he got right, ranging from the vaccines rollout to eventually opening up the economy.


    The original article contains 518 words, the summary contains 221 words. Saved 57%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!