Utopia Talk - Politics - Make Europe great again!

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Utopia Talk / Politics / Make Europe great again!

Average Ameriacn
rank Fri Feb 06 16:49:12
It doesn't really cost us any money either, the Europeans pay for it themselves with tariffs.

https://ww...a1-5fe6-4218-be9c-5309bd9a6ae5

US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe

State department grants to spread ‘American values’ are part of Washington’s 250th anniversary celebrations

The US state department is set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe to disseminate Washington’s policy positions and challenge perceived threats to free speech.
Senior state department official Sarah Rogers travelled to Europe in December to meet influential rightwing think-tanks and has spoken to key figures in Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party about deploying a pot of money to spread American values, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The funding was linked to the 250th anniversary celebrations of US independence later this year, the people said.
It is likely to cause consternation among Washington’s allies, particularly centre-left governments such as Labour in the UK, which will be concerned that US government funds are being deployed to undermine their policies.
A US official said the programme was a twist on previous state department projects that channelled funding towards specific causes overseas and was likely to focus on initiatives based in London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels.
The Trump administration has sought to drastically scale back US foreign assistance and cuts have fallen heavily on programmes to support good governance, human rights and democracy.
Rogers’ efforts come as the White House has criticised long-standing allies in Europe.
The US national security strategy, released last year, called for “cultivating resistance” to the continent’s current trajectory. The document warned that mass migration and “censorship of free speech” could lead to “civilisational erasure”.
The Trump administration has interpreted efforts in Europe to regulate online content, including on major US social media networks, as an assault on free speech.
The US official said Rogers, who is under-secretary for public diplomacy, had associates across the European “free speech” community prior to entering government, many of whom had been eager to harness the resources and attention of the US administration under Trump.
The person added that she was targeting the UK’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act.
While the laws are different in scope and content, the official said they were viewed by the Trump administration as “fundamentally American-targeted regulatory schemes” that sought to attack free speech, American industry and the independence of the tech sector.
“The US administration is on a crusade to save Europe,” said one senior Reform UK figure who spoke with Rogers about the plans. “They have a real soft spot for the UK but feel it is under threat from dark forces that are spreading across Europe.”
The UK government has defended the Online Safety Act as crucial for protecting children from harmful online material.
Another senior Reform figure said they had been told that Rogers “had a state department slush fund to get Maga-style things going in various places”, adding that she was keen to “fund European organisations to undermine government policies”.
A state department spokesperson described the funding as “a transparent, lawful use of resources to advance US interests and values abroad” but said the characterisation of it as a “slush fund” was “completely false”.
“Under-Secretary Rogers’s job is to support American aims. We’re not shy about that at all. Every grant is fully disclosed and accountable,” they said.
Both Reform figures said there was wariness within the populist party about being associated with any Maga initiatives in the UK, noting that the Trump administration was unpopular in Britain.
Only around 16 per cent of the British public have a favourable opinion of Trump, while 81 per cent view him unfavourably, according to a YouGov tracker.
“There are political dangers for us from being too aligned with the US,” one of the Reform figures said.
Rogers has been one of the Trump administration’s most outspoken critics of Europe and during her travels around the region has been clear about Washington’s distaste for its online safety laws.
In December, she travelled to London, Paris, Rome and Milan as part of what was dubbed her “freedom of speech tour”.

She wrote on X that she would be “highlighting American excellence as we kick off America250 with our closest allies”, referring to celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence.
As part of her visit, Rogers gave a speech in London hosted by the rightwing Prosperity Institute think-tank, where she described the UK’s Online Safety Act as “tyrannical and absurd”, adding that it was part of a “tangle of laws [in Britain] that have these censorious effects”.
“It is clear that the average Brit wants to be a free person, wants to live in a free country . . . the results that Reform UK is getting are proof positive that the British public is not content with this regime,” she said, adding that she wanted to help the country win back its right to free speech.

Seb
rank Fri Feb 06 17:10:37
We should treat this the same way we treat Russians or Chinese doing this shit.

Paramount
rank Fri Feb 06 17:23:31
” The US state department is set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe ”

Isn’t illegal to receive money from the mafia?

Sam Adams
rank Fri Feb 06 18:37:48
Oh boy the euro anti free speech left wing/hamas mob is going to be real butthurt about this.

But will happily gobble up hamas propaganda funded by Qatar.

Seb
rank Fri Feb 06 22:24:59
NaMBLA, considering you are the one who has paid the most links to propaganda produced by a group based in Qatar...

Sam Adams
rank Fri Feb 06 22:29:59
"paid the most links"

Lol seb is so logical. So eloquent.

Habebe
rank Sat Feb 07 04:02:18
Bannon is the one you need to be wary of.

Seb
rank Sat Feb 07 19:55:03
NaMBLA once again showing inability to candle a single word substitution.

Sam Adams
rank Sun Feb 08 03:02:56
If you actually thought I was nambla, you would try to import me.

Seb
rank Sun Feb 08 07:01:35
NaMBLA: the word you are looking for is extradite.

Average Ameriacn
rank Thu Feb 19 14:31:12
Seb will hate this!

https://ww...s-europe-elsewhere-2026-02-18/

Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere

Launch planned for last week was delayed
Portal team includes former DOGE member Coristine
Officials discussed including a VPN function

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda, a move Washington views as a way to counter censorship, three sources familiar with the plan said.

The site will be hosted at "freedom.gov," the sources said. One source said officials had discussed including a virtual private network function to make a user's traffic appear to originate in the U.S. and added that user activity on the site will not be tracked.

Headed by Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, the project was expected to be unveiled at last week's Munich Security Conference but was delayed, the sources said.
Reuters could not determine why the launch did not happen, but some State Department officials, including lawyers, have raised concerns about the plan, two of the sources said, without detailing the concerns.

The project could further strain ties between the Trump administration and traditional U.S. allies in Europe, already heightened by disputes over trade, Russia’s war in Ukraine and President Donald Trump’s push to assert control over Greenland.
The portal could also put Washington in the unfamiliar position of appearing to encourage citizens to flout local laws.
In a statement to Reuters, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. government does not have a censorship-circumvention program specific to Europe but added: “Digital freedom is a priority for the State Department, however, and that includes the proliferation of privacy and censorship-circumvention technologies like VPNs."
The spokesperson denied any announcement had been delayed and said it was inaccurate that State Department lawyers had raised concerns.
The Trump administration has made free speech, particularly what it sees as the stifling of conservative voices online, a focus of its foreign policy including in Europe and in Brazil.
Europe's approach to free speech differs from the U.S., where the Constitution protects virtually all expression. The European Union's limits grew from efforts to fight any resurgence of extremist propaganda that fueled Nazism including its vilification of Jews, foreigners and minorities.
U.S. officials have denounced EU policies that they say are suppressing right-wing politicians, including in Romania, Germany and France, and have claimed rules like the EU's Digital Services Act and Britain's Online Safety Act limit free speech.
The EU delegation in Washington, which acts like an embassy for the 27-country bloc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the U.S. plan.
In rules that fall most heavily on social media sites and large platforms like Meta's (META.O), opens new tab Facebook and X, the EU restricts the availability — and in some cases requires rapid removal — of content classified as illegal hate speech, terrorist propaganda or harmful disinformation under a group of rules, laws and decisions since 2008.

Rogers of the State Department has emerged as an outspoken advocate of the Trump administration position on EU content policies. She has visited more than half a dozen European countries since taking office in October and met with representatives of right-wing groups that the administration says are being oppressed. The department did not make Rogers available for an interview.
In a National Security Strategy published in December, the Trump administration warned that Europe faced "civilisational erasure" because of its migration policies. It said the U.S. would prioritize "cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory within European nations."
EU regulators regularly require U.S.-based sites to remove content and can impose bans as a measure of last resort. X, which is owned by Trump ally Elon Musk, was hit with a 120 million-euro fine in December for noncompliance.
Germany, for example, in 2024 issued 482 removal orders for material it deemed supported or incited terrorism and forced providers to take down 16,771 pieces of content.
Similarly, Meta's oversight board in 2024 ordered the removal of a Polish political party's posts that used a racial slur and depicted immigrants as rapists, a content category EU law treats as illegal hate speech.
Calling the U.S. plan "a direct shot" at European rules and laws, former State Department official Kenneth Propp, who worked on European digital regulations and is now at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, said freedom.gov "would be perceived in Europe as a U.S. effort to frustrate national law provisions."
Also involved in the U.S. portal effort is Edward Coristine, a former member of Musk's job-slashing Department of Government Efficiency, two sources said. Coristine works with the National Design Studio, created by Trump to beautify government websites. Reuters was unable to reach Coristine for comment.
It was not clear what advantages the U.S. government portal would offer users that are not available from commercial VPNs.
The web address freedom.gov was registered on January 12, according to the federal registry get.gov. On Wednesday, the site had no content but showed the National Design Studio's logo, the words "fly, eagle, fly" and a log-in form.
Before Trump's second term, the U.S. government helped fund commercial VPNs and other tools as part of efforts to promote democracy globally and help users access free information in China, Iran, Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Myanmar and other countries.

Seb
rank Thu Feb 19 14:56:19
Excellent. A single thing to block.

Seb
rank Thu Feb 19 14:59:08
The US is so transparently hypocritical on these issues it's almost funny.

On the one hand trying to pretend US platforms pushing CSAM is political speech, on the other hand cancelling visas for protesting Israeli war crimes and bullying the free press and lawyers with dodgy laws suits if they criticise the govt.

show deleted posts

Average Ameriacn rank	Fri Feb 06 16:49:12 It doesn't really cost us any money either, the Europeans pay for it themselves with tariffs. https://ww...a1-5fe6-4218-be9c-5309bd9a6ae5 US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe State department grants to spread ‘American values’ are part of Washington’s 250th anniversary celebrations The US state department is set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe to disseminate Washington’s policy positions and challenge perceived threats to free speech. Senior state department official Sarah Rogers travelled to Europe in December to meet influential rightwing think-tanks and has spoken to key figures in Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party about deploying a pot of money to spread American values, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The funding was linked to the 250th anniversary celebrations of US independence later this year, the people said. It is likely to cause consternation among Washington’s allies, particularly centre-left governments such as Labour in the UK, which will be concerned that US government funds are being deployed to undermine their policies. A US official said the programme was a twist on previous state department projects that channelled funding towards specific causes overseas and was likely to focus on initiatives based in London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels. The Trump administration has sought to drastically scale back US foreign assistance and cuts have fallen heavily on programmes to support good governance, human rights and democracy. Rogers’ efforts come as the White House has criticised long-standing allies in Europe. The US national security strategy, released last year, called for “cultivating resistance” to the continent’s current trajectory. The document warned that mass migration and “censorship of free speech” could lead to “civilisational erasure”. The Trump administration has interpreted efforts in Europe to regulate online content, including on major US social media networks, as an assault on free speech. The US official said Rogers, who is under-secretary for public diplomacy, had associates across the European “free speech” community prior to entering government, many of whom had been eager to harness the resources and attention of the US administration under Trump. The person added that she was targeting the UK’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act. While the laws are different in scope and content, the official said they were viewed by the Trump administration as “fundamentally American-targeted regulatory schemes” that sought to attack free speech, American industry and the independence of the tech sector. “The US administration is on a crusade to save Europe,” said one senior Reform UK figure who spoke with Rogers about the plans. “They have a real soft spot for the UK but feel it is under threat from dark forces that are spreading across Europe.” The UK government has defended the Online Safety Act as crucial for protecting children from harmful online material. Another senior Reform figure said they had been told that Rogers “had a state department slush fund to get Maga-style things going in various places”, adding that she was keen to “fund European organisations to undermine government policies”. A state department spokesperson described the funding as “a transparent, lawful use of resources to advance US interests and values abroad” but said the characterisation of it as a “slush fund” was “completely false”. “Under-Secretary Rogers’s job is to support American aims. We’re not shy about that at all. Every grant is fully disclosed and accountable,” they said. Both Reform figures said there was wariness within the populist party about being associated with any Maga initiatives in the UK, noting that the Trump administration was unpopular in Britain. Only around 16 per cent of the British public have a favourable opinion of Trump, while 81 per cent view him unfavourably, according to a YouGov tracker. “There are political dangers for us from being too aligned with the US,” one of the Reform figures said. Rogers has been one of the Trump administration’s most outspoken critics of Europe and during her travels around the region has been clear about Washington’s distaste for its online safety laws. In December, she travelled to London, Paris, Rome and Milan as part of what was dubbed her “freedom of speech tour”. She wrote on X that she would be “highlighting American excellence as we kick off America250 with our closest allies”, referring to celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence. As part of her visit, Rogers gave a speech in London hosted by the rightwing Prosperity Institute think-tank, where she described the UK’s Online Safety Act as “tyrannical and absurd”, adding that it was part of a “tangle of laws [in Britain] that have these censorious effects”. “It is clear that the average Brit wants to be a free person, wants to live in a free country . . . the results that Reform UK is getting are proof positive that the British public is not content with this regime,” she said, adding that she wanted to help the country win back its right to free speech.
Seb rank	Fri Feb 06 17:10:37 We should treat this the same way we treat Russians or Chinese doing this shit.
Paramount rank	Fri Feb 06 17:23:31 ” The US state department is set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe ” Isn’t illegal to receive money from the mafia?
Sam Adams rank	Fri Feb 06 18:37:48 Oh boy the euro anti free speech left wing/hamas mob is going to be real butthurt about this. But will happily gobble up hamas propaganda funded by Qatar.
Seb rank	Fri Feb 06 22:24:59 NaMBLA, considering you are the one who has paid the most links to propaganda produced by a group based in Qatar...
Sam Adams rank	Fri Feb 06 22:29:59 "paid the most links" Lol seb is so logical. So eloquent.
Habebe rank	Sat Feb 07 04:02:18 Bannon is the one you need to be wary of.
Seb rank	Sat Feb 07 19:55:03 NaMBLA once again showing inability to candle a single word substitution.
Sam Adams rank	Sun Feb 08 03:02:56 If you actually thought I was nambla, you would try to import me.
Seb rank	Sun Feb 08 07:01:35 NaMBLA: the word you are looking for is extradite.
Average Ameriacn rank	Thu Feb 19 14:31:12 Seb will hate this! https://ww...s-europe-elsewhere-2026-02-18/ Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere Launch planned for last week was delayed Portal team includes former DOGE member Coristine Officials discussed including a VPN function WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda, a move Washington views as a way to counter censorship, three sources familiar with the plan said. The site will be hosted at "freedom.gov," the sources said. One source said officials had discussed including a virtual private network function to make a user's traffic appear to originate in the U.S. and added that user activity on the site will not be tracked. Headed by Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, the project was expected to be unveiled at last week's Munich Security Conference but was delayed, the sources said. Reuters could not determine why the launch did not happen, but some State Department officials, including lawyers, have raised concerns about the plan, two of the sources said, without detailing the concerns. The project could further strain ties between the Trump administration and traditional U.S. allies in Europe, already heightened by disputes over trade, Russia’s war in Ukraine and President Donald Trump’s push to assert control over Greenland. The portal could also put Washington in the unfamiliar position of appearing to encourage citizens to flout local laws. In a statement to Reuters, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. government does not have a censorship-circumvention program specific to Europe but added: “Digital freedom is a priority for the State Department, however, and that includes the proliferation of privacy and censorship-circumvention technologies like VPNs." The spokesperson denied any announcement had been delayed and said it was inaccurate that State Department lawyers had raised concerns. The Trump administration has made free speech, particularly what it sees as the stifling of conservative voices online, a focus of its foreign policy including in Europe and in Brazil. Europe's approach to free speech differs from the U.S., where the Constitution protects virtually all expression. The European Union's limits grew from efforts to fight any resurgence of extremist propaganda that fueled Nazism including its vilification of Jews, foreigners and minorities. U.S. officials have denounced EU policies that they say are suppressing right-wing politicians, including in Romania, Germany and France, and have claimed rules like the EU's Digital Services Act and Britain's Online Safety Act limit free speech. The EU delegation in Washington, which acts like an embassy for the 27-country bloc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the U.S. plan. In rules that fall most heavily on social media sites and large platforms like Meta's (META.O), opens new tab Facebook and X, the EU restricts the availability — and in some cases requires rapid removal — of content classified as illegal hate speech, terrorist propaganda or harmful disinformation under a group of rules, laws and decisions since 2008. Rogers of the State Department has emerged as an outspoken advocate of the Trump administration position on EU content policies. She has visited more than half a dozen European countries since taking office in October and met with representatives of right-wing groups that the administration says are being oppressed. The department did not make Rogers available for an interview. In a National Security Strategy published in December, the Trump administration warned that Europe faced "civilisational erasure" because of its migration policies. It said the U.S. would prioritize "cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory within European nations." EU regulators regularly require U.S.-based sites to remove content and can impose bans as a measure of last resort. X, which is owned by Trump ally Elon Musk, was hit with a 120 million-euro fine in December for noncompliance. Germany, for example, in 2024 issued 482 removal orders for material it deemed supported or incited terrorism and forced providers to take down 16,771 pieces of content. Similarly, Meta's oversight board in 2024 ordered the removal of a Polish political party's posts that used a racial slur and depicted immigrants as rapists, a content category EU law treats as illegal hate speech. Calling the U.S. plan "a direct shot" at European rules and laws, former State Department official Kenneth Propp, who worked on European digital regulations and is now at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, said freedom.gov "would be perceived in Europe as a U.S. effort to frustrate national law provisions." Also involved in the U.S. portal effort is Edward Coristine, a former member of Musk's job-slashing Department of Government Efficiency, two sources said. Coristine works with the National Design Studio, created by Trump to beautify government websites. Reuters was unable to reach Coristine for comment. It was not clear what advantages the U.S. government portal would offer users that are not available from commercial VPNs. The web address freedom.gov was registered on January 12, according to the federal registry get.gov. On Wednesday, the site had no content but showed the National Design Studio's logo, the words "fly, eagle, fly" and a log-in form. Before Trump's second term, the U.S. government helped fund commercial VPNs and other tools as part of efforts to promote democracy globally and help users access free information in China, Iran, Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Myanmar and other countries.
Seb rank	Thu Feb 19 14:56:19 Excellent. A single thing to block.
Seb rank	Thu Feb 19 14:59:08 The US is so transparently hypocritical on these issues it's almost funny. On the one hand trying to pretend US platforms pushing CSAM is political speech, on the other hand cancelling visas for protesting Israeli war crimes and bullying the free press and lawyers with dodgy laws suits if they criticise the govt.
	show deleted posts

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