Free Republic

The keynote speaker of the World Economic Forum’s 2024 annual conference in Davos was Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President. She stated the top global risk for the EU is disinformation and misinformation, declaring disinformation destroys trust and limits the ability to “tackle the big global challenges.” In plain English, trust can only be restored by censoring inconvenient facts and evidence. Below is a short clip (1:39) highlighting her disinformation sermon. The top risk in the WEF’s 2024 Global Risk Report is disinformation. If not controlled, societies will be polarized, elections will be disrupted, and there will be mistrust...

At the opening of the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for increased cooperation between governments and private businesses to enact tech censorship in the face of “industrial scale disinformation”.Following in the example of WEF Chairman Klaus Schwab’s ‘Global Risk Report’, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen used her address in Davos on Tuesday to highlight the supposed risks of allowing the free flow of information in light of the alleged threat of “disinformation and disinformation”. (snip) Going into the election year, Brussels will have also have more censorship powers...

'Our freedom comes with risks,' European Union (EU) President Ursula von der Leyen told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. 'The top concern is ... disinformation and misinformation [as] the boundary between online and offline is getting thinner and thinner.' The European Commission’s pursuit of digital ID on a global scale became none more apparent than during President Ursula von der Leyen’s remarks to the globalist elite at the World Economic Forum (WEF). "The top concern for the next two years is not conflict, or climate, it is disinformation and misinformation," she said in Davos, Switzerland on January 16....

President Michael D. Higgins has strongly criticized the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen for comments on the Middle East conflict which she made on a visit to Israel last Friday. Ms. von der Leyen did not include a call for Israel’s retaliation to conform with international law. President Higgins said he agreed with those who criticized the intervention of the European Commission President. He said: “I don’t know where the source of those decisions was. I don’t know where the legitimation for it was, and I don’t know where the authority for it is, and I...

We have seen an increase in calls for a negotiated solution of the war in Ukraine. From the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, from progressive members of Congress and from leading international relations scholars, a growing number of voices urge the United States to invest in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and to give peace a chance. According to some reports, the Biden administration is also warming up to the thought.It’s a dangerous idea.Fears of nuclear escalation between Russia and NATO drive many to argue for negotiations, and although the impetus is well-intentioned, the suggestion is naive and impractical. In...

Ursula von Der Leyen’s did the unthinkable today — she told the truth. During a speech condemning Russia for committing war crimes, she noted in passing that 100,000 Ukrainian “officers” (sic) have been killed since the start of the SMO.Ukraine was not happy:Ukraine has hit back at a claim by the European Commission’s president that 100,000 of Kyiv’s troops have been killed since Russia’s invasion in February.Ursula von der Leyen used the number in a video address, prompting Kyiv’s armed forces to state that the death toll was “classified information.” Footage of her speech has since been edited to cut...

Russian troops in Lyman and those who retreated took heavy losses, including an elite GRU unit. The town of Lyman quickly became the center of attention as Ukrainian forces partially surrounded it in the final days of September, trapping a large Russian garrison in there. Lyman is a key logistical node commanding an important road over the Siverskyy Donets River in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Its loss compounded Russian setbacks in the final weeks of summer and stoked further anger among pro-war commentators in Russia. British military intelligence assessed after the battle that the Russian force defending Lyman was a hodgepodge...

Can Brussels raid the tens of billions of euros in Russian assets frozen by the European Union to pay for Ukraine’s recovery? This thorny legal question is currently under examination by the EU Commission as the cash-strapped bloc looks for potentially €18 billion ($18 billion) next year to keep Ukraine afloat as it fends off Moscow’s invasion. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission's president, told reporters on Tuesday in Berlin that she had set up a task force to both map what assets exist as well as the preconditions that must be met to seize them. “The will is...

European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said deliberate disruption would meet the "strongest possible response". The EU has previously accused Russia of using gas supplies as a weapon against the West over its support for Ukraine. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed accusations of sabotage as "predictable, stupid and absurd The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he thought the leaks would "not have a significant impact on Europe's energy resilience". Neither pipeline is transporting gas at the moment, although they both contain gas. Mr Blinken did not directly accuse Russia - but said it would be in...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is being accused of election interference after threatening to use “tools” if the wrong election result is achieved in Italy’s national elections, set to take place this Sunday, Sept. 25. She added that those same tools are already being used against Hungary and Poland. “We will see the result of the vote in Italy,” said von der Leyen. “If things go in a difficult direction — and I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland — we have the tools.” Von der Leyen made the comment while responding to a journalist after a talk she...

BRUSSELS, Sept 23 (Reuters) – European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned Italy of consequences should it veer away from democratic principles, issuing a barely veiled threat ahead of Sunday’s election which a rightist bloc led by Giorgia Meloni is strongly expected to win.“My approach is that whatever democratic government is willing to work with us, we’re working together,” she said in response to a question at Princeton University in the United States on Thursday.“If things go in a difficult direction, I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland, we have tools,” she added.Matteo Salvini, the head of the League and...

The first statement made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her annual State of the European Union address on Wednesday was not verbal, but visual. Clad in bright blue and yellow alongside other senior politicians, she showed support for Ukraine's battle with Russia, making clear even before the speech began that the war would top the agenda. With Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska in Strasbourg for the occasion, von der Leyen pledged Europe's "unshakeable" commitment to Kyiv, sending a defiant message to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. "Putin will fail and Europe will prevail," the chief...

Von der Leyen said in her State of the European Union address that the bloc would come to the aid of Ukraine by opening its seamless single market more to Ukrainian products and said she would “discuss all this with President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy.” "I stand here with the conviction that with the necessary courage and necessary solidarity, Putin will fail and Europe will prevail," she told the plenary of the European parliament in Strasbourg, France. The EU has already committed billions in aid to Ukraine...

The European Commission has been unable to find the text messages exchanged between president Ursula von der Leyen and the boss of giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer, the EU executive said in a letter to the EU ombudsman published on Wednesday (29 June).

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday, as Jerusalem, Cairo and Brussels make strides toward a natural-gas export deal. The European Union Embassy in Israel said von der Leyen was arriving “to advance relations between the EU and Israel, especially cooperation in the area of energy. The president will also discuss with Israeli government representatives the global reaction to the food crisis and the situation in the Middle East.” During her two-day visit, von der Leyen is expected to meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Yair...

Pressure was mounting on Germany to up its game over the war in Ukraine on Tuesday as Kyiv snubbed the country's president and Chancellor Olaf Scholz was accused of a weak response to the crisis. On a visit to Poland, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted he had offered to visit Ukraine with other EU leaders, but Kyiv had told him he was not welcome right now. "I was prepared to do this, but apparently, and I must take note of this, this was not wanted in Kyiv," Steinmeier told reporters. Steinmeier, a former foreign minister, has faced growing criticism since Russia...

[H/T Bratch]As Mark Twain famously noted: history may not always repeat, but it rhymes. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has taken the leading elements of a dark time in history and now openly advocates for their repetition. Can these people not hear themselves? This is madness.Mrs. von der Leyen’s husband is Heiko von der Leyen, the Director of the US biotech company Orgenesis which specializes in medical research to include cell and gene therapies. Mr. Heiko von der Leyen organizes the scientific experiments, and then his wife Ursula advocates for forced vaccinations for all citizens within the European...

Needless to say, given that this is the EU and that government officials adore the power of the COVID, normal people won’t like the plan. One of the most heinous things the Nazis did was medical experiments on people. Mengele was famous for his obsession with twins, whom he cruelly tortured, but the Nazis liked to do insanely cruel things to all sorts of captives. The Nuremberg Code was enacted to stop this from ever happening again, but individual European states and now the entire EU are ready to scrap the code. SNIP Into this environment steps Ursula von der...

France had previously said it could stop UK boats landing in its ports, but backed down and returned to the negotiating table after the UK Government threatened to start “rigorous” checks... The ongoing row with the UK is being seen by many in Europe as an attempt by Mr Macron’s administration to garner domestic support and fend off political opponents in the run up to next April’s presidential election. One senior EU diplomat said: “It is quite clear that France is trying to use this dispute for domestic political purposes.” Another EU source told the Mail most governments within the...

Emmanuel Macron tonight warned that France will retaliate on Tuesday unless Britain backs down in the fishing row - after Boris Johnson denied they had done a deal to resolve the bitter dispute. The French president insisted that unless the UK shifted reprisals will happen within days, saying 'the ball is in Britain's court'. The combative stance came after at a press conference at the end of the G20 summit in Rome - after Mr Johnson told his own briefing for journalists that the UK 'position is unchanged'. Boris Johnson said he was 'puzzled' by a letter from French prime...