Daily: 08/30/2018

США засудили агресивний тиск Росії в Азовському морі

Сполучені Штати засудили «переслідування» з боку Росії міжнародних транспортних перевезень у Азовському морі та Керченській протоці, заявивши, що це ще один приклад спроб Москви «дестабілізувати» Україну.

Держдепартамент США 30 серпня звинуватив Росію у перешкоджанні у період від квітня сотням комерційних суден через обмеження розмірів кораблів, які можуть пройти через Керченську протоку, єдиний шлях до територіальних вод України в Азовському морі з Чорного моря.

«Дії Росії, що перешкоджають морському транзиту, є ще одним прикладом її кампанії з метою підірвати та дестабілізувати Україну, а також її нехтування міжнародними нормами», – наголосило зовнішньополітичне відомство США.

«Ми закликаємо Росію припинити переслідування міжнародних перевезень у Азовському морі та Керченській протоці», – сказано в повідомленні.

Сполучені Штати продовжують підтримувати суверенітет та територіальну цілісність України, включно з її територіальними водами, додали в Держдепартаменті.

У 2016 році Росія розпочала проект будівництва мосту, який пов’язує окупований український півострів Крим з півднем Росії.

Цей крок призвів до засудження та санкцій з боку українського та західних урядів.

У середині травня, після завершення будівництва автомобільної частини мосту, Росія, за повідомленнями, перемістила морські судна, включно з військовими кораблями Каспійської флотилії до Азовського моря. Москва при цьому посилалася на необхідність посилення безпеки навколо стратегічного об’єкта.

Відтоді Росія затримала понад 148 українських та іноземних торговельних кораблів і допитувала членів екіпажів та інших людей, які перебували на таких суднах.

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Spain Orders Mass Deportation of African Migrants

Spain, known for having one of the most tolerant immigration policies in Europe and accepting boatloads of migrants when no other EU nation would, was expected to open its doors even wider under its new socialist government. But that policy now appears to be going in reverse.

In a country that has shunned anti-immigration currents prevalent in much of Europe, the mass expulsion of 166 Sub-Saharan Africans who forced their way through barbed wire fences last month and attacked guards along the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta’s border with Morocco, has become an embarrassment for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, officials and analysts say.

“Humanitarianism is not permissiveness” said Spanish interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska before a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday .”Orderly, secure and legal immigration is possible, but not violent migration that threatens our country and its security forces.”

More than 600 migrants stormed across six-meter-high fences onto Spanish territory on July 26, hurling acid and feces, and firing home made flame throwers at border guards.Several members of Spain’s Civil Guard police force were seriously injured in the struggle, triggering calls from their top commanders for an immediate crackdown.

Spain has generally enforced a policy granting asylum to migrants who reach Spanish soil by sea or through land borders around Ceuta and Melilla, enclaves that are surrounded by Morocco.

The asylum seekers are generally housed at temporary shelters while NGOs process their applications for EU free circulation passes.

Many come with plans to continue on to northern Europe where wages and benefits are better, causing other EU governments to complain about Spain’s relatively open border policies. French President Emmanuel Macron recently ordered the deportation of large numbers of African migrants who crossed into his country from Spain.

Within days of the Ceuta border assault, Spanish police rounded up 166 migrants from a shelter in Ceuta and drove them back across the border to Morocco, invoking a special extradition agreement negotiated between the two governments 25 years ago and which had rarely been implemented before.

The expulsions generated a political crisis for the new, untested prime minister Pedro Sanchez. The hard left United We Can party coalition, known in Spanish as “Unidos Podemos,” as well as Basque and Catalan nationalists on whose parliamentary support Sanchez’ minority government depends, accused him of violating human rights and of breaking his promises of a more compassionate policy.

Sanchez began his term in May with a decision to allow the migrant ship Aquarius to dock at Spanish ports after it was denied entry by Italy’s recently elected right wing government.He had also pledged to remove rolls of razor-sharp concertina wire attached to the border fences as requested by various human rights organizations.

Quoting the International Organization for Migration, conservative opposition leader Pablo Casado said immigration to Spain had tripled since the new government took office in June. He said authorities were taking emergency measures to strengthen border defenses that had been previously rejected by the socialists.

Spain’s daily newspaper El Mundo reported that angry calls from chiefs of the militarized Guardia Civil who threatened to resign if drastic measures were not taken to counter the attack on border units, forced the government’s hand.

A retired Civil Guard general who acts as a top advisor to the interior ministry, speaking anonymously, told VOA the gendarme forces were already strained in southern Spain.

“We have to start removing some these people and prevent too many more from getting here,” he said.

While last month’s forced entry at Ceuta was the most dramatic and violent experienced until now, it was not the first and could initiate a trend of even more serious future attacks, according to security analysts.

Grande-Marlaska said the group that broke through the fence displayed a high degree of organization. The interior minister said they used cutting tools, improvised weapons and coordinated tactics by which shock units held back police to open holes through which hundreds of others slipped through the fence.

Police arrested 10 more immigrants on Wednesday and authorities accused of them of leading the attacks against the Guardia Civil. Officials said the group’s ringleader is of Togolese origin and had experience in his country’s armed forces, including some paramilitary training.

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ЄС знову закликав Росію негайно звільнити Олега Сенцова

Європейський Союз знову закликав Російську Федерацію негайно звільнити незаконно засудженого українського режисера Олега Сенцова, йдеться у повідомленні Постійного представництва Євросоюзу при Організації з безпеки і співробітництва в Європі у мікроблозі Twitter.

«ЄС закликає Росію негайно і без будь-яких умов звільнити українського кінорежисера Олега Сенцова, який вже більше 100 днів голодує на знак протесту проти позбавлення волі українських політичних бранців Росією», – йдеться у повідомленні.

У ньому посилаються на виступ делегації ЄС на засіданні Постійної ради ОБСЄ, що відбулося у Відні 30 серпня.

21 серпня Євросоюз вже виступав із закликом до російської влади звільнити Олега Сенцова, а також інших українців, «незаконно затриманих у Росії й Криму».

У червні Європейський парламент ухвалив резолюцію із закликом звільнити Олега Сенцова та інших політичних в’язнів Росії. 

З вимогою негайно звільнити Сенцова до Росії неодноразово зверталися й інші міжнародні організації, західні уряди, митці й активісти у всьому світі.

Олег Сенцов засуджений в Росії на 20 років ув’язнення за звинуваченням у підготовці терактів в анексованому Криму. Режисер відкидає звинувачення. Від 14 травня він тримає голодування, вимагаючи звільнити з російських в’язниць українських політв’язнів.

За даними правозахисників, на території Росії й анексованого нею Криму перебувають 70 українських політв’язнів.

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Prince Harry, Wife Meghan Attend Hit Musical Hamilton in London

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan attended a performance of the hit musical Hamilton on Wednesday to raise money for a charity which works with children affected by HIV in southern Africa.

At the end of the show, Harry and the musical’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda  addressed the audience, said a statement from Harry’s Kensington Palace residence.

Hamilton is an unconventional take on the life of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States, blending, hip-hop and rap, rhythm and blues and ballads.

The London production, housed in the refurbished Victoria Palace Theatre, is the show’s first foray outside of the United States after successful runs in Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles as well as Broadway in New York.

Harry married Hollywood actress Meghan Markle in May, at a royal wedding that included a gospel choir and other nods to her African American heritage.

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Сирія підтвердила підготовку наступу в провінції Ідліб

Урядові сили Сирії готують масштабний наступ на повстанців у провінції Ідліб. Про це 30 серпня після розмови з російським колегою Сергієм Лавровим у Москві заявив міністр закордонних справ Сирії Валід аль-Муалем.

За його словами, військові Сирії «пройдуть весь шлях» в Ідлібі», а «головною метою» майбутньої операції буде «Фронт «Ан-Нусра», який свого часу мав зв’язки з «Аль-Каїдою».

Провінція Ідліб – це остання з зон деескалації, яку утримують опозиційні Асаду угруповання.

Також на цю тему: Росія розпочне військові навчання в Середземному морі

В ООН та Держдепартаменті США побоюються гуманітарної катастрофи в Ідлібі в разі початку наступу, в зоні ризику перебувають сотні тисяч людей. Вашингтон також висловлював занепокоєння через загрозу застосування військами Асада хімічної зброї.

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Росія розпочне військові навчання в Середземному морі

Росія з 1 до 8 вересня проведе масштабні військові навчання в Середземному морі. Про це з посиланням на міністерство оборони країни повідомляють російські інформагенції. У маневрах візьмуть участь угруповання сил Військово-морського флоту і повітряно-космічних сил Росії – 25 бойових кораблів і 30 літаків.

Москва оголосила про військові навчання на тлі повідомлень про підготовку наступу підтримуваних Росією сил президента Сирії Башара Асада в провінції Ідліб. Це остання з зон деескалації, яку утримують опозиційні Асаду угруповання.

В ООН та Держдепартаменті США побоюються гуманітарної катастрофи в Ідлібі в разі початку наступу, в зоні ризику перебувають сотні тисяч людей. Вашингтон також висловлював занепокоєння через загрозу застосування військами Асада хімічної зброї.

Міжнародне співтовариство неодноразово звинувачувало Росію у відповідальності за атаки з використанням хімічної зброї в Сирії. Кремль всі звинувачення відкидав, називаючи ці атаки провокаціями.

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Minnesota’s Hmong Farmers Drive Local Food Economy

Hmong farmers in St. Paul, Minnesota have the best advocate for their business enterprises: themselves, working together.

Originally from China, the Hmong are an Asian ethnic group that migrated to Vietnam and Laos in the 18th century. They have never had a country of their own. After the Vietnam War ended, many resettled in the U.S., giving the U.S. the largest Hmong population outside of Asia. The population in Minnesota is more than 60,000, second behind the state of California.

The Hmong, who are long time farmers, did what they knew best when they got to Minnesota. And by the late 1980’s they spearheaded the revitalization of local farmers’ markets, making them some of the most vibrant in the city.

But the Hmong also discovered that as immigrant farmers, they faced barriers in buying land, obtaining financing, accessing markets and building sustainable family businesses. They were struggling. To combat all that, a group of Hmong farmers established the non-profit Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA) in 2011.

“One of the reasons HAFA was created was because Hmong farmers were experiencing so much uncertainty. They didn’t always have access to land,” HAFA co-founder Pakou Hang explained. “So when you don’t have land tenure or land certainty you can’t actually invest in organic certification, you can’t invest in perennials, which actually have higher profit margins.”

HAFA’s intent was to “advance the prosperity of Hmong American farmers through cooperative endeavors.” At the center of the association is a 63-hectare (155-acre) farm outside St. Paul where member farmers have long-term leases on two to four hectare (five to 10-acre) parcels to grow their vegetables and flowers.

How HAFA helps

On a recent Friday, Mao Moua and her husband were harvesting vegetables at their plot – for a Saturday farmer’s market.

The Mouas were among the mass exodus of Hmong people fleeing Laos for Thailand and eventually the U.S. in the 1970s. Ever since they arrived, they have been farming in Minnesota and in recent years on the HAFA membership farm.

“I like farming on the HAFA farm because this is a Hmong association,” Moua said. “There are Hmong workers who help us. They are like our hands, eyes and ears. I like there is also water, electricity and the food hub.”

She added proudly, “[I grow] corn, sweet potato, cherry, snap pea, cucumber, and a little cherry tomato. That’s all.”

HAFA’s alternative markets program is called Food Hub.

“Our Food Hub is the place where we aggregate HAFA farmers’ produce and we distribute, sell it to different institutions such as schools, co-ops, or restaurants. And then we also have a CSA program or community supported agriculture that we have about 350 currently members. They get a weekly subscription of produce,” explained Operations Manager Kou Yang.

And if any of the farmers need micro loans to buy tractors or new farming equipment, HAFA’s business development programs are there to help. But Hang said all the programs are not just for income generation.

“What we’re really interested in, what we are focused on is actually wealth creation not just intergenerational wealth but community wealth,” Hang said.

Community wealth

Today, Hmong American farmers make up more than 50 percent of all produce growers selling at area farmers’ markets.

“The Hmong growers’ participation in the farmers’ market has really revitalized the farmers’ market,” said David Kotsonas a director of the Minnesota Farmers’ Market Association.

The Hmong are also at the center of a Minnesota-based local foods economy that has changed the way Minnesotans eat.

“Hmong farmers are major contributors to our local food economy and to our overall economy,” Hang said. “I mean studies have shown that they produced over $250 million in sales.”

Hang was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and came to the U.S. with her parents in 1976.

“During the Vietnam war in Laos my father joined actually a secret army that was allied with the United States CIA. When the Vietnam War ended and the communist faction came into power in Laos they actually began to target Hmong soldiers,” she said.

Hang has big dreams for the HAFA farm which in addition to enabling farmers, conducts research and fosters community ties.

“A hive of learning. A hive of community building,” Hang described it.

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Indian Currency Decree Did Little to Root Out ‘Black Money’

Nearly all of the currency removed from circulation in a surprise 2016 attempt to root out illegal hoards of cash came back into the financial system, India’s reserve bank has announced, indicating the move did little to slow the underground economy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s currency decree, which was designed to destroy the value of billions of dollars in untaxed cash stockpiles, caused an economic slowdown and months of financial chaos for tens of millions of people.

Modi announced in a November 2016 TV address that all 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee notes, then worth about $7.50 and $15, would be withdrawn immediately from circulation. The banned notes could be deposited into bank accounts but the government also said it would investigate deposits over 250,000 rupees, or about $3,700. The government eventually released new currency notes worth 500 and 2,000 rupees.

In theory, the decree meant corrupt politicians and businesspeople would suddenly find themselves sitting on billions of dollars in worthless currency, known here as “black money.”

“A few people are spreading corruption for their own benefit,” Modi said in the surprise nighttime speech announcement of the order. “There is a time when you realize that you have to bring some change in society, and this is our time.”

But even as the decree caused turmoil for those in India who have always depended on cash — the poor and middle class, and millions of small traders — the rich found ways around the currency switch. In the months after the decree, businesspeople said that even large amounts of banned currency notes could be traded on the black market, though middlemen charged heavy fees.

The reserve bank report said in its Wednesday report that 99.3 percent of the $217 billion in notes withdrawn from circulation had come back into the economy. Some officials had originally predicted that number could be as low as 60 percent.

“Frankly, I think demonetization was a mistake,” said Gurcharan Das, a writer and the former head of Proctor & Gamble in India. He said that while it did broaden the country’s tax base, it was a nightmare for the immense, cash-dependent informal economy.

“You can’t overnight change that in a country which is poor and illiterate. Therefore, for me it’s not only an economic failure but a moral failure as well,” Das said.

 

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Trump’s Environmental Policy Roll-back Alarms Activists

Environmentalists are alarmed that President Donald Trump is following through on his campaign pledges to roll back Obama-era rules that tightened restrictions on greenhouse gases, promising the moves would lead to more American jobs and economic growth.

At a recent rally in Charleston, West Virginia, under a “Trump Digs Coal” banner, the president announced plans to roll back the Clean Power Plan.

“We are putting our great coal miners back to work.” Trump said, claiming that coal is necessary for the nation’s energy security. “You can do a lot of things to those solar panels, but you know what you can’t hurt? Coal. You can do whatever you want to coal.”

Trump’s plan abandons the previous administration’s goal of scaling back U.S. reliance on coal and reducing the nation’s carbon emissions by a third by the year 2030. Instead, Trump wants to allow coal-producing states like West Virginia to set their own limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration proposed a repeal of the American Clean Cars Standards, the Obama-era regulation that set stringent limits on vehicle fuel-efficiency and emissions. The proposal include revoking the rights of states to set their own strict vehicle emission targets, setting up a legal battle with California and 18 other states with ambitious clean cars programs.

Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, said the state will fight what it believes to be “an egregious proposal that violates the law and is damaging to the interests of the people of this country when it comes to improving air quality.”

 

Environmental activists also have denounced the proposals. Tomas Carbonell of the Environmental Defense Fund said cars and power plants are responsible for the majority of carbon pollution in the U.S. He added that the administration’s rollback of these climate protections “sends a real signal to the world that America is not going to do its part to reduce pollution.”

 

Even the administration’s Environmental Protection Agency’s own analysis acknowledges that increased pollution from the rollback of the Clean Power Plan could lead to 1,400 more premature deaths each year by 2030. Carbonell said this would mean health and economic costs with potentially “billions of dollars in net harm to Americans resulting from this proposal even after you take into account the compliance cost.”

The plan is supported by the industry lobby that says Trump’s coal-friendly policies create jobs. Jason Bostic from the West Virginia Coal Association said that since Trump took office, the state has added about 3,000 direct mining jobs. He dismissed criticism that coal is a dying industry that hurts the environment.

“I think what you have are critics outside of this industry that are a little bit unrealistic in their goals about a renewable economy built on wind power, wishes and unicorns.” he said.

 

If approved, Trump’s proposal, called the “Affordable Clean Energy Rule,” could keep coal plants operating longer, by allowing them to invest in facilities without having to upgrade pollution control technologies to meet existing standards.

Yet, experts are skeptical the proposal would actually would save coal jobs in the long term given that there are cheaper and cleaner energy sources like natural gas, and that the cost of renewable energy like solar and wind continue to drop.

Blair Beasley of the Bipartisan Policy Center said, “The coal industry is still facing some pretty significant headwinds,” despite Trump’s rollbacks.

Most analysts believe Trump’s proposal is driven more by political rather than economic considerations. In West Virginia, Trump’s approval ratings are almost always above the national average. Beasley noted, however, that as the power sector transitions away from coal, there are communities that potentially could be left behind, and this is an important consideration in policymaking.

The Clean Power Plan was blocked by the Supreme Court in early 2016 and never implemented. Yet, West Virginians blamed President Barack Obama for the decline of the coal industry.

In his last year in office, Obama’s approval rating in the state was 24 percent, the lowest in the nation. Jake Zuckerman, political reporter at the Charleston Gazette-Mail said that a fair criticism for the Obama administration is they did not hold public hearings in West Virginia on the Clean Power Plan.

“I think that people got this feeling that they weren’t being heard, which I think carries a lot of weight here,” he said.

Now these coal miners feel Trump is listening. At the Trump rally in Charleston, Kevin Abbot from Gilbert, West Virginia, said he lost his job under Obama, but now he’s back to work.

“I’m tickled to death,” he said. “The pay went up. The mining industry went up. So, everything’s looking real good as far as mining goes.”

Abbott, who has been mining for 32 years, said he likes everything Trump has done. “He’s sticking with his campaign promises.”

 

The administration’s proposals to roll back antipollution standards are in line with Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement. Every country in the world except the U.S. and Syria, are now signatories of the agreement, which aims to mitigate the effects of global warming.

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Trump’s Environmental Regulation Roll-backs Alarm Activists

President Donald Trump has followed through on pledges to roll-back Obama-era rules that tightened restrictions on greenhouse gases, promising the moves would lead to more American jobs and economic growth. Trump’s proposal includes loosening restrictions to the American Clean Cars Standards and the Clean Power Plan. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has more.

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Trump OKs Tariff Relief for Three Countries

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed proclamations permitting targeted relief from steel and aluminum quotas from some countries, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

Trump, who put in place tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March, signed proclamations allowing relief from the quotas on steel from South Korea, Brazil and Argentina and on aluminum from Argentina, the department said in a statement.

“Companies can apply for product exclusions based on insufficient quantity or quality available from U.S. steel or aluminum producers,” the statement said. “In such cases, an exclusion from the quota may be granted and no tariff would be owed.”

Trump, citing national security concerns, placed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports.

The tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico took effect June 1, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said May 31 that arrangements had been made with some countries to have non-tariff limits on their exports of the two metals to the United States.

Ross said the arrangement with South Korea was for a quota of 70 percent of average steel exports to the United States in the years 2015 to 2017.

The Brazilian government said at the time the U.S. quotas and tariffs on Brazil’s steel and aluminum exports were unjustified but that it remained open to negotiate a solution.

Brazilian semi-finished steel exports to the United States are subject to quotas based on the average for the three years from 2015-2017, while finished steel products will be limited to a quota of 70 percent of the average for those years.

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India Not Guaranteed US Sanctions Waiver for Russian Missiles, Official Says

The United States cannot guarantee that it will provide India a waiver from sanctions if it purchases major weapon and defense systems from Russia, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday, ahead of a high-level dialogue between Washington and New Delhi.

The United States has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia, under which any country engaged with its defense and intelligence sectors could face secondary U.S. sanctions.

However, a new defense bill gives the president the authority to grant waivers in case of national security interests.

Randall Schriver, the Pentagon’s top Asia official, said there was an “impression that we are going to completely protect the India relationship, insulate India from any fallout from this legislation no matter what they do.” 

Media reports from the region have suggested that India would get a waiver.

“I would say that is a bit misleading. We would still have very significant concerns if India pursued major new platforms and systems (from Russia),” Schriver said at a think tank event.

“I can’t sit here and tell you that they would be exempt, that we would use that waiver, that will be the decision of the president if he is faced with a major new platform and capability that India has acquired from Russia,” he added.

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has publicly been a strong proponent of granting India waivers.

The United States is concerned about India’s planned purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, Schriver said. Russia has said it expects to sign a deal with India later this year on the sale.

On Tuesday, Mattis said the United States was also concerned about Turkey’s purchase of the Russian missile defense system, which cannot be integrated into NATO. Schriver said the United States was willing to talk to India about potential alternatives.

Senior U.S. officials are expected to go to India next week for high level talks, agreed upon by U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year. 

The meeting was originally planned for April but was postponed after Trump fired Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. Washington put off the meeting for a second time in June.

 

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Germany, Seeking Independence From US, Pushes Cybersecurity Research

Germany announced a new agency on Wednesday to fund research on cybersecurity and to end its reliance on digital technologies from the United States, China and other countries.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters that Germany needed new tools to become a top player in cybersecurity and shore up European security and independence.

“It is our joint goal for Germany to take a leading role in cybersecurity on an international level,” Seehofer told a news conference with Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. “We have to acknowledge we’re lagging behind, and when one is lagging, one needs completely new approaches.”

The agency is a joint interior and defense ministry project.

Germany, like many other countries, faces a daily barrage of cyberattacks on its government and industry computer networks.

However, the opposition Greens criticized the project. “This agency wouldn’t increase our information technology security, but further endanger it,” said Greens lawmaker Konstantin von Notz.

The agency’s work on offensive capabilities would undermine Germany’s diplomatic efforts to limit the use of cyberweapons internationally, he said. “As a state based on the rule of law, we can only lose a cyberpolitics arms race with states like China, North Korea or Russia,” he added, calling for “scarce resources” to be focused on hardening vulnerable systems.

Germany and other European countries also worry about their dependence on U.S. technologies. This follows revelations in 2012 by U.S. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden of a massive spying network, as well as the U.S. Patriot Act which gave the U.S. government broad powers to compel companies to provide data.

“As a federal government we cannot stand idly by when the use of sensitive technology with high security relevance are controlled by other governments. We must secure and expand such key technologies of our digital infrastructure,” Seehofer said.

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