A weekly roundup of the things happening in Europe that they don’t like to talk about
Bulgarians are protesting against the forced adoption of the Euro: People in Europe are slowly coming out against the EU.
The leading candidate in the first presidential round of the cancelled Romanian election has been arrested as he travelled to submit his candidacy in the election re-run, where he is the current favorite. The so called ‘hard-right TikTok messiah’, Călin Georgescu’s vision of neutrality and working with all parties was deemed contrary to European ideals and so they had him labelled as an anti-European Russian apologist. Subsequently, the election was cancelled on the orders of the EU commission (who also said they’d do it in Germany too if the electorate didn’t deliver the right result) on the spurious grounds that Russia had interfered with the election because of a Tik-Tok based digital campaign. This campaign had nothing whatsoever to do with Russia and neither did it have anything to do with Călin Georgescu himself (who said that he doesn’t even use Tik-Tok), in fact it was the work of the current Romanian ruling party themselves, but the European Court of Human rights refused to overturn the decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court (the judges there being political appointees put in place by the current ruling party).
Even the runner up in the cancelled election has come out against the ruling: “Today, the Romanian State has brought democracy to its knees,” said Elena Lasconi, “The economy is collapsing, democracy is being destroyed and the country is heading for anarchy.” And now Musk has weighed in (in case you are having trouble accessing the site via that link then try this one).
Don’t forget: All of this is because Georgescu is against building Europe’s largest NATO base in Romania, thus making his country the primary target in any conflict with Russia.
Plus Ça Change, Plus C’est La Même Chose: After the collapse of the inept ‘Traffic Light Coalition’ led by Olaf Scholtz, the Germans went to the polls to elect a new government. Turnout was high (>80%) buoyed up by a fearful electorate that were desperate for a change. As the results came in commentators were juggling party numbers in order to form a coalition.
It was all about the numbers needed to ensure that the AfD didn’t become part of the government. The ruling elites did everything just short of banning the party (it came close) to intimidate them but still they retained their popularity. Alice Weidel, the AfD leader, didn’t come across as particularly radical in her interview with Elon Musk, in fact her policies came close to what the CDU’s should have been. The end result of all this anti-AfD skullduggery, including ensuring that the breakaway (from Die Linke) BSW was deprived of publicity and a debate platform (and possibly a Bundestag seat – they got around 4.97% of the vote and needed 5% to get a seat), is that the very same people who the electorate thought they’d voted out have just come back in again, only with a different figurehead.
In order to understand why the AfD is regarded as a Neo-Nazi party we need to look at the electoral map, together with a map of Germany to provide bearings.
The AfD’s heartland is the old East Germany (minus Berlin and Leipzig). The area has never caught up economically since reunification and a lot of violent Neo Nazi groups took root there, causing a significant rise in heavy handed police and state repression.
So what concerns the German elites isn’t the party itself, but their supporters. And no doubt some of them are fascists but there are an awful lot of people there that are not and they’re demanding change. As it happens, the AfD has now become the official opposition, which means that not only are they difficult to ban, but they can sit back and watch as the rickety coalition, based on numbers rather than a meeting of minds over ideological differences, falls apart. If you want to find out more about conditions within Germany then listen to this podcast hosted by Peter Lavell at RT and to understand more about the parties, then watch this video by the Duran (Note: it is long but thorough).
Now You Can Repay Us For The War We Started: The minerals deal in the Ukraine, which is really just a heads of agreement (full text), is close to being signed after pressure was put on Zelenskyy to heal the rift with Trump (this was first written before that Press Conference). Leaving aside the fact that the country will have few to no assets left fully under its own control to allow for economic reconstruction – especially given that outside Investors and local Oligarchs already own a great deal of the best farmland, its prime resource accounting for 40% of its exports – the deal still may not be as good as it seems for the US. For a start, the rare earth deposits are not there in viable quantities, many of them lie under areas controlled by Russia and the French also want them. But the most glaring problem of all is the legality of any document signed by an illegitimate President, who has already served out his term and currently rules under martial law.
And does anyone believe for one second that the Russians would let the US take effective control of Odessa?
European and US Energy prices: You can get a quick snapshot of the competitiveness of an economy by looking at their energy prices – for example look at what Britain charges its Industrial users for Electricity. Many of the disparities between the prices are due to tax policies, such as Net Zero adjustments and to pay green subsidies. And there are various other local factors; for example, the price of Diesel in the UK was the result of a decision by the government to discourage its use – after previously promoting it as a better choice than gasoline because you get more miles per gallon with a diesel engine, classic bait and switch.
The lower prices of electricity in France are due to their extensive use of nuclear power. It is expected that electricity prices will start to rise there due to the price of raw uranium increasing after they were ejected from Niger (they used to pay around 90c per pound from their mines in Niger, the current spot price of yellowcake uranium is $56.48 per pound) and maintenance issues across their reactor fleet due to their age.
The following are all in $US and represent the average price, so the actual pump prices may differ depending on the locality within the country.
Speaking of energy, the Baltic minnows (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), decided to disconnect their electricity grid from the Russian grid. Russia supplied the base load supplies (to help with peak demand) and to synchronize the frequency. They have, instead, connected to the European system. The changeover event was the subject of a rather surreal video featuring Ursula von der Leyen.
What happened next was a surprise for nobody, except the EU apparently (or maybe they just don’t care, the narrative is more important than the grim realities in the EU) – Price explosion in the Baltics after disconnection from the Russian grid. The wholesale MWh prices increased dramatically immediately after the changeover as you can see from the table below. The thick line marks the transition.
And they’re still rising. The knock-on effects could be seen almost immediately, with Estonian businesses being forced to shut. The biggest user of electricity in Estonia, the Estonian Cell pulp mill in Kunda, has ceased operating due to surging electricity costs (they ought to move to Russia, it’s not far and the feedstock they use – wood – is cheaper there). Meanwhile, people living the European dream in the Baltics are stocking up on candles.
Ursula made a big deal that the changeover was due to Russian energy blackmail. Which, if it were true, may be grounds for the severing of ties, but is it? Back in the early days of the Special Military Operation, there were two separate strands of dual pipelines that went under the Baltic Sea connecting Germany to the Russian gas fields: Nordstream 1 and Nordstream 2. Nordsteam 1, the older of the two, was already pumping gas but Nordstream 2, although filled with gas, needed German official authorization to start operations.
Under intense pressure from the Biden administration, the German government refused to let it start. So only Nordstream 1 was de jure but not de facto capable of supplying the gas Europe desperately needed.
The problems were compounded when Europe, under pressure from Janet Yellen, decided to confiscate all of the Russian assets currently residing in Euroclear. These assets, over $300 billion worth, were mainly payments for previous deliveries of gas and other commodities.
What made it worse was that every time the Russians were paid in dollars they were seized, which meant Russia was supplying gas for free.
Understandably miffed, the Russians stated that in future they wanted to be paid in rubles, since that was the only way left to be paid at all. This became blackmail point number one: The Russians are deliberately holding up deliveries of gas with impossible demands.
Blackmail point number two came when the turbines that supplied the pipelines were due for scheduled maintenance. These turbines were made by a division of a British Company, Rolls Royce, which was subsequently taken over by a German company, Siemens. Even though they were built in Britain they were serviced in Canada and the Canadians simply refused to hand them back after the service due to sanctions. In the end a workaround was conceived, between Germany and Canada, whereby the turbines were delivered to Germany and they were to forward them to Russia. The problem was that from the Russian viewpoint the paperwork wasn’t correct; meaning they were shipped with a dubious chain of custody and so the Russians wouldn’t accept them. Remember, they suffered the experience of the CIA sabotaging exactly this type of turbine in Siberia back in 1982 (using technology they supplied via Canada), leading to a massive explosion that was visible from space. And the CIA may even be linked to this pipeline explosion that killed 575 people (181 children) and injured over 800 more. So, they have a right to be cautious.
Then there were the breakdowns, which caused further outages, such as an oil leak on one of the turbines, which caused Gazprom to reduce the supply further. The Europeans said that the leak was no big deal but the Russians, understandably, were concerned that the loss of lubricating oil could cause the turbine to seize and catch fire: something you REALLY don’t want on a major gas pipeline. And the EU megaphoned that it was yet more confirmation that Russia was trying to hurt the European economy by reducing the gas supply.
This is Putin’s rather tart reply to the accusations.
You can read a full report on the Nord Stream turbine saga here.
As a bit of background, Deutsche Welle, the venerable public broadcaster in Germany produced an English language podcast back in 2022 on how Germany would cope without Russian gas. It’s worth a listen if you’ve got an hour to spare as it confirms that the elites knew the problems the disconnect from Russia would cause but they went ahead anyway.
What’s Happening With The Italian Grimaldi Shipping Company as it suffers its 6th serious fire on board one of its vessels in the last few years?
What Made the British Establishment So Angry at Leaving the EU? This is a bit dated (it was Margaret Thatcher’s favorite TV program), but as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the deep state civil servant, said, the policies have been successfully used over the last 500 years, so why stop now. And so, they never did.
And now consider how the UK is playing the EU off against Russia.
Prepare Yourself For A Shock According to a newly declassified report, produced by the Institute for Defense Analyses for the US Defense Department, Israel really does have nuclear weapons. Will the release of this report affect the possible resumption of talks on the Iran JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) aka The Iran Nuclear Deal?
Why Is Putin So Popular in Russia? Even though he has obviously failed to become a proper dictator (Golden Rule: you only need to be elected once), he still enjoys popular support that Western politicians can only dream of:
It just might have something to do with this; where, he arranged, through his presidential fund, for talented young musicians to study away from the horrors of the war in the Donbass and then ended up on the docket at the ICC.
You can read the full story here.
Or possibly this: where he drove himself around Mariupol, a short time after the Neo-Nazi Azov battalion, who had terrorized the city for 10 years, were defeated to see how the reconstruction was going. As a matter of interest; many of the civilian construction workers there were from the DPRK – so there really were North Koreans near the front lines in Russia.
Or it could have been this: where a little girl lined up for hours to see Putin when he visited Dagestan and ended up not seeing him. So…
Then again, it could be this:
Compared to:
If you want to know how this manifests itself in terms of the actual cost of living in the two premier (and most expensive) cities: here are the up to date numbers on the cost of living in New York Versus Moscow. The tool on the website can be manipulated to compare less costly cities (even in other countries) to provide you with a fuller picture.
As a quick snapshot: according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the monthly recommended minimum amount of money for food per person per month in the US is $504 and in Russia it is $178.
Very happy to see “Coffee Break” appear shortly after 11 AM (PST) when I absent-mindedly refreshed https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/ out of habit and was sad when Water Cooler wasn’t there.
A little something for coffee break.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/02/10/697989/Russia-Siemens-turbines-Iran
Russia might not even need them but would lose money on the rebuilds.
Welcome KK
Thank you. We underestimate the technical abilities of the Iranians – they will not be a pushover if Bibi gets his way.
Re “Bulgarians are protesting against the forced adoption of the Euro”, I caution against the conclusion that “People of Europe are coming out against the EU.” First, while there is a split in the country on the adoption of the Euro, the EU is overwhelmingly popular for reasons to do with assuring the development of the country, however slow, easy and free travel, and guarantor against uncontrollable corruption.
As far as Kostadinov and the “Revival” party protest, Kostadinov is a charlatan who is more or less doing the bidding of the ruling GERB party and its silent partner “New Beginning” party, for both of whom the Euro is inconvenient at this point for reasons having to do with dirty money that are yet to be laundered. Both of these parties have people sanctioned under Magnitsky, so that gives you an idea about the scale of the corruption. Kostadinov may also be doing some of Russia’s dirty work as well to drive instability and perceptions, but he has already reached his electoral ceiling.
Speaking of Nordstream
https://korybko.substack.com/p/nord-stream-is-back-in-the-news-as
“The Financial Times (FT) reported over the weekend that “Putin ally pushes deal to restart Nord Stream 2 with US backing” in reference to his decades-long close friend Matthias Warnig’s alleged efforts. The gist is that possible American ownership over Nord Stream could lead to the resumption of Russian gas exports to Germany via this megaproject’s one undamaged pipeline as part of a grand deal. This was first floated in late November with regard to US investor Stephen P. Lynch’s related proposal.”
They are talking about the one undamaged pipe. Transactional Trump thinks everybody has their price and could Germany’s be letting Trump/Putin save the Germans from themselves?
Also in aspirational Europe (Israel) this just in from Alastair Crooke.
https://conflictsforum.substack.com/p/back-to-war-netanyahu-cancels-moving
A welcome afternoon postprandial news refresh…
Thank you Kevin, that was fun and informative!
As a USian, it’s great to see information like this, thank you! My liberal friends simply dismiss data like these as “misinformation”, which I feel is unfortunate because it makes rational response to the situation we are in more difficult.
Welcome, Mr. Kirk, and many thanks for the very informative roundup and links!
Seconded!
That colored voting map of Germany is just amazing.
In 1991 I was living in Munich and I went to a concert at the Schlachthof “Knitting Factory Tours Europe”. One of the acts was Gary Lucas playing electric guitar solo with a vast array of stomp boxes. He did a version of Autobahn, the Kraftwerk song. As he started he shouted out “Let’s hear it for … German Reunification!” I bought the CD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eRJuF1-SVg
When I see that map I hear Lucas’ voice in my head, Let’s hear it for … German Reunification!
Not quite as amazing as the Polish election results. Despite the Poles having replaced the population, you can still see the old German border.
Great stuff
Some nice quick summaries of Nordstream and VVP’s continued popularity. Good to bookmark.
Welcome to Mr. Kirk. Evening coffee break for us Europe people, so it will be decaf with a shot of Calvados ;)
a fine inaugural effort(at least as far as ive seen, it being spring), Kevin Kirk.
th cost of living comparison and the 20 whatever years of Putin graphics…as well as the fedcharts…were pretty eye opening,lol.
ive been rather amazed with Putin since his munich speech/quincanera
Yes, welcome, and many thanks for the Putin 24-year graphic. Immediate impact. I’ve forwarded it to as many as possible, in lieu of long-winded analyses.
Obviously, the many comments NC has gifted us –pithy or extensive, witty, and often elegant, are welcome too. But my hope is that the visual just may sneak through all those muscular, well-practised liberal defenses.
Well, when your nation is recovering from years of looting of resources by Oligarchs, getting high growth numbers is easier. Don’t be fooled: Russia is more than Putin. The Russian people have a long history of attainment in education, the Arts, and science (Oreshnik). VVP is truly a leader with a vision and Russian culture, while conservative, is determined to advance.
VVP is indeed impressive. Is there anyone as skilled in the upper reaches of government of any Western nation? For them, it seems to me, it’s all “Hubris, meet Nemesis.”
And the U.S. is now “The Evil Empire”, and our big “enemies”, China and Russia, are generally peaceful (except for Russia in Ukraine and Syria AFAIK) and focused on taking care of their own people and their global economic strength, while our primary ally is executing its final solution.
The paragraphs about the Romanian election could be a mini post. That way people would be able to send a link to that part of Coffee Break
Welcome and thank you for such a comprehensive run-down. Very helpful! I see the light blue area of the southern Rhineland Palatinate is a bit of an outlier. Do you have any information on why that happened there? Thanks in advance!
Their election victories in the Ruhr and in the Saar (I believe) is what must be worrying the SPD. I find it quite remarkable that they are picking up votes from traditional working class areas, while having a CDU-lite manifesto.
You can find more details on other maps like this one: Tagesspiegel (German)
The one in the west is Gelsenkirchen. Closed coal mines and therefore lots of problems since years. With 74,5% it has one of the lowest turnouts or even the lowest turnout of the voting.
The one in the south is Kaiserlautern, so Ramstein Air Base.
They are, I think, not really an outlier (both AfD wins were very close). The map in this article shows only the winner of the area, but german voting law isn’t exactly about winning the voting area. When you click around on the map in my link you can see, that AfD and CDU/CSU (Union) are more or less switching their positions between east and west. AfD, 1st in the east, 2nd/3rd in the west, CDU/CSU 1st in the west, 2nd in the the east.
You can also see, that all parties have some east/west split, maybe with the exception of the SPD with more of a north/south split.
Does anyone know what happened to EuroTrib?
Speaking of Diesel powered cars: For personal transportation they don’t make any more sense than gas powered cars. They both have externalities (roadways,parking, etc.) that make the fuel efficiency (25%) of diesel over gas moot. Diesel in trains, buses, and freight haul makes sense: long distance, heavy transport necessitates a powerful, efficient, and durable engine. Transport of people is best in buses and high-speed rail.
Excellent work! I appreciate the time you took to put this together.
Thank you for your hard work!
One sentence caught my eye…… The lower prices of electricity in France are due to their extensive use of nuclear power.
If I remember right, last year (or the year before) France had to shut down a few nuclear plants due to low water levels in the Somme or the Rhone rivers – due to climate change. Let’s hope they get decent rain to keep their energy flowing.
without their african colonies, its gonna be hard to replenish their uranium stocks, as well.
It was mainly because of cracks, not water supply.
Most are now repaired and fully operational.
Unfortunately the years of French people benefiting from cheap electricity may be coming to an end. Not because of change of generation mix or price of uranium but because internal prices will reflect more closely the traded price on the European grid , the opportunity cost of exports. The extra revenue will go someway to offsetting French budget deficits unless of course it just goes to ‘Ukraine’, which is likely to make a Le Pen victory in the next elections a baked in certainty.
Wonderful start! Coffee Break is already a must-read.
This is a great summary of the situation in Europe. Thanks for all the hard work. Was very interested in that story how the Russians are going to be buying turbines from Iran which must have been part of that deal that they signed with each other not long ago. And what is the US and EU going to do about that deal? Threaten both countries with sanctions if they do it? Will Israel threaten to bomb their turbine manufactures to stop them getting a turbine bomb? I wonder how many countries that are left that can even build these sorts of turbines anymore since that requires an industrial base. Looking forward to your next post.
Thank you Kevin…
I saw the creepy video of Ursula flipping the switch cutting the Baltics from the Russian grid. No more “blackmail” only the invisible hand of the market finding equilibrium. Hope it feels good!
Regarding the Baltic chihuahuas, the Lithuanians are circumspect about threatening gas transit to Kaliningrad:
Lithuanian president warns against ‘provoking Russia’ over Kaliningrad gas transit LRT
Maybe they fear DJT?
It may have something to do with the fact that their ultimate security back stop is 1,000s of miles away; while, a battle hardened, well equipped million man army is just over the border and the German troops that are being sent there to protect them won’t be there until 2027 at the earliest.
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2024/08/22/work-begins-on-germanys-5000-strong-military-base-in-lithuania/
That map that shows what parts of Germany voted for which political parties is incredible. Even now in 2025, Germany is still divided along those East/West Germany lines.
A stark reminder that the German leadership needs to look inward and heal their own country.
The video of VV Putin welcoming the little girl, and her parents, was a display of a master politician at work;
having a cute kid, avuncular Leader, beaming parents stage left, official looking “gifts,” then letting the little girl “work the levers of power” with “Uncle Vlad’s” able assistance. It is also worth noting that the family invited to the Kremlin are not prototypical ‘Rus.’ Right there, Putin was displaying the multi-cultural nature of Russia. That will be a subtle message to Russia’s “Global South” allies and near allies.
A “background news fix” from “across the pond” will be salutary.
I totally agree: which is why I put it up there, to show him on the stump. That and the vid of him in Mariupol were taken during the election campaign.
A wonderful debut, Mr Kirk. I eagerly look forward to your next installment!
Oh to be able to eat organic, local, home cooked meals for less than 523.00 a month. (SW Ore-gon) Since I am an old school, kitchen diva, I can pull this off. Loving that 176.00 a month price across the pond. The closer to the dirt, the better I feel, food wise. Farming, ranching, gardening are some of my gifts. 💙🇷🇺❤️🐈⬛
I don’t know if you’ve seen this: where CNN tried to trip Călin Georgescu up with a gotcha question and instead got played when he asked the reporter what the letters ‘C.N.N’ stood for and they didn’t know.
https://youtu.be/DekK5XpwW7g
re: Germany elections
This item from JUNGE WELT on Gelsenkirchen and the Ruhr area which has many voters but extremely low voter turnout to the benefit of AfD. And has been suffering under industrial decline since 1960s. Therefore for many decades SPD center. Not any more.
German-language version
https://archive.is/GDG9X
Ruhr area
Poverty as an Election Helper
Gelsenkirchen: AfD benefits from social imbalance in the former industrial city – and from extremely low voter turnout
By Max Ongsiek
The early federal election brought a predictable almost doubling of the AfD’s 2021 election result. There are now also individual “bruises” in the west of the republic, and this is causing considerable excitement in places where people have long been accustomed to declaring the AfD to be an “East German” problem. Gelsenkirchen in particular has been talked about a lot in recent days. The former industrial city has long been considered a dirty child (“Favela on the Emscher”); the structural change after coal and steel has mainly produced poverty here. Gelsenkirchen is now considered the “poorest community” in Germany with the lowest per capita income nationwide (around 18,000 euros per year). On February 23, the SPD won the first vote here with 31.4 percent (a decrease of 9.1 percent), while the AfD came in at 25.8 percent. The AfD was the strongest force in the second vote with 24.7 percent.
If you believe Friedhelm Rikowski, many people in Gelsenkirchen are “seriously” interested in becoming a party member, said the AfD constituency candidate in a local party newsletter in February. The Left Party candidate, Martin Gatzemeier, also seems to indirectly confirm this to jW : “It’s pretty harsh what you hear from people: they’re all foreigners and the rabble has to go.” The hatred is often directed against EU immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria. For a long time, the Ruhr region was considered “cosmopolitan.” In Gelsenkirchen, that time seems to be long gone.
Franz Eckhardt, Professor of Social Science Urban Research at the Bauhaus University Weimar and a native of Gelsenkirchen, explained in response to a jW query why the AfD received a high share of the vote, particularly in the districts of Scholven and Schalke: Not only is the district of Schalke completely overwhelmed “by neglect, poverty and also massive immigration.” The announced sale of Ruhr-Oel by BP (1,900 employees in Scholven and Horst) and the possible job cuts that this would entail once again are also unsettling many Gelsenkirchen residents. The problems in Gelsenkirchen are not new; structural change has plagued the city since the 1960s, explained urban researcher Eckhardt. Since then, the city has “gone through many phases” and it took a long time to accept industrial change. The very high level of child poverty is also particularly burdensome for the Ruhr city. This “feeling of neglect” has “become radicalized among many,” so that the “simple slogans of the AfD” can now build on it.
However, the overall picture also includes the fact that the AfD benefited from extremely low voter turnout in Scholven and Schalke. In Scholven, the right-wing party emerged as the winner in almost all five electoral districts. The exception is electoral district 2201, where the party came in just behind the SPD with 29.84 percent. The AfD achieved its best election result in Gelsenkirchen in Scholven in electoral district 2106: 44.02 percent for first votes and 43.12 percent for second votes. However, voter turnout here was 59.85 percent, which was well below the national average. Extrapolated to the total number of eligible voters, the AfD result shrinks to 26 percent for first votes and 26.19 percent for second votes. So it is the non-voters who indirectly make the AfD strong here, or make it appear stronger than it actually is.
The social scientist observed that it was striking that the AfD did not dominate so strongly in the “better-off” Gelsenkirchen-Buer and that the Greens achieved their best result here. However, according to Eckhardt, wealthy voters in Gelsenkirchen do not shape entire districts, but at most smaller “islands” such as the “Graf Bismarck harbor district.”
I grew up in Duisburg, i studied there, i worked there, in Oberhausen, in Essen and in Bochum, and also privately spent a lot of time in Bochum and Mülheim. I know the people there – and not only those better off, but the majority. I spent 50 years in the ruhr region.
If you define “cosmopolitan” as international sophistication, then it didn’t ever match the ruhr area. The two big groups (of german and turkisch heritage) don’t mix. I was in two swimming clubs (amateur sports) and i don’t remember one turkisch member – or in the diving club. They even have their own soccer clubs.
Note that i don’t blame anyone for that. I blame scientist and politicians for being willfully blind.
Because anyone could see that, but nobody wanted to.
the hatred of both major ethnic groups – which is quite new, but not unifying.
The ruhr area was in trouble before these immigrants came, and already had a number of ethnic problems.
Then the eastern european immigrants came, and the lowest income groups among them went or were sent to exactly those districts where the income was lowest anyway.
Hoocoodanode?
neglect is a very nice word for what happened there. I’d call it robbery.
Corporate headquarters moved to town with lower taxes (Düsseldorf, i look at you). The wins went there, the dirt stayed in the industrial towns, and the unemployed… you get it.
A logical consequence of a rotten tax system.
Regards, Uwe
Thanks Kevin! Great news dump!
That unplugged Kraftwerk tribute band still needs a lot of work. I recommend sticking with the videos of the original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkHFQEGD6Lo
I wish you good luck with this coffee-break project. In any case: Good start!