Spyke

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europe

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Can Germany attract US researchers? | DW News

In my view not speaking English is the biggest disadvantage of many European countries:

People from other countries will have a substantially easier way of integrating into society in the UK, Canada etc. because there they won't have to choose between having to learn a new language or have difficulties finding jobs and navigating everyday life (like joining a sports club etc. ). Here in Germany the trend goes definitely towards more English speaking companies, projects and hobby groups but obviously English speaking countries will always have a substantial lead in that. Honestly if I thought about emigrating, my first thoughts would also be about some English speaking countries. So you will get by in Germany with English but it's highly desirable to learn German in the long run (which isn't only negative as learning other languages is good for ones brain, widens the horizon and is kinda cool).

That being said (take it with a grain of salt as I might be biased) the European Union and Germany still are good options because of

  • the amazing travel opportunities (Italian beaches, hiking in the Alps, millennia old cities like Rome, Paris and Prague etc.) just around the corner
  • attractive citizenship path (in Germany maximum five years)
  • relative democratic stability (in Germany: the AfD "only" has 20% voters with the remaining 80% strongly against cooperation and in big cities where most foreigners live it's substantially lower - moving into another European country is in the worst case also with hurdles)
  • solid economy (in the past two years stagnating but for example the new infrastructure bill will change that probably)
  • with for example the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Germany has some prestigious and productive research institutions
  • ...

On a more meta level non-English speaking countries might also have a disadvantage due to not even being considered in the first place because they are less prominent in the English speaking media.

Edit: Btw. the wages and working conditions in Germany in public research aren't very high but I assume that applies worldwide to research, which isn't funded by a company.

Edit2: The first points probably relate less to researchers than to other professionals as for scientific researchers it's more common to work in another country and to move on after some years (at least that's my perception as a non-expert).

Edit3: As far as I know the salary for researchers and professors can be quite higher than in for example Germany. However here you're supporting an academic system that excludes poor people less.

dach

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Bahn: Schienennetz hat sich 2025 nicht weiter verschlechtert

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Das stimmt, sie ist auf jeden Fall ein Grund zur Hoffnung. Trotzdem denke ich, dass es vor allem die zukünftigen Investitionen des Staates sind, die über das Schicksal des Schienennetzes bestimmen werden. Ausbleibende Finanzierung (und Priorisierung) durch die Politik erscheint mir eine plausiblere Erklärung zu sein, als dass ihre Vorgänger extrem inkompetent oder böswillig gewesen wären. Grad ein Blick nach Österreich und die Schweiz legt nahe, dass es einfach der politische Wille ist, der in Deutschland gefehlt hat und das leider Gottes immer noch ein Stück weit tut.

dach

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Öl-Blockade: Zwingt Trump nun Kuba in die Knie?

Das Vorgehen gegen Kuba scheint mir der bedeutendste Faktor für die Entführung Maduros zu sein (Marco Rubio als Außenminister der USA hat exilkubanische Wurzeln und hat schon lange angekündigt, dass er die Regierung in Kuba zu Fall bringen will).

Die ökonomischen Interessen werden sicher nicht irrelevant gewesen sein, sind aber denke ich eher klein vor allem, da es Jahre brauchen wird, die Infrastruktur zu errichten.

europe

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European tech alternatives: eutechmap.com

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I agree that these companies are mostly not saints, but having them on European ground means the current US administration doesn't get more taxpayer money. Even more importantly, here in the EU the data regulation is more strict and the US won't be able to freeze our accounts as Trump did with the International Criminal Court.

europe

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Czech prime minister in favour of social media ban for under-15s

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Wouldn't it be fine if the id reader app only transmits the boolean of whether you're older or younger than 15 years to the website? For me that would be an acceptable amount of personal data to share.

However I think that we need to regulate social media not just for kids but in general for the entire society. At least I don't want to know how much time I've already lost because of the Tech-companies. Especially for people in a bad psychological state these programs are creating considerable damage through their addictive algorithms.

On Youtube for example an option is needed for disabling the "suggested videos" part (and it should be enabled per default). It's true that in a free market one could just choose another provider but because of the network-induced monopolies that's not possible.

europe

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*Permanently Deleted*

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I think the concerns mainly evolve around the Baltics as f.e. Estonia couldn't defend alone against the Russian army and the armies of other nations could be to slow/ineffective to respond - before the region has been conquered. However I am also unsure how mandatory conscription could prevent this situation (maybe as a way to recruit more professional soldiers?).