#EU Defence

[thoughtlessarse]

Irish officials have told the Defence Minister, Tánaiste Simon Harris, that many of Ireland’s EU partners are in “full war preparation mode”. A high-level briefing document for the new minister said European defence was increasingly seen as “vital” to the EU’s very security. The ministerial brief from the Department of Defence said “strengthening cyber defence capabilities” and “securing critical infrastructure” were key matters on the EU agenda. The document said that up until now, Ireland’s position, and that of other countries, of military neutrality, had been accepted, but that the changing geopolitical climate and the decision of previously neutral states such as Sweden and Finland to join Nato would likely result in a “lower tolerance or understanding” of this position into the future. The briefing said defence and security are now at the top of the EU agenda. "In this current geopolitical climate, European defence is therefore increasingly viewed as vital to Europe’s existential security, with many member states calling for a strategic paradigm shift in the EU’s defence approach and priorities,” it said.

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[auditect]

Now, please point out the part where I mentoined that it was canon to Lucas personally.

As for the individual you just linked, I am familiar with him. We had previously engaged in a debate where he tried to argue that Mace Windu having a blue lightsaber a decade before the Clone Wars was definitve proof the EU was never canon, despite Rey, Anakin and Luke all having blue lightsabers at first and then switching to a different lightsaber colour in canon. Needless to say, he failed to impress me as an unbiased source or strike me as someone who is willing to admit a mistake when proven wrong. (by this logic, TCW isn't canon either because Windu has gauntlets that he dosen't wear in the movies)

Moving on to why the EU was canon, If George Lucas had consistently said "the EU was never canon" then you would indeed be correct. However, his opinion on the EU was known for being extremely inconsistent. Yes, sometimes he said that it's in a different universe to his saga, other times he said it expands the universe. There are also times where interviewers asked him about off-screen events from the films, such as how Anakin got his scar from Revenge of the Sith, and Lucas would tell them to read the comics, which does suggest he at least sometimes concidered them to inform the films. (If you're interested, the story of how Anakin got his scar is told in the comic "Dreadnoughts of Rendili".)

I have linked a video that gives further examples of GL's opinion on the Expanded Universe's canonicity changing:

Please keep in mind, this is by no means to be disrespectful towards George Lucas. Opinions change with time and that's okay. However, it does put into question to how it was officially treated, outside of Lucas' personal opinion, and by then, it should become pretty obvious that the EU was intended to be viewed as canon.

A dead giveaway would be the presence of the Infinities logo, which was specifically intended to mark non-canonical stories such as Tag & Bink or most of Star Wars Tales. Why a continuity that was supposedly never canon would even need a logo to point out non-canonical stories is beyond me.

Leeland Chee is also living proof of the EU's canonicity. His job was to maintain the continuity and decide how different stories fit into the canon.

The truth is that before 2014, things weren't as simple as "canon" and "non-canon". There were different tiers, with most of the Expanded Universe being placed into something called "C-canon", not "Non-canon".

If you would like even further proof of the Expanded Universe being officially canon, I recommend checking this video by Manda-LORE, starting at the six minute mark explicitly proving that the EU was officially canon.

Of course, just because the EU was official canon, dosen't mean you have to personally view it as such. If you only want to accept George Lucas' vision of Star Wars as the only true one, that's completely fair. However, I do have to take Issue with a double standart that I've hinted at in my previous comment: You are indeed correct in saying that the EU may not have been part of George Lucas' personal view of Star Wars. But there's the thing, TCW wasn't, either.

If you look at the canon hierarchy that I posted above, TCW was not concidered G-canon back in the day. It wasn't until after the Disney buyout that the show was promoted to the same canon status as the films. You'd think that if mere statements by Lucas count as G-canon, then a show he was supposedly "heavily involved" in absolutely would.

Obviously, Dave Filoni loves riding the "I was George Lucas' Padawan" train, alledgedly even to the point of sabotaging the careers of people who threaten this claim, but the fact is that George Lucas has not written or directed a single episode. When he talks about the story of Star Wars in interviews, he dosen't mentoin Ahsoka, the Mortis Gods, or any events that were shown only in TCW, he only talks about the six films.

Watching DVD extras and featurettes, it's always Dave Filoni talking about the creation of the show, and rarely if ever Lucas. It's Filoni's brainchild, not that of George Lucas. Plus, you'd think that if George Lucas was as involved in the show as the fans claim, he would be available to voice his own character.

Here is an interview quote where Dave admits that George Lucas did not have a lot of input in the making of TCW:

"So right now, Resistance is a bit different, in that I'm not on that day-to-day. I created and set it in motion, but I've given that to other people to raise up, people that I've worked with a long time, who I think deserve the opportunity to tell stories and I think it's exciting, and I give them my thoughts and notes – I was just doing that this morning, like George would give me. So that's fun."

George wasn't nearly as involved in TCW as some fans claim, aside from answering some questions from the creators and saying yes or no to to what people were or weren't allowed to do. If you think that this is enough to declare the show as being canon to George Lucas, then the EU would by that logic also be canon to Lucas.

Here are some notable contributions George Lucas had to the Expanded Universe:

Changing the ending of the comic The Dreams of Cody Sunn-Childe from Lando originally seeing the truth in the titular character's pacifistic ways to disagreeing with them.

Killing off the Towani family in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor

Resurrecting Palpatine in Dark Empire

Talk Timothy Zahn out of making Joruus C'Baoth a clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Confirming that Spice is a drug for Jedi Search

Having Quinlan Vos survive Order 66

Establishing Darth Plagueis' species as a Munn

There are also several instances where TCW outright went against George Lucas' input, such as his statement that Yoda never visited Dagobah being contradicted by the Episode "Voices". Dave Filoni has also infamously went against George Lucas' wishes to kill off Ahsoka Tano, which he proudly admits to in the featurette of "The Wrong Jedi".

This is actually something that I brought up in my earlier discussion with David, to which he replied that going strictly against George Lucas' wishes somehow made it closer to Lucas' true vision, while at the same time not being above using nitpicks and very minor inconsistensies such as the colour of Mace Windu's lightsaber to discredit the EU. Needless to say, I'm not exactly convinced of David's supposed objectivity or expertise in George Lucas' view of canonicity.

I didn't mean to turn this into an essay, but in conclusion, Star Wars had a canon hierarchy before Disney took over, the EU was officially canon and TCW was also canon, but both were overruled by the movies.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

I don’t think some people realize why the gray jedi thing pisses some of us off so badly.

Imagine you like lord of the rings and you decide to look around the fandom.

And it turns out that 10+ or something years ago someone wrote a piece of fanfiction where they rewrote the rules for the ring. So instead of it only having one master and corrupting everyone else that tried to use it, it sometimes chooses to take a new master if it feels the person is worthy of it. And therefore this author’s self-insert OC can now use the one ring in all its glory without getting turned crazy.

This fanfic gets published (as some fanfics do) and most of the fandom has read it and loves it.

Now, when you (someone who has only dealt with canon works written by Tolkien) see this fic you go… huh. That’s nice, but it goes against the very point of the books and the lore tolkien created. So while it’s a good fic I’m not going to interact with it.

But then people keep harassing you for taking about/ writing the one ring the way tolkien wrote it to begin with.

And they SWEAR that this is the Actual lore of the one ring, and that YOU are wrong. Which is completely insane to you, because FRODE TOOK IT TO MORDOR FOR A REASON. There is only one lord of the ring!! That’s literally the name of the series that’s what it’s about!! If what the fandom was insisting about was possible, there would be no plot. In the original books.

This is why we are so upset over gray jedi!! Bc if it was possible to use the dark side but still be a good guy then wtf is wrong with Anakin? Why the fuck did Darth Vader fall to the dark side? Why did Luke struggle so much? If you can have your cake and eat it too why are the movies so fuckin long?? Why did Luke fail against Vader in Empire? what lesson did he learn in Return? Why would the movie be called Return of the Jedi if Luke had not learned the Jedi ways????

You can write OC’s as gray jedi all you want but when you start forcing it into canon it literally ruins the movies!

[auditect]

Finally finished my Ki-Adi-Mundi defense video!

@antianakin asked me to tag him.

[sskk-manifesto]

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[naija247new]

EU Nations Agree on €150bn Joint Defence Fund to Counter Russian Threat

BRUSSELS – Naija247news – European Union member states have reached a landmark agreement to establish a €150 billion defence fund aimed at boosting joint arms procurement and strengthening the continent’s military readiness amid growing threats from Russia and global instability. Announced on Wednesday, the fund is designed to accelerate investments in critical defence systems, including air and…

[kamalkafir-blog]

Defence, trade and geopolitics on the cards at U.K.’s ‘reset’ summit with EU

[ASIA] U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host the first U.K.-EU Summit since Brexit, as the Labour government attempts to “reset” ties with the bloc, some nine years after the U.K. left the EU.  | Photo Credit: Reuters U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host the first U.K.-EU Summit since Brexit, as the Labour government attempts to “reset” ties with the bloc, some nine years after the…

[thewordenreport]

Several E.U. states will spend more on defence and the Commission is waiving the state deficit and debt limits: Capitulation at the federal level? https://thewordenreport-governmentandmarkets.blogspot.com/2025/05/bottom-heavy-federalism-eu-stability.html

[thequickfl]

A reinforced EDIP as backbone for European autonomy and common defence

[fandfnews]

Italian PM Calls for Reasoned Approach Amid Escalating EU-US Tariff Tensions

In a heartfelt video address to Italian American citizens, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni emphasized the deep, unbreakable bond between Italy and the United States while calling for a measured response to the unfolding tariff dispute between the EU and the US. Speaking with emotion, Meloni expressed profound gratitude for the Italian-American community’s contributions to America’s prosperity and…

[youthchronical]

'Basic trust': Ukraine’s Zelenskyy proposes air and sea truce to test Russia’s will for peace - The Times of India

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on European Union leaders to support a limited truce with Russia, Reuters news agency reports.The proposed truce would focus on air and sea warfare as a way to gauge Moscow’s willingness to end the conflict.Speaking at a summit in Brussels on Thursday, where European leaders gathered to discuss defence spending and support for Ukraine, Zelenskyy…

[thoughtlessarse]

“Without the control over its own arms, a country cannot be sovereign,” Andriès said, arguing for European purchases over American. European preference could help foster European-wide industrial cooperation, said Olivier Andriès, CEO of French giant Safran, a key player in the manufacturing of defence products used in Ukraine. “We will see European countries starting to think about buying European rather than American," Andriès said in an interview with Euractiv. For the Frenchman, the clash between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office was a turning point for the European countries' procurement strategies – or at least it should have been. Europeans are the US' number one buyer of defence equipment, according to SIPRI data. As Andriès pointed out, "there is a large trade deficit in defence equipment between the US and Europe.” As most Europeans are largely dependent on the US for defence, growing uncertainty around US involvement in Europe's security has led to a reassessment of procurement strategies. “We will see what happens," he said. But "given what has happened over the past few weeks, there is a case for making progress on criteria [for a European preference], particularly on the design authority," remaining in the hands of EU industries. Design authority allows manufacturers to change the product according to needs, and the end-user may use it according to their wish, without any interference from a foreign country.

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[channeledhistory]

The parties in talks to form Germany's new government are considering quickly setting up two special funds potentially worth hundreds of billions of euros, one for defence and a second for infrastructure, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Economists advising the parties that will likely form a new government coalition estimate around 400 billion euros ($415 billion) are needed for the defence fund and 400 billion to 500 billion euros for the infrastructure fund, the people said. [...]

[mapsonly]

A look at European defense and security in the prospect of strategic autonomy, 2019.

Maps on Telegram

[wherepond]

Jeffrey Sachs Ukraine [Part 1]

Professor Jeffrey Sachs (clip 26 Feb 2025): Istanbul negotiations left out EU's war narrative

'US lost it …' , Jeffrey Sach's speech goes viral after Trump-Zelensky fiery clash in The Oval Office

"To be an enemy of the United States is dangerous but to be a friend is fatal" - Henry Kissinger

Jeffrey Sachs' EU Parliament explosive speech shakes Europe & Middle East

Jeffrey Sachs talks about Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, NATO & defence of Europe

US & Russia have resumed diplomatic contact. Zelensky is perceived to be an obstacle to peace because he does not allow free speech, freedom of the press, elections & peaceful negotiation to end the war.

Jeffrey Sachs talks about Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Volodymyr Zelensky & Benjamin Netanyahu

American economist and Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs says while President Trump is trying to normalize US' relationship with Russia, it's certain that Ukraine won't be part of NATO. Sachs says Europe is in a state of shock and confusion over Trump's recent tirade against Ukrainian President Zelensky, but Kyiv should get security guarantees from the United Nations Security Council.

Tucker Carlson's interview with Jeffrey Sachs on Israel driving US' Middle East policy

Gadaffi lashes out at Arab leaders during the 2008 Arab League Summit. He was right!

Jeffrey Sachs in Brussels on best money America can spend

American Economist Jeffrey Sachs in European Parliament session in Brussels. Speech from 20 Feb 2025.

Jeffery Sachs warns EU about US policy

In a conference held discussing the US position on Russia and Ukraine, Political Economist Jeffery Sachs warns Europe not to believe everything they hear about Russia from the Western media.

American shocked Europe with his statement & Von der Leyen will never forget it

Continue to Part 2

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