PostmaPolitico

Lawyer/pol.scientist | Organist/pianist |Follows UK & NL politics | Pro EU+NATO | For US news and commentary Roger the Dutch Resister @Roger_J_Postma on X

[PostmaPolitico @PostmaPolitico]

"People were created to be loved, and things were created to be used.

The world is in chaos because things are being loved and people are being used.

[Caspar Veldkamp @CasparVeldkamp]

Honoured to have been nominated for the position of Ambassador of the European Union 🇪🇺 to China 🇨🇳 - Looking forward to this fascinating new role. https://t.co/ZWU1hhKnl1

[Caolan @CaolanReports]

Every sign at this refinery in Ireland is in russian. The official website is a .RU domain.

There’s no reason to hide it because local politicians are openly doing it for them.

[Other Europe 🇪🇺 @other_europe]

A FEDERAL EUROPE is our FUTURE. 🇪🇺

[Gabrielius Landsbergis🇱🇹 @GLandsbergis]

Zelenskyy doesn't need European mediation at the negotiating table, he needs European support on the battlefield.

[Nick Reeves #RejoinEU #NAFO #FBPE @nickreeves9876]

Please repost if you agree that Brexit is the greatest betrayal of our country in modern British political history.

[Jack Prandelli @jackprandelli]

Norway and the UK drilled the same North Sea.

🇳🇴Norway got $2 trillion.
🇬🇧The UK got tax cuts.

Same basin,Same era.... Completely different outcomes.

Norway captured $30 per barrel in government revenue. The UK captured $11.

That gap, compounded over 50 years of production, is the entire difference.

Norway's model was simple: tax heavily (78% marginal rate), take direct equity stakes in fields via the SDFI, own part of Equinor, and put everything surplus into a fund invested abroad.

The Government Pension Fund Global now holds over $2 trillion in assets.
That's $390,000 per Norwegian citizen about 1.5% of all listed equities on earth.

The fiscal rule: only spend the 3% annual real return. Never touch the principal.

The UK started producing earlier, at lower prices, with a lower tax rate (40%) and no saving mechanism.

North Sea revenues flowed straight into the general budget.

Economists estimate the UK missed out on roughly £400 billion compared to a Norwegian style regime.

The windfall largely financed tax cuts in the 1980s rather than a fund.

Where things stand in 2026?

Norway's petroleum sector will generate $63 bn in net cash flow this year alone feeding a fund already large enough to cover 10-15% of the national budget from returns alone.

The UK is a net energy importer.
Since 2021 it has paid countries like Norway more than £100 billion for gas.

One country treated oil as a finite resource to convert into permanent financial wealth.

The other treated it as income.

image source:eia

[🇺🇦 Roger the Dutch 🇳🇱 Resister 🇺🇸 @Roger_J_Postma]

"A strong and sovereign Europe within NATO"

Not a separate European army, but allied EU countries in NATO - without the Americans

The French president is exactly right about the future European security architecture

[Martien Visser @BM_Visser]

Huishoudens in NL betalen nu een vast bedrag (circa €450) per jaar voor het stroomnetwerk, of ze nu heel veel of juist heel weinig elektriciteit verbruiken; of ze het netwerk nu zwaar of nauwelijks belasten. Dat is natuurlijk niet eerlijk.

De kosten van het stroomnetwerk gaan sterk stijgen, verdubbelen zelfs, dus die oneerlijkheid wordt steeds groter.

[Terzijde: huishouden betalen, bovenop de netwerkkosten, inclusief belasting, ongeveer 25€ct/kWh voor stroom].

Voorstel Netbeheerders aan de ACM is om vanaf 2029 het vaste netwerktarief (€450, straks €900) met 2/3 te verlagen, en daarnaast een tarief per kWh afname te introduceren. Veel-gebruikers gaan zo meer voor het netwerk betalen. Zuinige gebruikers juist (veel) minder. Invoeding blijft gratis.

Bijgaand de tabel met het voorstel. Er komt verschil tussen zomer en winter en het kWh-tarief varieert over de dag. Om een indruk te geven: doe de factoren (in 2029) maal circa 35 €ct/kWh.Vanmiddag (19 mei) zou gebruik van het netwerk dan gratis zijn, vanavond vanaf 19 uur betaalt u er circa 25 €ct/kWh voor.

Volgens berekeningen van de Netbeheerders gaat circa 60% van de huishoudens er op vooruit; of beter gezegd: zij hebben altijd teveel betaald voor het netwerk.
De andere 40% gaat erop achteruit; of beter gezegd: zij hebben altijd te weinig betaald voor het netwerk.

Extra voordeel van dit systeem is dat gebruikers het netwerk minder gaan gebruiken in de avondpiek, waardoor minder investeringen nodig zijn (minder hoge tarieven) en wachtrijen verkort worden waardoor weer huizen kunnen worden gebouwd, en bedrijven geëlektrificeerd.

Al in 2019 bepleitte ik al een eerlijker systeem van verdeling van de netwerkkosten, zie linkje onderaan. Het is wel zeker dat, wanneer dit toen was ingevoerd, de wachtrijen nu veel korter zouden zijn geweest en de netwerktarieven lager. Gemiste kans.

Ongetwijfeld zal er veel ophef zijn over de aanpassingen. zo gaat dat nu eenmaal in Nederland. Hopelijk houdt de @AutoriteitCM haar rug recht en komt het nieuwe tariefsysteem er snel.

https://t.co/JdtGCIqrc8

[Peter Dynes @PGDynes]

Europe is swinging from Arctic frosts to near-35°C heat within days. Some parts will warm by ~15°C in a week. Agriculture does not thrive under violent thermal instability. Ecosystems depend on stability, not a whiplash. This is what climate instability looks like in practice.

[WORLD NEWS @_MAGA_NEWS_]

WATCH: In a jaw-dropping statement, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has declared that "supporting Ukraine is not only a moral duty but also a strategic necessity, because at stake is not only the dignity, freedom, and independence of Kyiv but also the security of Europe."

[Maria Avdeeva @maria_avdv]

Ukraine’s Leléka closes her Eurovision set with a trident and “Slava Ukraini” from the stage 💙💛

[UAVoyager🇺🇦 @NAFOvoyager]

Alice Weidel says Ukrainian drone strikes inside russia threaten Germany’s security.

Not the russian genocide.
Not the daily terror attacks.
Not the massacres.
Not the millions displaced across Europe.

Only Ukraine fighting back.

Absolutely vile hypocrisy.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

It was a Kh-101 missile that struck a residential building in Kyiv, according to preliminary data.

The missile was manufactured in the second quarter of this year. This means Russia is still importing the components, resources, and equipment necessary for missile production in circumvention of global sanctions.

Stopping Russia’s sanctions evasion schemes must be a genuine priority for all our partners.

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

Within four months, Russia has increased the number of military personnel operating drones by 28,000; by the end of the year, this figure could rise to 168,000. The Ukrainian Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert "Magyar."

If you live in the EU, please do not read any further!

EU Personnel for Military Drones:
Fewer than 1,500 certified military drone operators across all EU armed forces combined.

[PostmaPolitico @PostmaPolitico]

🎯

[In Ukraine @InUKRofficial]

In case you were wondering why Ukraine has such a flag 🇺🇦

[Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen]

It's Europe Day!

Today, we celebrate all that Europe stands for.

And we celebrate all of us, the citizens of Europe.

Because all together, we are Europe.

Happy Europe Day!

[NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 @NOELreports]

❗️The Netherlands is pushing the EU to revisit using €210 billion in frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, Politico reports. Dutch Finance Minister Eelco Heinen raised the issue in a closed Brussels discussion with EU counterparts on May 5. #Ukraine

[Mark Carney @MarkJCarney]

Princess Margriet was born here in Ottawa during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

After the war, her mother, Princess Juliana, gifted 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canada in gratitude for the leading role Canadian soldiers played in liberating the people of the Netherlands, and for providing refuge to the Dutch Royal Family.

Every year, the Canadian Tulip Festival serves as a symbol of the lasting friendship between our two nations. It was an honour to meet Princess Margriet in Ottawa today.

[NXT EU @NXT4EU]

Canada turned the Niagara Falls blue for the European Union! 🇪🇺🇨🇦

They also played Ode to Joy, the EU's anthem, an early celebration of Europe Day which is celebrated tomorrow.

Europe & Canada, we are family ❤️

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

It will be monumentally hilarious if, amid all this drama, Ukraine ultimately choses not to strike the “victory day parade” in Moscow at all -- but instead uses the opportunity to hit exposed military factories and oil terminals all across European Russia, precisely in those areas where air defenses had been pulled away to shield Putin’s trembling ass for 20 minutes in the open air.