Tuesday, April 21, 2026
"Use The Momentum": The EU Moves To Destroy The Last Vestiges Of National Sovereignty
The defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary last weekend was celebrated by many who saw the former president as establishing single-party rule in his central European nation. The irony is that this claimed victory for democracy may fuel the establishment of a global governance system that is neither democratic nor accountable to citizens.
The European Union was criticized by many for taking sides in the Hungarian election and for undermining Orban, who asserted national priorities in disputes with the EU.
No sooner had Orban conceded defeat than a jubilant European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for the final coup de grace for national identity and sovereignty: the elimination of the ability of nations to stand against EU policies.
Orban was controversial for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his lack of support for Ukraine. He was also accused of authoritarianism and corruption. I shared in some of those criticisms.
However, the unintended consequence of this election could be the removal of a single autocrat in favor of a global bureaucracy.
Van der Leyen helped elect the pro-EU Peter Magyar in order to remove a barrier to the EU’s ultimate exercise of power. The EU had been squeezing Hungary over its defiance by holding back billions in funds. Despite his tough talk on negotiations with the EU, Magyar is expected by EU bureaucrats to be a suppliant, willing to fall into line with the EU agenda.
The EU Chief has reportedly already given Magyar a list of 27 demands he must meet before she will turn the spigot back on. She did not try to hide the agenda, announcing that the EU needed to “use the momentum now” to consolidate its power.
With Hungary out of the way, Von der Leyen is calling for the EU to finally do away with the last vestige of national sovereignty: the veto exercised by its member states.
Under the plan, member states would lose control of their policy and could be forced to adhere to the priorities and values of the EU majority.
The EU Chief celebrated the new day of global governance in the making: “Moving to qualified majority voting in foreign policy is an important way to avoid systemic blockages, as we have seen in the past.”
In “Rage and the Republic,” I discuss the dangers posed to the American republic this century by the rise of global governance systems like the EU. The book explores how globalists planned to gradually get nations to yield their authority to the EU — destroying national identity and sovereignty in favor of an EU bureaucracy in Brussels.
As the EU moves to kill off national sovereignty, EU commissioners are calling for a single European military command, completing a longstanding globalist goal.
The 250th anniversary of our republic is occurring as we face an unprecedented EU threat. Our revolution was fought against a foreign empire. It now faces an even greater threat from a global government asserting the right to compel American companies to censor Americans and comply with environmental, social and governance or ESG policies.
At the same time, American figures such as Hillary Clinton are encouraging the EU to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights using the infamous Digital Services Act to restore speech controls to social media. Other Americans have testified before the EU, calling on it to fight the U.S. Banners are now flying in Europe declaring, “We are the Free World Now,” as the globalists attempt to supplant freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
If the American Republic is to survive another 250 years, it must preserve key rights that the EU has been systematically destroying in Europe — freedom of speech, division of powers and political accountability of decision-makers.
That is why, I believe, the EU is inherently unstable and likely to ultimately collapse.
The EU has worked very hard to dismantle national sovereignty and identity in its member states. Historically, such collapses have been followed by different forms of tyranny.
Whatever comes next — and I could be wrong in my pessimism about the EU — the U.S. must take seriously the threat that this global governance system poses to our own values and sovereignty.
Von der Leyen is right that there is “momentum now” for the globalists, but the momentum of history still rests with the U.S. and its unique experiment in self-governance.
We saw this threat before, and we defeated a world empire. If we are to survive and thrive in this century, we will need to return to our own creation as a republic — to dig deep down and remember who we are as citizens.
Ours was the first Enlightenment revolution that embraced natural rights originating not from government but from God. We remain a unique people, joined by an article of faith found in our own Declaration of Independence. If this republic is to survive, it will be up to each of us, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, to “keep it.”
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
UN shipping body prepares Persian Gulf evacuation plan - Bloomberg
The International Maritime Organization is working on an evacuation plan for hundreds of ships stranded in the Persian Gulf since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez.
China To Import Record Amount Of US Ethane As Iran War Chokes Off Naphtha, LPG Supplies
One year ago, in the immediate aftermath of Trump's Liberation Day tariffs, there was a flurry of discussion over who is more reliant on whom: the US on Chinese rare earth materials, or China on US ethane output (see "Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane Supply Evaporates" and "Who Blinks First? China May Exempt Tariffs On US Ethane & Other Goods"). Following the detente in the US-China trade war, that discussion was quietly relegated to the back of the line, however the time has come to bring it up again.
That's because with the Iran war choking off traditional - and crucial - supplies, China is set to import a record volume of US ethane this month as petrochemical producers desperately seek alternative feedstocks for their operations.
Shipments of US ethane are expected to rise to an all-time high of 800,000 tons in April, according to Chinese consultant JLC, which would be around 60% higher than the monthly average. Some companies can switch to using ethane, helping them offset disruptions to the supply of naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas from the Middle East after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Ethane is a natural gas liquid primarily used to produce ethylene, a key building block for plastics, and China depends almost entirely on the US for supply. The product became a political flashpoint between Beijing and Washington last year after the US tightened export controls during a bitter trade war.
Of course, this means that if Xi plays the rare earth cards in his upcoming summit with Trump, the US president can retaliate by simply shutting down China's plastics industry.
US ethane has become the preferred alternative for China’s ethylene makers due to stable supply and lower cost, said Shi Linlin, an analyst with JLC. Profits to produce ethylene from ethane was tenfold that of naphtha as of April 15, which has been inflated by crude-linked pricing, JLC said.
A ramp-up of downstream production capacity has also lead to a pickup in demand for the gas. A new ethane unit developed by Wanhua Chemical Group and a multi-feed cracker unit by Sinopec Ineos (Tianjin) Petrochemical Co., have both supported higher imports this year, Shi added.
The International Energy Agency said last week that “petrochemical feedstocks display the most immediate effects of the war by far,” and that supply chains to Asia have been thrown into “disarray.” Japan has been forced to scramble for naphtha, tapping a range of suppliers including from the US and Africa.
In February, just before the war started, more than 50% of China’s naphtha imports and over 40% of its LPG purchases originated from Persian Gulf nations, according to Chinese government data. That supply chain has now been cut off for as long as the Strait of Hormuz is blocked. And while China may have a massive 1.5 billion oil barrels in strategic petroleum storage, it has no naphta or ethane, meaning its plastic industry is suddenly very much exposed.
“The disruption around the Strait of Hormuz has really highlighted how exposed Asia is to Middle Eastern naphtha,” said Amber Liu, the head of Asia Petchem Analytics at ICIS. This year, naphtha-fed crackers have accounted for about 57% of China’s ethylene capacity, compared with 16% for ethane, she said.
China’s ethane buying spree comes ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned visit to Beijing in mid‑May, and US energy is expected to be part of the agenda. It could feature prominently if the Iran war continues to drag on.
China protests US report on Hong Kong
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it lodged an official protest with the United States after the US State Department issued a report on the situation in Hong Kong last week.
The report stated that the Chinese government and Hong Kong authorities have "systematically degraded Hong Kong’s political autonomy and civilians’ rights and freedoms" over the past several years. It also claimed that US citizens living in Hong Kong are at a "heightened risk of arrest, detention, expulsion, or prosecution." The local authorities dismissed the report as "wanton slander."
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/China-protests-US-report-on-Hong-Kong/66111027
Kallas: EU to make important decisions on Ukraine loan
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas announced on Tuesday that the bloc will make "important decisions" tomorrow regarding a €90 million loan to Ukraine.
"Ukraine really needs this loan, and it is also a sign that Russia cannot outlast Ukraine. This is extremely important at this moment," Kallas told reporters in Luxembourg, ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting of EU Foreign Ministers.
Kallas also shared that the ministers will discuss the status of the Druzhba pipeline, as well as the situation in the Middle East.
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Kallas:-EU-to-make-important-decisions-on-Ukraine-loan/66111288
Spain, Slovenia, Ireland call to suspend EU-Israel treaty
Spain, Slovenia, and Ireland have urged the European Union to consider suspending its association treaty with Israel, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters on Tuesday before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
"Spain, along with Slovenia and Ireland, has requested that the suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel be discussed and debated today," Albares said.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called on Sunday to break the agreement, accusing Israel of violating international law and therefore the terms of the deal. However, the total suspension of the association agreement requires "unified position" among the countries, accourding to EU Foreign Affairs chief Kaja Kallas.
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Spain-Slovenia-Ireland-call-to-suspend-EU-Israel-treaty/66111356