It’s too easy – and too wrong – to dismiss the atrocity-ridden crisis in #Sudan by saying "no one cares". I can assure you, lots of people care. The problem is elsewhere. Read more in the latest edition of my newsletter: www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/no-one-cares...

My mind immediately went to Carl Sagan and Neil D Tyson. I grieve for the future student -- full of ambition, talent, and wanting skill -- who wanted to get into Cornell. That student will be forced to consider their hopes on an ethical scale thrown off balance by the institution itself.

How Cornell University gave in to the Trump regime's extortion... Here's the "agreement": statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...

That there are polls on such issues shows a society seriously considering barbarism as an option. The stocks? What’s next? The wheel? Flaying? Impaling? At least most see sense and oppose the authorities beating people. However, it’s sad most think it’s OK for authorities to murder people.

Super interesting thread.

He should have been prosecuted for torture. www.hrw.org/report/2015/... Another ugly criminal escapes justice. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Let’s be clear, most EBT users are white. The reason he’s specifically lying about “weaves” and we’ve seen so many AI fakes of Black women ranting about food stamps is they need to make BW the face EBT because they know many Americans don’t care if Black people suffer, and some actually wish for it.

In short, the ANES data shows: 📉 Social media use is shrinking 💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right 🧩 Platforms are splintering 🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme

"From Brussels to Budapest, from Bratislava to Sofia, EU institutions and national governments are deploying a five-step playbook to eliminate the independent organisations that stand between corporate power and the public interest." euobserver.com/news/ar1c67c...

Arrested & tortured by Russian forces in Central African Republic, humanitarian researcher Joseph Figueira Martin has been imprisoned in inhuman conditions for over 500 days. Finally, he has a trial date: Tuesday, 28 October. www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/

"History has already shown us how this story unfolds. Fascism is not built only in the camps and cells. It is built in the shrug, the silence, the insistence that life can go on as if nothing has changed" Frederick Joseph"A Thought on Normalcy in Fascism" frederickjoseph.substack.com/p/normal-tim...

'The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, said: “This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”'

The Epstein Ballroom. As disgusting as you'd expect.

"The message is clear that dissent will be punished." www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

This is a pretty grim story about the new humanitarian realities in some parts of Africa-especially when Russian involvement is part of the problem…

Arrested & tortured by Russian forces in Central African Republic, humanitarian researcher Joseph Figueira Martin has been imprisoned in inhuman conditions for over 500 days. Finally, he has a trial date: Tuesday, 28 October. www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/

The problem is that in Hollywood films, which is the only way lotsa people learn history, 20th century fascism is portrayed via battlefields and romanticized secret resistance groups and they don't make movies about the complicity of corporations and big business.

Russia murdering children in #Ukraine. Again. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

"A majority of Americans agree 'President Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy' (56%)" prri.org/research/tru...

Corruption is an integral part of fascism. It’s a tool of control. It’s a method of destroying institutions, and destroying the confidence & stability that those institutions provide. Corruption fosters cynicism & a sense of powerlessness among the populace. This is MUCH more than mere looting.

When people call it fascism, it's almost giving Trump too much credit. It's just a looting spree. All the ideological moves - the murders at sea, the masked goons arresting folks in the streets, the collapse of rule of law - are just cover to steal as much as he can www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...

Good. Walking around Brussels, I see more drivers looking at their phones than paying attention to the road. www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1804...

In case anyone is still unclear how dictatorships work, here it is: anything Dear Leader does or says is great and true, in the minds of his followers.

Is the real reason for this simply that Putin can't get to Budapest without risk of being shot down or forced down? www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

"Trump wanted to mock and smear millions of Americans, literally depicting them covered in excrement, precisely so that none of his own supporters would want to join them." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

“The most reliable predictor of future conflict in a place is past conflict in that place. In large part, this is because of unresolved injustices. Resentments over past crimes simmer. Then, they boil over. In other words, “they got away with mass murder” is not a great way to build a lasting peace”

Great article, and incisive: you’re right. It’s the key trade off. But remember conflicts differ, and a top-down deal which puts peace over justice is more suitable for two well ordered enemies. Fractious, messy violent disorder-type conflict needs a measure of justice for peace to be possible.

In trying to end conflict, how do you balance the immediate need for peace with the moral imperative of justice for the victims of war-time atrocities? The latest edition of my newsletter: www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/justice-vs-p...

Jesus and the Founding Fathers were all very much pro-kings and pro-ballrooms...

Listen! Do not let your fight against fascism stop with today’s No King’s protest—let today start & accelerate! Register to vote, volunteer on a campaign, get involved locally, donate to a candidate you believe in, run for office—democracy is not for bystanders! Democracy needs your courage!❤️✊🏽

As someone who received countless death threats from "Pepe the Frog" nazis on Twitter years ago, I am very pleased to see this reversal. Shout out to all the amphibians.

The catastrophic descent of the Republican Party into pure hatred and authoritarianism is made so clear by this video. I was no fan of Reagan by any means, but he understood at least one key thing that Trump and his corrupt, abusive regime can never comprehend...

Let me guess: the Trump regime is sending survivors/witnesses of its crimes to a place where no one will ever hear from them again. Extreme lawlessness. See also: www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/trumps-marin...

Dumb. Dangerous. Dystopian. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...

There is evidence supporting this globally already. When you repeat far right framing you end up normalising it. We're seeing same thing with Labour pandering to the far right, and how they're actually helping Reform gain support with their rhetoric and policies. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Many experts on conflict would say the beginning of a civil war is when security services split against each other.

Over the past 6 weeks, the US has bombed boats in the Caribbean at least 6 times, killing at least 27 people they call "narcoterrorists" If the government declares you a criminal, they can just kill you?asks @andrewstroehlein.bsky.social www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/trumps-marin...

Kidnapping of children by government thugs described as "efficient"...

In the past 6 weeks, the US has bombed boats in the Caribbean at least 6 times, killing at least 27 people. Washington says they were “narcoterrorists” so… So, what exactly? If the government declares you a criminal, they can just kill you? www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/trumps-marin...

Anchorage 2 in Budapest. Trump is so out of his depth with Putin, giving the war criminal what he wants: global acceptability and helping Putin and sidekick Orbán undermine the EU. www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

"The government doesn’t track how many citizens are held by immigration agents." Gee, I wonder why...

I'm old enough to remember Republicans cheering when Ronald Reagan said: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help." Anyway, great fact-check from AFP on another lie-filled video from the Whitehouse: factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

BREAKING: Immigration officers in the Chicago area will be required to wear body cameras after the use of tear gas and other actions against protesters, a judge rules.

You can call these "extrajudicial killings" - the Trump regime acting as executioner without any trials for the accused. Or you can put it simply: this is murder. Multiple murders. And the regime doesn't even seem to know who they are murdering. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

This.

Brexit was a political con job, only of benefit to a few political con artists. Everyone else in the UK will continue to pay for some folks getting conned.

“‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat *** Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.”

I know people who were raised in a Christian atmosphere & now loudly claim to be Christians, who have zero compassion for others. I also know people who were raised in a Christian atmosphere but are now atheists, who have dedicated their lives to helping others. So, who understood the message?

A group calling itself the "Antifa Tabernacle Choir" has sent me this recording in preparation for #NoKings protest on 18 October. drive.proton.me/urls/H15VR7G...

Meet the man tapped to be the Czech Republic's next Foreign Minister, Filip Turek. He has repeatedly endorsed Hitler and belittled the Holocaust. His string of racist vulgarities includes calling Obama the n-word. His sexist ugliness includes rejecting women's suffrage. denikn.cz/1864721/popa...