Leftists need to do much better at denouncing imperialist oligarchs starting genocidal wars Conservatives need to do much better at not bootlicking enemies of the West and basic values

After 12 years of absence during the Orban rule, the Hungarian parliament raised the EU flag again. It is the latest sign that you should never surrender to populism or any other form of radicalism, even when the odds are against you. This is a decisive European victory.

Apart from anything else, this is just really stupid. If you want a broad demonstration of support for the UK Jewish community, don't make it the "we love Reform and hate the Greens" demo, or a lot of people will stay away. Board of Deputies. Bravely shattering stereotypes of Jews being smart.

Can this be the solution?

In Europe, it took less than a month for Orbán’s illiberal bloc to collapse, and both Fico and Babiš are now supporting Ukraine’s accession to the EU. It is a clear example of how a cult of personality dissipates after the “great leader” is stripped of power. Via @vatniksoup.bsky.social

Congratulations, this is the most sinister I've ever seen the words "baby oil" become by context

Just the oddest of beliefs that modern supply chains are not resilient. How do you think so many products are constantly available? And even were during covid? When do you think we had so much choice in the past? And how do you think companies get paid if their supply chains fail?

Trump and Elon Musk destroyed most of the global H.I.V. program that saved hundreds of thousands of lives in Zambia. Now the US is threatening to cut remaining support, unless Zambia gives access to the country’s mineral resources. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/h...

BREAKING: Viktor Orbán quits Hungary's parliament after 36 years – confirming my earlier scoop that he's planning a longer US trip this summer, where heads of the Orbán business empire – his daughter and son-in-law – already live, and where he could possibly seek refuge from prosecution.

Remarkable how accepted the double standard is when it comes to attacking voters. The right can have senior leaders call progressive voters every name under the sun. If some left wing Twitch streamer so much as hints the right aren't all economically anxious saints, we get 150 op-eds about it.

Incompetent courtiers being put in charge of key technical positions and then totally botching them was a recurring feature and major weakness of historical absolute monarchies and authoritarian regimes. Anyway, Bari Weiss,

What Bovino means: About a third of the population isn’t white.

Dit zijn letterlijke citaten van ministers aan COA, van een paar jaar geleden. Zo creëer je een crisis. Want in Den Haag sturen ze met geld, zonder rekening te houden met effecten IRL.

finally, someone has figured out how to allow people to put money on what’s going to happen with the S&P 500

War in Iran has used up half of US Patriot and THAAD missile stockpiles #Ukraine

Extremely concerning: "Estonia's Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told him by phone that the US would be suspending all arms deliveries to Estonia"

it really is remarkable *how mild* the op-ed that she wrote was. It really shouldn’t matter what she said, but I think they chose to make an example of her precisely *because* she didn’t do anything remotely wrong. They wanted to show they could do this to anyone.

The Free Press continues to be a propaganda outfit.

Trump threatens to leave NATO if European countries don’t join the US war on Iran, but it isn’t working because he has no credibility. Who trusts that he’ll honor NATO commitments? Who buys that Europe joining the war would make him back NATO? Who believes he’d even tell the truth if they did help?

This is a Ukrainian boy, Bohdan. He will forever be eight years old. Yesterday, a Russian drone killed Bohdan as he was playing on a playground in Cherkasy. Bohdan sang in the church choir. Deepest condolences... Russian terrorism must be stopped.

Morning.

Guess how many times this Spiked piece - which blames Orban’s loss on ‘identity politics’ and ‘therapy culture’ - mentions that Furedi is literally working for Orban? democracyforsale.substack.com/p/orbans-brits

I did appreciate the Russian doll with Orbán on the outside and Putin inside at the Tisza party 😀

This represents a real shift in tone from Zelenskyj. It seems impossible to play theatre any longer, because the truth is there for us all to see; Trump, Putin, Orban, Netanyahu - They are all on the same team. Team Dictatorship👇 bsky.app/profile/fact...

You think it's bad here?

💥ICYMI: We have evidence that Orbán’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó acted on behalf of the Kremlin, making efforts to delist sanctioned Russians. He also talked about doing his best to repeal an EU sanctions package and offered to try to save Russian entities from sanctions. @vsquare.bsky.social

It's adorable. I'm 35 and my mum still hides my Easter eggs every year. This year she hid them in our next-door neighbour's house. She even had them do a whole spiel. "Those are our children's eggs. We don't even know your mother. I'm calling the police!" LOL. Nice one mum.

This account has 50k+ followers, including celebs and big accounts, and he’s just performing one of the all-time hit singles of antisemitism on main.

Took me a sec but I knew I recognized that account. Check this out:

I thought about posting about someone writing a novel about a novelist’s self radicalisation Then I remembered this photo (Yep, that’s a mug commemorating the sectarian killers - sorry, great lads - of the Ulster Freedom Fighters)

As I've written many times, the liberal international order was never fully liberal, international, or orderly, but myopic selfish nationalism is no way to run a world.

Matt King Cole, champion of the downtrodden Chinese worker. Who knew? Ps Matt, I would rather be a member of the Lanyard Class than the Epstein Class.

Hasan is a racist piece of shit who openly stans some of the world’s most brutal authoritarians, and I have literally zero respect for the people who pretend otherwise for their own pathetic factional reasons

yes, most of what you know about the civil war came from people who weren’t there and had an agenda (shelby foote-esque southern sympathizers). people who were there described it as a jihad against the satanic plantation aristocrats

Viktor Orban is waging cognitive warfare on a scale no one else has tried before. "Emotions are high because the stakes are high. If he succeeds, he will once again blaze a path that others will follow. And if he loses, an era comes to an end." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Viktor Orbán created a new state foundation that forced independent media owners to transfer ownership, changed the state media into a propaganda mouthpiece, and hounded the remaining few free media with tax audits, raids, and surveillance. Over 80% of the media in Hungary is now in his hands.

“It is necessary for an invaded people to be crushed by an imperialist oppressor so that the global hegemon’s war of choice goes better. I am very left wing.”

So if the yanks come for the Belgians I will be like Gimli next to Legolas at Helm’s Deep, but otherwise I will stick to my “pervert Dutch” opinion

In the last 2 years, dozens of Israelis have been caught spying for Iran. There's a pattern: 1. They're recruited via messaging apps, usually Telegram 2. They're paid in crypto 3. They're given a series of escalating 'challenge' tasks, starting small (eg graffiti) and getting bigger (murder).

that feels like something you say when you're wearing a wire

The possibility that really worries me is that when Trump withdraws leaving the regime in place – which feels inevitable – the hardliners feel emboldened to sponsor terror in the west on a larger scale, betting that Trump won't want to do a replay of this debacle.

It says something about human nature that when there was talk of levelling this a few decades back, a fair number of the locals were up in arms. “Save Old Smokie” etc

Ah, the classic "we found military assets by Strava" story. Le Monde's, below, is the latest in a long, entertaining series. In 2022, I used it to work out the names of and plausible deployment dates for submariners on Britain's Trident nuclear subs... www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Decide between Noah Smith vs James Lindsay in a "whose brain got destroyed by Internet Harder" contest, challenge level impossible

Personal character in politicians is underrated. I don’t care that much we have the same opinions right now if your character is poor because 1. You will change your opinions as it benefits you 2. There’s a ton of stuff I don’t have opinions on that you need to make the right decisions for

"400 years ago it would never have occured to anyone to be introspective" is perhaps the dumbest thing I've ever heard someone say while try to sound smart. Hamlet was written over 400 years ago.

"Is it the Bilderbergers that are running the world? There are many other theories. It could be the Masons. Some think it’s the Rothschilds. Maybe it’s George Soros. I don’t know. What I do know is actually I don’t think any of it is a conspiracy theory" - Nigel Farage