This should have been front page news www.ft.com/content/6596...

Vilnius was lovely and peaceful, on 10 September. But as a participants in a conference on Belarus, I could not tune the geopolitical turmoil and anxiety out. and the stories of 'old' autocracy, as a cautionary tale and reminder of Belarussians denied freedom: open.substack.com/pub/antoanet...

Als een partijkantoor wordt aangevallen IS het politiek. Punt.

Arendt: under “Hitler, the whole state machinery enforced what [are] normally criminal activities…there was hardly an act of state which according to normal standards was not criminal…[M]en who did wrong…acted under conditions in which every moral act was illegal & every legal act was a crime”

Russia is escalating its military provocations. We shall “escalate” the strengthening of our #DefenceReadiness and deterrence capabilities.

‼️ NATO describes MiG jets' incursion into Estonia as "reckless Russian behaviour"

🇵🇱✈️⚠️ Two Russian fighter jets conducted a low pass over the Petrobaltic platform in the Baltic Sea. The platform's safety zone was violated. The Polish Armed Forces and other services were notified.

@pkrugman.bsky.social at Leiden University in The Hague: leading a broad debate ranging from unemployment in disadvantaged regions to geopolitics and why we cannot and should not try to reverse globalization @fggaleiden.bsky.social

#Belarus The Prosecutor General Andrei Shved has submitted a petition to the Supreme Court to recognize the European Humanities University as an "extremist organization." So much for de-escalation and dialogue with the West.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson slammed Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán for spreading “outrageous lies” after Orbán said Sweden is on the brink of collapse because of rampant organized crime.

🇷🇴 The Romanian authorities have announced a danger for settlements near the Romanian-Ukrainian border.

BREAKING: Romania says a Russian drone violated its airspace, fighter jets scrambled

🇪🇺✅ The EU Council has extended sanctions against Russia until March 15, 2026. They affect more than 2,500 people and entities and include an entry ban, asset freeze and financial resource restriction.

"The United States is lifting sanctions on the Belarusian airline Belavia." - U.S. Special Representative John Cole announced during his visit to Minsk. According to him, U.S. President made this decision after a phone call with Lukashenko. The U.S. also plans to reopen its embassy in Minsk.

EU court annuls the Commission’s approval for Hungary’s Rosatom-built Paks II, saying Brussels failed to justify bypassing EU procurement rules. Budapest says the project remains on schedule and will work with the Commission to show compliance. Brussels is reviewing next steps.

Lukashenka pardoned 52 political prisoners. Among them are Nikolai Statkevich, Uladzimir Matskevich, Igor Losik and 14 foreigners. Maria Kolesnikova and Viktar Babarika are not among those released

#Belarus leader Lukashenko, close ally of #Putin, frees 52 political prisoners after talks w #Trump envoy Group includes opposition activists, journalists, protesters, 14 foreign nat'ls Lukashenko: “Our main task to stand w Trump & help him in his quest for peace" re #Russia invasion of #Ukraine

Moscow had been preparing drone attacks on Poland since July, using Polish and Lithuanian SIM cards in UAVs, Defense Express reports. Polish authorities were warned about test connections to their mobile networks. The likely goal was to gather intel on Poland’s air defense systems.

Is het kabinet al bijeen? Wanneer was de laatste keer dat Nederland ongepland oorlogshandelingen uitvoerde?

Politici die politici gaan onderzoeken, what could go wrong?

The main lesson from last night for Poland (indeed all NATO in CEE) should be that their defense starts in Ukraine. Imagine the results if Russians could launch a massive UAV attack on Poland from just over the border in Ukraine?

Ursula von der Leyen is delivering her State of the Union speech at 9 a.m. In it, the EU chief will set out her vision for the year ahead. A rocky 12 months await — but she's unlikely to phrase it that way. We'll be breaking down everything she says, live: ow.ly/G69Q50WUl26

Aanbevolen: Een bijtende, ironische, licht melancholische stuk van @remcobreuker.bsky.social in Leidse academische krant #DeMare over nieuwe hoop en oude problemen in universitaire leven www.mareonline.nlopinie/blunders-beh...

Miezerig ‘kabinet’ leidt tot wantrouwen, mede omdat Yesilgoz en Vd Plas doen alsof demissionaire ministers gewoon “aan de bak” mogen. @franstimmermans.groenlinkspvda.nl, @henri.cda.nl en @d66 moeten dijken bewaken. Recente column 👇 www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

I don’t usually pay much attention to this indicator, but Dutch general confidence in politics has declined from 30% a year ago to 19% 6 months ago to 4% now. That looks like it’s pointing at something real and a bit scary

The EU is the elephant in the room in the Dutch snap election campaign

Really astute piece... "As Europe keeps shaping what’s possible at home, domestic politics will have to catch up. For now, Europe remains the elephant in the room of the Dutch campaign: it is there, it is hugely relevant, yet it is strangely ignored."

Another “only in Dutch politics” moment: D66 says if they win the election they’ll build a new city on land which they’ll reclaim from the water between Amsterdam and Almere. “IJstad”, covering 2500 hectares with homes for 126,000 people. It’s not an April Fool. Think big! d66.nl/nieuws/ijsta...

Online first: "Stuck on the stairway of change: the EU’s enlargement and security and defence policies post 2022" by @antoanetadl.bsky.social Seda Gürkan & Joachm Koops doi.org/10.1080/0140...

Het PBL verwacht dat de uitstoot van ammoniak door het vervallen van de derogatie vermindert met zo'n 9 kiloton. Bijna tweemaal zoveel als wordt verwacht van de beëindigingsregelingen (5 kiloton). www.pbl.nl/system/files...

Een bijkomend voordeel van het vervallen van de uitzonderingspositie is dat naar verwachting de uitstoot van ammoniak flink zal verminderen. Het besluit van de Europese Commissie heeft meer effect dan alle dure uitkoopregelingen bij elkaar. En het kost de belastingbetaler een stuk minder.

De regels zijn niet nieuw (Nitraatrichtlijn is in 1991 van kracht geworden). De uitzondering die Nederland had om meer mest uit te mogen rijden is niet opnieuw verlengd omdat de Europese Commissie van mening is dat Nederland onvoldoende doet om de waterkwaliteit te verbeteren. nos.nl/nieuwsuur/ar...

This is big news Google’s adtech fine pulled at last minute over EU-US trade tensions MLex reports that competition boss Ribera had to shelve announcement today because of lobbying from trade chief Sefcovic and the US DoJ www.mlex.com/mlex/article...

Factcheck GPS-incident vliegtuig van Ursula von der Leyen, door @marcelvandenberg.bsky.social: "(...) het vliegtuig had inderdaad problemen met GPS. Papieren kaarten waren echter niet nodig. De bemanning gebruikte de VOR- en ILS-radiosignalen om te navigeren en te landen."

De meerderheid van de Oekraïners geeft aan dat de primaire reden om door te vechten de toekomst en lot van de (ontvoerde) kinderen betreft. Toch willen er nog altijd mensen Oekraïne dwingen tot een bestand waarbij deze kinderen niet bij hun ouders terugkomen. Want dat is de consequentie.

I used a 5-min segment on CBC News Network to push back directly against 3 separate myths we often hear. I emphasized that: 1) BRICS is nothing more than optics; it's members are not actual allies; 2) Ru maintains its maximalist demands; no progress was made in Alaska; 3) Ru isn't winning the war.

Dear Americans, welcome to the thrilling game of ‘Did this dictator die or just disappear for a day?’ We’ve been playing it with Putin and Lukashenko for decades. Enjoy the suspense.

🇺🇦 Premier Joelia Svyrydenko tijdens een ingelaste vergadering van de VN-veiligheidsraad over de Russische aanval op Kyiv twee dagen gelden: "Het jongste slachtoffer van de laatste Russische aanval op Kyiv heeft haar derde verjaardag nooit gehaald." 1/5

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Russia is attempting to destabilize Germany, including targeting its infrastructure, and therefore Berlin is in direct conflict with Moscow.

EU countries have agreed to deploy military instructors inside Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced. She said there is broad support for expanding the EUMAM mission to provide training and advisory assistance in Ukraine once a ceasefire is in place.

EU-chef Ursula von der Leyen na Russische aanval op Kyiv, waarbij onder andere het gebouw van de EU-missie in Oekraïne werd beschadigd: ▪️ Russische aanval was ook een aanval op de EU-delegatie in Oekraïne. ▪️ Twee raketten sloegen binnen 20 seconden in op een afstand van 50 meter van de delegatie.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has reacted to Hungary‘s attempt to bar Robert „Magyar“ Brovdi from the Schengen Zone and invites him to Poland. Absolutely excellent action.

💥🤯Hungarian politics is getting insane: Orbán family’s private guard tried to ram opposition MP Ákos Hadházy’s car off the road—but his own car flipped instead. It happened while Hadházy filmed near the Orbáns' lavish Hatvanpuszta mansion. @balazsgulyas.bsky.social’s full vid: youtu.be/ahlzM1ub9IA

Weirdly enough, I had a similar experience this summer. 2/3 of the references were made up. I didn’t provide a substantive review, just flagged these references. The piece got rejected. Based on dinner conversations with colleagues, it’s becoming very common.

Mensen die zeggen "Oekraïne moet maar vrede sluiten" (waarbij Oekraïne dus grote delen land moet opgeven), hebben vaak geen idee wat het betekent voor mensen in bezet-Oekraïne die zich niet willen laten russificeren.

Modern classic

Russia’s war against Ukraine has transformed the security situation in Europe. One consequence is that EU enlargement is once again a top priority. In a new SIEPS publication, leading experts discuss what it takes to achieve peace, security and stability in Europe by enlarging the EU.

No surprise, but an important inter-institutional struggle on EU defence policy-making #SAFE www.euractiv.com/section/defe...

In case anyone is still wondering why Bolton was raided

Extraordinary new detail about the FBI purge. *Senior officials were asked to fire lower level officials tagged by online right wingers as being anti-Trump. *When they asked for a reason - required by law - they were not given any. They refused. Then they were fired. www.cbsnews.com/news/politic...