Putin is under pressure. He wants to finance his historic war while simultaneously keeping the population calm. These cannot both be achieved. That is his predicament. @cepa.org cepa.org/article/puti...

Oil exports have remained the Kremlin’s most important source of wartime revenue. As Brussels moves to target the ships keeping Moscow afloat, the trail may lead back to Europe. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/russ...

Trump is beginning his day by posting deranged AI slop

Hegseth uses his D-Day anniversary speech in Franch to take veiled shots at NATO and European immigration policies

New in PN: Trump's cognitive impairment endangers us all "No one in the administration has offered a remotely plausible explanation for Trump’s various physical ailments, and any questions about his clear cognitive challenges are met by the White House with disdain, denial, mockery, and lies."

You have to admire the chutzpah of the BBC’s response to the Trump lawsuit www.ft.com/content/d2a0...

Business Punk sehr detailliert zum #tsv1860

Bin noch mal aus Anlass von Carsten Linnemanns Behauptung, “Brandmauer” sei ein “linker Begriff” und habe “die Debatte vergiftet”, der Geschichte dieses Wortes nachgegangen und auf einen interessanten Fund aus den Unionsreihen 2016 gestoßen. Ab 03:35 hier zu hören. 📻 www.ardsounds.de/episode/urn:...

Nützlicher Ausländer wundert sich, dass Zensur in Russland für ihn nicht gilt.

In westlichen Demokratien schwer zu akzeptieren: Krieg ist für #Putin Machterhalt. Damit weitet er Bevölkerungskontrolle aus, er ordnet Loyalitäten neu. Er hat #Russland in eine Lage manövriert, in der zB eine Rückabwicklung der Kriegswirtschaft zum Risiko für das Regime wird. | #Ukraine

Zelenskyy's "letter to Putin" is an excellent example of a letter send to one Person, but actually addressed to a bunch of others. In this way, it's a piece of literature. Literature European leaders, the real addressees, should read carefully. www.president.gov.ua/en/news/vidk...

These are extraordinary figures. Almost two Russian soldiers killed for every one wounded. That's a pre-modern ratio. For comparison, the killed to wounded ratio for the US Army in Afghanistan and Iraq was estimated to be around 1:10.

In case anyone was inclined to think negotiations with Russia were a serious prospect, Zelensky's letter has goaded Putin into making it clear they're not. This event is supposed be a platform for Putin the global statesman but looks like they got Putin the angry old man instead.

Wolfram Weimer stellt sich in Interviews am liebsten selbst die Fragen, z.B. diese hier, die wie eine Abitur-Aufgabe von anno Tobak tönt: “Gibt die nationale Denkfigur eine neue Orientierung in der Beschleunigungsmoderne?”

Freue mich schon aufs nächste Interview, in dem der weise Kulturstaatsminister aus seiner “Deutungsburg” (Wolfram Weimer) hervortritt, wieder von Eigentlichkeit, Möglichkeit und Gehäuse fabuliert und dabei wie eine halluzinierende KI wirkt.

After more than four years of fighting in Ukraine, “Russia’s economy and society have been reorganized around war,” write @seva.bsky.social and @jeremymorris.bsky.social. In fact, “war has so transformed the economy that it might collapse without it.”

⚡️Full text of Zelensky's open letter to Putin. The letter lays out Putin's increasingly apparent vulnerabilities, Ukraine's growing strength, and the case for an immediate reopening of peace negotiations.

Incredible open letter by President Zelensky to Putin. Worth reading in full. Ukraine's strategy: pressing its advantage to try and get Putin to have a more serious conversation regarding a ceasefire and end to the war 1/2

Trump is now sitting back in his chair and dozing off

There may have been world leaders somewhere in history that sounded dumber than this. But if there was, I don’t know them.

Russian bots have turned him into a deepfake. He avoids travelling to the US over fears he could be on a watchlist. In an interview with Follow the Money, @bellingcat.com founder @eliothiggins.bsky.social explains why, after years of high-stakes investigations, “the paranoia gets to you”.

🧵 How important is the upcoming election in Armenia for the Russian state? Comparing efforts from the Kremlin-aligned Matryoshka bot network across elections in 6 countries over 1.5 years, Armenia is now a leader in 3 metrics (out of 4): 🔭 effort 🔭 duration 🔭 throughput

The EU's foreign policy service is pushing to sanction four Chinese companies it accuses of supporting Russia's war against Ukraine, according to documents seen by POLITICO.

Russia could invade Nato states by end-2028, warns Latvian general ft.trib.al/5ZqRdlw

Wow, some gas stations in St. Petersburg & even Moscow are now rationing fuel too, with major chains Lukoil, Rosneft, & Surgutneftegas capping purchases at 50–100 liters. The shortages follow drone strikes on the Kirishi refinery, which supplies much of the Leningrad region's gasoline.

Beim Spief ist Holger Friedrich auch noch für ein 2. Panel angekündigt. Zu "neuen Medien" (Lernen von Russland?! 😅). Als Moderatorin ist eine ausgewiesene Propagandistin angekündigt, die russische Moderatorin Marina Kim, die auf einer EU-Sanktionsliste steht.

Ukraine strikes St Petersburg as Putin’s forum gets under way ft.trib.al/2ZpjZKF

Over the past couple of weeks Ukraine’s campaign against Russia’s supply lines and logistic bases using medium-range drone has started to cause problems for Moscow. This post assesses the campaign and in particular what it means for Crimea. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/p...?

My latest piece for @theguardian.com Ukraine's accession to the EU will arguably benefit the EU even more than Ukraine

I wrote on Bill Pulte, Trump’s appointment as director of national intelligence, despite having no relevant national-security experience & with vanishingly low odds of being confirmed by the Senate. Another indignity for the US intelligence community. www.economist.com/united-state...

JAVERS Have you talked to anybody in NATO? Have they changed their tune on the strait? TRUMP They would, if I wanted them to, but they would. I want them to. We don’t need them. We don’t need NATO. Europe has lost its way. They have an energy problem because all they want to do is build windmills.

The West may not get out of its Putin problem through actuarial means: If he has his way, he would live forever -- and he is spending $26 billion to make it happen. www.wsj.com/world/russia...

"Stymied on the battlefield, the Russians appear to be taking more risks and escalating their threats against countries that support Ukraine. European leaders warn of a militarized Russia able to attack NATO in the next three to five years," 1

"Russland würde versuchen, den Nato-Nachschub für Osteuropa abzuschneiden, um ein erfolgreiches Eingreifen der Nato zu verhindern."

Hans Rauscher und ich haben über mein neues Buch „Überfall“ gesprochen 👇 www.derstandard.at/story/300000...

Thiel moves family to Milei’s libertarian Argentina ft.trib.al/0jApTCs

Exklusiv Bahnsanierung in Etappen: Bahn ändert Konzept für Strecke München-Rosenheim www.merkur.de/bayern/deuts...

"No one can spend 100% of their time in the zone of pure, spontaneous creation. But Sonny has spent more time in that zone than anyone else, and that’s why he’s the greatest." #SonnyRollins

His jogging style looks alarmingly like he's about to suffer a Bandscheibenvorfall (here's a new German word for you).

How China is breaking apart a people and its culture ft.trib.al/1cvmuMI

"the mass production of #UAVs — at a scale and speed hard to imagine just a year ago — allows Kyiv to wage the long-range drone war and maintain a shorter-range “kill zone” along the front line." 1 www.ft.com/content/7bee...

Russlands Lieferketten für die Produktion ballistischer Raketen hart zu unterbrechen ist die beste Luftverteidigung für Europa. Dazu gehört auch, die Ukraine bei der Bombardierung russischer Fabriken für das Raketenprogramm zu unterstützen.

Notwendig sind das Tracking von Dual‑Use‑Chips über Seriennummern sowie Strafen und Strafandrohungen für westliche Firmen, deren Komponenten in russischen Raketen auftauchen.

Nötig sind Sanktionen gegen Farg’onaazot/Indorama (Usbekistan) und gegen deren Eigentümer aus Singapur und aktive und intensive Exportkontrollen für Mikroelektronik in Belarus, Kasachstan, Kirgisistan, Armenien, UAE, Hongkong.

Russlands Raketenproduktion hat zwei Achillesfersen: 1. Feststofftreibstoff‑Chemikalien aus Usbekistan; 2. westliche Mikroelektronik, die über Belarus, Zentralasien und China umgeleitet bzw. geschmuggelt wird.