Contrast it with George Bush senior’s victory in Kuwait

"As tensions escalated, one U.S. official went so far as to invoke the Avignon Papacy, the period in the 1300s when the French Crown leveraged its military power to dominate the papal authority."

EXCLUSIVE: More evidence is emerging of PM Viktor Orbán’s attempts to turn eastward and plug Hungary economically and politically into Russia. This is something his opponent is using against him in the run-up to this week's election. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/hung...

Anyone but Rubio

In honor of Vance's visit to Hungary, where he will campaign for Viktor Orban, I am reposting my article from last year. I argued that Orban's Hungary is one of the poorest countries, and certainly the most corrupt and least free country, in the entire EU. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Being outside the EU is sort of the natural consequence of leaving the EU and not punishment for it… www.majorcadailybulletin.com/news/local/2...

This is treason. www.politico.eu/article/hung...

”Europa måste ge ukrainarna trygghet och alternativ, med säkerhet, värdighet och framtidstro. Alla som vill stanna, måste kunna stanna, och få besked om det här och nu.”

A joint journalistic investigation found out that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó had acted on behalf of Russia to delist sanctioned Russians and try to repeal an EU sanctions package. This call is from August 30, 2024. Link to full story in first comment.

EU-Australia Trade Agreement The 🇪🇺-🇦🇺FTA texts are now out. policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-rel...

On the fourth anniversary of liberation of Bucha from Russian occupiers, we honored the memory of Ukrainians who were killed and tortured there. We remember and will not forget what the enemy did. Every Russian murderer, executioner and terrorist must answer for every crime against our people.

🇺🇦 Zelensky: When the whole world learned about Bucha. About Ukrainians brutally killed on the streets of Bucha by Russian occupiers. About our tortured people in basements. About adults and children whose bodies were found in graves in Bucha. Everyone saw the horror of Russia and its aggression.

Excellent news.

Famously under U.S. law, if you use a different word or words to describe an illegal act, that act becomes legal.

A golden quote from Trump: ”I always like to hang around with losers”

Should Sweden finally adopt the euro? ft.trib.al/F8xYfRp | opinion

Stora nyheter från Europadomstolen! Sveriges praxis i asylärenden gällande afghanska medborgare som vistats länge i väst bedöms strida mot Europakonventionen. Det här kommer få mycket stor betydelse för tusentals personer i Sverige. Pressrelease: hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversi...

Today, March 25, 2026, marks the finish of a multi-day Ukrainian operation to turn off the whole of Russia's Baltic oil and gas hub: Ust-Luga, Primorsk and Vyborg. After Ukrainian strikes, the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk stopped shipping oil.

I suspect US negotiators know that Ze could never accept this

The report covers WTO reform, supply chain resilience, digital trade, and cooperation on sustainability within the EU-CPTPP framework. Contributors include @lorandbartels.bsky.social, @altenberg.bsky.social, @sebastienfmjean.bsky.social, and many more. institutdelors.eu/publications...

After almost a decade of work – we can say: we did it. We have concluded the EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement. And it is such a win for both sides ↓ link.europa.eu/x33M9C

The Trump administration commissioned an internal study on alleged "censorship" by EU regulators. The study found "no evidence that Member States of the European Union are overreaching the DSA to censor and criminalize online content". Whoops. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

It’s getting lost in all the other commotion but it’s becoming increasingly clear that the new US tariff policy has failed.

The EU is limiting the flow of confidential material to Hungary and leaders are meeting in smaller groups — as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned of long-standing suspicions Viktor Orbán’s government is sharing information with Russia.

Milo Minderbinder’s spirit is very much with the Trump administration.

Unbelievable if true. Hungary’s foreign minister filling in as a Russian intelligence officer.

France's Navy just boarded a Russian shadow fleet tanker in the Mediterranean – the Deyna, caught moving Russian oil while evading sanctions and maritime law Macron: "They line their pockets while helping finance Russia's war effort" euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/20/f...

SHOOTBAT! I was trained by guys who had served in Bosnia and seemed *determined* not to be bystanders or observers to atrocities ever again. SHOOTBAT was an exemplar, and our "negotiation" training was very much "you have five minutes to remove this roadblock" followed by platoon attack drills.

Remarkable story from Denmark's nat'l broadcaster. "When Danish soldiers were flown to Greenland in January...they brought explosives so they could destroy, among other things, the runways in Nuuk & Kangerlussuaq [to] prevent US mil aircraft from landing" www.dr.dk/nyheder/indl...

Ursula von der Leyen will visit Australia from March 23 to 25 to conclude an EU-Australia free trade agreement.

Stubb is right. Among geopolitical own goals of all (modern) time, Brexit is in the top tier. www.politico.eu/article/finl...

NEW: Continued Ukrainian advances in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast are likely constraining Russian offensive operations in the Oleksandrivka direction and may soon threaten Russian offensive operations in the Hulyaipole direction. (1/5) Full assessment: isw.pub/UkrWar031626 1/6

Incredible scenes from today's pro-Magyar, anti-Orban rally in Budapest. Only 4 weeks left until the most consequential election in the EU this year 🇪🇺🇭🇺

Movements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during February–March show continued progress on the Zaporizhzhia front. Ukrainian forces keep pressing forward while Russian positions struggle to hold.

Considering all the tariffs the US has imposed on itself it shouldn’t come as a surprise that countries sometimes shoot themselves in the foot.

WSJ: “.. Maersk has 10 ships trapped in the Persian Gulf and would need at least a week to 10 days to resume normal operations in the event of a cease-fire .. “.. Brokers say there are more than 100 boxships trapped in the Gulf ..” www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

President Zelenskyy: One year ago, I also had good cards, but we didn’t show them. "It’s thanks to our Defenders, great people, and to a lot of different production that we increased from the very beginning of the war. Now we have a high level.

As the war in Iran takes center stage, there is only one winner: Russia. Profiting from rising energy prices and the diversion of military capabilities and benefiting from the reduced attention to the Ukrainian front.

"The Effects of a Sudden Stop in Low-Skilled Immigration: Evidence from Korea’s Guest Worker Program" www.nber.org/papers/w34927 "the collapse in inflows led to a significant increase in firm exit.... Firms did not respond by expanding domestic hiring to replace missing guest workers."

Few think that the world’s next trillion-dollar tech company will be European. But, perhaps for the first time, that does not seem a silly idea econ.st/3PlThCL Illustration: Tyler Comrie

What a mess.

US economy sheds 92,000 jobs in February in sharp slide ft.trib.al/2dcTW42

The economic story just changed dramatically. Payrolls fell -92k in Feb. Jan growth was revised down by -4k to +126k. And Dec revisions subtracted -64k to -17k. Unemployment rate up a tick to 4.4%. Recession questions are back on the menu

The EU and Canada have launched negotiations on a Digital Trade Agreement. www.linkedin.com/posts/per-al...

⚡️US joins Russia, China in opposing IAEA resolution condemning attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The U.S. voted against a resolution condemning attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors on March 5.

This is positive.

The second piece of good news: the new local content rules would not wall the EU off from its trading partners. Under the Commission’s proposal for a “Union preference,” all countries with which the EU has a free trade agreement would count as local content.

As a long time fan of @economist.com going back to the last century, when James Callahan was PM (yes, that old!), it's a thrill to appear in print on their pages. Revised version of a web essay on the Supreme Court decision.

I can count 5-6 clear examples now of how US trade policies under Trump are failing. The window to show the world that this is in fact successful policy is closing fast.

⚡️ Ukraine captured more territory than it lost to Russia over February 2026, Syrskyi says. The claim came amid a slowdown in Russian advances on most parts of the front line over winter.