You can almost feel the Trump rage building up.

Trump Nobel Peace Prize attempted grab, round two.

Russian media report that the leaders of only four countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Slovakia - have agreed to attend the parade in Moscow. This is a sharp contrast to last year, when leaders from 27 countries, including China, Serbia, and Brazil, took part in the event.

Putin is scared. His "fortress" is cracking and half his decrees are now secret — so Russians can't see how badly the regime is failing. Here's what he's hiding: 👇 substack.com/home/post/p-...

New Banksy just dropped and it's fantastic.

Key point, which I have stressed for years: Ukraine is more important to us than it is to Russia. European security depends now on Ukraine's security and its ability to defeat Russia's aggression. Kallas is the 1st European leader I have heard make that point so explicitly.

What ever happened to the Board of Peace?

NEW: Russian officials continue to temporarily deport children from occupied Mariupol to St. Petersburg for cultural indoctrination. 🧵 (1/9) Read the full update: isw.pub/OccupationUp...

Whenever I read that Russians can’t do something because Starlink was cut off, I always think about the years we lost because it wasn’t cut off earlier.

The grim battlefield math shows Russia is losing a record number of soldiers. For the first time in years, Moscow’s Victory parade is about to take place without any heavy military equipment. This tells a lot about how the war is going for Russia.

Europe’s energy future will be defined by how successfully we reconcile independence with interdependence, security with integration, and climate ambition with geopolitical and economic reality. Europe's energy system is undergoing a profound transformation.

For those not familiar with Eutelsat, it's one of Europe's answers to the Skylink dominance.

"Following the Trump tariffs last year, some investors have sought to diversify away from dollar-denominated assets, leading to capital flows into euros.”

Let's go!

The pseudo religious aspect of US culture is something that should really get a lot more scrutiny. It has infiltrated politics to such an extend that it is now dictating political action at the highest level.

Russia's economy contracted in Q1 2026, indicating a troubling trend, as reported by The Moscow Times. For the first time since the onset of the war, even non-resource sectors are feeling the heat, with textiles and metal production taking a hit. (1/7)

The optimism I hear from Ukrainian colleagues about the war is growing.

Britain to create joint naval force with nine European countries as ‘complement’ to Nato

St. Petersburg’s city administration plans to sharply cut the number of spectators at the May 9 military parade at Palace Square, the St. Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka reported, without citing a source. meduza.io/en/news/2026...

The sole liquefied gas filling station serving 60% of Tuapse has burned down in the refinery fires caused by Ukrainian drone strikes. Some home tanks still have propane/butane reserves from prior deliveries, but others are running out. Station repairs haven't even begun yet. t.me/postzine/894...

We let the far right through the door because idiots keep falling for their lies, and this is the result.

Krugman predicts that in a matter of some weeks the price of oil will go through the roof. Demand is being met from storage at the moment, but when those run out, the world will need to find balance in a situation where 11% of demanded oil just is not there. Let the bidding war begin.

In just seven months the EU has inked trade deals with Australia, India, Indonesia and Mercosur - for @foreignpolicy.com I outline how Brussels is fast positioning itself as the go-to alternative for middle powers seeking to avoid binary alignment on the US or China foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/29/e...

Germany is doing this not to please Trump but because they can no longer trust the US to fulfill its commitment to NATO allies. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

👀 The European Central Bank (ECB) signed agreements with three European standard-setting bodies to build the digital euro on open, non-proprietary infrastructure, directly challenging the dominance of Visa and Mastercard across the eurozone.

Perhaps Kim Jong Un could lead by example.

Remember: Russia’s election interference playbook begins long before voters go to the polls. Recent analysis shows narratives are seeded months, even years, in advance: attacking governments, questioning alliances, and framing cooperation with the EU as “foreign control.”

Something is deeply rotten in the state of the EU Parliament. We urgently need a reform.

It is unfathomable that the EU is still dishing out visas to potential Russian war criminals. Every visa request coming from Russia needs a thorough background check.

”One career diplomat said those who advocated for Ukraine within Trump’s state department “get a target on their back”.” 🇺🇦 giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... US ambassador to Ukraine to leave over differences with Donald Trump

Another loss for Putin / Russia. There is simply not enough manpower left to feed the invasion of Ukraine and keep up the pretension that the country is still a global power.

"After leaving OPEC With its Fujairah pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, UAE can now ramp up freely potentially adding around 2 million extra barrels a day and helping break the high-price grip.. Game changer for markets" (@_A_khalifa)

If this madness continues The United States of Trump will no longer be something made up as a joke. It's really heading that way.

Another grotesque character to add to the pantheon paid far right absolutists who live by the dogma of wanting to destroy European democracy. As individual citizen we have the power to boycott every single company that puts these people in a position of influence.

I cannot remember any country sinking so low in modern times.

Why does it increasingly feel that we are witnessing a turning point?

Oil is such a racket.

In Russia’s strategic culture, war is a holistic, whole-of-society endeavour. The current ‘special operation’ has not yet reached that stage. But it could. Europeans should not fear this scenario, argues @ditrych.bsky.social. But they should be ready. www.iss.europa.eu/publications...

Beyond comprehension. How much more can the US debase itself?

Norway sold 12 petrol cars in February 2026. Out of 7,272 new passenger car registrations, 98% were fully electric. Just 67 diesel & 12 petrol cars were registered. Hybrids? Only 66 in total mostly plug ins. More in my new Substack newsletter coming out every 7 days. Sign up here: t.co/In5lBaF2ox

Uncanny 😂

Russian-occupied Ukraine is one of the most heavily surveilled and most repressive territories in the world, and some of the activities Yellow Ribbon and its sister initiative Zla Mavka continue to promote are breathtakingly dangerous.

This reads like an admission of massive imperial failure.

The fact that russia refuses to end the war despite huge military and economic losses (both relative and absolute) for zero strategic gain underscores that the war was never about security in military terms, but always about imperialist conquest driven by identity delusions.

China is getting worked up about the European preference in the industrial accelerator act, and going public with it. It shows China needs the EU market, and Brussels is building some leverage Beijing probably didn’t think it’d have the guts to build. www.ft.com/content/f492...

The United States now has the most government restrictions on academic freedom of any high-income country. www.chemistryworld.com/news/academi... Raw data from @vdeminstitute.bsky.social —> academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

The conflict in the Middle East has triggered major disruptions in global oil & gas markets. Our new database offers a snapshot of government actions being implemented to save energy & support consumers in response to the unfolding energy crisis 👉 iea.li/4sSDRFb

So we are still doing things together without Trump threatening obliteration.

Rumania looking very shaky. Bolojan is a serious, respected and pro-European politician, and Romanian's Social Democrats trying to outs him with the complicity of the far right should get everyone worried.

The Far Right will always destroy a country from within. Bardella is no exception. Anyone voting for him is deluded. Don't make it happen.