Taps the sign www.csis.org/analysis/eur...

🚨 The written procedures have been launched. Watch this space!

democracy dies in derpness

Trump doesn't sound here like he's bullshitting. He seems genuinely disappointed. That's fucking terrifying.

On the container ship they seized coming from China, Trump says, "I thought I had an understanding with President Xi, but that's all right. That's the way war goes, right?" So who's running this war? Serious question. Because plenty of people knew. Have known. For some time.

I think "algorithms" and "AI" are giving a lot of cover to some pretty awful people. Unless we're meant to understand Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg as algorithms. Which is not the "haha" most people think it is. Not unreasonable to frame people as algorithms. In any case, though, bad is bad.

🇹🇼>🇬🇧 Amidst the news, an easily overlooked but important milestone — Taiwan now has a bigger stock market than the UK:

Straight up piracy is back in vogue.

Surely this can't get any stup---. 🤦

Russia's internal affairs minister Kolokoltsev arrived in North Korea. It's likely that he's going to ask Kim Jong Un for morre ammunition and/or missiles. What will North Korea ask from Russia in exchange is the question.

Yicai: "China is expected to surpass the United States in operational nuclear power capacity before 2030, becoming the world’s largest, as the country accelerates reactor construction and investment." www.yicaiglobal.com/news/china-s...

My wild guess on how these systems will be utilised: first and foremost: training & developing an in house knowledge of modern sonar. Operationally: if intel suggests *someone* is lurking within Irish waters to avoid RN etc. - they'll get some Irish pings to say hello-o-o-ooo, we see you.

Despite internet jokes, practically no one in Finland wants Karelia back any more. It is like your grandpa's old toothbrush that your creepy, aggressive neighbour had stolen and then used to clean his toilets, badly. Would you want that back?

Supply chain risk? 🤔

It'd be super cool if Jeffrey Goldberg has the stones (and the legal permission) to go after Patel on his Friday PBS show. Really smash Patel in the face with his own well-documented behavior. That could be a beautiful thing.

Some inside Russia are starting to realise this isn’t contained, and they’re worried the attacks will get worse "Current air defenses can no longer handle the scale of Ukrainian drone strikes. Without radical reform or shutting down production in Europe, major problems will emerge by year’s end.”

I was giving myself a hard time for leaning on the same analogies too frequently. But, then I was like, well, maybe it's not me. Maybe it's just a fact that everything coming out of this admin really does seem like the result of dementia, too many bong rips, or some combination or the two.

I apologize for recklessly insulting Frankenstein's Monster by suggesting it could be as stupid and vacuous as Palantir's manifesto.

Supply chain risk? 🤔

Exclusive: EU to stop funding EU projects with Chinese inverters, as grandstanding on Beijing gives way to quiet offensive My report on a quiet decision taken by von der Leyen and her college that suggests the work of de-risking continues apace

Civilian agencies (above all the political bloc inside the Presidential Administration) are using polling data that shows the decline of Putin's popularity to quietly alert the top leadership to the growing unpopularity of the current course. ridl.io/prosecutor-g...

Taipei Times: China ‘incentives’ fail to sway Taiwan – ‘willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed.’ ‘the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024.’

>>> It was suggested by a Whitehall official that at the time Eden was “practically living on Benzedrine”. Still, the cabinet backed his Suez plot, and they can’t all have been on amphetamines. <<<

Russia's "deathonomics" is grim and expensive. But Russia has a lot of gold, and a seemingly bottomless barrel of hollowed-out wretches. 😔

Amid growing fears that Ukraine’s long-range drones could strike deep into northern Russia, military authorities have decided to cancel one of the country’s most symbolic displays of military power: the 9 May Victory Day parade.

Magyar: I know exactly what is going on in Serbia,know about the ties that exist between the Orbán government&Vučić-led Serbia,just as I know what connections exist between Slovakia's Fico&Orbán I also have a general idea of who stands behind all this-who the godfather of those great friendships is

We have uncovered the Chinese’s grand conspiracy to destroy the U.S. hegemoy: they aren’t doing anything, but are waiting for Trump to handle things on their behalf.

Caveat lector. I've read a lot of Chinese MoD writing in translation and this does not seem authentic (and no evidence of such a statement on any official PRC websites). Among other things, China would not say "Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz" (because they care about GCC relationships).

What's the meaningful distinction between having boots on the ground and boots on the decks of ships?

🇭🇺Szijjártó is currently "destroying documents at the Hungarian Foreign Ministry related to sanctions against Russia", — Magyar. "I can tell them one thing: this won't be enough." According to Magyar, this won't help him.

So now the US is blocking the Strait. Not setting up an indemnity program and a convoy system, just interdicting everything. I'm sure Iran won't retaliate. I'm sure the Gulf infrastructure will be FINE. Obviously they've thought all this through.

I'm sure (I hope!) a million others are saying the same thing, but this should be an inspiration for Americans who feel dispirited. Like me! No, the Orban machine isn't gone. But it's been cowed. Dramatically. "We might not want that, but we REALLY don't want this." Light prevailed today, etc.

Putin and Trump losing their perverted political mojo at the same time sets off alarm bells in my brain. To be fair, they might be beautiful carillon bells; still too faint. 🤔 "It's like the clock has stopped ticking, and I'm waiting for the bomb to go off." I feel you, sister.

I'm sure (I hope!) a million others are saying the same thing, but this should be an inspiration for Americans who feel dispirited. Like me! No, the Orban machine isn't gone. But it's been cowed. Dramatically. "We might not want that, but we REALLY don't want this." Light prevailed today, etc.

I spent 16, SIXTEEN years fighting this crap. I can’t believe it 😭

Foreshadowing, 9 months ago in Budapest

Yeah. It's so sad. When I blame pro wrestling and behavior modeling, it seems like I'm joking, and I sort of am, but I also very much am not. The whole "sufficient/necessary" thing. I don't know. Network effects. Oof. We had no idea what we were unleashing. H/t to bsky.app/profile/lynn...

Putin and Trump losing their perverted political mojo at the same time sets off alarm bells in my brain. To be fair, they might be beautiful carillon bells; still too faint. 🤔 "It's like the clock has stopped ticking, and I'm waiting for the bomb to go off." I feel you, sister.

So now the US is blocking the Strait. Not setting up an indemnity program and a convoy system, just interdicting everything. I'm sure Iran won't retaliate. I'm sure the Gulf infrastructure will be FINE. Obviously they've thought all this through.

A drone attack reportedly took place as the Plesetsk space centre in northern Russia was preparing to launch a rocket

To be serious (and pessimistic), my big concern isn't that Orbán will cling on to power (either by election-rigging or a self-coup) but more that the opposition will simply not be able to govern in a meaningful sense given all the constitutional jiggery-pokery.

"They've dropped a couple of ... eh ... water mines---you call em "water mines"---and, uh...." "Rumor" confirmed. 🙄

While Russia and China kill Americans in the Middle East.

"Serious analysts?" Name names, please. All I see is a massive consensus that the US picked a fight with the tar-baby and predictable consequences followed.

"China's sending weapons to Iran!" No kidding? 🙄

This question of escalation against the Russians is a real problem. If they can disrupt comms and get away with it, this puts the West on the horns of a yuge dilemma. Healey looks straight down the camera and says, "Serious consequences!" Unless magic is a thing, what is he talking about?

but it is /very/ funny to think that the ghost of Lenin wants you to own your own house.

The Alan Keyes Constant, plus strong network effects is a bane to pluralistic liberal democracy. Somebody go write that thesis.

This latest EMBER whitepaper is really good, and, at the same time, super depressing. China has understood this stuff for going on a couple generations now. I could absolutely see the US uniting around electrification. "Gotta beat the Chi-coms!" <---> "Coooool." The coalitions are natural. 🐄🐄🐄