The work of @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social has been a lodestar for me for a decade, so I thought it might help enlighten the current debate in some corners of Europe about opening up to Putin again. Read today's "Morning Post Europe" here: open.substack.com/pub/europemo...

Europe is the shield against imperialism. The US is gone.

This is one of the best descriptions of the Ukrainian drone war, and its significance for all of us, that I have read www.newstatesman.com/internationa...

Propaganda doesn’t succeed because people believe every detail. It succeeds because it reinforces identity, belonging, and community. @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social explains why disinformation spreads — even among people who know it’s false — in the new episode of Ukraine Insights ⬇️

“One of the greatest lies we tell ourselves is that everybody wants the truth.” — Peter Pomerantsev In the latest Ukraine Insights episode, @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social reflects on why propaganda works even when people know it’s false. ▶️ Watch the full episode ↓ youtu.be/SIawlg2fSKI

It is four years since Russia’s invasion, and 12 years of war in Ukraine’s east. This week, @aloner.bsky.social and I talk to Maksimas Milta of @trpforjustice.bsky.social about the latest www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro... @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social and @janinedigi.bsky.social

Instead, Kari Lake has badly damaged America's international broadcasters and wasted millions of dollars of taxpayers money www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Today, I spoke on War & Politics 24 about the narratives Russian propaganda uses to impose the idea that Europe has failed, grown weak, and that Putin is winning. We discussed how to counter this and develop our own narrative. Listen via the link — www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dJi...

Wars are fought not just with tanks, but with stories too. Putin’s story is that Russia’s victory is inevitable, while Europe is weak. Democracies can challenge this tale. Read on in my FT essay (gift link if fast) 👉🏼 as.ft.com/r/06908caf-b... #informationwar #ukraine #russia

Hate-filled fake videos about London are everywhere. We've obtained a recording of a TikToker confessing to secretly filming Londoners in their homes for clicks. He says it's not political. He just wants to make money from far-right anger. Read what he says: www.londoncentric.media/p/london-tik...

Discovering @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social through www.ft.com/content/36b5... Very interesting.

"Voter suppression is one of the core tools of authoritarianism. It is how you shift from democracy to autocracy. And for millions of Americans, it’s about to become the norm" www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...

And @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social takes Ellul’s teachings forward into the 21st century. Propaganda no longer seems to be driven by persuasion—for one side or the other. Today, it deconstructs all sides and its purpose “seems to be to undermine the very idea that truth is provable”.

Authoritarian leaders like Putin and Trump aren't spreading an ideology; they want to undermine your belief in everything—including what's real. Author @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social joined Jon Zieger and @lcsenecal.bsky.social on the latest Signal Fire. https://bit.ly/4a3XGkG

So much we need to understand about why authoritarianism has gained such a foothold in the US and what we can do. No one better to talk with about this than @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social.

This witness to Alex Pretti's murder not only refutes the governmen't story, but says she is afraid to go home because federal agents might arrest her. This is what it feels like to live under state terror. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

‘A cult of death’ Former Soviet dissident on Russia & authoritarianism's global rise Igor Pomerantsev, a veteran radio broadcaster & poet, as well as a former Soviet dissident witnessed firsthand how authoritarian regimes seek to control narratives silence dissent

Three Seasons of Autocracy in America podcast/lessons (by Anne Applebaum & Peter Pomerantsev) are out. I am starting over w/ Season 1 to refresh my memory but will plow through all three during this week of snow. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a... @stevesawyer12.bsky.social @11tulips.bsky.social

No i po przeczytaniu wywiadu zakupiłem książkę wydaną przez Krytykę Polityczną -> Propagandysta, który przechytrzył Hitlera Peter Pomerantsev... krytykapolityczna.pl/wydawnictwo/...

"Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Cuando las preocupaciones colectivas no se procesan, se convierten en terreno fértil para los propagandistas, escribe Peter Pomerantsev. 👉 Lee el artículo completo en https://paginainternacional.com/articulo/298/periodismo-en-la-era-del-autoritarismo #periodismo #autoritarismo #paginainternacional

Just to be clear: if 'no one was ready' a lot of people fucked up, bc those of us who work on this laid out what was going to happen 8yrs ago. The twofold issue that 1)it's not just a tech problem, and 2) Big Tech allowed itself to be ref-worked into spinelessness. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/t...

Hey, Ukraine scholars, there is a job! A job! A job for you without "Russian", Slavic", "Soviet" or "Post-Soviet" in the title. A blue-yellow, trident shaped unicorn, in blood and flesh

@peterpomerantsev.bsky.social i @dagensnyheter.bsky.social

'In Ukraine, the state itself is investigating the government, the cabinet, the president’s closest advisers. By contrast, it is impossible to imagine Kash Patel’s FBI investigating anyone in Trump’s White House. Any Russian who investigates Putin goes to jail" www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

The EU has slapped a fine on Musk's X because it is untransparent and supports deceptive practices. Nothing to do with "censorship."

Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...

Content moderation is not censorship; platforms have a First Amendment right to set civility guidelines on their services. Fact-checking is not censorship; it is a type of counterspeech that Justice Brandeis would have favored. Online safety is not censorship; it prevents voices being silenced.

The war will end when Russia stops fighting. Therefore, pressure has to be put on Russia, so that they stop believing that they will win. Why is that so hard to understand?

Rusko uskutečňuje sen o rozdělení Západu. Pravým poraženým není Ukrajina, ale Evropa, míní Pomerantsev Vyjednavači Spojených států a Ukrajiny v Ženevě zpřesnili dokument, který má ukončit válku s Ruskem. „Pro Ukrajinu to ve srovnání s těmi hroznými návrhy, co byly vydány před měsícem, je...

Glad to commission this from @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social on his long-term study of the techniques journalists can (and now must) use to counter authoritarian propaganda. — @noemamag.com www.noemamag.com/journalism-i...

"By 2025, Brexit had reduced UK GDP by 6% to 8%, with the impact accumulating gradually over time. We estimate that investment was reduced by between 12% and 18%, employment by 3% to 4% and productivity by 3% to 4%" Read the Stanford report: siepr.stanford.edu/publications...

"This is the final post-truthification of a platform that long ago pivoted toward a maxim used by the journalist Peter Pomerantsev to refer to post-Soviet Russia: Nothing is true and everything is possible. This is how you get people apparently faking that DHS's account was created in Israel."

If quoting Peter Pomerantsev @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social and Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat @eliothiggins.bsky.social weren't enough, describing X as "a Russian nesting doll of bullshit" is all you need to know this will be a good read. Definitely worth 5 minutes of your time, and a gift link too!

The media needs to rethink its role in protecting democracy — rather than just chronicling its demise, Peter Pomerantsev argues. #authoritarian #journalism #disinformation #media

"Instead of thinking about debunking disinformation, we should be thinking about how to tell better stories…they're stories of action, stories of policy, stories of meaning…And it's up to us to tell these stories." —Peter Pomerantsev

@michaeldweiss.bsky.social on the ‘peace plan’ as theatre of absurd and theatre of cruelty all in one

Authoritarian propaganda ruthlessly exploits peoples need to belong, latent resentments, insecurities and helplessness. To compete you need to dive into the dark operating theatre of human desire….some lessons from research across Europe thats applicable to to US www.noemamag.com/journalism-i...

"Trump treats American potency as a wasting asset, drawing it down over and over to satisfy his personal whims and ideas," says Thomas Wright. But sooner or later, power will drain away www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Come see Chris Clarke, Clare Longrigg and I talk about the long read! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/magculture...

"However terrible the war and its consequent famine in Sudan is today, it can still get much worse" From Alex de Waal, who knows Sudan better than anyone www.foreignaffairs.com/guest-pass/r...

"[A]uthoritarian regimes are reinventing 'news' as a weapon to oppress opposition...This book is the ultimate guide to this brave *news* world."--Peter Pomerantsev DICTATING REALITY, by Martin Moore and ThomasColley. bit.ly/3Xbzab9 @martinjemoore.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social

The collapse of Putin's system will only happen if it can be overloaded with more problems than it can manage. @peterpomerantsev.bsky.social in the bunker with Prez & Liubov youtu.be/vjQHcJ0EyLA

Very telling that oligarchs want to be called aristocrats. On the donors who think they deserve to rule: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...