Khamenei has reportedly moved to a fortified underground shelter in Tehran after senior security officials warned of a possible US strike, per Jerusalem Post. Iranian opposition outlet claims his son, Masoud, has assumed day-to-day management and serves as the main channel to the gov exec branches.

This is such an important point and here in Europe we should be building the skills and connections now to make sure that the truth continues to matter and powerful people can be held to account. The alternative is going down and down the spiral of democratic disenchantment and erosion…

This isn't a crisis we fact-check our way out of, we need to build something bigger and more radical to resist the tide of authoritarianism engulfing our democracies. We can't wait for institutions to act, it's up to us to organise.

Although an elected government, they are a de facto junta with utter disregard for the rule of law, and who would carry out an atrocity on the scale of Tiananmen if they think it would benefit them.

Corrupt kleptocrat’s death squads execute second dissident as military round up clergy and terrorise cities in chaotic lawless petro-state.

Dutch airline KLM has ceased all flights to the Middle East for now due to geopolitical risks

NUKEMAP is apparently making guest appearances on the London metro, to the surprise of many (including me — but I explicitly make it clear people can use its imagery for whatever without asking me!)

The western far-right has a discreet admiration for the CCP. Its repression of liberal democracy and upholding of some of the far-right's flagships make the PRC's Leninist party-state more palatable for anti-leftists.

So, the document says U.S. will not engage on the conventional end--that's Europe's problem, but, if allies seems poised to lose the conventional conflict, the U.S. could consider nuclear escalation to stop Russia (at the risk of inviting Russian nuclear attack on the U.S.) Totally not credible (2)

Gisele Pelicot’s husband drugged & raped her for a decade. He invited men from the internet to participate. Philip Young did the same thing. 70,000 men were in group rape chats discussing how to rape their wives, mothers & sisters Gisele wasn’t an anomaly. The anomaly was the men getting caught:

Iran : des comptes pro-régime utilisent le prétexte de l’IA pour nier les massacres de manifestants

The party currently polling at around 40% in the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt are far-right extremists Explicitly demand 'remigration', cut social services and re-establish ties to Russia etc There's a risk they achieve the absolute majority in parliament in September www.mdr.de/nachrichten/...

New numbers from #Iran via HRANA: • Confirmed deaths: 5,137 • Deaths under investigation: 12,904 • Severely injured: 7,402 • Total arrests: 27,797 • Arrests of individuals under 18: 175 • Arrested students: 54 • Broadcasts of forced confessions: 200 cases www.en-hrana.org/day-twenty-s...

I can't be the only one who noticed this graph relegated Italy to the PIGS group. When the term was used during the Euro-zone crisis, PIGS referred to Portugal, Ireland, Greece & Spain - the first three requested financial assistance to repay their debt; Spain requested assistance for its banks.

The decline of the west, 1818-2025

Result of the Witkoff/Kushner/Putin talks: Putin is not interested in ending the war.

There's been a surge in the number of social media profiles & pages spreading disinfo against Portugal's centre-left presidential candidate in the run up to the second round of the vote. Several pages seem to be based abroad, and went from posting in Hungarian to posting in flawless Portuguese.

...and, dare to say, the clueless: 🇵🇹

"Take a moment off doomscrolling", they said "It will be good for you, it will cheer you up", they also said

“I never thought the anarchic multipolar world would eat MY face” sobs Russian president who voted for the Multipolar World Eating People’s Faces Party

I hope the launch notification reaches everyone it should: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegi...

Lawfare chegou ao governo português.

19 pays ont signé aujourd'hui à Davos l'acte fondateur d'une énième insulte à l'intelligence et au bon sens. 19 pays sur les 49 + Commission UE qui avaient été invités. Il faudra rajouter le Bélarus bientôt, la Russie si elle obtient son milliard d'actifs gelés. Et Israël?

The important part is really the WaPo's mention of the "immediate negotiations to acquire Greenland." That is not something Europe/World can do without conceding it's for sale. It's as big a threat as any. Force is implicit and there is no diplomatic path to "buy" Greenland. 1/

"Trump’s world view is closer to Hobbes’s understanding of anarchy than that of the realists. (...) [F]or a commonwealth to survive in such a brutal world, (...) Hobbes disdained any separation of powers or any domestic agglomeration of power outside the sovereign himself."

Today marks a historic moment, with the first preparatory committee for a future convention on crimes against humanity.🇨🇭 priorities include: - Robust obligations to prevent and punish - Broad jurisdiction and cooperation - Effective and inclusive negotiations

Top threat to the EU in 2026: hybrid attacks on critical infrastructure. Other high-impact risks include a US withdrawal from security guarantees - seen by experts as having an impact comparable to a Russian nuclear strike. @vanghel.bsky.social presents the survey’s findings.

Excelente. Do @joaoc.bsky.social Simulador de resultados na 2.ª volta da eleição presidencial de 2026 (Seguro vs Ventura) joaocancela.github.io/presidenciai...

"Trump’s world view is closer to Hobbes’s understanding of anarchy than that of the realists. (...) [F]or a commonwealth to survive in such a brutal world, (...) Hobbes disdained any separation of powers or any domestic agglomeration of power outside the sovereign himself."

As these shifts in European opinion build up in the next few months, the people demanding that the Europeans do not escalate against the Trump administration will find it increasingly difficult to keep up with the pace of events

"Os detidos, com idades compreendidas entre os 30 e os 54 anos, adotavam e difundiam a ideologia nazi, inerente à cultura nacional-socialista e extrema direita radical e violenta, agindo por motivos racistas e xenófobos, com o objetivo de intimidar, perseguir e coagir minorias étnicas"

@vienna_official today we welcome his imperial highness archduke franz ferdinand to sarajevo. unity, stability, progress. @pan_slav_posting wild that austria thinks this is a good idea but ok

A minha freguesia não me deixou ficar mal.

The CCP too thought the Nobel Peace Prize was decided & awarded by the Norwegian government. Authoritarian leaders are unable/unwilling to acknowledge independent institutions, and resort to collective punishment of who they perceive as hindering them.

The EU just signed a colossal trade agreement with the “B” in BRICS (opposed by far left), and major progress is expected in 2025 with the “I“. GUE/NGL are right to condemn centrist zombie Atlanticism, but they‘d cut defence spending and oppose most trade deals with global south. Equally unserious.

During a speech in Tehran today, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that "several thousand people were killed" during the recent protests by those he described as "seditionists", confirming for the first time that the death toll from the protests is in the thousands.

Premier tour de l’élection présidentielle au Portugal ce dimanche. Mon analyse pour Le Grand Continent legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2026/01/1...

That language was necessary for his domestic audience to support Ukraine and weaken Le Pen before the upcoming election. A French document captured it first hand and @eliseml.bsky.social did a fabulous thread in English about it: threadreaderapp.com/thread/15677...

President Macron: Whereas Ukraine was overwhelmingly dependent on American intelligence capabilities a year ago, today two-thirds are provided by France. Two-thirds.

Ena pá...

not surprising if you paid attention to his alignment with MAGA election denialism in 2020 funny that he's still being referred to as a 'dissident artist' www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...

She is really really right wing but smart enough to try working inside the EU establishment rather than barking at it 24/7 like a circus chihuahua. Many establishment types find it reassuring but that kind of entryism makes me more uncomfortable tbh. Don’t mistake her pragmatism for shared values.

French officials said Paris did not expect that its forces would come under attack from its American Nato allies. The deployments were intended to startle opinion in the United States and especially in the US armed forces. 7/

This is the guy who sheltered Orbán in the EPP for years and then had the brass neck to pretend to be standing up for European values against autocratisation. And now he wants a rinse and repeat?

Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers

Não há Taça de Portugal, não houve Taça da Liga, não vai haver Liga dos Campeões, e quase de certeza que não vai haver campeonato. Tudo isto decidido em meados de Janeiro, Impressionante. Rui Costa está de parabéns.