I can’t remember if I shared this claim, but I see it going around and the source for the allegation doesn’t exist. What IS true is that several European countries have limited sharing sensitive intelligence with the U.S. because they have discovered some of it leaked to Russia. That’s bad enough.+

I’m not sure if even the heads of the Turkish regulator RTÜK are this blatant about leading a politically motivated purge of journalists & entertainers and capture of entire networks. (The FCC is “responsible for implementing and enforcing America’s communications law and regulations.”)

This is the FCC Chairman, who is ostensibly a non-partisan industry regulator, openly bragging about conducting a political purge of the media.

"The National Security Council’s director for Iran, Nate Swanson, laid out exactly how Iran would respond to a bombing attack — unfortunately he was fired last year"

“It’s important that the world have a plan,” says Marco Rubio, “to confront” the problem America created without a plan in predictable ways after breaking the old plan that was working and president didn’t like that it was but had no other plan except badly planned confrontation, so it’s on you now.

Middle Eastern Grandmothers who invested all their money in gold jewellery vindicated.

CATS is offering fellowships to post-doctoral researchers, think tank members, and practitioners working on Turkey-related issues. For the funding period 2026–2027, please see the call for applications at the link below: www.cats-network.eu/cats-fellows...

Sverige är i fint sällskap. Vet ni i vilket annat europeiskt land det styrande partiet också i dagarna använder sig av retroaktiv lagstiftning? Ledtråd: Det är ett land som Varieties of Democracy-projektet i Göteborg klassificerar som en "electoral autocracy". Svaret är Viktor Orbáns Ungern. +

I hope we will find out whether it matters if ordinary Russians in the major cities start to feel more serious consequences of a war that many of them have so far seemed fine with. It’s not like they can vote Putin out of office, but even autocrats need some legitimacy. This has to concern him.

Don’t let anybody tell you that European politics is boring.

🇸🇪🤝🇺🇦

June 26 last year: “President Trump created the conditions to end the war, [while also] decimating — choose your word — obliterating, destroying, Iran's nuclear capabilities." 1/2 www.war.gov/News/News-St...

Rubriken för senaste avsnittet av Aftonbladets podd Höjd Beredskap är ”Nu har kriget kommit till Östersjön”. Vi vill gärna tro att vi är långt ifrån allt elände i världen men Ukrainas slag mot Primorsk och Ust-Luga i Finska viken igår är påminnelser om att det en falsk trygghet.

Någon som vet vad det är som mullrar i Stockholms skärgård ikväll? Är det stridsflyg?

Quite seriously, one of my biggest questions as the U.S. was gearing up for confrontation with Iran was how Trump would be able to monetize this. Seize the oil? Something else? I couldn’t see it. Well, I needn’t have worried. There’s always 💵 to be made.

Here it is - after Iceland last week, today the EU signed the Security and Defence Partnership with Australia. In Asia, the EU now has security partnerships with Japan, South Korea, India and Australia:

BTW, I am having tacos for lunch as I am reading the news of Trump’s latest pronouncement. I think that we would all be less shocked by the twists and turns if media started accurately reporting Trump’s pressers, like this: +

Having failed to secure the Snickers or M&Ms that were my original objectives, sources tell the Washington Post I will now be refocusing all energy on extracating my hand from where it is stuck inside the vending machine and restoring said machine to the working order it was in prior to my arrival.

The obvious follow-up question is: what are the key European players doing?

I don’t think I am going very far out on a limb when I say that this is probably how almost every single European politician and diplomat really feels about Trump.

Trump seems to think that he can establish escalation dominance by using CAPS and ❗️. One problem is that since he and Bibi have made the war existential for the regime in Iran, there may be an imbalance of stakes/interests, such that Iran is more committed than Trump.+

Robert Mueller has passed away. Here’s a reminder of what his report said about whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian intelligence.

Leaked footage from the start of the US/Israeli war on Iran. HT @tomrees.bsky.social

While the U.S. has experienced extremely dramatic democratic backsliding during Trump 2.0, it is not yet an autocracy. That means that court actions, protests, and (most importantly) voting still matter.

BREAKING: Iran likely used the Khorramshahr-4 missile in the attempted strike on Diego Garcia, suggesting a range exceeding 4,000 km. If confirmed, this means Iran could strike nearly all of Europe, including France and the UK, with missiles capable of carrying cluster or unconventional warheads.

Senior EU officials in Brussels flagged a growing Greenland/Iran risk to me yesterday: That Europe's unwillingness to allow Trump to use their bases to attack Iran would reaffirm the idea in his mind that he has to fully own GL's territory in order for the Arctic to be secure

Finland, man. They’re the freest the happiest, and have the best school system (all public schools) in the world, and on top of that, they are also crazy tough and sober when it comes to defense. The Finns are doing something right. Actually many things.

Det var precis detta jag hävdade när det begav sig, och som jag tyckte att i alla fall Radion missade, när de i stället i praktiken fokuserade på denna konflikt som ett tullkrig.

Tomorrow SUITS will be hosting a book talk for @reubensilverman.bsky.social's new volume on Adnan Menderes. I am delighted to have the opportunity to talk about, and celebrate, this important new volume with him. stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/6960471239...

Jag skriver i DN idag om att Israels metoder för att underblåsa instabilitet och splittring i Mellanöstern indirekt hotar Europas säkerhet. En statskollaps i Iran riskerar att kasta in Europa i en flyktingkris som skulle få 2015 att blekna i jämförelse.

Staffan Herrström har varit Sidachef och ambassadör och är en gammal folkpartist. Hans kritik av regeringens nedmontering av biståndet är hård. Minskad volym, minskad effektivitet och ökad risk för korruption.+

Highly recommend this one, by @kellygrieco.bsky.social. Very astute and insightful analysis that makes it clear Iran considers the global economy by way of the Gulf states, and not Israel, the enemy's center of gravity.

Swedish Coast Guard + Police special operators seizing control of false-flagged shadow tanker SEA OWL 1 last night. New vid from Coast Guard.

The original source is probably the Secretary of WAR. So don't come telling me they didn't plan for this contingency. Nothing says lethality like Godzilla!

Al Monitor’s @amberinzaman.bsky.social interviews a key figure in the largest Kurdish party in Iran, Asso Hassan Zadeh of the KDPI. The “Kurdish option” of an armed Kurdish insurgency that works with the U.S. and Israel in Iran is still on the table.

What’s a dictator gotta do to get some attention around here?

Epic rant by @alexfinley.bsky.social on the Trump administration’s failure to consider that Iran might, well, respond if attacked.

"More fake news from CNN. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better." The Trump administration wants a "patriotic press" and uses oligarchs to create it. Observers of democratic backsliding in Turkey and elsewhere will recognize this, but at least Erdoğan did it quietly.

Apropå ingenting särskilt.

Betryggande.

In case you aren't keeping up with the Orwellianisms: starting a war is ending a war.

Trump's America: No longer the world's police but the world's gung-ho gunslinger bad-guy-taker-outer! Yippee!

Denna insikt är vad som borde styra Sveriges inställning till Netanyahus & Trumps krig. Vi borde ha lärt oss. Saddam var en grym diktator men Irakkriget bidrog till framväxten av IS stärkte Iran. Detta krig kommer att få lika omfattande & svårförutsägbara konsekvenser. Men de kommer ej gagna Europa.

The hubris and stupidity of the ruling elite in the country that was once the leader of the free world is a tragic thing to behold.

A victory for Trump, Putin and Netanyahu. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov: “To be honest, I don’t even understand now how anyone can call on others to follow the norms and principles of international law. In fact, it no longer exists.”

Swedish (SWAT equivalent) police boarding a stateless ship entering the Baltic Sea. It was sailing under Guinean flag but with a mostly Russian crew, from Morocco to St Petersburg.

Trump got visibly angry when hearing that Russia is helping Iran target Americans. I mean, he didn’t get angry at Russia but at the reporter who had the audacity to ask him about it.+

Why was this story on the front page of the UK’s Daily Telegraph — but NOT America’s leading newspapers?

Det här är kanske lite publikfriande att skriva på BlueSky men jag lyssnade på Svenskans podd Ledarredaktionen om Iran igår och det var jobbigt att höra de medverkande försöka rättfärdiga kriget. Svenskans ledarsida har tydligen nu övergivit folkrätten. +

To say that Iran’s leaders are in a bind is obviously an understatement, but they face a particular strategic dilemma: Given military superiority of 🇺🇸 & 🇮🇱, their only real deterrent is to impose costs on weaker U.S. partners, but doing so makes Iran even more isolated & vulnerable.