Strait of Hormuz transits really do seem low. From a relative mean of 7.8 ships/pass to a mean of 0.33 last week. Figure is derived from ships detected in Sentinel 1 sat-data, ie independent of the present electronic warfare in the area.

Sigmund

Just your regularly scheduled share of this masterpiece by @tomgauld.bsky.social

Would love to have a „nobody ever talks …“ trope filter in my feeds.

We recorded episode 104 of our podcast, and while our guest, Rebecca Barth on Ukraine was *truly brilliant*, I think the second part of the podcast is even better because it is exactly the seemingly-super-nerdy-but-actually-truly-relevant stuff we set out to talk about when we started this.

Inspired by @rendle.dev 's NDC talk, I open-sourced a harness structuring AI coding agents into engineering roles: Analyst → Architect → Developer → Reviewer, each consuming the last role's output. gitlab.com/stefanberreth/agentic-engineering-harness

In more Atlantic-leaning European capitals, the prospect of standing alone without America has prompted distress. In Paris, which maintains a fully independent nuclear deterrent and builds its own fighter jets, it feels like vindication

Some thoughts from Munich www.focus.de/politik/ausl...

It looks like you can easily replace „System 1 type violence“ as described in the article with „System 1 type voting“ in an environment that is increasingly shaped - for each individual - through social media into a permanent anger laden „you or me“ situation. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Europeans have real leverage in the face of Donald Trump’s threats towards Greenland and time on their side. They must use it to raise the prospective costs of annexation. @ecfreuropeansec.bsky.social ecfr.eu/article/arct...

"The key is not technology; it is institutions," Méndez Galain said. "Once the rules are fair and predictable, the system builds itself."

Joint statement by 4 former officials in Democratic and Republican Administrations—including four NATO Ambassadors, 3 Assistant Secretaries of State for Europe, and 3 NSC Senior Directors. Excellent opening in particular.

A radical re-focus of the EU on economic growth and innovation, including concrete steps forward. Well worth reading in full, even if technical at times. 👇 constitutionofinnovation.eu

Very interesting project by @bruegel.org here. Remarkable differences still in market value across Europe.

The Thing (1982, John Carpenter)

In nur 5 Jahren hat China den Automobilmarkt übernommen und ist uns parallel beim E-Auto davon gerast. Dass Kanzler Merz allen ernstes davon spricht, dass wir 2035 noch "hocheffiziente Verbrenner" verkaufen, macht es noch verrückter.

www.economist.com/leaders/2025... "That leads to Europe’s last and perhaps the greatest task. Awake to the threat, its leaders need to persuade their voters that change is coming one way or another. Either Europe grabs hold of its own destiny or China and America will force crushing change upon it."

2025 in a nutshell www.ft.com/content/307c...

Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.

For those who care about what caused the widespread Cloudflare outage yesterday: blog.cloudflare.com/18-november-...

I am not a lawyer, just a historian, but one fundamental problem with the political debate about the EU, especially in English publications is that the whole principle of the acquis communnitaire is not understood or taken seriously. The EU is a framework of rules, not an alliance.

Continents xkcd.com/3159/

French police release image of the person wanted in association of the Louvre robbery: #Louvre #robbery #FeathersMcGraw

The perils of running large parts of the global economy on infrastructure controlled by a handful of big U.S. companies, part 3743

While European politicians are busy trading smears around green policy, Beijing has consistently viewed climate not as ideology, but as a lever of industrial power, writes @byfordt.bsky.social @ecfrasia.bsky.social https://bit.ly/42z4ofJ

Sometimes I think the real "peace dividend" since the end of the cold war was that a whole generation of analysts grew up underestimating the power of ideology, memory and emotion, and now they cannot recognize a huge cultural shift when it is staring them in the face. The "soft stuff"matters.

They erased the new Banksy mural in London. But the stain remains.

2021 haben wir die privatisierte E-ID gestoppt – nun haben wir das E-ID-Gesetz 2.0 mitgeprägt: privatsphäre-freundlich, datensparsam & sicher, basierend auf digitaler Selbstbestimmung. Warum wir überzeugt Ja sagen & trotzdem kritisch bleiben: www.digitale-gesellschaft.ch/2025/08/27/d...

One of the best ways to cripple Russia’s ambitions longterm would be to moonshot renewables development then spread the tech everywhere super-cheap. Russia produces nothing of significance beyond oil and gas. The economy would tank. Plus a huge win in the fight against the climate crisis.

@lewisbaston.bsky.social just came across the passage in Borderlines (awesome book!) introduction, that German would not have a word for crime, rooted in the „transgression“ sense of overstepping a line. „Gesetzesübertretung“ and „Regelüberschreitung“ very much have that root, though.

Insightful piece accessible to anglosphere friends and followers about the evolution of German-Polish relationships on the ground, over the past decades, and their links to our history and politics. www.katjahoyer.uk/p/a-german-i...

"Open the window, Janice, bit of a situation here"

So. In the spirit of being fair, I have now read Nick Clegg‘s Essay about the Future of Europe - and Britain‘s Part in it. I have also done my best to ignore who wrote it, and focus on the arguments in it. A few thoughts observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

International followers, a new German Word to learn! Strompreiszonenaufteilungsvorschlag

Wie de EU bekritiseert om een gebrek aan democratie, gaat volgens Marnix Amand voorbij aan de historische gedachte achter het Europese project. buff.ly/a7LTuMC

One consequence of being half addicted to The Rest is History is to gain the habit of thinking "poor form" is the most damning historical verdict on a person. A future episode will conclude that the President's assault on the global trading system is very poor form.

So @amifieldsmeyer.bsky.social and I began interviewing foreign dissidents, domestic activists, and scholars who study pro-democracy movements. We asked them what we needed to know about how to stay safe while opposing authoritarianism. Here’s what we found: buttondown.com/JuliaAngwin/...

The thing about Europe: it's the actual land of the free now. Whatever problems Europe has - and it has plenty - it is looking pretty damn good by comparison these days. My Charlemagne this week www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

Wait for this turning into a „we made a mistake, folks. We‘re correcting it today as only great leaders do. I love you all. And you love me.“ - moment on camera any day now.

These articles across the world today all work themselves up off their disbelief in this being real. That the newly dropped tariffs on *our* country must be an oversight, since *we* are special. Folks, we were all just pranked by a 15 y/o bully person who was let into the room with the big buttons.

The analysis and questions asked in this piece are fundamental for progressives across the democratic spectrum to reign in the current political turmoils around right wing populism in the west. Who decides moving forward?To move forward. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

What were The Troubles and why did they lead to 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland? And why did the British government deploy troops on the streets of Belfast? Join @willdalrymple.bsky.social and the marvellous @praddenkeefe.bsky.social and me. Out now! @empirepoduk.bsky.social

And yet Joe Rogan puts guests on who say "Vaccines aren't actually responsible for the reduction in infectious diseases.”

Famous humorous computer security paper on top-tier threats to targeted individuals vs advice for what consumers actually encounter: "The Mossad/not-Mossad duality is just one of the truths that security researchers try to hide from you." www.usenix.org/system/files...