Maybe it’s too late to reverse autocratic consolidation—but not too late to see the signs. When courts are neutralized and journalists criminalized, democracy isn’t dying—it’s being rewritten. Document it. #DemocracyWatch #RuleOfLaw #AuthoritarianDrift #CivicDuty

📌 The entire world 🌎 is laughing at America now 🐥

Should we check with #Krasnov on this? Or would that be redundant… #Moldova #Russia #Geopolitics #EU #PostSoviet

www.reuters.com/world/europe... Zelensky accuses Hungary — a NATO member — of violating Ukrainian airspace with drones. Not just a border breach: a risk to alliance trust. #NATO #Ukraine #Hungary #Geopolitics #EasternFlank

Well put — thanks for making it plain. The press was meant to serve the public, not just a handful of billionaires. How did we, as citizens, let that slip through our fingers? #Media #Democracy #PublicInterest #Billionaires #Power #Accountability #Regulators #SCOTUS

A former NSA director called China’s theft of U.S. intellectual property “the greatest transfer of wealth in history” — $400B per year. Sloppiness or strategy — and by whom? #CCP, Western #multinationals, #Trump or the #GOP (through framing)? www.foxbusiness.com/politics/chi...

“Hit the archer, not the arrow”

The operation stands as a model of how smaller nations can successfully confront militarily superior adversaries through creativity, determination, and strategic communication

Good analysis by #RolfIvarSkar: You cannot let #Beijing help destroy #European cities and still reward them with your trade. #China, we see you… www.linkedin.com/posts/rolfiv...

Excellent analysis by Rolf Ivar Skar: #China cannot help #Russia bomb #European cities with one hand, and profit from European #markets with the other. www.linkedin.com/posts/rolfiv...

Very intresting analysis: “But the U.S. also needs Europe — perhaps more than it likes to admit. Without a united West, America stands weaker in the real battle ahead: the trade war and tech rivalry with China” www.linkedin.com/posts/rolfiv...

By mid-2026, exit denial may become a tool of pre-emptive repression in #Russia used to isolate civil society leaders, control regional outflows, and suppress economic emigration. www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...

• More transparency • Clearer consent • Stronger accountability Today marks the 7th anniversary of the #GDPR. The EU has the strongest data protection rules in the world. Data protection in the EU is not just a policy – it’s a fundamental right. 👉 europa.eu/!BV9JKP

Trump’s ‘peace deal’ in action: Ukrainians sleeping in metro stations while missiles fly. Appeasement isn’t peace — it’s surrender wrapped in a soundbite

#JPMorgan Chase #geopoliticalanalysis on Russia’s war against Ukraine bases on weak assumptions… www.linkedin.com/posts/hpmidt...

Kyiv’s drones have hit targets ever deeper into Russian territory in the first months of 2025, destroying oil refineries, airfields, and crippling infrastructure that fuels Russia’s war machine. Even hitting Moscow in what the city’s mayor described as the “largest drone attack” of the war…

But how does this myth-making square with Stalin’s 1939 pact with Hitler, which carved up Eastern Europe and enabled the war in the first place? #WWII #MolotovRibbentrop #HistoricalMemory #Russia #Putin #Stalin #HistoryMatters #Geopolitics #Propaganda #NeverForget

This deconstruction of Putin’s war rhetoric reminds us how easily collective memory can be weaponized. Disinformation isn’t just falsehood — it’s a hijacking of meaning. How do we guard against that, even in our own societies? #deconstruction #propaganda #memory #pluralism #Ukraine #WWII #Bluesky

Let’s be honest: this €500M isn’t just about attracting #talent — it’s a lifeboat for #US #researchers seeking to #escape a country sliding into #authoritarianism. #Europe is quietly preparing to shelter the minds #America may no longer want

Dear Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Europe will always stand by Ukraine in the pursuit of peace.
 You can count on our support at the negotiating table to achieve a just and lasting peace. 
Today, we also discussed the steps Ukraine is taking to earn its place in our family of nations.

In fact, “peace” under occupation has often been worse than war. Because it’s not peace at all — it’s domination. The occupier doesn’t just want land; it wants control over identity, language, and memory. It wants to erase the very existence of the people it subjugates. cepa.org/article/ukra...

Just 3.5% can end tyranny. Protest. Resist. Break the regime’s grip. History proves: when enough people rise, dictators fall. The future is ours to reclaim. #Resistance #PowerToThePeople

What a shame for the free world: the captive and the blackmailer now hold a sovereign people hostage—and with them, the fate of the free West…

This isn’t about helping #Ukraine — it’s about betraying it. The tone and content reek of a mindset long surrendered to #Putin’s worldview. Rather than stand with a sovereign nation under attack, it shifts blame, distorts history, and parrots Kremlin narratives. This isn’t diplomacy; it’s complicity

#Volkskrant #BasvanderSchot

#NRC: #Chinese nationals are fighting in #Ukraine and #Kursk on the #Russian side. Russian recruitment campaigns are appearing on Chinese social media. bsky.app/profile/nrcn...

#Boeing’s #Ortberg: “We are not going to continue to build aeroplanes for customers who will not take them,” Ortberg said, adding: “If we see markets closing that’s going to be a big challenge for us.” www.theguardian.com/business/202...

The 25-year negotiations on the #Mercosur treaty were concluded at the end of last year. It is a #freetradeagreement between the #EU and #Argentina, #Brazil, #Paraguay and #Uruguay. The treaty should stimulate trade between the two blocs. www.nu.nl/politiek/635...

#Kallas reaffirmed the #EU position stating it will never recognize Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, as part of the Russian Federation. Crimea is Ukraine. For those who are under occupation, it is very important that others do not recognize it as Russian united24media.com/latest-news/...

Do not believe the Kremlin propagandists who try to tell you that the sanctions are not working. On the contrary, EU sanctions are working - they are a powerful tool to constrain Russian aggression and support Ukraine. Sanctions are not just economic measures; they limit Russia’s abilities…

Dutch science is quietly safeguarding knowledge, now that the American government is planning major cutbacks in science, and it is far from certain that data is safe in the United States. nos.nl/l/2564520

The #ruleoflaw breaks down when political and other powers no longer fulfill their duties. The executive branch is filled with puppets, amateurs, and self-absorbed egotists. That leads to atrophy of the rule of law — the dissolving, the withering of an organ www.volkskrant.nl/columns-van-...

“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places … “ newrepublic.com/post/194192/...

David Amiel: "In the event of a new trade aggression, Europe will have to tackle the Achilles heel of the United States: its financial sector” bsky.app/profile/libe...

The Chinese economy will undoubtedly feel the blow of Trump's trade war. But it doesn't just have to be detrimental to China if the country manages to approach the EU…

China has shipped back to the US a Boeing 737 Max. The aircraft, worth an estimated $55 million, had been purchased by Xiamen Airlines, but was sent back to Boeing’s Seattle production centre after the trade war between Washington and Beijing escalated. www.liberoreporter.it/2025/04/eng-...

What kind of leader praises this as “genius”? #Trump’s admiration for #Putin isn’t just reckless—it flirts with #fascism and reeks of #betrayal to every #democratic ideal.

46 assaults. 901 shellings. 400+ FPV drones—in just one day. #Russia wages a war of terror, and the world watches. www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/202...

China warns countries against concluding economic deals with the US at the expense of China. Beijing also accuses the US of abusing trade tariffs. Measures will follow against any party that concludes a deal at the expense of China, says the Ministry of Trade. What measures these are is not clear.

#Trump wants to deport migrants, but also drives the brightest heads out of the country. He would not be the first ruler in history to cause a brain drain. buff.ly/HPxLdoJ bsky.app/profile/groe...

Macron invites researchers "from all over the world" to "choose" France and Europe and gives them "an appointment on May 5" This attempt illustrates an attempt to attract the U.S. research sector threatened by Donald Trump's policy. www.lefigaro.fr/sciences/mac...

Joep Bertams

A central European defense procurement initiative can foster more than cost savings. Standardizing equipment means EU nations can seamlessly use one another’s parts and ammunition and gain enormous maintenance efficiencies. cepa.org/article/euro...

Donald Trump seriously threatens to dismiss Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell The American president has renewed his attacks on the president of the independent central bank of the United States, whom he accuses of not lowering policy rates quickly enough. www.lemonde.fr/economie/art...

Russia removes the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations Since the return to power of the Taliban in 2021, Moscow has undertaken to normalize its links with the new Afghan government, perceiving it as a potential economic partner www.lemonde.fr/internationa...

"Incredulous" in the face of Donald Trump's trade war, the European Central Bank continues to cut its interest rates www.lemonde.fr/economie/art...