that would be a positive, then.

Is geo-narcissism a word? The delusion that everything everywhere at any time was or is, in the end, only ever about you. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

Maybe I’ve become more cynical with age, but it’s curious how Russia re-engages with peace talks whenever there’s the whiff of possible new US sanctions

Expect more of this. I was in Brussels for a few days talking to people. Striking how some of the most Atlanticist/ US oriented people I know have made a full 180. Remains to be seen if they can turn the tide. But the days of European trust in the US seem well and truly over.

Nederland bijna net zo slecht als de Engelsen. Lieve hemel, dan ben je diep gezakt.

Particularly when so many Israelis have opted to find well-paid jobs in Berlin, London, Paris and other centres of a supposedly dying Europe

Theo Francken krijgt gezelschap.

Luister voor voorbeelden en een uitwerking hiervan vooral deze aflevering met de onvolprezen Huib Modderkolk, Annieke Kranenberg en Jelle Postma: open.spotify.com/episode/6GZz...

The demise of the BBC is also a loss for civil society beyond Britain. The BBC of old had a huge influence across Europe where public broadcasters would buy and air these programs or be inspired to make them themselves (sadly, Brits rarely if ever bought European programs in turn).

I completely loved Freedom. Both highly intelligent and deeply felt.

They are flying robots. We really must stop using the word 'drone'. It sounds far too innocent.

same is true for European journalists and opinion makers. The US has gone off the deep end and we need to start thinking for ourselves.

There is a body under each of these crosses. These American service men gave their lives to save Europe from itself. Now the American government desecrates their memory. It is very painful.

I suspect he is Belgian, probably Wallone. They do surrealism like no other.

Imagine an EU-wide government shut down in its 6th week leading to serious disruption of air traffic. We would not hear the end of it in Anglophone media.

Tell me again these are not Europeans. Ukranians are incredible. They are giving their lives to belong to Europe and they protect us from the Russians.

incredible that these guys have a massive hard on for a country that, if it were a state, would rank behind kansas in terms of wealth and which would be a total backwater if it weren’t economically integrated with more functional countries

A fantastic film. Best seen on the big screen, without any preconceptions (or reviews in your mind).

Voor al die sukkels bij de VVD, Elsevier, de Telegraaf en WNL die denken en roepen dat echte kerels gewoon geld verdienen door olie en gas te boren, en softies zich verliezen in linkse hobby's zoals zonnepanelen en windmolens. Ignorant fucks.

Maakt niet uit waar Luyendijk over praat: het is altijd interessant. Én leraren: bewust géén gebruik van powerpoint. Verder kraakt hij ook nog even groepswerk voor studenten af: "Ik kan niet samenwerken. Óf ik doe alles zelf, óf ik maak de anderen dood." www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxZB...

that sounds about right.

The maffioso in the White House is dropping all pretences.

Britain is a former empire still suffering debilitating withdrawal symptoms. This comes out in weird ways and one of them is the refusal to understand the EU.

😮 Norway finds out that its electric busses - produced by a Chinese firm - can be remotely controlled from China! The good news of this is that the Norwegians realised this because they did a cybersecurity test. We need to think about, and test, stuff like this more. www.focus.de/panorama/wel...

All under the assumption that Trump and what's left of his entourage will keep on playing by the rules of democracy and the constitution.

Over tegenstanders, medestanders maar vooral... omstanders. Hoe overtuig je die, wanneer je zelf hopeloos brainy en inhoudelijk bent? Ik mocht een verhaaltje vertellen ("key-note speaker blahblah") bij de fantastische Impact Economy Foundation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxZB...

Really useufl term: polarised paralysis. Describes my own country the Netherlands very well.

I may be guilty of buying into this myth.

In the Netherlands it's about a tenth of this. But tell me again how Americans are so much richer than Europeans.

Een podcast die u niet vaak genoeg kunt beluisteren. Europa in gevaar: 'De VS verraadt ons' met Joris Luyendijk David Boogerd en theoloog Stefan Paas in gesprek met Joris Luyendijk @davidboogerd.bsky.social @stefanpaas.bsky.social @jorisluyendijk.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_sc...

Zo eenvoudig om formatie te verkorten: een totale media black-out voor politici tot ze eruit zijn. Gewoon helemaal geen aandacht geven. Ik zweer: dan gaat alles tien keer zo snel. In de tussentijd zoeken Haagse redacties eens een keer iets uitzoek dat de schandalen over poppetjes overstijgt. #easy.

A total and utter hero

luisteren jullie, PvdA en VVD? "Focus group driven politics that lacks the willingness to shape discourse."

Yes, we Europeans could do more. But Putin expected us to do far less - his other fatal miscalculation (the first being that Ukranians would buckle within the first three days of battle)

Stop. It does NOT promise a new start. It promises to rebuild the open air prison of Gaza which the Israeli government will destroy again at some point. "Mowing the grass", it's called in Israeli government circles.

‘De Oekraïners houden de oorlog nu nog op afstand, dankzij persoonlijke offers van ongekende proporties, maar er is geen garantie dat zij dat volhouden. Of de Russen tot stoppen worden gedwongen bepalen de bondgenoten van Kyiv grotendeels zelf. Ook Nederlanders moeten zich dat blijven realiseren’.

There is something patently absurd in all the moaning about EU unity as a contrast to America when we are now in week 5 of a US government shutdown that increasingly looks permanent

Ban X. Sell your Tesla. Divest of this man. He is a lying fascist.

this thread is worth every European's time.

Ukrainians are incredible. Everyone in Europe enjoying their lives in freedom should visit the place and see for themselves. If that is difficult for you, donate: protectukraine.nl/how-to-help/

Makes you wonder when the government shutdown will begin to make air travel to and in the United States impossible

We're witnessing in real time the reunification of the extreme right with antisemitism. It will be interesting to watch the Israel lobby in the US respond to this shift. Folks like Fuentes are an immeasurably far greater threat to American Jews than Hamas.

this is really, really interesting.

Ze begrijpen echt niks van game-theory, bij de PvdA.

The fukuyamian mistake we keep making about trumpism and democracy -

The fundamental problem being that the people in power in Israel today want to destroy the Palestinians. They say so themselves.

Never happens the other way around, now does it? The number of times I've had German or Dutch or French public opinion explained to me in a US publication... Almost always by an American pundit who doesn't know any of these languages.

Beetje laat: Ik mocht woensdag voor ZDF de verkiezingen becommentarieren, en er keken twee miljoen Duitse mensen naar. Zwei Million! Mevrouw Klein, Meneer Van Aarsen en Meneer Zuur, dank voor uw bezielde Duitse lessen op het Gymnasium in Hilversum midden jaren 80. www.zdf.de/play/magazin...

The next generation of media may not be shaped by George Orwell's exhortation to speak truth to power, but by whatever the fuck some dictator tells them to write.

I find the optimism genuinely baffling. So they rebuild the open air prison. Then what?