This is an excellent analysis of Tisza's program by my brilliant PhD student @gabrielagreilinger.com

Talk about burying the lede! “Russia has captured less than 1.5 percent of Ukrainian territory since 2024. [It’s] also estimated that Russian forces suffered about 415,000 dead, wounded and missing last year in battles that were largely focused on the two cities.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/w...

So, on "national security" grounds, Latvia is forcing its "critical infrastructure" employers to lay off all its Russians and Belarusians. They've even denied work to one of the doctors who treated and lobbied for Navalny — after he learned Latvian and got a local medical license.

A truly Kafkaesque trial, with the intent to harm and repress but next to no substance, vague charges and random items such as "evidence, the prosecution has submitted records of viewing Zelenskyy’s website and Arakhamia’s website." #Georgia

NEW: Ukraine has begun planning presidential elections alongside a referendum on any peace deal with Russia, after the Trump administration pressed Kyiv to hold both votes by May 15 or risk losing proposed US security guarantees w/ @henryjfoy.ft.com @maxseddon.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/50d3...

If I were reading a novel about an anti-filth crusade led by "Congressman Ogles" and "Congressman Randy Fine," I'd think it all a bit heavy-handed.

"The Azerbaijani authorities’ reach has extended beyond legal proceedings to apparent cross-border abductions."

Telegram founder Pavel Durov acknowledges Russia's accelerated, escalated censorship of Telegram. A noteworthy statement, given that he's recently focused more on criticizing Western regulators.

I find it very strange that China finds it important to take notice of Jimmy Lai's being a Chinese national despite being a British citizen. It's almost as if the CCP wants to claim ownership on everyone ethnically Chinese, reducing it to one monolithic bloc.

people born in america probably don’t realize how cool america used to be. the death of US soft power is going to have long term consequences we are only beginning to see

Personalist political orders and kleptocratic enterprises are generally more vulnerable to power struggle within than challenges from the outside. What difference will the removal of Tashiyev make to order and enterprise in the Kyrgyz Republic? substack.com/@havli/note/...

On today's news from Kyrgyzstan

With Hungary’s elections only 2 months away, let’s look at what the opposition promises when it comes to the EU, rule of law & Hungary’s alliances. Media coverage highlighted euro adoption and independence from RU energy by 2035 but there's much more in the program www.reuters.com/business/hun...

Big story coming out of Kyrgyzstan: President Japarov just dismissed his second-in-command Kamchybek Tashiev from his position as head of the country’s security services The two had been effectively ruling in tandem since Japarov came to power in 2021 www.azattyqasia.org/a/33674147.h...

Call me old fashioned but this is NOT how MOD should do business: "Burghart said Palantir’s MoD contract “was granted by direct award”, without competition, and asked the cabinet secretary to check there were “no other such contracts, no other such undisclosed meetings”." apple.news/AV4gdfVtNSFi...

"Despite the criticisms of the Platform’s structure and legitimacy, many of the delegates said that its mere existence was a notable achievement. [...] as Schulmann put it: “Something is better than nothing.”"

"in a further indication that Ukraine is moving toward more systemic engagement with the Belarusian democratic opposition, plans have emerged to potentially appoint a special envoy and host Tsikhanouskaya in Kyiv."

When trying to explain the strategic predicament that Canada now is in to people in London you really do find yourself wondering what the UK would be willing to do if Trump decided to escalate against Britain's most loyal ally

Marco Rubio will head to Hungary and Slovakia - both led by Russia-friendly illiberal leaders - after attending the Munich Security Conference. See my latest read on how the Trump administration is seeking to undermine the EU from within open.substack.com/pub/nbarkin/...

I don't have a publicist, therefore I am the publicist. New website for my forthcoming book. Please especially check out the Author Q&A at the end of the page (Why did i write the book? Who's it for?. Journos, pod-casters, museums can find my contact info & how to obtain a bound review copy. 1/

Fun Fact: one reason why I started working on the book about Britain in 2023 was that, after years of madness, British politics APPEARED TO HAVE CALMED DOWN A LITTLE. So I thought this would be a good time for nuanced, calm reflection. Ha.

Just in: Following mass and unprecedented protests from academia, Georgian Dream has decided to retract its decision to merge Tbilisi State University and Georgian Technical University, the country’s two oldest state universities. 1/

I know a prominent non-cosplaying American critic abroad who uses extreme "device hygiene" protocols when returning to the US these days, so we're already at the level of transnational precaution.

Putting down a marker that before we get to 2028 there will be a time the US government targets an American critic who is abroad, i.e., what we call transnational repression

AI or not, the point of the level of effort you put into your writing should be that one cannot see the level of effort you put into your writing.

👀 Bosnian politicians and experts slammed the opening an office of Hungary’s Counter-Terrorism Center (TEK) near Banja Luka, calling it unconstitutional and set up without federal approval. Officials demand investigations into the move.

Last week I turned down one conference invitation and one invited lecture in the US. It’s just not worth the risk right now, even if I’m in a demographic less likely than most to trigger suspicion. All it takes is one border guard who doesn’t like the look of you.

It's a grim time in #Georgia & all the more remarkable that people step forward to reclaim the country's future, both across civil society and with Tavisuplebis Moedani / Freedom Square convening. Sensible focus on presenting a credible alternative & showing that country can do much better.

Propaganda is increasingly a global issue. Education in the forms it takes, levers and strategies deployed, has never been more important. I created this Udemy course to empower people to see through coordinated operations, understand influence and evaluate credibility. www.udemy.com/course/propa...

But anyway, it will forever baffle me how European government's could put key aspects of Europe's security in the hands of people who believe stuff like this

Europeans should pay more attention to this absolutely crucial aspect of Trump's efforts & plan for it. Were this to go through (likely meaning conditional phasing out of US sanctions) this would be absolute dynamite for European unity with huge divisions likely to emerge.

This includes Epstein funding for a Harvard Program for Evolutionary Dynamics (PED). Seems like an acronym you’d want to avoid in this instance.

Spoke with a PI whose postdoc is trapped abroad because of social media vetting. It appears the postdoc missed disclosing one account and it's unclear if they can come back… ever. This is the country we live in now.

Returning from DC visit, meetings w/ senior Trump officials, Kremlin-backed Bosnian Serb secessionist Dodik says he is redoubling efforts twd “peaceful dissolution” of Bosnia, will embolden his Croat nationalist allies to pursue same, formally abandon any pretense of a “European path” for Bosnia.

I'm totally up for this ride

This question is an inevitable reaction but the answer shouldn't be framed in blanket terms of foreign funding/support (as @garvanwalshe.org points out in his reply). Rather, liberal democracies can & should frame it in terms of goals, i.e. is the democratic constitutional order/process undermined.

Unsurprisingly Lavrov claims hit on LG Alexeev was Kyiv's bid to torpedo talks (we are all assuming it was Kyiv, I presume), but more interesting is separate line emerging in RU social media blaming a dissident, anti-peace cabal in Kyiv (esp. SBU) - implicitly exonerates Zelensky!

I often agree with Thorsten, but I disagree here. This reinforces efforts already underway from Russia & others, but, more importantly, it's accompanied by an assault on European legislation like the DSA, which we should take seriously. So, yes, this *may* backfire, but I wouldn't count on that.

It's also not new - the US has been exporting ideologies since the end of WW2. Europe is just it's latest target, and nativism the new ideology to export and propagate globalaffairs.org/commentary/a...

International travel to the US has plunged in the first year of Trump's second term. Erik Hansen of the US Travel Association says foreign visitors declined by roughly 11 million last year, equivalent to $50 billion in lost spending. www.ft.com/content/8f6d...

Theory, serious, developed listening to Unhedged: price of bitcoin matters to the real equity market because it signals to proper traders what the supply of idiots, fools and dumbasses is looking like: when it falls, the supply of greater fools on which all manias rely is weakening

This was to be expected - after cutting support to pro-democracy civil society last year, the US state is now looking to actively support far-right affiliated think tanks and charities in Europe.

Remember the controversy when Obama was accused of intervening in UK politics? This is the current US government openly seeking to undermine liberal democracy in Europe.

Senior state department official Sarah Rogers travelled to European cities in December and has spoken to key figures in Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party about deploying grants to spread ‘American values’. ft.trib.al/Kx8ta8a

At least 12 Georgian protesters with unpaid fines accrued from blocking the road during demonstrations have had their bank accounts seized. Some of those impacted said they were not informed about the fines, most of which are dated back to around a year ago. oc-media.org/bank-account...

💥In a strange and somewhat arrogant speech, Viktor Orbán said Donald Trump “owes the Hungarian people” a visit to Budapest and that it’s “really expected” he come to “greet the Hungarians,” laying bare his desperation to lure Trump to Hungary as his election campaign falters.

An update: StopFals, one of Moldova's leading portals that debunks misinformation and fake news, has an exhaustive analysis of how this ridiculous report from the U.S. legislature is now being amplified by Kremlin propagandists in Moldova (stopfals.md/ro/article/m...)

I have zero bandwidth to develop the idea, but the last decade has given rise to a gulliblity style, where a source’s statement is treated as the story regardless of whether it’s true or plausible. It creates stories that are technically true but functionally misinformation. You see it everywhere.

A new report shows the enormous pressure EU lawmakers are coming under from American big tech giants.

Georgia 🇬🇪: Bank accounts frozen over old protest fines People in Georgia report that, starting this morning, their bank accounts were frozen because of 5,000 GEL fines they received last year for blocking roads during protests. Many say they did not know about the fines.