This is not a "students today" post--it's more "this is a new form of dysfunction" that doesn't look exactly like it's been in previous decades. It's more than just "first-year chaos." It's an across-the-board inability to process instructions, engage with longer texts, and *connect* with others.

The US-Russia plan includes a $300bn signing bonus for the US in the form of Russia's central bank frozen assets - for @foreignpolicy.com I outline how the EU could curb Trump’s interest in the deal if the bloc rushes to seize these assets before America grabs them foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/24/t...

« On the digital omnibus, absolutely no third country had an influence on our sovereign simplification agenda » says EU Commission, but regardless of whether is true this sounds so unplausible as its net effect is positive for US big tech #digitalomnibus

much of the work on AI-generated misinformation focuses on regular users/communities, while ignoring how political and economic elites can seal themselves into a hermetic slop box -- a repeat of the same mistake we made with radicalization and conspiracism in the previous decade

“It is now increasingly hard to see how Europe, in particular, can avoid large-scale protection if it is to retain any industry at all.” on.ft.com/3XR9JvS

For all the frenzy about how the Europeans or Ukrainians were doomed four days ago or speculation about what Russia is up to, nothing in concrete terms has changed for the moment for both sides of this war Instead it's the Americans who ceremoniously shot themselves in both feet

A good place to start is to equip Germany's new EV subsidies with buy-European clauses, copying France's scheme. Coordinating such policies across the EU can help steer demand into its car sector. If you spend EUR3 billion do it well. For more see our recent paper. cer.eu/publications... 12/

As the Franco-German economic advisors noted in August, the growth rate of China’s new industrial lending has roughly quintupled since 2020 as bank credit shifted from property to manufacturing. Unless you think China has a private banking sector, this is a policy choice. 6/

Something the US needs to accept too is that without a large-scale correction imposing consequences on a large number of people, the crisis of governance here will continue indefinitely

Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments: One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.

Next week,🇪🇺President von der Leyen's centre-right EPP group is preparing to ally with the far right in order to pass the 1st of her deregulation packages. A Commission official says these #Omnibus proposals are being sold as "concessions" to Trump. Our leadership are going down 2 dangerous paths.

OTD in 1917 the Red Revolution. An illegal, foreign backed coup aimed at constraining & breaking Russia apart, overthrew the legitimate government in the first "color revolution".

The willingness to use every weapon to block an agreement to reduce emissions, is another point for the theory that part of the economic base of Trumpism is a group of capital-owners who’ve decided that a rational response to climate change would involve an unacceptable loss of prerogatives.

My perhaps controversial assessment is that when you share the propaganda of your enemies to call it out or to mock it… you’re still spreading their propaganda and maybe doing exactly what they hope you’ll do.

New analysis with @cdgeiser.bsky.social: The EU’s current drive to cut red tape at all costs is weakening Europe. Last week’s failed vote on the Sustainability Omnibus in the European Parliament was the culmination of extreme pressure, poorly designed proposals and political polarisation. Thread:

This man is being Gorilla Channel'd with a rotating selection of AI slop riot porn by several known white supremacists who are secretly running the government.

1/Striking speech by Macron: The future of European democracy depends on taking back its digital information space. A remarkable turn from Silicon Valley as source of enlightenment to being a purveyor of slop. And the stakes aren't just ad revenue but the nation. defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

Thanks for reading! I should add that in the book I primarily discuss U.S. ideas of rapid, decisive warfare rooted in systems thinking.

“It is as though Europe is in a fight and bleeding out, but not wanting to take counter actions because it is afraid the opponent may step on its toe.”

Europe / Interview exclusive accordée au Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung / La Russie a créé une armée secrète de robots qui manipulent les démocraties occidentales et tentent de les affaiblir de l'intérieur, a déclaré le président français Emmanuel Macron

I suspect a lot of the ceremony around Kirk is an attempt to leverage Christian nationalist symbology in order to convey the messianic fervor of MAGA from Trump to Vance.

Can I interest you in a really cool bug in these trying times? This is the Picasso moth (Baorisa hieroglyphica), native to India & Southeast Asia.

"yes Mr President but theoretically, if I did recall our ambassador, what level would our tariffs be at...............uh huh, well that is a big number"

Another big open question: if tech rules are the red line, who and what holds it? There has been little appetite for retaliation against the US or even using the Anti-Coercion Instrument against US tech and finance, and France as the biggest proponent is in political turmoil.

Irony about Rumsfeld is that Americans made the same mistake with him that they made with McNamara and later, with Trump: We are convinced that people who were in business can run the government like a business. It's a stupid, stupid belief but millions of Americans are wedded to it.

🚨HUGE! European Commission fines Google €2.95 billion over abusive practices in online advertising technology Here we go, waiting for Trump reaction. After massive criticism for delaying what was reported to be a minor fine earlier this week

I hate to be the grump at the party. But this is all about Starmer/Macron trying to show relevance to Trump. This force is never gonna happen because 1. Russia will never say yes and if they did 2. US ain't going to go to war with Russia if it fires some missiles at some Euro troops in Ukraine. 🤷‍♂️

www.politico.eu/article/vote... how European voters are more in favour of stronger European integration than its leaders @politico.eu

This is big news Google’s adtech fine pulled at last minute over EU-US trade tensions MLex reports that competition boss Ribera had to shelve announcement today because of lobbying from trade chief Sefcovic and the US DoJ www.mlex.com/mlex/article...

They autonomously arrived at the decision to surrender unconditionally.

Generic column ideas that need to be banned. Add if you think of one, please. 1) "You may hate (insert name of controversial figure), but they might just have a point on (insert controversial topic) actually."

For all their values, European leaders are subordinate because their economies, militaries and politics are fragmented. For all his shamelessness, Trump is dominant because (however dismally) he speaks for one economy, one military, one political system. It’s that simple.

In January 2025, Senior Editor @kanishktharoor.bsky.social spoke with the political economist Nicholas Eberstadt about the global crash in fertility rates and the looming prospect of depopulation. Listen to the conversation here:

🚨 It’s publication day! THE ART OF COERCION is finally out. When do threats work? When they are perceived as credibly *conditional*. Credible and painful punishments are not enough. Threats fail if targets feel “damned if they do and damned if they don’t.” shorturl.at/qa4T5

"There is a name for the discrepancy between the strength of Trump’s radical political agenda and the inadequacy of the European response to it: “vassalisation heureuse” a sort of willing submission." www.ft.com/content/0fa0...

I’m quoting this because it is a very fair point for which I have an answer: The first thing is to recognize that in a democracy there is no such thing as “ the majority.” Instead, there are many and multiple overlapping majorities that can be assembled from different parts of the whole.

GIFT link. Wonderful read.

Wanna see a crazy chart? Of course you do. Spending on constructing datacenters and manufacturing facilities for computers & electronic products in the US now exceeds the entire retail and wholesale industry and almost as much as the rest of the office and manufacturing sectors combined.

The EU-US deal shows the shambles of European foreign policy. You can’t ring-fence the economy from defence – if you are dependent in your security you won’t be autonomous in commerce

Who to scapegoat when trade deals are done? As trade “deals” emerge, who will become the scapegoat next time things go wrong? Do trade deals break, or will new scapegoats be found? secure.ubs.com/global/en/we...

Good thread here from Andrew. No political party is engaging seriously with the question of economic growth and this list - which is a collection of soundbites demonstrates why. Short rant 🧵 First as Andrew says this isn’t just a U.K. problem, as this chart from Martin Wolf illustrates

It's worse than that: because populism can't deliver its promises, it has to keep finding new traitors & enemies to blame. It has to keep tearing at the walls of its imagined prison. The more it fails, the more it turns people against each other. And the more it seeks to destroy anything in its way

🚨 JUST IN: 🇫🇷 French nuclear weapons, 2025. By @nukestrat.bsky.social @mattkorda.bsky.social @elianajjohns.bsky.social @mknight.bsky.social of @scientistsorg.bsky.social In @thebulletin.org thebulletin.org/premium/2025... #France #ballisticmissiles #bombers #submarines #nuclearweapons #nukesky

English language online discourse is dominated by Americans, and the presumption that you are discussing America, when you could be discussing any nation instead, just in a common language. Drives me up the wall.

»"There is no extreme threat to Europe that would not prompt a response by both nations,” the UK added. “As such, any adversary threatening the vital interests of Britain or France could be confronted by the strength of the nuclear forces of both nations.”«

As a non-US outsider I get sucked into it too, but that's why daily circulation of clips of Trump saying bad/mad/dangerous things is a trap for US liberals and leftists. They become entirely reactive to his latest thing rather than getting stuck into developing long term campaign strategies to win

3. The rationale given for a war will change over time, such that actual success or failure in achieving a named objective is less relevant than one might think

Hard to overstate the degree to which there appears to be literally no one in the president's current circle who has any experience, even at a low level, managing ANY kind of national security crisis or even situation. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/thoug...

America now has the foreign policy of a personalist dictator. New piece from me in @foreignaffairs.com www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...