36 years ago today the Berlin Wall fell, in part because of the the poor economic performance of East Germany relative to the West. Here are the regions of Europe today that richer and poorer than the Eastern part of Germany today. Full list of regions by income: brilliantmaps.com/rich-poor...

87 years ago today, the Kristallnacht burned. 36 years ago today, the Berlin Wall fell. Whether from the darkness of 9.11.1938 or light of 9.11.1989, the lesson for 🇩🇪 in 2025 is clear: Fight for freedom. Stop fascists. #StandWithUkraine. Their fight for freedom & peace is ours.

BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

The dumbest president in history strikes again

Für Millionen Menschen in der Ukraine ist es dunkel und kalt. Ab jetzt 16 Stunden täglich ohne Strom. Große Teile der Stromproduktion sind beschädigt oder zerstört, dazu ein Fünftel der Heizkapazitäten. Europa hat Russland gewähren lassen. 1/3

This is my grandfather, Brigadier G. B. Vaughan-Hughes MC in 1919, aged 22/23, ‘somewhere in France,’ on Joey, his army mount. He bought Joey off the army and let him live a long and happy life in Wales. ‘Tommy,’ as grandpa was called, had entered the war early in 1915 as an 18-year-old 2nd Lt …1/

Hey look, it's me

Der 9. November: Ein Tag, der tiefsten Schmerz und größte Freude vereint. 1938 führte er in den Abgrund, 1989 war er der Beginn eines Aufbruchs. Ein Tag, der uns erinnert, welchen Unterschied es macht, wenn Menschen für das freie Wort, für Rechtsstaat und Demokratie einstehen.

A despicable act by despicable men. May all servicemen of the Greatest Generation irrespective of creed and colour be remembered and respected when these little men have long been forgotten.

How Much Sugar Is In Fanta In Each European Country Find out why: brilliantmaps.com/fanta-sugar/

1. This is a thread on freedom, and how easy it is to lose. Over the past 2,000 years in Europe, there have been few periods and places of freedom. For much of the time we lived under highly oppressive tyrannies of various kinds, whether small or grand, local or imperial, secular or religious.🧵

Fully supported!

Elbridge Colby and his consequences have been a disaster for DoD Policy

“🇨🇳 China has undertaken a massive expansion of sites linked to missile production since 2020, bolstering its ability to potentially deter the 🇺🇸 US military and assert its dominance in the region, a new CNN analysis of satellite images, maps and government notices reveals.” 1/

As the situation in Pokrovsk becomes critical, and AFU reinforces the pocket to stabilize the flanks, there's considerable attention now to how this battle is unfolding. A few thoughts on the situation. 1/ (DeepStateMap)

Painting the picture of the day. Despite the seriousness I'm still laughing! 👇😂

This is what I meant when I talked about Hegseth’s “lethality” obsession being dangerously facile and dishonest. It’s code for a right wing aesthetic, not efficacy. open.substack.com/pub/persuasi...

AfD is a bunch of traitors.

This is just but a bunch of chicanery. Ukrainian laws on minority protections are already in compliance with E.U standards. Protections of language, cultural identity, right to external association, right to name, and more. Meanwhile, Hungary treats its minorities in ways that violate E.U standards.

This is why they need anti-drone tunnels and helmets.

Germany’s Economy Is As Big As 22 Of Its Neighbours brilliantmaps.com/germany-e...

Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default. Here's how to turn it off. First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner

After staying ~100 days at the frontline, doing assault operations, these Ukrainian soldiers have finally rotated out. Respect.

Why is the alphabet in that particular order? Who made J out of I? Why is K the comeback hero of the alphabet? All of these questions are answered in a new book

If you think the bus is bad, check the vacuum cleaner: www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

1/Forget abundance. Welcome to the politics of scarcity. The Trump Administration is saying Americans will need to live with less -- fewer flights, less food aid, smaller universities, shrunken federal workforce. Why? Its not about prosperity but power. apnews.com/article/gove...

6/In the short term, this can amass quite a lot of power through rents, polarization, and salami tactics. But it also stokes resentment. The key is to challenge those that are focused on loss aversion and offer a win-win future. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

What are the right lessons (for the Des from this week's elections)? The 1st is to focus on the economy and affordability, as Mr Mamdani, Ms Sherrill and Ms Spanberger all did. The 2nd is to pick candidates who are a good fit for the places where they are running. www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

just tried to buy a $150 coat for my kid and was met with $103 in tariffs. is this because of the socialist mayor

Angesichts der hier beschriebenen Vorsichtsmaßnahmen könnte man glatt auf den Gedanken kommen, die Diskussionsrunde mit Medwedew berühre nachrichtendienstlich und/oder strafrechtlich relevante Belange.

😮 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...

1/ Indians fighting in the Russian army have been killed en masse near Pokrovsk. A survivor says in a video that his friends, who included students studying in Russia, died only 10 days after signing a military contract and being sent to the front without any training. ⬇️

Not surprising

It's time to start to thinking about Christmas presents, isn't it? I have an idea, that costs just £22 a month. 📰 subscribenow.economist.com

AfD-Russlandreise zu Medwedew: "Voraus gingen @t-online.de-Recherchen zufolge monatelange Kontaktanbahnungen, in die auch das Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht verstrickt ist. Russland will demnach auf die Abgeordneten einwirken, damit sie zentrale Projekte von Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz untergraben."

Had anyone told us in March 2022, when Kyiv seemed weeks from encirclement and Russia controlled nearly 30% of Ukraine, that 4 years later Russia would still be fighting for Donbas while holding only 20%, we would have seen it as a Ukrainian victory and clear Russian defeat

Really? Colour me shocked!

This is the most heart-warming video I have seen this year 👇 Wishing this warrior and his family that they may grow old in peace and freedom. 🇺🇦

BTW those protests were deliberately stoked by the publisher. BUT the game also caused a very real diplomatic crisis in #Finland. THAT is what #finlandization was in practice. A thread, to help understand why most Finns are critical of oblivious foreigners pushing the same for, say, #Ukraine.

Strike "Russia" and replace it with "Muscovy".

Train worker hero credited with saving lives in the Huntingdon knife attack named as Samir Zitouni.

It's journalistic malpractice not to immediately follow these statements with questions like "Are you saying you didn't sign it?" and "Was it signed by autopen?" And "Is someone else making decisions for you?"

Bang on by Michelle Goldberg in the NYT

Aus dem Buch von @frederikschindler.bsky.social ein Ausschnitt, der mit Höckes eigenen Worten seine völkische, neonazistische Ideologie zeigt. Nichts davon ist "konservativ", das sind revolutionäre Fantasien. Wir reden immer von "gesichert rechtsextrem" - hier wird anschaulich, was das heisst.

"If the German government were to agree to Dassault’s demands (...) Germany would have to accept that it would have no control over the project’s progress or the final product, despite significant financial contributions (...) and firm purchase guarantees." defensearchives.com/news/quo-vad...

"Americans who care about democracy must organize and vote in every election, no matter how small or local. And in their personal lives, people who want to restore maturity to national government must be clear with those around them, even if it means risking their personal relationships (...)."

Jeffries: "The Trump administration and Mike Johnson are running a pedophile protection program. That's what they've been doing. And that's the reason they refuse to swear in Representative Elect Adelita Grijalva."

Ah, that brings me so much more comfort

3,000 killed, 25,000 repressed, 200,000 refugees. The lessons of the tragedy remain unlearned. @PM_ViktorOrban is busy selling out to the Kremlin and Beijing - while lining his pockets using family and friends with billions in benefits and property deals, a lifeline when he is ousted. 3/3