Ukrainian security service sources tell @financialtimes.com the agency is conducting "a large-scale special operation to destroy enemy bomber aircraft" deep inside Russia. "SBU drones are targeting aircraft that bomb Ukrainian cities every night." Claims 40 aircraft have been hit.

How much coffee is too much? economist.com/science-and-... from The Economist

How much coffee is too much?

Studies suggest moderate consumption is harmless. It may even be beneficial

economist.com

C’mon American academics. Get yourself to European universities. Way better food, better wine, more history, less book burning* *last bit not always true.

Brendan Nyhan@brendannyhan.bsky.social · last yr.

All science grants selected through peer review now must be reviewed by the commissars

This is like O.J. attending Nicole’s funeral (which he did, and for the same reason).

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · last yr.

* HHS SPOX: SECOND CHILD WITH MEASLES HAS DIED IN TEXAS // HHS SECY KENNEDY EXPECTED TO ATTEND FUNERAL SUNDAY (via @nbcnews.com)

Which Trump acolyte wants to go to jail for contempt?

Anna Bower@annabower.bsky.social · last yr.

It sure looks like they’re going all in on the “the executive branch can ignore court orders if it thinks the court lacks jurisdiction” thing

Is this is 2025 equivalent of burning books?

L'État, c'est moi

Kyle Cheney@kyledcheney.bsky.social · last yr.

JUST IN: After years of litigation about Trump's civil liability for Jan. 6, the Justice Department is now moving to substitute itself for Trump in the lawsuit, saying Trump was acting in his official capacity on Jan. 6.

Hi, I'm the guy who used to oversee the federal government's agency IT telecommunications contracts. This is extremely bad. There is absolutely no need for this. Not only is it a huge security exposure, but the simplest explanation for this is that it is meant to be a security exposure.

Elon Musk’s Starlink Expands Across White House Complex

Trump administration officials said the company donated the internet service, saying the gift had been vetted by the lawyer overseeing ethics issues in the White House Counsel’s Office.

nytimes.com

old Soviet joke for our times: Guy stops by the newsstand every day, scans the front page, doesn’t buy the paper. One day the vendor asks what he’s up to. Guy says: “looking for an obituary.” Vendor says “those are towards the back of the paper, comrade.” Guy says: “not the one I’m looking for.”

The interaction of potential large scale issuance of safe Euro-denominated government backed defence bonds and creeping questioning of the role of US Treasuries in global finance is going to be fascinating to watch.

Belfast has entered the chat!

Norway is considering using its €1.7 trillion sovereign fund to boost support for Ukraine www.euractiv.com/section/poli...

Norway rethinks €1.7 trillion sovereign fund to boost support for Ukraine - Euractiv

The Nordic country has so far spent €3.35 billion on aid to Ukraine, paling in comparison to its Nordic counterparts Denmark and Sweden.

euractiv.com

The Trump administration ‘wants to destroy the European Union’ Former US ambassador to the EU Anthony Gardner on the priorities European countries should have ahead of the Ukraine summit, and to keep wary of the US

1/7 Some Sunday thoughts on America and the defense of Norway and Europe. Some input values: I have been an Atlanticist, believed in America as a beacon and the leader of the free world and strong proponent of as close as possible bilateral defense relationship.

Sadly, it’s possible that Trump’s clumsy attempt to befriend Putin, force Ukraine’s surrender and emasculate Europe will extend the war for years. It’s now a point of deep transatlantic division, so Putin has a new interest in keeping his costly bloodbath going.

Emmanuel Macron went to Bratislava in 2023 to say, in essence: "Central Europeans were right about Russia & we should have listened". I wonder if any Central Europeans will travel to Paris to say: "You were right about the risks of relying on America for European security & we should have listened"

Or to put it another way (using words short enough that I understand them), any European plan that treats conflict as a *future* problem is already out of date.

Guy Yeomans@guyyeomans.bsky.social · last yr.

This frames the 'conflict' as an explicit, prospective threshold for which there is viable 'anticipatory time' to work within & raise public awareness. This temporality is challenged by the #prewar narrative, exemplified by @billbrowder.bsky.social & @keirgiles.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/bill...

Friedrich Merz, an unlikely candidate for radical change, is vowing to shift Germany—and Europe—towards true independence from the US. Can he bury the debt brake and reshape Europe’s future? By Mark Leonard👇

Europe’s independence day

Incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz is an unlikely candidate to lead a decisive break with the US. But an erstwhile über-Atlanticist and fiscal conservative might be the only German politician…

buff.ly

SecDef has ordered a pause on offensive cyber and info operations while the US & Moscow are in talks, though planning for operations continues, according to sources. While such a pause is not unusual, the move comes as Trump accommodates Putin in his designs on Ukraine. wapo.st/4kjGtrI

As Trump warms to Putin, U.S. halts offensive cyber operations against Moscow

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered U.S. Cyber Command to pause cyber and information operations against Russia as Trump seeks to bring Putin to the negotiating table to end war in Ukraine.

wapo.st

I listened to the latest @warontherocks.bsky.social podcast yesterday, on the “diplomatic” wrangling over Ukraine’s future: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w... It made stark the many parallels between these developments & the negotiations to end the war in #Afghanistan. A 🧵 on those. 1/n

The Puzzling Diplomacy over Ukraine's Future

Podcast Episode · War on the Rocks · 02/28/2025 · 38m

podcasts.apple.com

"Europe has the capacity to backfill for U.S. security assistance to Kyiv, assuming the willingness of the United States to sell its weapons to Europeans that they can then transfer onwards to Ukraine" www.csis.org/analysis/bey...

Beyond Appeasement: What is Feasible for Ukraine

Accepting Russian conditions is not justified by the current situation in Ukraine. Instead, sustained Western assistance to Kyiv has strong prospects of securing a stalemate that protects European sec...

csis.org

As Europe reckons with the new transatlantic reality, its leaders should start treating the Silicon Valley giants cheering Trump on as adversarial powers ↘️ on.ft.com/3X8hv4D

Europe’s dependence on US tech is a critical weakness

In order to protect their sovereignty, the continent’s leaders must invest in a digital ecosystem independent of America

on.ft.com

Not the most important point, but it’s remarkable that the son of Cuban exiles, who has defined himself by opposition to authoritarian regimes, is the one driving this modern day Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.

#Breaking @AFP -Zelensky says Trump living in Russian 'disinformation space'

Caveat emptor www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Exclusive | Xi Jinping Muzzles Chinese Economist Who Dared to Doubt GDP Numbers

Gao Shanwen questioned Beijing’s ability to boost its economy as threats loom from a property meltdown and burgeoning debt.

wsj.com

Day 1020 of my 3 day war. It's going so well that NATO, an aggressive alliance that seeks to destroy Russia, has of their members helping me safely leave Syria. I remain a master strategist.

One thing I hate about these kind of posts is that finding out where money is going and how it is being spent isn’t actually that difficult; the US government produces an enormous amount of paper trails, accountability reports, etc. The problem is that people like Elon Musk are too lazy to check.

Sahil Kapur@sahilkapur.bsky.social · 2y ago

Foreign aid is 1% of the US budget.