So among Putin and Trump-backed candidates in Central and Eastern Europe we now have Orban as well as Vucic driven out of power by the kind of popular mobilisation that Putin and Trump do not seem psychologically equipped to understand
Toomas Hendrik Ilves
@ilvestoomas.bsky.social
Unsuccessfully retired ex-prez, ex-MEP, ex-foreign minister, ex-ambassador, ex-director of RFE-RL Estonian service, etc, ex cetera. Except for @darthputinkgb.bsky.social, I take seriously only those who post here under his or her own name.
This was always going to happen. My guess is that Trump will issue a blanket pardon for every political appointee. Signaling a move like this will embolden his underlings to disregard and break the law. And that's the point.
Jeff Stein@jeffstein.bsky.social · 5d agoScoop: White House lawyers are weighing preemptive mass pardons for junior staff, sources says Under discussion: Pardoning everyone involved in deportation, war, or trade policy www.washingtonsun.com/whitehouse/w...
President @ilvestoomas.bsky.social explains Germany’s intelligence disaster on the latest episode of the Continental Rift. As Ilves notes, the international relationship with Germany’s BND spy agency has been problematic ..ever since Gerhard Schröder became Chancellor, funnily enough.
It’s staggering that the EU still issues more than half a million visas each year to Russian citizens. As @ilvestoomas.bsky.social points out on the Continental Rift Show today, it’s Spain, France, and Italy that issue the vast majority of those visas.
I think former President @ilvestoomas.bsky.social speaks openly and bravely here. There are many inside the region, and outside, who still cannot bring themselves to accept the truth of this. But it is true, and if we don’t act accordingly, we are heading for disaster.
On the latest Continental Rift, President @ilvestoomas.bsky.social & Andy Valvur discuss this, Putin’s proposed summit, and more, including the overlap between “people who were happy about Wikileaks but not so happy about [the AfD’s] Nazileaks,” and why Russia can’t respect a border even in space.
Baltic Takes - 2/3 ..., President @ilvestoomas.bsky.social & Andy Valvur discuss this, Putin’s proposed summit & more, including the overlap between “people who were happy about Wikileaks but not so happy about [the AfD’s] Nazileaks,” & why Russia can’t respect a border even in space.
Baltic Takes@baltictakes.com · 6d agoThe irony that right when Europe is finally starting to invest properly in its own defence, the US is ensuring that its suppliers can’t be relied upon.
4% increase in imports from Canada would easily replace the entire physical volume of diesel “negotiated” in the new US-Russia pact.
Saturday afternoon a Russian drone deliberately attacked a group of village children in the field in Nikopol area in central Ukraine: posts by the regional governor and other officials. 11 year-old boy was killed by a fragmentation bomblet; a boy (12) and a girl (10) got wounded and hospitalized.
The Finnish companies Nokia and Iceye want to challenge Starlink and start producing communications satellite systems for governments. First satellites to be launched 2028. Great if they can make this happen on scale
Teknologia | Nokia ja Iceye haastavat SpaceX:n Starlinkin
Nokia ja Iceye alkavat kehittää viestintäsatelliittijärjestelmää valtioiden tarpeisiin. Ensimmäiset satelliitit on tarkoitus laukaista jo 2028.
hs.fi
Earlier this week, Judd reported on a new Elon Musk scam. Musk is spending millions of dollars pushing Americans to VoteSafe, which advertises itself as a voter registration site but is actually a digital surveillance machine. Judd joins us tonight to explain: joycevance.substack.com/p/five-quest...
Five Questions with Judd Legum
American journalist, lawyer, and political writer
joycevance.substack.com
This is the most counterintuitive part of NATO cooperation for the US to stay out of, because hunting these subs has always been about US homeland security - the Russian idea used to be to sneak through the GIUK gap and continue towards US East Coast. Try to find them in the Atlantic, good luck
NATO races to guard against Russian nuclear subs without the US
Allied forces gathered near Iceland to practice hunting for Russian submarines, with a key member missing.
politico.com
In Moscow, Steve Witkoff presented a commemorative coin to genocidal war criminal Putin. The coin shows a map with all of North, Central and South America as the United States. The agreement of the rogue regimes to carve the world into spheres of influence on full display.
Curious about the immigration issue at Ceuta and Europe’s reaction to it? @ilvestoomas.bsky.social breaks it down so it makes sense even for us on the other side of the pond youtu.be/ihE42qotagI
Spies & Stampedes
YouTube video by The Continental Rift
youtu.be
Trump apparently comforting himself by reposting favorite oldies this afternoon
Brexit was a huge success for Moscow
Joni Askola@joniaskola.bsky.social · 4mo agoThe catastrophic reality of Brexit has exposed the entire project as a historical scam pushed by charlatans and traitors, on behalf of Moscow. It has directly undermined European security and weakened the West to the absolute delight of Moscow, Beijing, and Washington DC
Russian State Media July 2023 “Why be friends with us? No need to be friends with us! They should fear us, or be wary of us, and trade with us” ~ Tigran Keosayan youtu.be/KZtcwH3rRjw?...
Prune60@prune602.bsky.social · 5mo ago‼️ Russia: “How Russia restricted the supply of goods from other countries” This article feels like they’re trying to send a message without breaking any rules. Notice that they don’t mention Armenia… www.kommersant.ru/doc/8688931
Because the world urgently needed another podcast, we got you covered: The Mildly Alarmed, a podcast on European security, featuring yours truly, @lapatina.bsky.social, @kaeggen.bsky.social & @frhoffmann.bsky.social is out ! In the first episode, we discuss the current state of affairs in Ukraine
Reminds me of when China thought it would teach Vietnam a lesson in 1979, but ended up getting schooled.
Simon Marks@simonmarksfsn.bsky.social · 7mo agoImpossible to disagree with a single word that Ben Rhodes (Obama era NSC official) is saying here:
Seriously. The lunacy is real. Vance is about as incompetent at negotiations as Witless.
Angry@angrystaffer.bsky.social · 7mo agoWe’re about to pay Iran $6 billion to re-open the thing that was open before the war. Art of the deal, baby.
Instead of fighting back against the Iranian LEGO videos making fun of Trump, the White House put out memes attacking fellow Americans. Winning the information war is like shooting fish in a barrel for Iran. And the White House dares to complain about losing the information war battle
Janne M. Korhonen@jmkorhonen.fi · 7mo agoThe Finnish #Defence Forces have understood for decades that #inequality is a lethal threat to national #security. Here Major General (ret.) Pekka Toveri, former head of military intelligence and a current MEP, spells out the (obvious) truth: low inequality = will to fight. youtu.be/OfKGhpcq_no?...
I wanna point out something serious. The admin has been complaining about Iran winning the information war. This same administration shut down Voice of America, and other information operations the US govt does. It’s a self goal. Actions have consequences
1. This has been obvious from the get-go. 2. The fate of our Republic rests on leaning into a necessary Constitutional crisis and refusing to accept these pardons.
George Pearkes@peark.es · 7mo agoWhoa no way, can't believe it.
The hypocrisy of Viktor Orbán is staggering. He cries about defending sovereignty from the EU, but he eagerly sold Hungary out to Russia and China. He even invited Chinese police in to surveil citizens and the diaspora. Real patriots do not sell out to China
Well that’s pretty Russian: “it’s really bad here but take heart, elsewhere it’s even worse.”
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 7mo agoHassett: "Gas prices are unacceptably high right now, but it's a very temporary phenomenon. And of course America itself is energy independent, and so the disruption, as bad as it is at the gasoline pump here in the US, is way worse in other countries."