Some comments by me in this great deepdive into Russian sanction evasion via India.

Jacob Öberg@profjacob.bsky.social · 2w ago

🚨🚨 One of the key avenues for #Russian #sanctions #evasion of sensitive and dual-use goods from the #EU and the #UK is through #indian supply chains. Strong report by @glanktree.bsky.social for @politico.eu: www.politico.eu/article/russ...

Love this: "Ukraine recently asked for protective netting to shield firefighting vehicles from drone attacks. DG ECHO - the DG for civil protection, had none. The EC’s fisheries department, however, had illegal fishing nets confiscated from France and Italy. They were sent to Ukraine instead."

Love this: "Ukraine recently asked for protective netting to shield firefighting vehicles from drone attacks. DG ECHO - the DG for civil protection, had none. The EC’s fisheries department, however, had illegal fishing nets confiscated from France and Italy. They were sent to Ukraine instead."

The winning design. 🇪🇺💶

I hope the European vox populi exhibits some good taste, because some of the possible designs for the Euro bills are really rather bad (all a ruse to expedite the move to a cash-free society?). But some are quite nice! www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknot...

The reality is that trust in US tech has fundamentally been broken in Europe and many other places. The only way I could see it restored is through hard-coded tech guarantees. No diplomatic damage control or even a change in Administration will make this go away. www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

EXCLUSIVE: Marco Rubio tells diplomats to play down talk of American tech 'kill switch'

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ​has asked diplomats to push back against talk of a "kill switch" in American technology products following the White House's short-lived decision to keep foreigner...

reuters.com

Andy Burnham’s wife is Dutch. Nick Clegg’s wife is also Dutch. The Dutch royal family is still in the line of succession for the English throne. The Dutch queen is Argentinian. The Dutch First Gentleman is also Argentinian. Buenos Aires playing the long game.

Andy Burnham’s wife is Dutch. Nick Clegg’s wife is also Dutch. The Dutch royal family is still in the line of succession for the English throne. The Dutch queen is Argentinian. The Dutch First Gentleman is also Argentinian. Buenos Aires playing the long game.

Wow. With Lindsey Graham dying, and Mitch McConnell at minimum no longer returning to Washington - it does feel like the end of an era in GOP politics. Both men had an opportunity to put a (partial) stop to the monster they'd helped create - but failed to. History could have been very different.

A glimpse of Istanbul and the Bosporus on my way back from the NATO summit earlier this week.

I feel this. Very much. (September 25, everyone!)

Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · last mo.

My upcoming book is absolutely packed to the brim with em dashes—more em dashes than any well-adjusted human being could possibly need or want—and if any of you tries to claim they are the result of some soulless LLM rather than my own unhinged compulsion I will fight you.

And so it begins. EUCAN is upon us!

Minna Ålander 🌻@alanderminna.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I’ve kept telling Canadian colleagues and friends that if they want to get closer to Europe, the first step is to take part in the ESC. And here they go (or, come) ! Canada is clearly walking the talk 😁

On my way to Brussels to talk subsea cables and NATO. Half of my Eurostar is filled BTS fans (concert tonight), the other half on their way to Maastricht for Andre Rieu.

Andre Rieu Plays Violin in Maastricht Concert

ALT: Andre Rieu Plays Violin in Maastricht Concert

static.klipy.com

Spare a thought for the Dutch police, which will have to navigate Netherlands - Morocco at 3AM tonight.

War and Climate Change: at least one of the several forest fires in Germany at the moment is thought to have been cause by WWII ammunition exploding/causing fires because of the heat.

More issues with intra-European defence deals, this time its German and (troubled) Dutch shipmaker Damen: "Germany plans to scrap plans to build six F126 frigates, a multi-billion-euro project that would have been the biggest in the history of the country's navy." www.dw.com/en/germany-n...

Germany news: Pistorius set to scrap warship project — media

The defense minister is planning to drop a multi-million-euro project to build F126 frigates, media say. Train services have resumed after a communications glitch overnight. DW has more.

dw.com

🦁

Updated lineup | Event | Europe after Nord Stream: the limits of energy security | 23 June Kalina Damianova joins @katjabego.bsky.social, James Black & Bojan Pancevski to assess how to defend European infrastructure & strengthen energy independence. Register👇 www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/s...

📢 New Event | Europe after Nord Stream: the limits of energy security | 23 June, at @chathamhouse.org & online What did the Nord Stream sabotage reveal about Europe’s energy security? Panel: @katjabego.bsky.social, James Black & Bojan Pancevski Register: www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/s...

Took more than a century, but looks like we have a new worst deal signed in Versailles.

You know when in medieval paintings cats don’t quite look like cats? I found the taxidermy version!

You know when in medieval paintings cats don’t quite look like cats? I found the taxidermy version!

So this *exactly* why Europe needs to build its own capabilities. The tech sovereignty package has many good elements, but we need more urgency and a far more tangible plan of next steps. The EC can’t magic up all solutions, this needs industry and others to act too. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI suspended over security fears

Anthropic's Claude Fable 5, released publicly this week, sparked concerns about cybersecurity and hacking.

bbc.com

"It's not FAANG anymore. It's MANGOS. MANGOS: Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI, SpaceX." A not-insignificant chance two of those mangoes may go bankrupt within the next two years.

Stalin's ghost appears to Putin in a dream. Putin asks him how to handle his growing troubles. Stalin: "Two bits of advice: First, execute half the Russian population. Second, paint the Kremlin blue." Putin asks, confused, "Why blue?" Stalin: "I knew you wouldn't object to the first part!"

This will quite radically upend the power balance in Europe. UK and France used to lead on the military, Germany on the economy. In several years, no more. How does Britain handle this new (diminished) role? Can Germany handle doing both? What about Poland and Ukraine?

Militarnyi@militarnyi.com · 2mo ago

🇬🇧 The United Kingdom has been ranked 31st out of 32 NATO member states in a new assessment measuring how well countries are fulfilling their commitments to strengthen and modernize their armed forces, according to The Times. militarnyi.com/en/news/uk-r...

... And there's another massive crack in the (unsustainable) business model behind the AI boom: "Chinese-developed language models now account for roughly 61% of token consumption among the top 10 models on OpenRouter, a platform used by thousands of AI startups." cryptobriefing.com/american-ai-...

OpenRouter data shows American AI startups quietly shifting traffic to Chinese LLMs

Chinese LLMs now dominate OpenRouter traffic, accounting for 61% of top model token consumption as American startups shift from US to Chinese AI models.

cryptobriefing.com

"Only one in 10 Europeans now see US as an ally." Too few policymakers (on either side of the Atlantic) have internalised that it is going to be effectively impossible to go back to normal. Even if we do get a more Transatlantic-minded US administration next. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Only one in 10 Europeans now see US as an ally, survey suggests

Exclusive: poll across 15 countries finds ‘deep mistrust’, with majority doubting US would come to their aid in an attack

theguardian.com

RIP FCAS: “Berlin pulls plug on Franco-German fighter jet” On European defence integration and collaboration, it’s two steps forward, one step back (or sometimes three). giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Schloss Neuhardenberg, on the outskirts of Berlin. The site where most of the planning for the 20 July Plot to assassinate Hitler took place. A school during most of the DDR years, it was given back to the Hardenberg family after the fall of the wall.