Russia is carrying out massive waves of ballistic missile strikes, destroying more civilian infrastructure and driving up civilian deaths With Ukraine having no effective air defences left, we're all standing by and watching this catastrophe kyivindependent.com/russian-ball...

Russian ballistic missile attack kills 17, injures 44 in Kyiv and surrounding area as rescue efforts continue

A massive Russian ballistic missile and drone attack killed 15 people and injured 51 others in Ukraine's capital and Kyiv Oblast as fires engulfed Kyiv and its suburbs, authorities reported overnight ...

kyivindependent.com

And when is Meloni going to face any accountability for suspending Schengen without justification? (An injustice that continues without disturbance from the European Commission)

Good to see some sense returning but after several days of incendiary public statements, how many citizens will see the conclusions from an impromptu meeting of interior ministers?

Dave Keating@davekeating.substack.com · yesterday

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez tells reporters after today's emergency meeting on the #Ceuta crisis: “The divisions that we have heard over the weekend were not welcome and they were exploited by foreign countries." “But what I heard this morning reassured me."

Good to see some sense returning but after several days of incendiary public statements, how many citizens will see the conclusions from an impromptu meeting of interior ministers?

Dave Keating@davekeating.substack.com · yesterday

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez tells reporters after today's emergency meeting on the #Ceuta crisis: “The divisions that we have heard over the weekend were not welcome and they were exploited by foreign countries." “But what I heard this morning reassured me."

My latest this week on Ceuta, the anti-solidarity of the far-right, and the mistake moderates make in treating this as regular left-right partisanship pascallth.substack.com/p/ceuta-and-...

Ceuta and European anti-solidarity

The real danger is not across the sea

pascallth.substack.com

Racist propaganda, attacks on the Spanish government, illegal suspensions of Schengen.. All in the name of no one getting into mainland Europe

Jorge Liboreiro@jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social · 5d ago

Von der Leyen gives update on Ceuta crisis: - She confirms "not a single person reached mainland Spain or the rest of the EU" - She says "lessons learned" are needed to strengthen the common border system - She urges "solidarity and a united European response" to stop irregular migration

Right wing governments rushing to destroy Schengen on the basis of 0 illegal migrants arriving in mainland Europe

The response to Ceuta of governments, politicians and officials from across Europe has been shameful Even supposed mainstream politicians whipping up hysteria, exploiting a human tragedy with nonsense claims that people could suddenly jump across the Mediterranean from a North African exclave

This is quite interesting and is a further development in the Ukrainian plan to secure its cities and infrastructure from Russian ballistic missiles 🧵 www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

Zelensky Asked Trump for a Favor From Elon Musk

Ukraine wants to start using Musk’s Starlink to target ballistic-missile launchers inside Russia.

theatlantic.com

A Ukrainian rescue team has left for France to help fight massive wildfires. This is the first time that a Ukrainian team has been sent to assist a European Union member state under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

French Aid to Europe 🇫🇷🇪🇺@aidefranceukr.bsky.social · 6d ago

According to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, 70 🇺🇦 rescuers and 15 vehicles have left for France to fight forest fires, following a phone call with his French counterpart. Ukraine is also prepared to provide additional State Emergency Service aviation support if required. unn.ua/en/news/ukra...

We have to be careful not to end up like Spain, which is heavily decentralised, where the rich regions keep holding on to greater shares of taxes - and where they still have all the democratic trust and populism problems we do

James Austin@jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 6d ago

These are really big and largely welcome changes - but I have massive concerns about how they work in terms of redistribution. Big danger of the rich getting richer. Also we need to hugely strengthen, and improve scrutiny, of combined authorities to do this well. Its big money.

The crux of the argument is that Putin will suffer from continuing the war because he will be highly likely to lose control of Crimea Yet there is no explanation of how Russia would lose control 'More airstrikes' is not an answer for Ukraine here, any more than it is for the US in Iran

The Kyiv Independent@kyivindependent.com · 6d ago

"If Russian President Vladimir Putin were to make a clear-headed assessment of the state of his war with Ukraine, he would seek a ceasefire. But his head apparently is not clear, because all signs point to him pursuing some kind of escalation," writes Carl Bildt in this op-ed.

4 of the top 5 teams in this world cup were European

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 6d ago

Uefa agrees to boycott Fifa competitions if World Cup sell-off plans proceed

Ah well that explains it

Russia is on course to take Kostyantynivka The loss of one of the Donbas 'fortress cities' will be very negative for Ukraine and will likely encourage Putin to keep pushing further

Institute for the Study of War@thestudyofwar.bsky.social · 7d ago

3/ The situation in and near Kostyantynivka is deteriorating, but Russian forces have not seized the city despite Russian claims. Fighting will likely continue for several weeks as Russian forces try to consolidate the positions they have gained through infiltrations.

Welcome but puzzling decision Having blocked sanctions on Fedorova, now the French government is going to expel her anyway www.ft.com/content/1be8...

France moves to expel pro-Kremlin TV personality

Xenia Fedorova features prominently on media owned by billionaire Vincent Bolloré

ft.com

Pascal@pascallth.bsky.social · 2w ago

Fedorova has become a favourite of Vincent Bolloré - France's answer to Rupert Murdoch - and appears on lots of media he owns Sadly plausible the government wants to avoid upsetting him

Saying we can't do anything about climate change is as much a denial of science as saying that there is no such thing as climate change

Roland Smith@rolandmcs.bsky.social · last wk.

Nighty night.

Obviously it's good that Russia doesn't have the advantage, but 'neither' also does not get us closer to our objectives

YouGov@yougov.co.uk · last wk.

Belief among Britons that Russia has the advantage in the war in Ukraine falls to its lowest level in three years Neither side has the advantage: 46% (+1 from 19 May) Russia has the advantage: 16% (-5) Ukraine has the advantage: 12% (+2) yougov.com/en-gb/daily-...

Well the problem with the Patriots is that they burned through a lot of their reserves in their war against Iran

Phillips OBrien@phillipspobrien.bsky.social · last wk.

If Trump wanted to help Ukraine, he could right now. He could send weapons such as Patriot interceptors, he could sanction Russian companies and those who do business with them--immediately. There is nothing stopping him except for the fact that he doesnt want to. Why is that?

With the successful meetings in the US, I think the latest Ukrainian strategy for a (partial) ceasefire is coming into view kyivindependent.com/zelensky-arr...

Zelensky says meeting with Trump was 'good,' covered Patriot licenses, diplomacy

"The President and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

kyivindependent.com

Even after Brexit, migration to Britain is a shared European competence My latest: pascallth.substack.com/p/britains-b...

Britain’s borders are at the frontiers of the EU

How illegal migration numbers show the reality and futility of Brexit

pascallth.substack.com

Because if you split the UK by population, the 50% dividing line is below Birmingham

Euan MacDonald@euanmacdonald.bsky.social · last wk.

Why is the UK prime minister's new base called "No. 10 North"? It's located quite far into the southern part of the UK. Surely a true "No. 10 North" would be located somewhere like Wick or Thurso.

Even after Brexit, migration to Britain is a shared European competence My latest: pascallth.substack.com/p/britains-b...

Britain’s borders are at the frontiers of the EU

How illegal migration numbers show the reality and futility of Brexit

pascallth.substack.com

🇲🇪🚫 Montenegro has canceled visa-free travel for Russians and Belarusians in preparation for 🇪🇺EU accession The visa regime for citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus will come into force on November 1, 2026.

A further thought on The Odyssey: it's fine that some people wanted a retelling of the original poem that was true to the old ideas, but you should at least recognise and acknowledge that Nolan was making a story for today with contemporary messages, not that he 'got it wrong'

If this does pass only narrowly, then best to hope that people are voting as if they were voting on membership itself Otherwise, if some people are just voting to see how the negotiations go but will likely vote against membership later, then it's a bad start

Nicolai von Ondarza@nvondarza.bsky.social · last wk.

Today early voting starts in the referendum in Iceland on whether to resume EU accession talks, with full voting done on 29 August. I know very little about Iceland's politics, but all polls I have seen point to a very close result. (But hey, the 52-48 ratio has history in referenda on the EU):

The only real story here is that even Meta has been forced to admit that their glasses are the perfect tools for creeps and weirdos Now they've made that confession, they expect us to trust them with moderation Because they've done such a good job elsewhere? www.businessinsider.com/instagram-me...

Instagram will now ban creeps in Meta glasses

Content shot on Meta glasses from pickup artists and pranksters can now get you banned.

businessinsider.com

Russia will take massive casualties but if they successfully mobilise large numbers of additional soldiers then it will place a lot of pressure on Ukraine from this autumn and in the 12 months that follow

The Kyiv Independent@kyivindependent.com · 2w ago

⚡️'Putin preparing to send more Russians to war' — Zelensky warns of mobilization, reveals figures showing Russian losses exceed recruitment.

Russia will take massive casualties but if they successfully mobilise large numbers of additional soldiers then it will place a lot of pressure on Ukraine from this autumn and in the 12 months that follow

The Kyiv Independent@kyivindependent.com · 2w ago

⚡️'Putin preparing to send more Russians to war' — Zelensky warns of mobilization, reveals figures showing Russian losses exceed recruitment.

Specifically for defence, it is important to reduce our dependence on America But we won't meaningfully do this outside of European initiatives and supply chains pascallth.substack.com/p/burnham-sh...

Burnham shouldn’t push out Europe from defence

Britain needs a continental market to rearm successfully

pascallth.substack.com

Dr Stylite@columnist.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Buy British thing is not a good sign. Especially in the context of the US and the EU pursuing similar initiatives. Protectionism is most damaging (cost, quality) for smaller and more open economies that have smaller internal markets and are more vulnerable to the inevitable retaliation.