It seems that the planned expansion of French nuclear deterrence in Europe is causing some jitters in Washington.

Defenders of the rules-based system would have condemned the invasion of Iran, and not signed the Turnberry deal. But if the EU was militarily strong enough to defend itself and Ukraine, without US help, it would be able to defend the values its citizens believe in. That should be the agenda.

alexjungle.bsky.social@alexjungle.bsky.social · 5mo ago

EU's von der Leyen: We will always defend and uphold the rules-based system that we helped to build with our allies, but we can no longer rely on it as the only way to defend our interests. Aka USA cannot be relied upon. Probably for a long time, even with regime change

I have a hard time wrapping my head around Merz. One day he's taking bold steps towards European autonomy and breaking with long-standing taboos. The next he's outdoing Meloni in Trump sycophancy and undermining European unity. He's been flip-flopping between these positions from day 1.

Finbarr Bermingham@fbermingham.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Merz adopts Trump's talking points in this interview from the US "Iran was on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. Both the delivery systems and the enriched material are demonstrably present – ​​possibly just weeks away from assembling nuclear weapons systems"

Miðflokksmenn tala gjarnan um hópa sem ekki vilja aðlagast siðum og venjum samfélagsins og telja að trúarbrögð sín standi landslögum framar. Þeir eru væntanlega að tala um kaþólsku kirkjuna.

This is diehard Atlanticist cope. It sounds like it's finally dawning on Washington and their spokespeople across the Atlantic that Europe may actually slip out of their sphere of influence for good.

So to be clear we have actually reached the point where NATO states are deploying tripwire forces to deter *another NATO state* from invading *another NATO state.* I struggle to communicate the strategic and just regular insanity of this moment.

Amee Vanderpool@girlsreallyrule.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Sweden is over Trump's nonsense about Greenland and is sending in troops. SWEDEN, PEOPLE.

By letting Putin off the hook in Ukraine and behaving this way in their own backyard, the U.S. also give China many excuses to attack Taiwan and decimate its leadership.

Russ Jones@russincheshire.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Venezuela now, because he wants the oil. He wants the oil under Greenland too. And under Canada. He's openly called for them to be part of the USA. How long before he decides to bomb a couple of NATO members to get his own way? The USA is a rogue nation.

Iceland has officially pulled out of Eurovision. Good stuff.

This comes as Taiwan makes a huge diplomatic push into Europe. I wonder if Taiwan's leaders realise just how badly this goes down with large parts of the European and global publics. Apart from the utter immorality of the stance, it's also very counterproductive to Taiwan's interests.

Let’s rephrase the question. “Whose judgment is worth more: government actors, making political decisions to achieve ideological goals, or the market?” According to Milei - the beacon of contemporary libertarianism - it’s the government. on.ft.com/4qLuOoO

I’ve wondered the same thing about Icelandic conservatives. Having screamed about sovereignty for as long as I can remember, they’ve now fallen conspicuously silent as their friends across the Atlantic are literally threatening to annex our closest neighbour by force.

Well argued thediplomat.com/2025/05/why-...

Why China Will Not Invade Taiwan (For Now)

China has little to gain and everything to lose by altering the world’s current geopolitical trajectory.

thediplomat.com

My latest from @thediplomat.com

The Diplomat@thediplomat.com · last yr.

China has little to gain and everything to lose by altering the world’s current geopolitical trajectory.

A new piece by me in @thediplomat.com. I argue that, despite considerable speculation to the contrary, #China will not invade #Taiwan in the near future. In fact, the Trump administration's trade wars are decreasing that likelihood.

Why China Will Not Invade Taiwan (For Now)

China has little to gain and everything to lose by altering the world’s current geopolitical trajectory.

thediplomat.com

Shared Responsibility. creative done with @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social

How it started: How it’s going:

Ég hélt í augnablik að þessi fyrirsögn sneri að utanríkisstefnu Íslands. Og finnst það svo sem alveg passa.

Trade Wars Are Easy to Lose My latest. Escalation with China will be Trump's economic equivalent of the Vietnam War. The US will lose bigly. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state... via @foreignaffairs.com

Trade Wars Are Easy to Lose

Beijing has escalation dominance in the U.S.-China tariff fight.

foreignaffairs.com

US two days ago: "We are starting a trade war with the whole world! Every country will come crawling to us pleading for mercy and deals. Also, we're poaching your most valuable firms." US today: "OK, sorry, we didn't mean that. But can you guys please join our team effort to squeeze China?"

Noah Barkin@noahbarkin.bsky.social · last yr.

Bessent now talking about a group approach to China. Not sure whether to laugh or cry www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

two days ago, the Brits were padding themselves on the back for getting "better" tariff treatment than the EU.

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · last yr.

Trade war makes improved UK-EU relations ‘imperative’, says Reeves https://www.ft.com/content/f51a368a-ff9a-46d8-9ab5-58aa3ca7ecc4

For Taiwan, it's always nice to see its status as a country reinforced by being labelled as such on a prominent list with other countries. Well... except on this list. We could definitely have done without this one.

Maybe Trump has some positive climate change policies after all.

Adam Cohen (My Personal Views Only)@axidentaliberal.bsky.social · last yr.

Let’s presume Trump is able to magically force every car manufacturer to build every part of every car in the United States With unions imposing their minimum wage and benefits requirements, exactly how much more expensive would that car be than it is today $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 More?

My favourite part is that Trump believes the US has a “champagne business”.

Ég skrifaði smá pistil um stöðu Íslands í alþjóðakerfinu í ljósi þeirrar upplausnar sem nú ríkir í vestrænu samstarfi. --- I wrote a piece on Iceland's international position and future prospects in light of the crisis in the transatlantic alliance.

Staða Ís­lands og niður­brot vest­rænnar sam­vinnu - Vísir

Vestræn samvinna er í dag í sinni dýpstu krísu frá lokum síðari heimsstyrjaldar. Vandamálin eiga sér nokkra forsögu. Engu að síður eru þær breytingar sem hafa átt sér stað síðustu vikur svo hraðar og ...

visir.is

Trump loves your cynical takes. But if you think existing norms are nothing but window dressing, then you don't understand why he is so eager to be rid of them.

Svo það sé tekið fram, þá er þetta EKKI ég. Það vill bara svo leiðinlega til að þessi gæi er alnafni minn. bsky.app/profile/ruvf...

Fréttastofa RÚV@ruv.is · 2y ago

Stjórnvöld hafa opnað fyrir tillögur frá almenningi um hagræðingu í ríkisrestri í gegnum samráðsgátt. Nú eru komnar rúmlega 200 tillögur. Lumar þú á góðum sparnaðarráðum?

Journalists: you can call it "Taiwan." Chinese Taipei is just a name cooked up to satisfy China in international competitions. The people are Taiwanese.

Interesting. In that case, I guess Singapore wouldn’t object to other ASEAN countries negotiating similar “exclusivity deals” concerning international companies and their headquarters. bsky.app/profile/fina...

One has to love the optics here. They thought capitalism would change China. Instead, we have Western consultancies drafting the CCP’s Five-Year Plans.

McKinsey-led think-tank advised China on policy that fed US tensions

Urban China Initiative counselled Beijing on cutting-edge technologies in preparation of Five-Year Plan

on.ft.com