Dimitar Bechev
LightNews LightNews
banner
dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev
@dimitarbechev.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1K following 120 posts

Director of the Dahrendorf Programme
St Antony's College, Oxford and Senior Fellow at Carnegie Europe
Author: Rival Power: Russia in Southeast Europe and Turkey under Erdoğan (Yale)

Videos
Political science 77%
Sociology 10%
Posts Replies Media Videos

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · 28d
The Rachman & Rahman doctrine.

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Steve Peers, Edgar Morgenroth , and 4 more

ruthdeyermond.bsky.social
Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 28d
This is a very good point. The November 2025 US National Security Strategy never mentions the Arctic at all. The idea that it's a genuine security priority for the Trump administration is not credible.

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · 29d
The art of the deal

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · 29d
Hvala puno ;)

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Jan 17
I'll be on BBC World Service
's The Weekend for the next three hours, commenting on world affairs. It's also my 51st birthday.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
BBC World Service - Weekend, 17/01/2026 GMT
A review of the week with the latest news.
www.bbc.co.uk

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Jan 11
To honour brave Iranian protesters, I will be sharing Persian words that we commonly use in Balkan languages. Sindzhir (chain) - from the Farsi zanjīr زنجير (through the Turkish zincir) Break those sindzhirs!

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Jan 4
He didn't have Pashinyan's number ....
darthputinkgb.bsky.social Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · Jan 4
Maduro forgot that if you're an ally of Russia, 1 of 2 things will happen:
1. Russia will attack you
2. Russia will do nothing when someone else does

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Jan 4
President Bardela might be singing a different tune one day.

Reposted by Dimitar Bechev

shashj.bsky.social
Shashank Joshi @shashj.bsky.social · Jan 4
"The CIA team moved about Caracas, remaining undetected for months ...The intelligence gathered about [Maduro] daily movements — combined with a human source...& a fleet of stealth drones ...— enabled [CIA] to map out minute details about his routines." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/u...
Inside ‘Operation Absolute Resolve,’ the U.S. Effort to Capture Maduro
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Edgar Morgenroth, Dimitar Bechev

darthputinkgb.bsky.social
Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · Jan 4
Maduro forgot that if you're an ally of Russia, 1 of 2 things will happen:
1. Russia will attack you
2. Russia will do nothing when someone else does

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Dec 26
Isn't it renamed back to Stalingrad?!
wartranslated.bsky.social WarTranslated (Dmitri) @wartranslated.bsky.social · Dec 26
Ukrainian drones hit Volgograd overnight, sparking a fire near the Lukoil refinery.

Reposted by Dimitar Bechev

wartranslated.bsky.social
WarTranslated (Dmitri) @wartranslated.bsky.social · Dec 26
Ukrainian drones hit Volgograd overnight, sparking a fire near the Lukoil refinery.

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Dec 24
I wonder how a similar tweet about Poland or Estonia might fare ;)

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Dec 24
The pleasures of X: I tweeted that every time I come to Spain I'm reminded that Europe is a success. But "Europe" and "success" inevitably triggers bots, algorithms and the like to push the opposite line. Which then boosts the original post's visibility. x.com/DimitarBeche...
Dimitar Bechev on X: "Every time I come to Spain I'm reminded of what a success story Europe is. https://t.co/tSB9NI1hlz" / X
Every time I come to Spain I'm reminded of what a success story Europe is. https://t.co/tSB9NI1hlz
x.com

Reposted by Dimitar Bechev

delfoo.bsky.social
Stanimir Dobrev @delfoo.bsky.social · Dec 24
We have a first in a long time Russian industrial output is declining. After industrial output in October 2025 jumped due to one time factors to 3,1% in November 2025 there was a 0,7% decline compared to November 2024.

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Dec 11
On the photo - the Kairos, an oim tanker from Russia's shadow fleet hit by an Ukrainian drone. Turks dragged it into Bulgarian waters.
dimitarbechev.bsky.social Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Dec 9
Ahtopol (Agathoupolis), Bulgaria. Photo by Borislav Kamilov

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Dec 9
Ahtopol (Agathoupolis), Bulgaria. Photo by Borislav Kamilov

Reposted by Dimitar Bechev

erikaschlager.bsky.social
Erika Schlager @erikaschlager.bsky.social · Dec 9
From @“gmfus.bsky.social : Hungary’s 2026 Elections: The Stakes and Challenges. Information, insights, analysis.

Worth watching every second, but key food-for-thought for me:

youtu.be/swZ36J4g4KA?...
Hungary’s 2026 Elections Stakes and Challenges
YouTube video by The German Marshall Fund of the United States
youtu.be

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Albert Weale, Dimitar Bechev

szabolcspanyi.bsky.social
Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · Dec 6
Voice of the Kremlin, Dimitriev means.

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Nov 17
@ecfr.eu

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Nov 17
We just published a paper on Europe-China by @jankaoertel.bsky.social

www.sant.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/u...

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Nov 14
What is ironic about a great power like Russia is the persistent status insecurity and need of recognition by the US and Europe. If you really parted ways with the West and are fighting for a multipolar order what do you care how people in the West see you?

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Nov 14
Just read another book which boils down the discussion of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine to "oh God, why are Americans so Russophobic!?" Won't name names but some people in academia are beyond redemption.

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Dimitar Bechev

bellingcat.com
Bellingcat @bellingcat.com · Nov 14
Streets have been renamed, Ukrainian monuments removed, and murals painted over. Bellingcat investigates how apartment blocks in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol have been demolished to make way for a new Russian suburban utopia… www.bellingcat.com/uncategorize...
Building on Ruins: The Russification of Mariupol, One Apartment Block at a Time - bellingcat
Bellingcat has identified 23 multi-storey housing complexes being built in occupied Mariupol and advertised for sale to Russian citizens.
www.bellingcat.com

Reposted by Dimitar Bechev

biepag.bsky.social
Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) @biepag.bsky.social · Nov 7
🔔BiEPAG member @dimitarbechev.bsky.social
for @carnegieeurope.bsky.social

"The #WesternBalkans are on the path to become a net contributor to EU security, but much more needs to be done.

The 3 NATO members - Albania, North Macedonia, and Montenegro - should lead the way.

tinyurl.com/29cd6fj7
How the Western Balkans Can Contribute to European Defense
The Western Balkans’ defense industry offers Europe a chance to strengthen its security. But to become net contributors, governments across the region must modernize their militaries, attract investme...
carnegieendowment.org

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Nov 6
Amazing. The architect and urban planner who built Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, was born in Bulgaria. Constantinos Doxiadis came from a Greek family in Stenimachos (Assenovgrad) in 1913, moving to Greece two years after.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constan...
Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Oct 31
“The fate of China, whose maritime gates have for a century been sagging under the pressure of the West and are now being battered down by Japan, will largely be determined by what happens at the inland gates that open toward, or from, Central Eurasia and Siberia.” Owen Lattimore in 1935.

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Oct 31
Thanks for the heads-up ;)

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Oct 31
Charles King writing more than 20 years ago. The Black Sea: A History (Oxford UP: 2004), p. 4.

dimitarbechev.bsky.social
Dimitar Bechev @dimitarbechev.bsky.social · Oct 31
Up there with the historic Delors one.
anandmenon.bsky.social Anand Menon @anandmenon.bsky.social · Oct 31
Say what you want about them, they do a great headline.