Douglas Herbert
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dougdecodes.bsky.social
Douglas Herbert
@dougdecodes.bsky.social
190 followers 130 following 320 posts
World Affairs Commentator at France 24, public speaker and media trainer. Beyond just “fighting disinformation”, I seek ways to promote the acceptance of #facts. Journalism lecturer at Université Paris Panthéon-Assas & IJBA
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Reposted by Douglas Herbert
Wow..Dutch intelligence suspends sharing arrangements with the US after concluding that high level intel was routinely being shared by the White House with their friends in the Kremlin.

Dutch intelligence is smart
“I respect the history, culture, and people of the USA. They are not my enemies, nor do I feel them as such…The problem is with Trump, not with the USA.” -Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the latest target of Donald Trump’s vendetta-driven foreign policy.
Reposted by Douglas Herbert
Any American medium that fails to cover the largest protests in American history is failing in the basic mission of informing the public about the facts.
#NoKings
Reposted by Douglas Herbert
OK guys, post your best signs from today for entry into my Top 15 No Kings Sign Contest.
An editorial cartoon from Pulitzer Prize-winning political satirist, Matt Wuerker. #Trump
As a TV commentator who speaks Russian and has lived in #Russia, I believe I have a degree of credibility in “analyzing” Putin’s motives in his war against #Ukraine. Not so with #Trump. “Analyzing” him is a losing proposition. He’s guided by egocentricity, and flips on a dime. Here’s the #NYTimes:
The #CIA is hiring. I can’t imagine what the person who ends up getting this job will spend their days doing. The current CIA director, in his confirmation hearing, testified that his CIA would be “going places no one else can go, and doing things no one else can do.” Any thoughts, Ethics Attorney?
Sébastien Lecornu, #France’s fifth prime minister in under two years, urges lawmakers in a fragmented and bellicose parliament to follow him on “a common path despite differences” as he seeks to stave off another government collapse and deliver a budget by deadline.
Natalia Antelava on Coda Story, writing about the conversations we are not having in a social media world that encourages the simplistic or titillating narrative.
Matt Berg, writing on What A Day, on the possible consequences for the Mideast peace process of #Trump not winning his coveted Nobel Peace Prize. (Written before the Nobel pick was announced.)
« Kirsti Bergstø, the leader of Norway’s Socialist Left party and its foreign policy spokesperson, said Oslo must be ‘prepared for anything.’…’When the president is this volatile and #authoritarian, of course we have to be prepared for anything’. » (The Guardian) www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
Norway braces for Trump’s reaction if he does not win Nobel peace prize
US president may impose tariffs, demand higher Nato contributions or even declare Norway an enemy, analyst says
www.theguardian.com
Political turmoil deepens in #France as the country’s prime minister, Sébastien #Lecornu, resigns less than 24 hours after unveiling his government. He is the third PM to exit in less than a year. Disinformation, anger & grievance are destabilizing society, undermining trust in governance.
“They have to move quickly. They, they – when the alternative is that nothing bad can happen, let’s do it now. I was just saying to Bobby [health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr] and the group, let’s do it now. Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen.” -DJT www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘The president is unhinged’: Trump’s online behavior grows increasingly odd
The US president’s recent behavior is strange to many, from reposting a false AI video of himself to confusing comments during press conferences
www.theguardian.com
And then this happened in the United States. Another shift in the “Overton Window” of what suddenly passes for acceptable, if not yet mainstream, discourse. #ThePlotAgainstAmerica #F24
Jane #Goodall said #Trump displays “the same sort of behavior as a male chimpanzee will show when he’s competing for dominance with another. They’re upright, they swagger, they project themselves as really more large and aggressive than they may actually be in order to intimidate their rivals”.
As the finger-pointing continued in the run-up to a seemingly inexorable U.S. government #shutdown, “Mr. Trump issued threats from the White House, appearing to relish the prospect of a shutdown that he said he would use to hurt his political opponents.” (Source: NYTimes)
Matt Berg, writing in the “What a Day” newsletter, on Donald #Trump’s proposed 20-point plan for “eternal #peace” in the Middle East:
“Barbie” voters apparently account for nearly half of all eligible voters in #Moldova, according to the French-language version of the Moldova Electoral Commission’s website. #F24
Non-French people through the ages have admired #French culture & style but have disliked, often viscerally, the French people, seeing them as pretentious & rude. This isn’t breaking news. What is newsworthy is that many French are apparently unaware of this hostility. www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...
Les étrangers adorent la France… mais ont toujours du mal avec les Français
Si la France séduit par sa culture et son art de vivre, les Français eux-mêmes restent souvent mal appréciés et caricaturés en peuple arrogant et impoli. Une ambivalence qui interroge le bien-fondé de...
www.lemonde.fr
Donald #Trump seems to be crossing a Rubicon on multiple fronts, from crackdowns on #dissent, to targeting #immigrants, to political retribution against perceived enemies. And…deploying troops to U.S. cities, spurred on by hyperbolic MAGA-friendly news outlets. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Donald Trump says he is deploying troops to Portland, Oregon
Apparently misled by hyperbolic reporting from conservative outlets on a single small protest, president described peaceful city as ‘war ravaged’
www.theguardian.com
#Trump’s modus operandi is to use political leverage and overt threats to get people to do what he wants. Add in cruelty, legally questionable behavior, and a disregard for the civil mores that have dictated political deportment for centuries and you have Trump 2.0 in a nutshell.” -Dan Rather