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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · 9h

Spectator society.

Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Jun 27

Tja. Et parti er parti som støtter en fascist er ikke nødvendigvis fascistisk. De kan selvsagt støtte fascisten som det minste ondet. Men hvordan er det mulig å forstå USA slik?

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Tilman @tilmane.bsky.social · May 13

If #Europe wants #Putin to agree to a ceasefire, the easiest way is:
- Give a lot of #Taurus
- 20x investment into #Ukraine #Drone production
- Set up Air defense for Western #Ukraine
- Stop oil and gas traffic in baltic
- Tariffs on all remaining LNG, Oil imports
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Setback for Europe after Trump insists Ukraine has ‘immediate’ peace talks with Russia

Zelenskyy had no choice but to accept Putin’s invitation to talks, diplomats say

www.theguardian.com

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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · May 18

Trump, on the leader of Russia:
"Putin is tired of this whole thing and he’s not — he’s not looking good. And he wants to look good”

It's hard to imagine a more fundamental misunderstanding.
No, Putin is not "tired of the whole thing" - the war is the only thing keeping his economy going

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · May 14

Of course. We may still be able to make Trump think it is in his own interest to protect NATO allies in Europe. But we cannot make him commit. We must expect that he or someone like him will be the President of the USA until some very significant institutional reform is completed. So NATO is dead.

POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · May 14

@laurenscerulus.bsky.social : Fears in Europe about a "kill switch" at Donald Trump's fingertips are real. "If that political dimension turns hostile, how credible is it that companies with the best intentions can challenge their president," Cristina Caffarra told us today.

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · May 14

Would it be possible for the EFTA countries to sue the EU Commission and/or Council for failure to secure that Hungary abides by the EEA?

Dániel G. Szabó @gszd.bsky.social · May 14

@politico.eu: "The bill says threats to national sovereignty include influencing public opinion, promoting democratic debate, or challenging state-defined values like Christian culture and traditional family roles."

Orbán’s Fidesz party proposes Russia-style crackdown on Hungary’s civil society

The new bill fits into a pattern of democratic backsliding for the Central European country.

www.politico.eu

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Dániel G. Szabó @gszd.bsky.social · May 14

@politico.eu: "The bill says threats to national sovereignty include influencing public opinion, promoting democratic debate, or challenging state-defined values like Christian culture and traditional family roles."

Orbán’s Fidesz party proposes Russia-style crackdown on Hungary’s civil society

The new bill fits into a pattern of democratic backsliding for the Central European country.

www.politico.eu

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 27

The nasty Trumpist bait and switch.

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · Mar 27

"Even as the Musk-Trump people continue to say that we must sacrifice our rights for national security, they are also starting to say that they find it worthwhile to violate national security in order to have the tools that allow them to violate our rights."
snyder.substack.com/p/signalgate...

Signalgate: violating national security

in order to violate rights

snyder.substack.com

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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · Mar 23

"If you give in to extortionists, they’ll extort you and others for more ... Which brings me to @columbiauniversity.bsky.social’s president and trustees, who today surrendered the university’s #academicfreedom to the Trump regime"
robertreich.substack.com/p/the-shame-...

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 20

@hasyv.bsky.social Hei Håvard, har du slettet FB-kontoen?

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 12

Indeed. So no, Canada will not become a member of the EU. And Scotland will probably not detach itself much more from England. Unless they discover a new gigantic gas field or something similar...

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 12

Would be genuinely interesting to learn about the constitutional position of the First Nation people in such a context. The relationship between the constituent nations and polities, the states, and the union in the EU as of now is very complicated. And I think likely to change in the years to come.

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 12

I hope my fellow Europeans would not see that as a ground for exclusion.

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 11

Dead kangaroo walking! The "Constitutional Tribunal" made to serve the former Polish gov under PiS is slaughtered by CJEU.

Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · Mar 11

🇪🇺⚖️🇵🇱 The, probably, final chapter of the Polish rule of law saga at CJEU unfolds - the 🇱🇺 AG Spielmann opinion in the case C-448/23 Commission v. Poland concerning the Constitutional Tribunal is here. It has been some time since the Commission opened the investigation into the Tribunal in 2021... 1/

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 11

But does it define "European"? Values, culture, and institutions are the important criteria. Canada have all, and more than for example Hungary under Orban?

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 8

I disagree with @frankfukuyama.bsky.social Fascism is essentially syncretic. Opportunistic use of lies is the core of Fascism. A dangerous mistake suggesting that it can be fought by identifying inconsistency, falsehood, immorality. But it feeds itself on it.
www.persuasion.community/p/making-the...

Making the World Safe for Criminals

The United States is undergoing repatrimonialization as we speak.

www.persuasion.community

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 6

Beelzebub.
uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-ukrain...

Trump 'planning to revoke legal status of 240,000 Ukrainian refugees' - key developments

The planned rollback of protections for Ukrainians was reportedly underway before Trump publicly feuded with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week.

uk.news.yahoo.com

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 5

Everything we have must now be used to prevent this from happening. United we stand, divided we fall. 11

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 5

Whether this cooperation succeeds or not is crucial for the future of Europe. If the nations of Europe assess the situation from the point of view of how each can best save itself from the rocks we have ahead of us, then the fleet of European nations will scatter and be defeated. 10

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 5

Putin, Trump, Vance, and Musk's next goal is to sabotage the Europeans cooperation to save Ukraine, which is taking place in the EU and the coalition of the willing assembled by Macron, Starmer, and Merz/Scholz, all declared as political adversaries by one of these three men. 9

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 5

Hungary is already an electoral autocracy, and has been for a long time. Poland was very close to consolidating itself as such. Slovakia is in acute danger. The risk is significant that Italy, France, Austria, the Netherlands and others will move in the same direction in the coming years. 8

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 5

Then the rule of law and democracy will collapse at the member state level, when states are hit unequally by waves of refugees, the costs of rearmament, economic burdens on ordinary people, painful choices made by governments in completely uncharted waters, fear and lies. 7

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 5

A collapse of Ukraine clearly has the potential to destroy rule of law and democracy in Europe. First at the supranational level, by paralyzing the EUbCouncil and rendering the EU Commission incapable of enforcing European law because the necessary cooperation with EU member states fails. 6

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 5

Trump sees alternative gains in cooperation with Russia. So do several European states, most obviously Hungary and Slovakia, and a strong opposition in several other countries. 5

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Iver Ørstavik @iverorstavik.bsky.social · Mar 5

This is not the situation now.
The possible or probable expansion of the crisis in Ukraine is dividing NATO member states. The US under Trump is the dominant member and does not consider itself threatened by Ukrainian collapse. 4

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