@mister-sister.bsky.social
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"No one, apparently, is willing to prevent a single man from destroying the world economy, wrecking financial markets, forcing this country and other countries into recession if that’s what he feels like doing when he gets up tomorrow morning"
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
This Is Why Dictatorships Fail
The authors of the Constitution separated powers for a reason.
www.theatlantic.com
What a powerful text!
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Bernie Sanders publicly swears in Zohran Mamdani as NYC mayor
January 1, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Bernie Sanders publicly swears in Zohran Mamdani as NYC mayor
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While most Georgian families gather around the New Year’s table today, hundreds of protesters are standing on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi — and in 8+ cities across Georgia — in cold, rainy weather.
Day 400 of daily, uninterrupted protests.
Day 400 of daily, uninterrupted protests.
January 1, 2026 at 5:48 PM
While most Georgian families gather around the New Year’s table today, hundreds of protesters are standing on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi — and in 8+ cities across Georgia — in cold, rainy weather.
Day 400 of daily, uninterrupted protests.
Day 400 of daily, uninterrupted protests.
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7. Europe’s security depends on Europe – a wider Europe.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
7. Europe’s security depends on Europe – a wider Europe.
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It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵
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Final thought. This is all both frightening and depressing. But although addressing these problems will be very difficult and, in many cases, very costly, it can be done. I think Europe is in a better place on these issues than it was a year ago; I’m optimistic that can continue.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Final thought. This is all both frightening and depressing. But although addressing these problems will be very difficult and, in many cases, very costly, it can be done. I think Europe is in a better place on these issues than it was a year ago; I’m optimistic that can continue.
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Some politicians are catching up, but many others in the UK and elsewhere are still trying to operate in the world of 5, or 25, years ago. That world's gone and they need to face that before their reluctance to acknowledge the scary and expensive world of 2026 does more harm.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Some politicians are catching up, but many others in the UK and elsewhere are still trying to operate in the world of 5, or 25, years ago. That world's gone and they need to face that before their reluctance to acknowledge the scary and expensive world of 2026 does more harm.
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Nothing has prepared most European policymakers for what they’re now facing: threats from Russia; the end of the US as friend and protector; US alignment with Russia; uncertain political futures in Moscow and Washington; external interference threatening their own democracies.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Nothing has prepared most European policymakers for what they’re now facing: threats from Russia; the end of the US as friend and protector; US alignment with Russia; uncertain political futures in Moscow and Washington; external interference threatening their own democracies.
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That means facing up to uncomfortable realities, not pretending they don’t exist or waiting for them to go away and hoping things will return to the old days.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
That means facing up to uncomfortable realities, not pretending they don’t exist or waiting for them to go away and hoping things will return to the old days.
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10. We can only protect ourselves against threats we acknowledge.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
10. We can only protect ourselves against threats we acknowledge.
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Countries that pride themselves on their long history of democracy and openness, like the UK, may be reluctant to take Romania’s approach to dealing with Russian interference, but governments need to be tackling the problem as a matter of extreme urgency. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Georgescu barred from Romanian vote in final court ruling
Calin Georgescu loses a bid to overturn a ruling barring him from participating in next May's vote.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Countries that pride themselves on their long history of democracy and openness, like the UK, may be reluctant to take Romania’s approach to dealing with Russian interference, but governments need to be tackling the problem as a matter of extreme urgency. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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But there are clear signs that the UK and other NATO and EU states have very serious Russian interference problems that pose a threat to their democracy and security.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
But there are clear signs that the UK and other NATO and EU states have very serious Russian interference problems that pose a threat to their democracy and security.
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For years, the UK has been allergic to talking about the issue of Russian influence in its politics, partly because neither of the traditional main parties has historically spotless on the issue of relations with Russian oligarchs.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
For years, the UK has been allergic to talking about the issue of Russian influence in its politics, partly because neither of the traditional main parties has historically spotless on the issue of relations with Russian oligarchs.
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9. Western states are rightly focused on both conventional military and ‘grey zone’ threats from Russia, but they need to start taking political interference much more seriously than some of them have done to date.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
9. Western states are rightly focused on both conventional military and ‘grey zone’ threats from Russia, but they need to start taking political interference much more seriously than some of them have done to date.
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But Europe needs to stop trying to impose an imaginary coherence on Trump administration foreign policy and to work out how to deal with the incoherent reality.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
But Europe needs to stop trying to impose an imaginary coherence on Trump administration foreign policy and to work out how to deal with the incoherent reality.
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6. Europeans convinced they just need to wait out the next three years need to stop it.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
6. Europeans convinced they just need to wait out the next three years need to stop it.
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That is going to be exceptionally hard and the temptation is either to pretend the US realignment isn’t happening or to wait and hope it course corrects. This would be a serious mistake.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
That is going to be exceptionally hard and the temptation is either to pretend the US realignment isn’t happening or to wait and hope it course corrects. This would be a serious mistake.
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Europe and Canada need to move carefully to avoid creating further dangers, but they need to decouple from the US in areas like defence planning, intelligence sharing, and defence procurement.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Europe and Canada need to move carefully to avoid creating further dangers, but they need to decouple from the US in areas like defence planning, intelligence sharing, and defence procurement.
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Western policymaking, media reporting, and think tank and scholarly analysis are not set up to acknowledge this because, in the US case, it’s messy, its outside their previous experience, and its frightening.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Western policymaking, media reporting, and think tank and scholarly analysis are not set up to acknowledge this because, in the US case, it’s messy, its outside their previous experience, and its frightening.
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But Europe needs to think about its collective future in a world after US leadership, US alliance, and – if the Trump administration continues to tank America’s capabilities and credibility – US significance.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
But Europe needs to think about its collective future in a world after US leadership, US alliance, and – if the Trump administration continues to tank America’s capabilities and credibility – US significance.
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It also depends on addressing two serious internal challenges: how to work around pro-Russian authoritarian leaderships in Europe, and how to hold North and South Europe together in a meaningful alliance despite divergent views on security priorities.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
It also depends on addressing two serious internal challenges: how to work around pro-Russian authoritarian leaderships in Europe, and how to hold North and South Europe together in a meaningful alliance despite divergent views on security priorities.
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And even more importantly, the focus of US attention under both Republican and Democrat presidents has been moving away from Europe towards the Asia-Pacific for 30 years while taking the enormous economic and security benefits of a friendly Europe for granted.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
And even more importantly, the focus of US attention under both Republican and Democrat presidents has been moving away from Europe towards the Asia-Pacific for 30 years while taking the enormous economic and security benefits of a friendly Europe for granted.
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We have to assume that there will be more US administrations that are profoundly hostile to what they think Europe represents; they will not be interested in reviving the alliance.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
We have to assume that there will be more US administrations that are profoundly hostile to what they think Europe represents; they will not be interested in reviving the alliance.
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The NATO Treaty commits members to the principle that “an armed attack against one [member] shall be considered an attack against them all”, but the White House spent 2025 threatening to invade two NATO other members.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
The NATO Treaty commits members to the principle that “an armed attack against one [member] shall be considered an attack against them all”, but the White House spent 2025 threatening to invade two NATO other members.
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5. Under the Trump administration, the US is no longer an ally of Europe or Canada, it has aligned itself with Russia.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
5. Under the Trump administration, the US is no longer an ally of Europe or Canada, it has aligned itself with Russia.
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One important implication of this is that practitioners need to spend more time thinking about the implications of the senior-junior partnership between China and Russia for European and US security.
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
One important implication of this is that practitioners need to spend more time thinking about the implications of the senior-junior partnership between China and Russia for European and US security.