Paul T. Levin
@paultlevin.bsky.social
2.8K followers 640 following 2K posts
Director of the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies. Managing Director Consortium for European Symposia on Turkey. Docent (Assoc. Prof.) of and pontificator on international relations. Opinionated. Painter.
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paultlevin.bsky.social
I wrote my first Substack piece! In it, I ask if Turkey isn’t a better comparison to a second Trump administration than Nazi Germany. What can the US learn from an already autocratized Turkey? That the Washington Post is a precursor of what may come.
open.substack.com/pub/paultlev...
paultlevin.bsky.social
Viktiga frågor dessa tider.
stockholm-uni.bsky.social
Vi måste titta på associationsformen - ska lärosäten vara myndigheter? Vi måste även ha trygga basanslag för att värna forskningens frihet.
Martin Jakobsson, vicerektor Stockholms universitet i samtal om hoten mot forskning och vetenskapliga genombrott på Nobelmuseet under #NobelCalling2025 #Nobel
Reposted by Paul T. Levin
drbrake.bsky.social
It would be good to have independent verification of some of the more striking claims here but of course the Israeli military has been killing journalists in the region in droves which makes that pretty difficult!
paultlevin.bsky.social
““They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.”+
Israel accused of detaining Greta Thunberg in infested cell and making her hold flags
Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water
www.theguardian.com
paultlevin.bsky.social
Skämtet om Folkpartisten som träffade en väljare och då glatt utbrast ”Jaså var det du?!” hörde jag iofs redan som ung. Men snart fastnar kanske skrattet i halsgropen.
paultlevin.bsky.social
To those who argue that violent protest in the USA is needed, look at the argument right now between the judge trying to stop Trump from deploying troops to Oregon & the GOP governor of Texas seeking a rationale to send his National Guard. Which side’s argument would violent protest strengthen?
paultlevin.bsky.social
“Genom att gå samman med Oikos på det här sättet urholkar Timbro sitt syfte och undergräver sin trovärdighet som principfast och kompromisslös försvarare av fria marknader och fria individer.”
DN Debatt. ”Tankesmedjan Timbro har glömt varför den finns”
DN Debatt. Tidigare medarbetare om Timbros nya samarbete med Oikos och dess påverkan på den marknadsliberala profilen.
www.dn.se
Reposted by Paul T. Levin
meredithmeredith.bsky.social
📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.

Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
signal.org
We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...
signal.org
paultlevin.bsky.social
🎯. @jvl.bsky.social's latest rant on the Bulwark podcast makes a similar argument. Dems should not be saving Trump from doing things that will hurt him electorally. (Also, I'm sure ACA polls well, but you're in a once-in-a-generation fight to save democracy, and your ask is about healthcare?!?)
paultlevin.bsky.social
She is still in an Israeli jail and has only spoken to the Swedish foreign ministry. Their account says that she was mistreated. Do you have a source for your claim?
paultlevin.bsky.social
bitteham.bsky.social
In 2010 members of the Mavi Marmara flotilla were boarded by Israeli commandos in high seas and taken to Israel. Most of them, including all Swedes, were first flown to Istanbul by Turkish Airlines. And there to greet them was foreign minister Carl Bildt. 1/2 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
Greta Thunberg says she is being detained by Israel in cell infested with bedbugs
Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Paul T. Levin
rimaanabtawi.bsky.social
Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. An estimated 200,000 people. All demanding that Netanyahu sign the deal and bring all 48 hostages home at once and end the war. Keeping direct pressure on POTUS, warning the of Netanyahu's repeated attempts of sabotage in their heartfelt speeches.

📸 Amir Goldstein
paultlevin.bsky.social
Som jag skrev, kalla upp ambassadören och fråga om det stämmer att Greta greps på internationellt vatten, drogs i håret, tvingades krypa och kyssa den Israeliska flaggan. Kräv att svenskar behandlas värdigt. Och var tuff mot Israel istället för Greta i offentliga uttalanden.
paultlevin.bsky.social
Skillnaden är (förstås) att det kommer in mat och medicin till Ukraina. Alla infartsrutter till Gaza är kontrollerade av Israel. Och jämför du på allvar att segla till Gaza obeväpnad och helt öppet med mat och medicin med att döda, våldta & kidnappa civila? Du beter dig oseriöst.
paultlevin.bsky.social
Fast Greta är ju ingen stridande part. Hon deltog i ett försök att bryta Israels blockad så att civila i Gaza skulle kunna få medicin & mat. Och om 🇷🇺 belägrade & orsakade svält i 🇺🇦 & hon gjorde detsamma där & greps & misshandlades av 🇷🇺, skulle Kristersson bara sagt att hon får skylla sig själv?
paultlevin.bsky.social
Dags att kalla upp den israeliska ambassadören. Hur hade regeringen agerat om det varit Ryssland som agerat på det här sättet?
bsky.app/profile/doct...
doctorvive.bsky.social
The Times of Israel reports that Greta Thunberg & her fellow Flotilla crew are being held in a special "terrorist" section of Ketziot prison—or in "terrorist conditions," as Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's Minister of National Security put it.

www.timesofisrael.com/thunberg-sai...
On Friday, the ultranationalist minister suggested that Israel would be better off throwing the flotilla participants in prison for several months
rather than immediately deporting them back to their home countries. Security prisoners - those incarcerated for offenses that intentionally harm national security - are housed separately from criminal prisoners and are not eligible for many of the benefits available to the general prison population. The term is a catch-all term applied to detainees, convicted prisoners and terrorists, and administrative detainees who are held
without charges for extended periods, without trial. "We are in Ketziot prison, and as I promised, those flotilla members,
supporters of terrorism, are here in a security prison," Channel 14 reported
Ben Gir as saying. "They receive conditions for terrorists here, for everything, terrorist sweatpants, terrorist conditions. This means, there is a minimum of the
minimum, that's what I promised and that's how we are fulfilling it."
paultlevin.bsky.social
Excellent. I’m totally stealing that.
paultlevin.bsky.social
Actually, what would “Truth Social” be in Russian?
paultlevin.bsky.social
I’m quoting the Turkish activist interviewed in the article.
paultlevin.bsky.social
OMG! 😳 I had totally missed that. Some (but rather small) comfort that it was USC Annenberg students who broke the news.
paultlevin.bsky.social
Ja jag kritiserade just Expressen och DN (som jag prenumererar på) men inte Aftonbladet som jag tyckte hade en bättre artikel.
paultlevin.bsky.social
Mnja. De kan väl bara rapportera vad vittnen till gripandet sagt? Risken att vittnen talar osanning finns ju alltid i nyhetsrapportering, men det är ju flera samstämmiga uppgifter, och de kan ju alltid understryka att det är obekräftade vittnesmål om de är oroliga.
paultlevin.bsky.social
Sandwich wrapping paper is about what Fox News is good for, metaphorically speaking. That or some other unspecified household use of paper.
paultlevin.bsky.social
Två sätt denna nyhet skulle kunna ha presenterats på. I den svenska versionen från DN ”klagar” Greta över löss.
paultlevin.bsky.social
Verkligen! Jämför med hur internationella (tror att detta är turkiska) medier rubriksätter.