Niklas Fagerström

Marco Rubio's Munich Speech Should Not Assuage Europe - Policy Magazine U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Valentine's Day speech at the Munich Security Conference should do nothing to mollify a Europe still aghast over Vice

"Europeans who found comfort in the misdirection perpetrated in Munich that all is well in the transatlantic alliance may find themselves slowly losing not only their reassurance, but also their dignity."
www.policymagazine.ca/marco-rubios...

The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported

And another bites the dust?

The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Tekoäly | Tiktokin omistajan uusi lanseeraus on pelottavan tehokas, varoittavat asiantuntijat Tiktokin omistajan uusi lanseeraus aiheuttaa pelkoa Hollywoodissa ja mainostoimistoissa.

Tiktokin omistajan uusi lanseeraus on pelottavan tehokas, varoittavat asiantuntijat
www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/ar...

Snart kan politiker bestämma om dina personuppgifter, varnar dataombudsmannen Ditt namn, din adress, ditt surfbeteende. Vem bestämmer vad som ska skyddas?

Snart kan politiker bestämma om dina personuppgifter, varnar dataombudsmannen yle.fi/a/7-10093207

Mistral’s revenues soar over $400mn as Europe seeks AI independence French start-up is riding a growing wave of demand from European businesses for alternatives to US tech

Mistral’s revenues soar over $400mn as Europe seeks AI independence

Sant - tack för kommentaren. Jag ändrade formuleringen där.

Tusentals finländare vill bryta Finlands beroende av amerikanska teknikjättar Finland är farligt beroende av amerikanska teknikföretag och måste snarast bygga upp digital självständighet. Det krävs i ett färskt medborgarinitiativ.

Tusentals finländare vill bryta Finlands beroende av amerikanska teknikjättar yle.fi/a/7-10092912

NY Timesin mediaa seuraava toimittaja kiteytti hyvin: ensin Bezos karkoittaa 200 000 tilaajaa Washington Postilta vaatimalla lehden Trumpin taa vaalien alla.
Sitten Bezos tukee Melania elokuvaa kymmenillä miljoonilla - ja WP:stä potkitaan pois 300 toimttajaa. Sitä on miltä näyttää.

ChatGPT is one of the services where I am most concerned about enshittification.

Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland. Further information will be made available as discussions progress. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations — They will report directly to me. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Trump: "Based upon a very productive meeting I had with Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one... Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs"

This is quite possibly, and worryingly, the only interesting thing to have ever come out of Davos in my adult life.

"Our view is the middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu"

Deutsche Bank here with the good stuff.
Game on.

Underappreciated fact:

The paths and positions of the cable damages around New Years 2026 were to most of Estonia's internet backbone routes.

Had it fully succeeded/happened by accident (lol) Estonia would have been left with a crippled connectivity.

Brussels hold’em: European cards against Trumpian coercion – European Council on Foreign Relations Faced with an aggressive United States, Europe has more leverage than it realises. Across trade, technology, infrastructure, finance and people-to-people relati

[1/6] A reminder: Europe has cards to use against the US. Lots of them.

To cite some examples:

- Tighten screws on US digital giants (taxes, fines, even bans)
- Export taxes disrupting US supply chains eg pharma
- Exclude US firms from European procurement, inc defence

ecfr.eu/publication/...

The only way to stop the spiral is to hit the US hard with escalating economic weapons from Europes side.

The goal is to raise political costs for Trumps imperial project. Europe can win this game of chicken as there’s real opposition in the US to this Trump hobby.

Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP, says the approval of the EU-US trade deal should be "put on hold" in response to Trump's 10% tariff threat.

Until today, the EPP, the largest group in the European Parliament, wanted to move forward with ratification despite the Greenland tensions.

This is the right way to frame the problem. Putin has used nuclear blackmail quite effectively to limit aid to Ukraine. He used the "conquest through blackmail" strategy first and that's a big reason why we're here today. Trump's economic blackmail must not succeed.

The final part of Macron’s statement published on his Instagram account. It reads: No intimidation or threat will influence us—neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations. Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. Europeans will respond in a united and coordinated manner should they be confirmed. We will ensure that European sovereignty is upheld.

What makes this statement by Emmanuel Macron so unprecedented is, for the first time, a leading European ally is equating Trump with Putin.

“No intimidation or threat will influence us - neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world.”

EVERYTHING has changed.

EPP chair Manfred Weber says EP will not approve EU US tariff deal

"The EPP is in favour of the EU–U.S. trade deal, but given Donald Trump’s threats regarding Greenland, approval is not possible at this stage. The 0% tariffs on U.S. products must be put on hold."

Avslöjar: Danska musikförlaget bakom Jacub och svenska AI-låten som toppar svenska Spotify I fredags gick för första gången låten ”Jag vet, du är inte min” in som listetta på Spotify. Låten är åtminstone delvis gjord av AI, vilket upphovsmännen medgav i ett mejl i går. Men vi…

Emanuel Karlsten: Avslöjar: Danska musikförlaget bakom Jacub och svenska AI-låten som toppar svenska Spotify emanuelkarlsten.se/avslojar-dan...

AI will rewrite the architecture of the newsroom "The challenge now is rebuilding around the unique value a newsroom provides, not around legacy forms built for another era."

"In 2026, more newsrooms will break from their print-era architecture and rebuild around how information now moves through AI systems. News organizations will shift from production-heavy workflows to dynamic, always-on knowledge environments." www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-w...

AI isn’t the threat anymore. Avoiding it is. "The danger isn't AI replacing journalists — it's AI replacing the public-information structures that ground American democracy."

"The danger isn’t AI replacing journalists – it’s AI replacing the public-information structures that ground (...) democracy." www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-i...

Watch: Australian teens test out social media as ban takes effect Teenagers affected by Australia's under 16 social media showed the BBC what happened when they tried to access their accounts.

Watch: Australian teens test out social media as ban takes effect

Covid inquiry live updates: UK did 'too little, too late', leading to thousands more Covid deaths, says inquiry The inquiry says an earlier lockdown could have saved 23,000 lives in the first wave in England - and lockdown could have been avoided altogether with earlier interventions.

"imposing lockdown a week earlier could have saved 23,000 lives in the first wave in England"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...

Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.

YouTube now lets mobile users set a customizable daily limit to restrict how long they can scroll Shorts feeds; the limit notifications are dismissible (Jess Weatherbed/The Verge)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

The text reads: “Resistance to antibiotics is widespread and increasing, threatening treatment of common infections. 1 in 6 bacterial infections worldwide were resistant to antibiotics in 2023.”

New WHO report finds 1 in 6 bacterial infections were resistant to antibiotic treatments.

Data from over 100 countries warns that rising resistance to essential antibiotics poses a growing threat to global health.

Read more 👉bit.ly/438Ta1u

My latest is on Sora's AI and why we should care about stolen art

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I tested Sora's AI video "guardrails" and I'm honestly shocked how much OpenAI allows. Really, really bad

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