Anders Åslund

What I cannot understand is how anybody can take Trump seriously any longer.
We all know that he lies all the time, so his statements lack veracity.
He is clearly not mentally at ease.
He changes his mind all the time (fortunately).
Treat him as the idiot he is.

Corruption Perceptions Index 2025 The Corruption Perceptions Index 2025 ranks 182 countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. Find out the scores and read our analysis.

Transparency International has published its excellent Corruption Perception Index.
2 striking deteriorations:
The US went from #24 in 2023 to #29 in 2025, but Trump will drive it down.
Russia plummeted from #141 in 2023 to #157 in 2025!
www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2025

12. Trump's claims on Greenland & Canada are completely unjustified & have broken up old US alliances.
13. Finally, Trump's language is not permissible. He lacks all civility. A US president must not be allowed to speak so crudely in public.
Conclusion: Boycott Trump's SOU! /6

9. Trump has undermined US media freedom through his outrageous defamation suits against major media companies.
10. Trump lacks any sense of truth, lying all the time.
11. Trump has effectively destroyed NATO & rendered the US lonely. /5

6. Trump is by far the most corrupt president in US history having made at least $4 billion on his presidency.
7. Trump has pardoned the worst US financial criminals en masse without reason.
8. Trump has rendered the SCOTUS defunct appointing obviously corrupt justices. /4

4. Trump is persistently violating the laws with ICE, demands for voter rolls, etc. A lawless president must not be respected.
5. Clearly, Trump is one of the most guilty in the Epstein-Trump affair & he blocks necessary investigations into the biggest US crime racket. /3

1. Trump makes no pretense that he represents the whole of the USA, only republican extremists.
2. Last year Trump just denigrated the democrats. it will be worse now.
3. Trump has tried to normalize racism, which is a sufficient reason for a boycott. /2

On February 24, Trump is supposed to give his state of the union speech to the Joint Session of Congress.
I see no reason for the Democratic congressmen to attend.
They should boycott this event for many reasons. /1

Newsmax, conservative US network, launching Ukraine news channel Newsmax, founded by Chris Ruddy, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, will open a full-fledged editorial office in Ukraine to produce local and regional news content.

"U.S. media company Newsmax is launching a local news channel in Ukraine, scheduled to begin operations this spring"
Really? Newsmax is completely pro-Putin.
It should be treated as Russian war propaganda & be prohibited like RTin democratic countries.
kyivindependent.com/newsmax-a-co...

Stop calling it the Epstein affair!
Call it the Epstein-Trump affair!
That appears to be more appropriate.

Trump has turned the US into a lawless country.

Trump has normalized this kind of white racism.

Nothing illustrates the absence of rule of law for the rich & powerful in the US better than the Epstein affair.
It should be called the Epstein-Trump affair.
DOJ is not even claiming to investigate the dozens of apparent major criminals & Trump says "move on!"

The international currency and gold reserves of Ukraine rose to $57.7bn in January — a new all-time high (NBU, Dragon Capital).

Has any US vice president ever been as unpopular as JD Vance?
Frankly, Vance should resign.
After all, Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973 for a bribe so minor that it would make Trump blush, if he possessed that ability.
Another example is John Calhoun, the great racist, in 1832.

I am happy to hear that the toxic pair Vance & Hegseth do not dare to face the international community at the Munich Security Conference this year.
With their aggressive anti-democratic lies, they had better hide.

It is a devastating evidence of the Trump regime that the US capital Washington no longer has any serious newspaper, leaving it far behind any other significant capital in the world.
Trump has successfully turned the US into a banana republic in no time.

Opinion | Trump’s Obama Derangement Syndrome

Maureen Dowd: "It seems etymologically, metaphysically, geologically and ethically impossible that President Trump could reach a new low. But he has. Every Friday, when I’m planning my column, I find fresh evidence that the president is unfit for his office."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/o...

5. The Epstein crimes are of at least 3 kinds:
A. Rape of 1,200 women, many under-aged.
B. Financial machinations of many kinds.
C. Espionage & treason.
The US must INVESTIGATE the Epstein affair and clean up its rotten elite. /3

3. A proper independent investigation of all the Epstein documents would be undertaken, like the 9/11 commission.
4. Many top Americans should be criminally indicted on the basis of such an Epstein report. /2

It would be nice if the US had some rule of law, then:
1. All those who tried to cover up the Epstein affair would be sacked (Kash Patel, Pam Bondi & Todd Blanche at least).
2. All the perjuries committed should be prosecuted - some people & more. /1

Anybody who takes a Russian suggestion of anything $12 trillion economic cooperation must be really dumb (Think Trump & Witkoff!)
Russia's GDP is just over $2 trillion & stagnant.
Transparency International ranks ranks 154 among 180 countries.
Russia is too criminal for business.

Vance's enormously excessive security is a massive waste of US taxpayers' money.
14 airplanes and a convoy of 40 big cars!
Stop this waste, abuse and fraud!

Putin isn’t really winning. Europe needs to make that clear Behind Russia’s victory narrative in Ukraine is a system under strain. To fight back, the ‘middle powers’ must work harder on their own story

Peter Pomerantsev: "If Moldova, the poorest country in Europe with 2.4mn people, can defeat Russian hybrid attacks, why can’t the rest of the continent?"
www.ft.com/content/36b5...

The only country where Epstein crimes were committed where they are not investigated is the US.
But the vast majority of his crimes were committed here.
Why is the US DOJ against investigating crimes?
I see, because of Trump.
What can you do about him?

Trump has had ample time to delete his racist tweet, but he has not.
He has confirmed to all of us that he is a racist & white supremacist.
As long as elected republicans accept this without protest, they are as well.
Quite disgusting.
Sad to see the US depart from civilization.

Donald Trump’s policies dent international travel to US in blow to tourism sector Foreign visitors to the US fell 4.2% in 2025, while international travel worldwide rose 4%

"Donald Trump’s policies dent international travel to US in blow to tourism sector": The number of foreign visitors who travelled to the US in 2025 fell 4.2%, while worldwide international travel increased 4% in 2025.
Surprising the fall was not greater.
www.ft.com/content/8f6d...

Ukraine’s direct and guaranteed public debt totaled $213bn as of end-2025, up 29% y-o-y. The end-2025 debt stock was equivalent to an estimated 103% of GDP, up from 91% in 2024. (Finance Ministry; Dragon Capital)

All over Europe, people who appear to have committed serious crimes with Epstein are being investigated, sacked & possibly prosecuted.
In the US, where most of the true criminals reside: Nothing, because POTUS rightly thinks he is exposed.
Rule of law in the US, anybody?

US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe State department grants to spread ‘American values’ are part of Washington’s 250th anniversary celebrations

"The US state department is set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe to disseminate Washington’s policy positions"
Trumpists want to finance anti-democratic & anti-European movements.
Keep them out! This is not bona fide.
www.ft.com/content/f869...