Beatrice Fihn

If the French people don’t want its president to use nuclear weapons, do the rest of Europe want to rely on a security system where we have to hope that the French president disregards democratic will of the people and uses weapons of mass destruction and commits war crimes?

In the Dec 2025 International Law Index, we (via IPSOS) asked French people if they would support its government using nuclear weapons if it says it’s in their security interest. 70% said no, only 13% of French people would support its government in such case. lexinternational.org/wp-content/u...

So, if French nuclear umbrella is supposed to replace US nuclear umbrella, does that mean we have to believe that France would be more likely to use weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations than United States?

Ridiculous waste of money that could be used on real defense instead of symbolic posturing that just encourages more threats and instability.

Ahead of Macrons speech today where he will present his case for a European nuclear umbrella, I think it’s good to highlight that the French people think Switzerland, a non nuclear armed, non Nato state, is safer from war than France.

I don't know, maybe it's because I'm a big Carl Sagan fan but I'm super dismayed out how many people these days seem to think that Nuclear Weapons are fine. And not, you know, a completely insane way for us all to live.

Nordic nukes? A French nuclear umbrella? If you scan the headlines, you might think that EVERYONE wants nuclear weapons these days. But that’s not the full story. Here’s a paper by Lex that highlights a counter trend, a stronger rejection of nuclear deterrence lexinternational.org/wp-content/u...

AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations Leading AIs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google opted to use nuclear weapons in simulated war games in 95 per cent of cases

Given this week’s news about a conflict between Anthropic & Pentagon over using Claude in all kinds of military operations, this highlights how important it is to get a new treaty on autonomous weapons because we cannot rely on companies doing the right thing.
www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

Inside the Effort to Create an International Fund for Nuclear Detonation Survivors Establishing such a fund would be a landmark step forward in acknowledging and beginning to rectify the enormous harms caused by nuclear weapons detonations.

In @nucleartimes.bsky.social, I write about the work to establish an international trust fund for survivors of nuclear detonations, which diplomats aim to do by December. Progress is also happening nationally, as the US & France recently expanded compensation: www.nucleartimes.com/inside-the-e...

At last week's #PlasticsTreaty meeting in Geneva, the world's largest country was outsmarted by one of the smallest. “Are we following Rule 45?” Dennis Clare of Micronesia 🇫🇲 asked, exposing the weakness in Russia’s 🇷🇺 procedural gambit.

medium.com/points-of-or...

Ende des Atomabkommens New Start: „Nuklearwaffen für die EU wären konsequent dumm“ Der Abrüstungsvertrag zwischen den USA und Russland sei praktisch schon tot gewesen, sagt Florian Eblenkamp von der Kampagne zur Abschaffung von Atomwaffen. Trotzdem sei er sinnvoll gewesen.

New START ist Geschichte, während in Europa mal wieder über eigene nukleare Bewaffnung geraunt wird. Zeit, ein paar Sachen klarzustellen. Interview in der @taz.de taz.de/Ende-des-Ato...

How is this guy is even improving my life now? I just want to personally thank every New Yorker who voted for this guy because I’ve been raging about these stupid “resort fees” and mandatory food vouchers and shit for years. ❤️ u mamdani

It’s a bit hysterical to have this reaction over some random German dude having a stupid opinion about something.

But also, if Germany decides to develop weapons of mass destruction, it’s 100% Germanys responsibility and decision, not Trumps. Nobody can force anyone to develop nuclear weapons.

Is the biggest wave of nuclear proliferation in human history in the room with us?

Brb gonna call Vietnam for some advice

Ngl, I’m terrified of Donald trumps obsession with the Nobel peace prize. WHAT IF HE INVADES MY HOUSE???

But hey, it was fun being called a national security threat and naive idiot on national tv when I said I didn’t think Sweden should trust the United States with its security a few years ago.

Norway and Denmark have at least been a founding members of Nato but Sweden acting all shocked “we can’t believe this is happening?????” like it wasn’t completely obvious to everyone with a inkling of geopolitical sense.

Sometimes I think about how it is still less than two years ago Sweden joined Nato and then I get embarrassed to be from a country with such incredibly bad geopolitical instinct.

“Ameerikkamiuunianngilagut, qallunaajunianngilagut, Kalaaliuniarpugut”
(We don’t want to be Americans, we dont want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders). Joint statement by ALL political parties in 🇬🇱 parliament calling for US to stop its disregard for its people. dk.siumut.gl/vi-star-samm...

In December, we polled Americans on issues around international law, and 77% of US people said that they would not support their government illegally invading another country — even if it was claimed to be in their security interest. Quite relevant these days! lexinternational.org/internationa...

International Law Report 2025 - Lex International In an era when headlines declare international law "dead" and conflicts rage across Palestine, Ukraine, and Sudan, a groundbreaking nine-country survey

Read the report here: lexinternational.org/internationa...

Yesterday we launched Not Dead Yet, our 2025 report on the state of international law. A huge thanks to Austria, Mexico and South Africa for joining our launch event and giving your different perspectives on the narratives and challenges of international law.

I'd love for you to read it, even though I know it's really hard to get anyone to read anything these days. But it's a good read, I promise! lexinternational.org/internationa...

The report also contains the 2025 International Law Index, a survey of public opinion of international law and the rules of war around the world. Turns out, public support for international law and its core protections during warfare is quite strong — despite what headlines might make you think.

In this report, we examine the effectiveness of international law in curbing wars and civilian deaths, we compare it with the results and costs of military actions (spoiler alert: int law outperforms military action significantly and at a fraction of the economic cost and human suffering).

Most of the work we do at Lex is quite discrete, like grant making, retreats & off the record conversations and a few different creative projects. But today we’re launching our first public report, “Not Dead Yet — International Law in an Age of Uncertainty”

Europe needs tactical nukes to counter Putin, says Airbus chief European aerospace heavyweight warns that the continent must have a stronger deterrent against Russia’s massive arsenal.

“People need to drink more soda” says CEO of soda company. www.politico.eu/article/airb...

No, it’s more like no big wars between major powers since the United Nations was formed. ✌🏼

Have you noticed that since deciding to join NATO, the Swedish men’s football team has failed to qualify for every single international tournament? COINCIDENCE??