Martin Gelin

Martin Gelin

@martingelin.bsky.social

American in Paris, formerly a Swede in New York. I write for The Guardian, Washington Post & Dagens Nyheter. New book on soft power Wildfire/Hachette 2026. https://linktr.ee/martingelin

2,706 Followers 2,428 Following 388 Posts Joined Nov 2023
10 hours ago
After a series of fatal strikes involving civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress directed the Pentagon to reduce civilian casualties as part of a 2019 law. During the Biden administration, the Defense Department created the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response initiative.

The civilian mitigation teams – cut by 90% by Hegseth – work with military commanders on target planning, and making sure that targets are actually military sites. The teams help come up with "no strike" lists, including religious and cultural sites and schools

I knew that the Department of War shot a missile into a school & killed 175 civilians, mostly children.

This is learned today:

Secretary of War Hegseth had cut the teams assigned to prevent such tragedies by 90%.
www.npr.org/2026/03/11/n...

3,322 1,719 105 101
2 days ago
Preview
Kulturdebatt: Om Kina kan sälja Labubus kan de också sälja idéer I väst står Intellektuella och influerare i kö för att hjälpa i landets propagandakrig.

Skriver i GP om Kinas växande mjuka makt.

Både influerare och intellektuella i väst hjälper nu Kina att skapa en mer positiv image.
Ekonomen Adam Tooze var nyligen i Yunnan och skrev lyriska rapporter om Kinas gröna revolution.
Men hur rimligt är det egentligen att kalla Kina ett framtidsland?

6 0 1 0
3 days ago

Tack för tips, älskar Dussman men det får nog vänta tills det finns en tysk utgåva, eller gör de events på den engelska avdelningen?

1 0 1 0
5 days ago
Post image

Significant acceleration of global warming since 2015, finds news PIK study with @rahmstorf.bsky.social
Recent warming: around ~0.35°C per decade.
1970–2015 average: just under 0.2°C per dec.
➡️Current rate is higher than in any decade since records began in 1880.
www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/late...

162 105 4 15
6 days ago

Vore härligt, tipsa gärna om det finns rimliga ställen

1 0 1 0
1 week ago
Post image

Ser mycket fram emot att besöka Lund den 19 mars, för ett samtal med den kloke Anders Mildner, om mjuk makt i en hård tid, om demokratins kris och kulturens förutsättningar.
På Stadshallen kl. 18.
Biljetter finns här: secure.tickster.com/sv/tw5ma6ux2...

13 1 1 0
1 week ago
Preview
Folkrättsexpert: Attackerna mot Iran olagliga USA:s och Israels attacker mot Iran strider mot folkrätten, enligt Mark Klamberg, professor i folkrätt. – Om man utgår från hur folkrätten är formulerad, och de

Har gett kommentar till TT/ Aftonbladet: "Attackerna mot Iran olagliga."
www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/y5...

78 31 4 2
1 week ago
Post image

Trump has lost half of his support among young men. Approval rating went from 50% to 25%.

The election was won on lies and misinformation.

It's not arrogant to say that voters were fooled; it is arrogant to pretend that the news environment in America is doing fine.

time.com/7378792/trum...

9 3 0 0
2 weeks ago

tack Erik!

1 0 0 0
2 weeks ago
Preview
”Svenska redaktioner måste förbereda sig på informationskrig från USA” - Journalisten För nio år sedan, i februari 2017, hade Donald Trump precis svurits in som president när han i ett tal plötsligt började prata...

Bra krönika i @journalisten.se
Den konservativa amerikanska filmaren James O’Keefe försöker avslöja ”islamiseringen” av Sverige. Misslyckas, men det visar att EU:s demokratier är Trumps främsta måltavlor i hans informationskrig, skriver @martingelin.bsky.social
www.journalisten.se/kronikor/sve...

15 5 1 1
2 weeks ago
Preview
Isobel Hadley-Kamptz: Danmark säger upp Palantir av säkerhetsskäl – svensk polis fortsätter I Danmark vill säkerhetspolisen säga upp sitt avtal med övervakningsföretaget Palantir, för att inte vara beroende av en tjänst som Donald Trump när som

Dansk säkerhetspolis vill säga upp Palantir av säkerhetsskäl, när Gunnar Strömmer fick frågor om den svenska polisens användning av tjänsten viftade han bort det som konspirationsteorier www.dn.se/ledare/isobe...

203 105 10 8
2 weeks ago
Post image Post image

In 1900, German colonial authorities hanged Mangi Molelia for resisting their expansion into what is now Tanzania. A few days ago, his great-grandson Tony Molelia visited German to pray with Mangi Molelia's bones, held in one museum, and to wrap himself in the cloak his murders also stole.

184 46 2 2
2 weeks ago
Preview
Matt Goodwin is running: the search for Reform’s elusive byelection candidate Nigel Farage’s man in Gorton and Denton has a huge public platform, and a taste for culture war. What happens when he concerns himself with bin collections?

Slightly buried in this excellent piece is the fact that Goodwin shares Stephen Miller’s love of the US 1924 Immigration Act - the one admired by Hitler and the reason why so many Jewish refugees (including Anne Frank’s family) were turned away

www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

244 111 10 3
2 weeks ago

The Starmer/McSweeney strategy followed the illusion of needing to win back the nativist-authoritarian worker and in the process alienated those who form their actual electoral coalition. This has been the story of social democratic parties across Europe. This won’t be easily reversible.

123 43 3 0
2 weeks ago
Post image

One of the most interesting books I’ve read this winter is Rana Dasgupta’s After Nations, so I’m thrilled to host this discussion at the American Library in Paris, where we'll talk about the history of nation states and the challenges to liberal democracy.
americanlibraryinparis.org/event/dasgup...

6 0 0 0
2 weeks ago
Post image

Concerned about ICE's $45 billion plan to convert warehouses into immigration detention centers? This is what they'll look like inside. From ICE's plan for the Social Circle, GA facility. Each little dot: a person. www.socialcirclega.gov/home/showpub...

2,944 1,745 268 561
2 weeks ago
Post image Post image

Sitter i redaktionen för Bon på ett hörn och en kul grej där är att vi kommer att publicera mer poesi. Här den första svenska översättningen av en av USA:s största poeter Frank Bidart, med introduktion av översättaren Jonas Brun (utdrag ur ny utgåva från Ramus).
www.bon.se/frank-bidart...

7 0 0 0
2 weeks ago
Preview
Martin Gelin: Vi har inte råd med okunnigt nonsens om hoten mot pressfriheten Miljardären Jeff Bezos har ägnat vintern åt att slakta Washington Post för att liera sig med Donald Trump. Då håller det inte att skylla på journalisterna.

Bra av @martingelin.bsky.social

www.dn.se/kultur/marti...

40 13 1 1
3 weeks ago
Preview
Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere The portal could potentially put Washington in the unfamiliar position of appearing to encourage citizens to flout local laws.

Trump will launch a government-run website (Freedom dot gov) to host extremist and Nazi content that is banned in Europe.
www.reuters.com/world/us-pla...

22 17 1 6
3 weeks ago
Post image

Jesse Jackson 1941-2026. Had the honor of meeting him twice.

16 1 0 0
3 weeks ago
Preview
Martin Gelin: ICE-skräckväldet är ett pilotprojekt för Trumps större planer Donald Trump har gett migrationspolisen ICE närmast obegränsade resurser, men hans långsiktiga mål handlar om något mycket större än migrationspolitiken.

Skriver i DN:

Trumps expansion av ICE handlar om att skapa en paramilitär kraft som hindrar demokratin från att återvända till USA.
Men att välja just Minneapolis som pilotprojekt kan ha varit ett strategiskt misstag. Stadens invånare har istället visat styrkan i den humanitära sidan av USA.

23 3 1 0
3 weeks ago
Post image

Börjar vi ana små sprickor i den långa bistra vintern av kompakt invandringsmotstånd som präglat Sverige i tio år?
Ser vi en droppe dagg på inlandsisen?

7 5 2 0
3 weeks ago

We really do need to underline this for people - because somehow the prevaling myth seems to be Russia is winning: the invasion of Ukraine has been the largest political, military and strategic blunder by a state since the Franco-Prussian war. Maybe greater

Russia has lost on every concievable axis

274 103 19 4
3 weeks ago

All I see on my Twitter timeline are reporters parsing every quote from AOC in Germany, trying to mock them for incoherence or inaccuracy, while a demented old man who can’t string sentences together or stay awake sits in the Oval, while the legacy media happily sanewashes his quotes.

18,991 4,107 623 180
3 weeks ago
Photo of Prime Minister Carney with President von der Leyen of the European Commission and President Costa of the European Council.

Canada is now the first non-European country to be granted a membership in SAFE. This is a gamechanger program that means Canada can rearm our Canadian Armed Forces members more effectively and scale up our defence industries with more contracts overseas.

4,963 1,299 167 113
3 weeks ago

Thank you!

0 0 0 0
3 weeks ago
Post image

Thanks to Institut suédois for hosting this talk on soft power and my new book, with Eva Nguyen Binh, Gallagher Fenwick and Madeleine Sjöstedt.
No coincidence that both institutes were founded after world wars. Dangerous to forget that soft power and cultural diplomacy are peacekeeping measures.

6 3 1 0
3 weeks ago

Unbelievable that naive European governments are still praising Rubio. The Trump administration wants to destroy Europe. This is their primary foreign policy objecitve, the pre-condition for the world order they want to see.
And European nationalists cheer them on.

79 37 3 1
3 weeks ago

Not running errands for Putin.

0 0 1 0
3 weeks ago

Shoutout to the Very Serious Foreign Affairs Experts who told us that Rubio would be a moderate force in the new Trump adm

72 15 5 1