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Pawel Swidlicki

@pswidlicki.bsky.social

Currently clean on OPSEC

3,384 Followers  |  1,659 Following  |  2,410 Posts  |  Joined: 19.09.2023
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Posts by Pawel Swidlicki (@pswidlicki.bsky.social)

Also, a very weird thing to say about the party that took us into Iraq!

06.03.2026 13:31 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Also, while politicians should aspire to shaping and not merely reflecting public opinion, it's very telling that no one is attempting to build a first principles case for following the US beyond anti-Starmer negative partisanship

05.03.2026 18:13 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Clearly, but lots of people in American politics and geopoliticals who are planning on being around for the next couple of decades probably should bsky.app/profile/shir...

05.03.2026 18:06 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Feels like one of many ways in which the US' conduct during this war and under Trump more generally will come back to haunt them long after Trump himself has departed.

05.03.2026 16:45 β€” πŸ‘ 59    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1

EXC: Inside Morgan McSweeney's cosy leaving drinks last night

β€” Acc to multiple witnesses Keir Starmer, in a speech to room full of Labour right types, said that McSweeney is not only one of the best political strategists in the country, "but in the entire world"

05.03.2026 09:00 β€” πŸ‘ 115    πŸ” 34    πŸ’¬ 55    πŸ“Œ 112
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FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

05.03.2026 07:15 β€” πŸ‘ 16987    πŸ” 5930    πŸ’¬ 508    πŸ“Œ 494

Destroying the Iranian state with the IRGC still around as a substantial armed actor in whatever hollowed out husk remains would generate levels of instability that will inevitably drag in the forces of most of Iran's neighbours long after the Americans and Israelis have declared victory and left

05.03.2026 00:43 β€” πŸ‘ 149    πŸ” 27    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 0

The cast iron rule of US politics for the duration of my lifetime

04.03.2026 22:22 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Steve King 9
@SteveKinglA
+ Follow
Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies.
ESTERN ILIZATION
Voice of Europe @V_of_Europe
Hundreds of Islamists shouting "Allahu Akbar" in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Wilders is right for over 10 years. #turkijerel
RETWEETS
LIKES
516
688
10:40 AM - 12 Mar 2017 from lowa, USA

Steve King 9 @SteveKinglA + Follow Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies. ESTERN ILIZATION Voice of Europe @V_of_Europe Hundreds of Islamists shouting "Allahu Akbar" in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Wilders is right for over 10 years. #turkijerel RETWEETS LIKES 516 688 10:40 AM - 12 Mar 2017 from lowa, USA

I'm teaching about early 20th century eugenics today and was reminded that 9 years ago Republican Representative Steve King was stripped of his committee assignments by his GOP colleagues for this post that simply states what is now bog standard GOP policy/rhetoric on immigration and "civilization."

04.03.2026 17:45 β€” πŸ‘ 3736    πŸ” 1009    πŸ’¬ 66    πŸ“Œ 46

Feels like part of his target market is also people who might have misgivings about his body art but are also so angry at the Dem leadership that they're willing to overlook those

04.03.2026 17:36 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It is impossible to have too much contempt for these people.

04.03.2026 16:09 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Maybe they don't care? Just like they don't really care if Russia takes chunks out of its neighbours.

04.03.2026 15:53 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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At CBS News, where staffers are apparently barred from reading history books, the hostilities between Iran and the US don’t begin until 1979.

04.03.2026 12:01 β€” πŸ‘ 2147    πŸ” 452    πŸ’¬ 75    πŸ“Œ 44

And in some cases not just conservative but outright reactionary.

04.03.2026 12:20 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Such a good case study of the transgressive --> mainstream --> conservative cycle.

04.03.2026 12:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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One thing that is not discussed enough with the Tory and Reform stance on net zero and the North Sea is that it has massive 'dog that caught the car' Brexit redux vibes. Imagine what would happen if they won and enacted this policy...

04.03.2026 09:16 β€” πŸ‘ 33    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 0

Have they thought of doing a podcast

04.03.2026 09:22 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Now obviously they'd come up with some kind of mental gymnastics but even so it could be revealing to some extent, the kind of thing a good interviewer in an extended, non-aggro interview could really tease out.

04.03.2026 08:29 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

To best of my knowledge, neither Farage nor Badenoch or other prominent Brexiteers have even been pressed to elaborate on why when it comes to UK-US relations 'taking back control' should be subservient to other considerations.

04.03.2026 08:26 β€” πŸ‘ 41    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, he's called his show 'Harry Cole saves the West' and the lots of the people he invites on there are properly out there

03.03.2026 20:24 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

6%? Guessing that's about the size of the organic Blue Labour constituency?

03.03.2026 16:56 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes, maybe Trump's secret police can arrest you off the street and willfully violate your rights for several months just because they can but did you know that a car wash manger at Buc-ee's in Alabama can earn over $100k?

03.03.2026 15:02 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Not if 80% of Reform are ex-Tory MPs though

03.03.2026 14:38 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump’s war is messing with the fallout from Trump’s tariffs, which is messing from the fallout from Trump’s war on clean energy

03.03.2026 11:49 β€” πŸ‘ 1859    πŸ” 472    πŸ’¬ 95    πŸ“Œ 39

Think there is something to be written about how bad the news environment has got for people who want to keep up with politics but don't have the time/knowledge to go beyond the flagships.

03.03.2026 10:13 β€” πŸ‘ 349    πŸ” 70    πŸ’¬ 9    πŸ“Œ 6

I saw a clip of Hunt on LBC in which he said Trump had been given cause to 'question our loyalty' and implied that we should have gone all in with him in order to maintain his support for Ukraine (Trump has massively reduced US support for Ukraine).

03.03.2026 14:25 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

"This government has restored economic stability" feels like a tin-eared thing for a Chancellor to say when global markets (and especially oil and gas) are in turmoil thanks to the USA's middle Eastern adventures. Not her fault but odd to ignore it.

03.03.2026 12:41 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1

Quite the contrast to the seemingly surgical decapitation strikes on senior regime figures

03.03.2026 13:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Minab school bombing: how the worst mass casualty event of the Iran war unfolded – a visual guide A strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh school during the US-Israeli bombing campaign killed up to 168 people. The Guardian has pieced together the incident and its aftermath using verified footage and images f...

"Photographs and verified videos from the site... show children’s bodies lying partly buried under the debris. In one video, a very small child’s severed arm is pulled from the rubble. Colourful backpacks covered with blood and concrete dust sit among the ruins." www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

03.03.2026 13:46 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Well, he did succeed in salting the earth for Labour, which I always thought was a core part of the rationale

03.03.2026 13:40 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0