Mihkel Kraav

YouTube video by Reuters Russia releases secret footage of 1961 Tsar Bomba hydrogen blast | REUTERS

Sixty-four years ago today, on October 30, #Russia detonated the Tsar Bomba, the largest #nuclear device ever, whose flash was seen 1,000 km away. Today, #Moscow regrettably persists in its nuclear threats and the terrorizing of the democratic world.

Defence: Has the European Commission Lost a Battle to the Member States? - IRIS The European Council of 23 October 2025, like previous summits, saw the EU Member States reaffirm their determination to strengthen their defence capabilities in response to the Russian threat and gro...

To claim defence is solely a Member State prerogative is absurd and unjust! The #EU has one border to secure, a clear common interest! Why should border nations bear this burden because the #Commission stalls?

"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"
— Abraham Lincoln

I really like this attitude!

Russian deception and Western naiveté go hand in hand. Potemkinism is the term for Russia’s misery hidden by a shiny veneer, a façade admired by French intellectuals 100 years ago who mistakenly lauded it as a "land of freedom."

In the Soviet Union, there was always a surplus of jobs, but a deficit of sufficient income. Wages were barely enough to survive until the next payday. Owning a house was a dream; most lived in small apartments, frequently subdivided among several families.

Oil firm TotalEnergies made misleading green statements, court rules French multinational is ordered to remove its website messages about aiming for carbon neutrality

Fossilised technology companies lie as routinely as cigarette companies did about cancer.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Hogwash’ that Israel is a US client state, says Netanyahu Israeli PM dismisses claim despite Washington providing estimated 68% of country’s foreign-sourced weapons

The current lack of dignity and candour among state leaders is regrettable, especially as the media fuels the rise of vulgar populism.

Vance’s Israel Visit Tests Fragile Gaza Truce and U.S. Mediation Strategy U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s arrival in Israel marks Washington’s latest effort to stabilise a fragile ceasefire in Gaza and advance President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace framework.

#Trump 's "peace plan" was flimsy. VP #Vance, in his smooth, ill-bred, and arrogant manner, seems more interested in causing trouble than solving it. If a lasting peace emerges regardless, it will be very welcome. #Israeli genocide against the #Palestinian people must finally be halted.

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality."
(attributed to #Dante)

That’s seven.

@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/uni...

Vivat academia,
vivant professores!

I fully support the #EU, but this weak #Commission, which answers to corporations and has no backbone in representing Europeans, needs immediate replacement. The #climate disaster is imminent, but the Commission views retaining power as superior to upholding principles. Truly depressing.

Trump's Gaza Plan Presents a Central Challenge: The Disarming of Hamas On Monday Hamas set free 20 alive hostages and later returned bodies of rest of the deceased hostages as per phase one of Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

Disarming just one side of a conflict is counter-productive. This echoes the post-WWII failure to hold #Russia accountable while punishing #Germany. #Hamas should disarm, but #Israel ’s arsenal must also be drastically cut. This is the only way to motivate them to pursue non-violent solutions.

Poland charges two Russians with spying for Moscow, parcel bomb plot Polish prosecutors have filed charges against two Russian citizens accused of spying for Russia’s FSB and involvement in a parcel bomb scheme, the national prosecutor’s office said on Monday.

A scientific poll should be conducted to assess the attitudes of Russians in exile, as everyday interactions with Russians reveal a clear picture of high approval ratings for the Russian war and imperialist attitudes, with similarly high levels of support for undemocratic,right-wing extremist views

Ironically, Polish judge Dariusz Lubowski has had to explain to the Germans that an act of sabotage in wartime is an act of courage. Germany should rather investigate the real saboteurs: the architects and defenders of the pipeline, namely Schröder, Merkel, Steinmeier, Scholz, Schwesig and Warnig.

International bodies pressured Baltics to naturalise former occupiers. The criminality of these 'new citizens' is markedly higher than that of natives. The immediate question: were the "persons with Latvian citizenship" in this report by chance named Ivanov, Kalinin, or Medvedev?

Europol Dismantles SIM Farm Network Powering 49 Million Fake Accounts Worldwide Europol’s Operation SIMCARTEL dismantled a SIM farm used for 49M fake accounts and €5M in fraud.

🫡🫂Europol Dismantles SIM Farm Network Powering 49 Million Fake Accounts Worldwide share.google/UA8MHUih0ztJ...

"By their fruits ye shall know them."

Memo to Future Historians: This Is Fascism, and Millions of Us See It From Chicago to Portland, James Comey to Letitia James, and so much else—this is no longer America.

newrepublic.com/post/201625/...

Xi Jinping is preparing to go toe to toe with Donald Trump – and there will only be one winner | Simon Tisdall Beijing has realised that reckless America First policies are alienating old and new friends alike, creating a vacuum it can fill, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall

The blame assigned to #China in the West would be more accurately directed at the profound foolishness and avarice of the #Trump camp; #EU ought to learn from China's principled refusal to submit to injustice.

Kremlin Envoy Floats U.S.-Russia ‘Putin-Trump Tunnel’ Using Elon Musk Tech - The Moscow Times A Russian presidential economic envoy and key negotiator in Ukraine peace talks has proposed building an $8 billion undersea tunnel linking Alaska and Russia using Elon Musk’s tunnel construction comp...

The very notion of a ' #Putin - #Trump' link conjures a geopolitical unmaking: fire and ice where commerce should be. Is this truly the moment for the #US to cultivate warm relations with those accused of war criminals, or has #Moscow activated its long-dormant agents in #America?

Russian influence is a thread across the West: no Brexit, no 2016 Trump, no funding for AfD or Le Pen. Their PMCs (Wagner, et al.) support autocrats in ≈30 nations, even aiding WMD programs for regimes like North Korea. Call them "insignificant"? Hardly.

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."
(Anatole France)

Without Russia's imperial exports — Marxist ideology, military aid, and nuclear technology — modern China simply wouldn't be. Whether they'd be a capitalist success is unknown, but Russia's destructive global influence is undeniable and must not be underestimated.

I know how the media works. The whole China kerfuffle is being bigged up to avoid the bigger picture about Russia.

China is not a friend. On the other hand, it hasn't launched the biggest land war in Europe for 80 years with well over a million casualties so far

California is so modern in its policies that it deserves to be part of Europe. ;-)

www.rawstory.com 'Sold my soul to the devil’: Fox News staffers blast network in explosive court filing

'Sold my soul to the devil’: Fox News staffers blast network in explosive court filing

Caligula openly mocked the Senate by considering his horse a Senator. Trump achieves the same effect on Congress but with less honest fanfare.

What to know about the indictment of former Trump national security adviser John Bolton | CNN Politics John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser-turned-adversary, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on Thursday.

Based on recent experience, #Bolton should simply declare his candidacy for the presidency to see all charges against him dismissed. Jesting aside, this process appears to be political harassment of a kind that would be at home in Stalinist #Russia, yet is now, regrettably, connected with the #US.

Is the UN “Bloated, Unfocused, Outdated and Ineffective”? UNITED NATIONS, October 17 (IPS) - The US hostility towards the UN is threatening to escalate, as a cash-starved world body is struggling for economic survival.

The #US has had the greatest historical leverage to shape the #UN from its very beginning. If the body is failing in effectiveness today — and a more robust UN is certainly needed for global problems — then this shortcoming is fundamentally the responsibility of the US.