Kristof Bender

🚨🚨 #Ukraine is developing fast and cheap interceptors to knock down incoming #Russian #shahed drones, in the absence of allies supplying enough air defense systems. And #kremlin is likely to react by improving its drones in a deadly and vicious cycle.

🔎🤥 Viktor Orbán’s propagandists claim Hungary has “zero migration” and sealed borders. Reality: since 2010, when Orbán came to power, the number of Asians living in Hungary has grown 4X. They’re selling naive Western conservatives a white nationalist fantasy.

📊I’ve charted the official data. More👇🧵

At least 68 African migrants dead and scores missing after ship capsizes off Yemen coast At least 68 migrants are dead and 74 more missing after a ship sank off the coast of Yemen Sunday, the UN's migration agency said. Tens of thousands of migrants cross the perilous waters between the H...

Around 130 migrants are feared to have died in a shipwreck off the coast of Yemen on Sunday, according to UN migration agency IOM.

Twelve people reportedly survived.

www.infomigrants.net/en/post/6617...

Indeed. It's not a state and most likely will never be one. But it does a lot of things really well.

All this constant whining about dysfunctional structures and weak decision making by pro-EU people is doing the job of those who want to bring the EU down - AfD, Wagenknecht, Orban, Trump...

A lot of frustration with the EU probably stems from the fact that it’s being compared with (federal) states like the US.

Because of the low probability of the EU ever becoming a state, I find it a bad argument. Instead, we should become more creative in our thinking about how power works in Europe

#Bosnia 🇧🇦: What does the second instance ruling against RS president Milorad #Dodik now mean? Quick explainer by @adicerimagic.bsky.social:

Hat aber nichts mit der Ortschaft Neufeld zu tun, oder?

On this day 50 yrs ago 35 countries from East & West signed the #HelsinkiFinalAct, pledging to respect the inviolability of borders and the protection of fundamental freedoms. While the non-binding act contributed to the fall of communism, its role became obsolete by #Russia‘s wars of aggression.

I see your point, but why not combining both lines of argument? Maybe something like this: We have to get our act together to spend 3 or 3.5% efficiently, or else we will end up spending 5% or possibly even more.

I have lots of sympathy for this argument, but in the end, it's better for Europe to spend 3.5 per cent less efficiently than it cd, than <2 per cent, also less efficiently than it cd. Best of all, of course, wd be spending 3.5 per cent (or 5 per cent) efficiently. I'm not holding my breath, though!

Maybe one line of argument could be: let‘s get our act together to spend 3 or 3.5% efficiently, or else we will end up spending 5% or possibly much more.

"The repression, arrests of dissidents, bloggers, and opposition voices have long strained Baku-Brussels relations," Eldar Mamedov told the BBC. "Since Russia's aggression in Ukraine, this issue virtually disappeared from the agenda." #Azerbaijan‘s share of total natural gas imports to the EU: 4.3%.

Aid cuts are driving migrants to Europe, warns UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi calls on EU countries to support existing asylum facilities in Africa rather than create new schemes

“Tackling the root causes of migration”, they said.

www.ft.com/content/976f...

In #Ahmići, where one morning in April 1993, 116 Bosniaks were killed in Central Bosnia’s most brutal massacre. Today, a peaceful, ethnically mixed village—marked by challenges, but also by lessons of what is possible to achieve in peace.

With @kristofbender.bsky.social

Protests in Ukraine as Zelensky signs bill targeting anti-corruption bodies New law sparks concern among Western allies as critics say move undermines the authority of the watchdogs.

Not a good look, and makes pathway to EU more difficult | Protests in Ukraine as Zelensky signs bill targeting anti-corruption bodies www.bbc.com/news/article...

Georgia cracks down on civil servants amid anti-government dissent Since 28 November 2024, daily protests have gripped Tbilisi and other cities across Georgia, as citizens voice their anger over the suspension of the country's EU accession process – announced that da...

How the regime cracks down on civil servants who insist that they serve the country of #Georgia, rather than the ruling clique

@clementgirardot.bsky.social for @equaltimes.bsky.social

www.equaltimes.org/georgia-crac...

"If the Europeans fail to act effectively... and the axis of Russia, China & North Korea wins... who will believe in — or trust — those who claim to uphold freedom and democracy when they are prepared to shrug as these ideals are brutally expunged on their very borders."
www.ft.com/content/b9d7...

Seems to depend a bit on which poll we read ... In any case: no time for complacency! bsky.app/profile/wahl...

Most interesting aspect of this @financialtimes.com Interview with @kajakallas.bsky.social is that she is voicing an assumption for the Asian partners that currently few European leaders dare voice openly for themselves - that they can't trust the US on security anymore.

on.ft.com/4flcMVj

Graph showing that Shahed drone strikes were three times as likely to hit their target last month than at the start of the year. Graph runs from june 2024 to june 2025 with a clear uptick starting in feb 2025

Shahed drone strikes were three times as likely to hit their target last month than at the start of the year

Russia’s drone swarms pierce Ukraine’s defences at record rate Proportion of Shaheds hitting targets tripled in recent months, according to analysis of official data

This is really bad.
Ukraine was for a while impressively good at intercepting these. But these numbers are difficult to fight.

on.ft.com/3GTrhmj Russia’s drone swarms pierce Ukraine’s defences at record rate

YouTube video by Steve Rosenberg Russian paper: “More & more enterprises plan to cut output.”

Today’s Russian papers on the economy: “More & more enterprises plan to cut output.” “Russia is shut off from technological advances. It’s naïve to think everything we need we can make ourselves or get from China.” #ReadingRussia

Das tut mir sehr leid zu hören und ist sehr schade.

Russia's full scale invasion of #Ukraine now already lasts as long as the siege of #Sarajevo - 1244 days.

Warum? An praktisch der gesamten EU Außengrenze regiert Brutalität und systematische Rechtsverletzungen. Und die EU sieht seit langem weg. Diese vermeintliche Dichotomie „EU (Musterschüler) vs Rest der Welt (immer problematisch)“ ist eine Kategorisierung, die mit der Realität nicht viel zu tun hat.

'Detention or return': Greece moves to imprison those who don't voluntarily leave A draft law proposes detention for people without the authorization to live in Greece but who refuse to leave. Other plans announced by the migration ministry include accounting for the funds spent on...

In Greece, the government has announced a draft law wherein people without authorization to live in the country would face a minimum prison term of three years if they do not leave.

www.infomigrants.net/en/post/6587...

Darth Putin invited me into the bunker. . .

There are still traumata for some, disagreements on how to remember the war. But differences are addressed through politics. Inter-ethnic violence is very low. Possibly the largest challenge is the exodus of the young, a view widely shared from local politicians to Travnik's Orthodox priest.

A few days in #CentralBosnia w/ my colleague @adicerimagic.bsky.social. One of the areas most affected by the war, Central Bosnia is again a genuinely multi-ethnic region, w/ Bosniaks & Bosnian Croats working together, hanging out together, running the cantonal & municipal administrations together.

Disruptors: Inside Russia’s Balkan Training Camps for Moldovan ‘Destabilisation’ A joint investigation by BIRN and Moldovan CU SENS sheds new light on the training camps run by Russian operatives in Bosnia and Serbia that Chisinau says were used to train Moldovans in destabilisati...

Possibly this is only the tip of an iceberg of Russian efforts to de-stabilise #Moldova ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in September.

balkaninsight.com/2025/07/15/d...