Carl Dolan

Whacked on the BBC Glasto coverage to see what they were showing instead of Kneecap and caught Amy of Amyl & the Sniffers giving a pro Palestine speech...

Beeb editors playing whack-a-mole

Bad case of 'whataboutism'

In China's own readout, it criticised "the serious human rights issues in EU countries"

including, and I quote, "the regression of democracy and freedom"

www.mfa.gov.cn/wjdt_674879/...

Yes, we got a tip when the $TRUMP whales (biggest buyers of his crypto) were going to show up Friday at the White House for their VIP tour and The NYT was there. We had a list with their names. So we knew who they were. But they did not want to chat. I still tried...

Like the time he mused aloud about bombing Iran in response to the Rushdie fatwa as an example of the limits of rational debate between rival traditions. This to a packed lecture hall in UCD expecting more nuanced Aristotelian commentary on current affairs. 2/

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of years reading MacIntyre for my MA. Like many, I was impressed by the historical sweep of his critique of liberalism. But also his impish sense of humour...1/

European Parliament weighs immunity for 5 MEPs over Huawei probe Prosecutors want to investigate three members from the centre-right EPP, one from the Socialists and one from the centrist Renew group. #EuropeNews

Belgium has asked the European Parliament to waive the immunity of five MEPs over the so-called #Huaweigate.
- Salvatore De Meo (Italy, EPP)
- Giusi Princi (Italy, EPP)
- Fulvio Martusciello (Italy, EPP)
- Daniel Attard (Malta, S&D)
- Nikola Minchev (Bulgaria, Renew)

A VIP Seat at Donald Trump’s Crypto Dinner Cost at Least $2 Million The largest holders of Donald Trump’s memecoin have secured spots at a private event with the US president himself. WIRED tracked how they did it.

The attendees were selected based on who had spent the most on TRUMP and held their coins the longest between the announcement date and the deadline at 1:30 pm ET on Monday, May 12. The identities of the investors who vied for a place are concealed.

Operation Starve and Strangle: Hungary’s proposed “Transparency” Law threatens core European democratic values and attacks independent civil society and media organisations - Hungarian Helsinki Commit... A new legislative proposal marks a turning point in Hungary's erosion of democratic norms. Disguised as a transparency measure to prevent sovereignty threats, the Bill on the Transparency of Public Li...

A dark turn in Hungary’s democracy erosion: disguised as a transparency measure to prevent sovereignty threats, the Bill on the Transparency of Public Life aims to starve and strangle civil society, independent media and any legal entity the government decides to target. helsinki.hu/en/operation...

Good, dogged journalism by @quentinaries.bsky.social and Roland Papp in the face of hapless stonewalling by Commission spokespersons. Hard to escape conclusion that EU is constantly on the backfoot when it comes to Orban's provocations.

“So what are you going to do about it?”
Journalists ask @ec.europa.eu about the Starve&Strangle bill. @rlndpapp.bsky.social @quentinaries.bsky.social
audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-2...

U.S. AG Pam Bondi Sold More than $1 Million in Trump Media Stock the Day Trump Announced Sweeping Tariffs Disclosure forms show that Bondi sold between $1 million and $5 million worth of shares on April 2. That day, after the market closed, Trump’s “Liberation Day” press conference sent the market tumblin...

AG Pam Bondi sold over $1M in Trump Media stock on April 2

What else happened that day? Trump’s tariff policy went into effect & then the stock price went down

Hmm...

I’ll discuss tonight w Anderson Cooper @cnn.com at 8:30 pm ET

Opinion | A Plane From Qatar? C’mon, Man.

Three of us who oversaw emoluments enforcement for three presidents, Democratic and Republican, agree:

Between the Qatari plane and the UAE crypto cash, this is far over the line

Here's how to stop it @nytopinion.nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/o...

Trump and his family have profited by $330m from their crypto business while promoting deregulation. Good reporting by @ericlipton.nytimes.com on what is a blatant act of corruption, even if by a peculiar twist of US governance the President is exempt from federal conflict of interest laws.

Trump is profiting off of the presidency

His crypto grift is raking in millions while he slashes Medicaid & guts essential services

I’ll discuss tonight with @ericlipton.nytimes.com on AC360 at 8pm ET - TN

www.democracydefendersfund.org/prs/04.23.25-pr

Uruguay’s fight against dirty money: gains, gaps, and growing pains By Carl Dolan The author is a senior anti-corruption advisor for the European Policy Centre, based in Montevideo Uruguay has long had a role as an important regional financial hub. It has used its fam...

My new home in Uruguay has much going for it - beautiful coastline, hospitable people, a thriving democracy. But it also has a dark side as regional financial hub with a patchy record of fighting financial crime.

Reflections on how UY needs to step up the fight: www.linkedin.com/pulse/urugua...

Ireland's data protection watchdog finds its teeth. The question now is whether US companies will also feel its bite.

Ha! Excellent [Monty Burns finger-clasp]

Elon Musk takes hit as Europeans ditch X in droves The right-wing billionaire’s platform has recently lost about 10 percent of its European user base.

Europeans are fleeing X en masse, according to a new report from Elon Musk’s social media platform.

Just in: Ukraine and the US sign minerals deal.
- 50/50 management, so no US veto
- No debt obligations = no repayment of aid
- Respect for Ukraine's EU integration
- Covers critical materials, oil and gas
- Also related infrastructure and processing
- Only new projects, existing projects excluded

At last!

Trump crypto soars as US president offers dinner to top holders The meme coin's website says its 220 top investors will be invited to a gala event with the president.

If there's a more brazen act of corruption - selling access to political office for personal gain - then I've not seen it www.bbc.com/news/article...

YouTube video by The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones - We Love You (Official Music Video)

H/t to Rest is History folks for highlighting this vintage gem which I'm embarrassed to say I'd never seen before. Star turns by an androgynous Marianne Faithfull and Keith as bewigged beak youtu.be/WOWvT5dPGJE?...

The thing about Europe: it’s the actual land of the free now Europe’s very real problems don’t look so bad by comparison

The thing about Europe: it's the actual land of the free now.

Whatever problems Europe has - and it has plenty - it is looking pretty damn good by comparison these days.

My Charlemagne this week

www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

💥📈 In just six months, Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar’s TISZA party has surged to a 14-point lead over Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz, per the reliable 21 Research Center pollster—putting TISZA on the brink of a two-thirds majority in parliament.

🗳️🇭🇺 Next election is in April 2026.

How will MEPs respond to Huawei scandal? The three D’s – Deny, Diffuse, Dilute The pattern since at least the 2011 cash-for-amendments affair is for each fresh scandal to be followed by new codes of conduct, new rules and amendments to rules, each with their own set of lawyerly ...

The #EuropeanParliament is in denial about the roots of its corruption problems. It engages in pointless blame games while refusing to create an ethics culture that encourages speaking up and welcomes investigations of misconduct. My article for @euobserver.com euobserver.com/eu-political...

The Israeli entrepreneur Shalev Hulio gained notoriety for designing Pegasus, the spyware used by governments to hack journalists and dissidents. Today, he is selling a new AI cyber security tool to European states and corporations. His secret asset? Austria’s former leader Sebastian Kurz. [Thread]

📢 NEW COMMENTARY | How not to fix a corruption scandal

Carl Dolan analyses deeper issues connected to the latest corruption scandal hitting the European Parliament following accusations that lawmakers have accepted bribes from Huawei @carlosdolan.bsky.social

Read here 👇 www.epc.eu/en/Publicati...

How not to fix a corruption problem How not to fix a corruption problem

The European Parliament has a strategy for dealing with its corruption problem. Blame lobbyists. Blame foreigners. Blame the rules. Blame anyone but MEPs and staff. epc.eu/en/Publicati...

How to institutionalise corruption, lesson #321 via @edwardluce.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/9f51...