Peter Sparding

I am confused as to why you are getting blocked?

What do you put the odds at for a recession within say the next year? Or impossible to say?

That’s awesome! Congratulations. Besides N/A beer, what else did you do?

Sorry you had to experience that. Did you see this story? Wonder if it’s part of it: bsky.app/profile/davi...

Or it shows a limit of polling because what people consider “political views” here might currently differ? I don’t think people mean that they would cut off contact over disagreements on tax policy

No Better Friend? The United States and Germany Since 1945 Sparding, a German American who counts both countries as “home,” writes with equal insight about both places.

Excited and grateful to learn that my book was reviewed In the latest issue of @foreignaffairs.com: www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/no-b...

Bundeswehr plant Rüstungsbeschaffung von mehr als 350 Milliarden Euro Nach Aussetzung der Schuldenbremse für den Bereich Verteidigung und der Ankündigung von Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz, die Bundeswehr zur stärksten konventionellen Streitkraft Europa zu machen, haben d...

German government is planning to invest approximately €350 bln until 2041 into materiel procurement.
FY25 includes 8.2 bln, FY26 will include 22.3 bln. The special budget is additionally seeing draw-downs of ~75 bln until 2027, the final year of the fund. www.hartpunkt.de/bundeswehr-p...

Oh nice!

Where did you go?

US and EU close in on 15% tariff deal [FREE TO READ] Agreement would mirror accord with Japan

💥 EU and US close in on 15% tariff trade deal that would mirror agreement struck with Japan

By the one and only @andybounds.bsky.social

on.ft.com/4fa5N1k

I am confused. @tobiasharris.bsky.social ?

Aaaah. Cool!

What are we looking at here?

Thank you for so many great columns over the years! They were often uniquely insightful. Good luck for what comes next.

At the end of the current round of trade wars, I would like to see some political scientists look for correlations between (1) how dependent countries feel on the US for security and (2) how strongly they pushed back on the tariffs.

Post success at The Hague summit, the real NATO work remains - Breaking Defense Joshua Huminski in this op-ed explores next steps now that NATO allies have signed an agreement to spend 5 percent GDP on defense.

The NATO Hague Summit was a success against admittedly low expectations, but significant, substantive work remains, not the least of which is operationalising the spending commitment and building a post-industrial defence industrial base. @breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com/2025/07/post...

Opinion | We Warned About the First China Shock. The Next One Will Be Worse.

"We are here to argue now that policymakers are spending far too much time looking backward, fighting the last war. They should be spending much more time examining what’s emerging as a new China Shock.

Spoiler alert: This one could be far worse." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/o...

Oh.. thanks!

I see these tariff letters more as clumsy attempts at negotiating rather than likely tariff outcomes, but nevertheless this is quite a mess.

What happened to 90 deals in 90 days though?

YA?

I am sensing an article forthcoming?

It’s the accent and manner of speaking (“It would seem to me…”). Automatically sounds 10% smarter here.

My Danish teacher in Copenhagen once said there is no non-native speaker who can speak it without an accent and I believe it. I mean have the letters in any word make no sound or sound that is not that of the letter! Still love it though.

Danish is sometimes like a funny little troll language!

Graph showing that 65% of germans support higher defence expenditures to reach NATO’s 5% goal.

Absolutely striking numbers. 65% of Germans support Germany significantly increasing its defence expenditures to reach NATO’s 5%* goal.

*it’s a 3,5%+ goal, to be exact.

Admit it… you made a lucky guess!

Thanks!

What are your most useful tools and techniques?

Beloit, WI revitalized its waterfront and chose this way to celebrate it: by bringing to life Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."