VdL says Europe must “shape the new world.” Kallas says the rulebook has been “thrown out the window.” Both are right in diagnosis. Neither names who threw it.
That silence is exactly why nobody believes Europe will actually do what it says.
Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge, as the week-old U.S.-Israeli war with Iran sent oil prices surging and Asian stock markets into a nosedive. Follow our live coverage: reut.rs/4d98ssP
AI didn’t kill the demand for trustworthy information, it exploded it, argues @shuwei.bsky.social.
Billions of people can now reach knowledge but still can’t make sense of it.
The companies filling that gap right now aren’t exactly trustworthy.
The market is wide open. 👇🏼
"If the defense department is demanding the use of AI for mass surveillance or autonomous warfare that we, the public, find unacceptable, that should tell us we need to pass new legal restrictions on those military activities."
https://bit.ly/4blSRF0
Belgium’s defence minister says US-Israel strikes are “righteous “.
Iran says the same about its proxies. Russia says the same about Ukraine.
International law exists precisely because everyone thinks their cause is just, and that’s why “it’s righteous” has never been a legal basis for force.
Know an interesting book about diplomacy or global affairs you want to review for @haguediplomacyjrnl.bsky.social ? 📚
For 2026, we particularly welcome book reviews that explore perspectives from the global majority.
More info here: www.universiteitleiden.nl/hjd/journal/...
About right time to recommend again the last episode of "Post truth be told" on wether and how the EU has a strategy to counter foreign interference...
EU leaders spent years framing the energy crisis as a matter of principle: Russia violated int’l law, destabilised the rules-based order.
Now gas prices double, triggered by illegal US-Israel strikes, and Brussels endorses.
The incoherence is absolutely astounding.
@vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu
US officials skeptical of regime change in Tehran after Khamenei killing, say sources reut.rs/4l2wasX
“Historically, Washington’s poorly informed assumptions on Iran have set back core US interests. Most notable was the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which lacked adequate preparation & manpower to manage a stable transition & insulate the new government from Iranian influence”
🔗 www.cfr.org/reports/lead...
Once again, EU leadership utterly fails to address the illegal and reckless use of force employed by US and Israel, this time in Iran.
I’m grateful to be surrounded by scholars who are brave and honest, two qualities much needed at the top of EU institutions.
Anthropic says it will challenge Pentagon's supply chain risk designation in court reut.rs/4u0Jy4P
The @europarl.europa.eu is “going nowhere” on the digital euro.
Meanwhile, the EU still pays Visa & Mastercard over €13.5 billion a year to process its own payments.
We’re “renting core infrastructure” as put by @ecb.europa.eu exec in a recent interview with me: sophiepomme.com/reshaping-eu...
Amodei’s statement today deserves careful reading. @anthropic.com says it refuses to enable mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons on democratic grounds.
One of the largest tech companies is publicly defending civil liberties against government pressure, and this is meaningful.
Truth functions like a social contract: invisible until broken. The moment we stop maintaining it collectively, politics turn into theatre, and the audience forgets it ever had a say.
Orbán is playing two games: calling for a “fact-finding mission” in a formal letter to EU Council president Costa, while accusing Zelenskyy of interfering in Hungarian elections on social media. The gap between his diplomatic and political tone tells you everything about what’s driving this crisis.
Despite all the chatter, social media bans for teens lack evidence! New paper out in Nature Health.
(1) Harms from social media are real & serious.
(2) We need regulatory action but bans are not nuanced, do not empower youth, & are not supported by evidence.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
A new study finds that longer daily social media use was associated with predominantly negative outcomes for 60% of adolescents, but not all platforms are the same. The variances point to the opportunity for more nuanced regulation than blanket bans, writes Tim Bernard.
more than a betting market, Polymarket is a massive data bank of public opinions
As promised, #RECLAIM project is over, but "Post-Truth be Told" is not. Episode 12 covers the EU’s turn to FIMI. @lucasproto.bsky.social @ruthferrero.bsky.social and @sophiepomme.com discussed what is at stake for Europe in the current "global marketplace of ideas" open.spotify.com/episode/0dcJ...
Know an interesting book you want to review for @haguediplomacyjrnl.bsky.social ? 📚
For 2026, we particularly welcome submissions that explore shifts in international order.
More info here: www.universiteitleiden.nl/hjd/journal/...
The U.S. Journalist Assistance Network has compiled a set of resources with best practices for journalists in the U.S. to protect their data and devices. Full resource list 👇
cpj.org/wp-content/u...
According to the authors of this study, building on complex networks science @csh.ac.at :
“The way out of social polarization is either by reducing social contacts (which seems unrealistic) or by increasing tolerance in the society—which might well be achieved by educational means.”
A common belief is that to counter polarisation, we should socialise more with people who think differently.
This is untrue.
Above a critical level of social connectivity, society naturally becomes more polarised so that social interactions are more comfortable.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Brief “prebunking” videos embedded in Instagram feeds significantly improve users’ ability to recognise common #manipulation techniques and enhance resilience to misinformation at scale, with effects persisting over time across audiences.
misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/preb...
Sean Westwood, a political scientist at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, demonstrated an AI chatbot that can reliably impersonate a human participant and evade most known mechanisms built into surveys to detect fake responses.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Almost two-thirds of all card transactions in the EU are now handled by U.S. giants Visa (V.N), opens new tab and Mastercard (MA.N), opens new tab. Dombrovskis said such dominance made the EU vulnerable.
www.reuters.com/business/fin...
“the architecture of problem-solving are under threat” said Carney in his iconic speech in Davos.
with every column that falls down, a gap takes shape and becomes ready to be filled
this is the pivotal moment that Carney refers to: we must build the new infrastructure as the old is taken down.
Thinking of applying for a #PhD?
I wrote a guide based on my experience (Oxford, Leiden), covering proposals, supervisors, funding, and what strong applications truly require:
🔗 sophiepomme.com/how-to-apply...
