@funkygiesing.bsky.social

The next big electoral crunch in the EU will be the presidential election in France in April-May 2027. If the Far Right, already in poll position, conquers France, it will be a dagger to the belly of the European Union. 11/

The US is now officially committed (alongside Moscow) to interfering in European electoral politics to promote nationalist and anti-EU parties of the Far Right, from Reform in the UK to Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National in France to the xenophobic AFD in Germany. 5/

There is a difference between the ill-informed intervention of a recently-elected Veep and the officially codified and published US security strategy which to European ears reads like a cross between a Fox News rant and a Pravda editorial. 4/

Tomorrow’s meeting is nominally a catch-up on the Russia-Ukraine war peace-talks but it will be the first in a transatlantic world transformed by publication last week of the Trump administration’s aggressively anti-European National Security Strategy (NSS). 2/

Only Europe can save Ukraine from Putin and Trump The new US national security strategy shows us Europeans exactly where we stand: alone.

Only Europe can save Ukraine from Putin and Trump open.substack.com/pub/timothyg...

The bald hypocrisy of the Trump administration shouting about free speech violations in democratic Europe without saying so word about massive violations of free speech in autocratic Russia (or Belarus) is striking and tragic.

Moreover, deterrence is partly about perception and credibility; therefore, even the mere perception in Russia that the transatlantic security architecture is beginning to erode could invite nuclear–conventional military brinkmanship.

Given the direction of stand-off precision-strike warfare we are heading toward, disentangling conventional deterrence from nuclear deterrence will become increasingly difficult.

Bislang hatten die #USA die #NATO Bedrohungsanalyse bezüglich #Russland mitgetragen, zuletzt in diesem Sommer. Das wird nicht so bleiben, Europa sollte darauf auch nicht hoffen, sondern sich vorbereiten. | #Trump #Putin #NSS

'His generals would tell him “we’re not getting anywhere” and his central bank would tell him “the economy is cracking”.' 2

"If Europe can generate sufficient military and economic support for Ukraine, and economic pressure on Russia, then at some point in 2026 or 2027 the incentive structure for Putin would change." 1

Here’s @rikefranke.bsky.social’s analysis (🧵). She’s a bit more careful than I am in my hot (and angry) take, but she, too, notes that the U.S. is now actively trying to influence European politics.+

Es wirkt so, als ob wir in Europa noch nicht so recht begriffen haben, was die von der US-Regierung #Trump veröffentlichte „Nationale Sicherheitsstrategie“ anstrebt: Unterm Strich wird eine totale Umwälzung der politischen Verhältnisse in der #EU befürwortet zugunsten von rechtsextremen Kräften.

Syrische Millionen: Die Geldspur nach Österreich Wie Assads Elite in Wien Firmen gründete, Immobilien kaufte und nach Deutschland expandierte. Eine internationale Recherchekooperation, an der auch profil beteiligt ist, wertete geheime Dokumente des ...

Millionen-Vermögen: Wie die geschäftlichen Spuren der Assad-Elite über Österreich bis Deutschland führen. #DamascusDossier @profil.at ORF @icij.org @recherche.ndr.de www.profil.at/investigativ...

Does Europe Finally Realize It’s Alone? Washington’s new National Security Strategy ratifies an adversarial relationship.

Europeans lull themselves into the belief that Trump is unpredictable. This is strangly reassuring, but wrong. The #NSS is only the latest confirmation that Europe is, at best, alone. My piece @ForeignPolicy
foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/05/n...

Only Europe can save Ukraine from Putin and Trump – but will it? | Timothy Garton Ash Whether using frozen Russian assets, ramping up defence production or deepening the relationship with the EU, it’s up to us to secure Ukraine’s future, says Guardian columnist Timothy Garton Ash

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Putin Lives by a Code Trump Doesn’t Understand Where Trump sees a deal, Putin sees submission.

Trump doesn’t seem to get that while he sees everything as a deal, Putin sees any deal as a sign of weakness, Andrew Ryvkin argues. “The better strategy would be to instead apply pressure and wait for Putin to make the first move”:

‘Hamnet’ Is Miserable, and Proud of It Chloé Zhao’s film depicts the inspiration for “Hamlet” as a relentlessly woeful tale.

“Hamnet” is a somber—and at times punishing—adaptation that draws on speculative work that imagines the grief William Shakespeare and his wife felt after losing their son, David Sims writes—and when the film is at its best, it “embraces the unknowability of this premise.”

Trump’s Approval Rating Dips as Views of His Handling of the Economy Sour

After months of holding steady, Trump’s approval rating has slid to the lowest of his second term in recent weeks as voters sour on his handling of the economy, according to a @nytimes analysis of public polling. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/u...

YouTube video by Kyiv Independent Why Ukraine rejects Russia's 600,000 army cap demand

Russia failed to break Ukraine’s army on the battlefield, and now it’s trying to do it through a peace plan that would cap Ukraine’s forces at 600,000. The Kyiv Independent’s Yullia Taradiuk explains why the cap matters and what Ukraine’s post-war defense options really look like.

The EU’s Fine Against X is Not About Speech or ‘Censorship’ | TechPolicy.Press The €120 million fine under the Digital Services Act is just the EU enforcing some normal, boring requirements of its law, writes Stanford's Daphne Keller.

Don't let anyone — not even the US Secretary of State — tell you that the European Commission's €120 million enforcement against Elon Musk’s X under the Digital Service Act is about censorship, writes Daphne Keller. It’s just the EU enforcing some normal, boring requirements of its law, she says.

Calling for regime change in Europe and supporting far-right forces also undermines the transatlantic alliance.

Good to finally have it in writing that this US government wants regime change in Europe. (Friedrich Merz, grant him this, has been clear about this since he came into office.)
Now: Will this spur the Europeans to act?
There are already comments by incurable transatlanticists sanewashing this crap.

Was in diesen Tagen sichtbar wird ist folgendes: Die NATO, konzipiert als Bündnis des Westens gegen äußere Feinde (Sowjetkommunismus, neo-imperialistisches Russland, internationaler Terrorismus, später auch VR China), wird als Druckmittel INNERHALB des Westens umfunktioniert (Trumpismus vs. Europa).

Neue "Nationale Sicherheitsstrategie" der USA ist:
-Eine Kampfansage an die EU
-Eine Ohrfeige für Deutschland
-Ein Kniefall vor Russland
-Eine Nebelkerze für die NATO
Jetzt hat Europa es auch schriftlich, dass es auf sich gestellt ist. (S.25ff) www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Europe’s fateful moment [FREE TO READ] The EU faces a historic choice: whether or not to unlock frozen Russian assets and save the Ukrainian war effort

"Trump, in his way, is as much of a wolf as Putin. Europe has run out of excuses to pretend otherwise". My Swamp Notes with @martinsandbu.ft.com on why Europe must make those frozen Russian assets work for Ukraine. The time for that is now. as.ft.com/r/9144c41b-7...

Kolumne: Das Altpapier am 5. Dezember 2025 – Projektionsfläche von der Tann | MDR.DE Wegen ihrer Berichterstattung über Israel und Palästina wird Sophie von der Tann attackiert, auch von staatlichen Vertretern. Haben deutsche Medien beim Thema Nahost eine Schlagseite?

"Was freien Journalist*innen oft fehlt, und dazu führt, dass sie Themen aussparen, ist das, was Sophie von der Tann gerade erhält: Solidarität aus den Redaktionen und von Kolleg*innen" - @aagro.bsky.social im heutigen @altpapier.bsky.social. www.mdr.de/altpapier/da...

AI Slop Is Ruining Reddit for Everyone Reddit is considered one of the most human spaces left on the internet, but mods and users are overwhelmed with slop posts in the most popular subreddits.

Reddit is considered one of the most human spaces left on the internet, but mods and users are overwhelmed with slop posts in the most popular subreddits. www.wired.com/story/ai-slo...

As a European I’d love to see America return to its civilizational values.

A regime that is tip to toe corrupted by Arab money intends to lecture us on the defence of Christianity.
This is the most ridiculous foreign policy document I ever read. An I read many of those.
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...