Toby Vogel ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ's Avatar

Toby Vogel ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ

@tobyvogel.bsky.social

Third-country national in Brussels writing on EU policies and politics, Balkans, migration, democracy, information manipulation. Former journalist (RFE/RL, European Voice). Co-founder, Democratization Policy Council @dpcglobal.bsky.social. Views personal

4,075 Followers  |  1,213 Following  |  1,736 Posts  |  Joined: 13.08.2023
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Posts by Toby Vogel ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ (@tobyvogel.bsky.social)

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Wanna try again?

www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

01.03.2026 02:30 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 54    ๐Ÿ” 7    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2

What a chart!

27.02.2026 14:42 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Siri, how many Kremlin talking points fit into a single op-ed?

responsiblestatecraft.org/hungary-eu-u...

27.02.2026 14:41 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Probably an interesting story behind rue de la Roche Fatale in WSL as well...

25.02.2026 06:10 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

That's because he finally learned how to say Azerbaijan but he can only hold one thought in his brain at a time

25.02.2026 05:24 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 8    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Orbรกn is a traitor and should be excluded from EU decisionmaking. This stuff is too important to be left to a third-rate would-be authoritarian.

23.02.2026 17:26 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 12    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Been off grid for a bit

19.02.2026 07:31 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Inside a Detention Site at the Heart of Europeโ€™s Harsh New Approach to Immigration

On the hellish detention and deportation system built by EU countries. With quotes from the current and the former German chancellors expressing their commitment to the inhumane cruelty of this apparatus, described here in forensic detail.

11.02.2026 08:23 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 194    ๐Ÿ” 112    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 12

A tale of two billionaires. Jeff Bezos was at fashion week in Europe while he pulled a let-them-eat-cake firing of 30% of Washington Post journalists. Jimmy Lai stood by his newsroom and he will now likely die in a Hong Kong prison. Tell everyone you know about Jimmy Lai.

10.02.2026 09:29 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 153    ๐Ÿ” 66    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2

I don't think the EU could have done anything in this *specific* instance but it's entirely possible that the EU-funded Libyan "coastguard" could have

But the bigger point is about the EU's policy of externalizing migration control and doubling down on "deterrence" and not offering safe pathways

10.02.2026 10:37 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Two Babies Among 53 Dead or Missing After Migrant Boat Capsizes Off Libya Geneva/Tripoli, 9 February 2026 โ€“ Fifty-three migrants, including two babies, are dead or missing after a rubber boat carrying 55 people capsized off the coast of Libya, the International Organization...

The EU is just fine with this, am I right?

10.02.2026 07:55 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 27    ๐Ÿ” 5    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

I'll take that over Mathias Dรถpfner's Politico any day

10.02.2026 07:12 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

All those who religiously read Playbook every morning while quietly cursing about the numerous mistakes and weird takes it serves up daily โ€“ could I interest you in The Morning Post Europe? Similar idea but far more substance. In French, English, and Italian.

10.02.2026 07:07 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 18    ๐Ÿ” 9    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

I know, right?

10.02.2026 06:59 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Sure but that's 22 words instead of my 12 ๐Ÿ˜€

10.02.2026 06:59 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Europeโ€™s โ€˜Project Ukraine 2027โ€™ Presented by European Commissionโ€™s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion By NICHOLAS VINOCUR PRESENTED BY Send tips here | Contact us on X @gerardofortuna @NicholasVinocuโ€ฆ

...in the national interest to join (TR).

If the quote accurately reflects what "Brussels insiders" are telling Politico they might want to look for better sources.

www.politico.eu/newsletter/b...

10.02.2026 06:47 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Today's @politico.eu Playbook is full of nonsense about EU enlargement such as the quote below. The pace of North Macedonia's and Turkey's accession has nothing to do with the allegedly "labyrinthine process" but with being blocked by EU member states (MK) and deciding it is no longer...

10.02.2026 06:47 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

R.I.P., Washington Post books section. Required โ€“ and instructive โ€“ reading for decades, killed off by a tech bro billionaire who has dozens of millions to bribe the President but no money to keep one of the best newspapers in the world going.

04.02.2026 14:31 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Unsurprisingly, Politico completely missed the story: the story is Lajฤรกk, not ล efฤoviฤ‡.

04.02.2026 09:21 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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...was essentially a Kremlin PsyOps, clearly the Slovak angle deserves a closer look.

(Here is Lajฤรกk boasting about his honorary degree from MGIMO in 2018.)

english.mgimo.ru/news/lajcak

04.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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News digest: โ€˜I feel like an idiot,โ€™ Lajฤรกk tells radio after Epstein file release A Foreignersโ€™ Police change, a Slovak death in Switzerland and a new trail to Krivรกลˆ.

I have no idea what all this amounts to, and I'm not an investigative journalist. (For good English-language coverage of Lajฤรกk's emerging links to Epstein, check out the Slovak Spectator.) But given recent accusations that the entire Epstein saga...

spectator.sme.sk/politics-and...

04.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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He also uses the opportunity โ€“ an interview with Slovak Radio โ€“ to peddle Kremlin talking points, for example about the self-harm the EU is allegedly inflicting with its sanctions against Russia.

www.sme.sk/domov/c/lajc...

04.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Picture showing Slovak Prime Minister Lajฤรกk and Jeffrey Epstein together in the Slovak embassy in Vienna

Picture showing Slovak Prime Minister Lajฤรกk and Jeffrey Epstein together in the Slovak embassy in Vienna

On January 31, Lajฤรกk was made to resign as diplomatic adviser to Slovak prime minister Fico over the Epstein revelations. But even in his only public comments so far he's still playing dumb about Epstein. Remember, they met in 2017, years after Epstein's conviction.

04.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

...together at MGIMO in Moscow before both returning to Slovakia, joining the Communist Party and the foreign service. (ล efฤoviฤ‡'s official Commission CV omits his time in Moscow, 1985-90.)

Lajฤรกk was almost immediately posted back to Moscow.

04.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

But today, ล efฤoviฤ‡ is clearly not amused by Lajฤรกk's indiscretion. He told reporters through a spokesperson "If Miroslav Lajฤรกk mentioned my name, it was for his own purposes with which I had nothing to do."

Now a bit of context. ล efฤoviฤ‡ and Lajฤรกk go way back; in the late 1980s they studied...

04.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Screenshot from the Epstein files in which Lajฤรกk tells Epstein that ล efฤovic is running for president

Screenshot from the Epstein files in which Lajฤรกk tells Epstein that ล efฤovic is running for president

Lajฤรกk suggests to Epstein he'd like to replace ล efฤoviฤ‡ in the college of commissioners, jokingly claiming that this is why he supports his candidacy for president. Given what a careerist Lajฤรกk is, this might even be true.

04.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Lajฤรกk, Slovakia's foreign minister at the time, tells Epstein about ล efฤoviฤ‡ when the latter โ€“ then as now a European commissioner โ€“ announces he's running for president of Slovakia, in early 2019. (He lost, and Epstein went to prison.)

www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

04.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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EU trade chief ล efฤoviฤ rejects Epstein involvement โ€œI did not authorize, request or agree to anyone mentioning my name to Jeffrey Epstein,โ€ Maroลก ล efฤoviฤ says via European Commission spokesperson.

There is only one reference to Maroลก ล efฤoviฤ‡ in the published Epstein files, and it occurs in the context of Miroslav Lajฤรกk plotting his own future. (Lajฤรกk has a history of leaving posts early to make a step up.) This article curiously omits the content of Lajฤรกk's message to Epstein.

04.02.2026 09:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

(And yes, I realize they're trash and that the Lajฤรกk piece seems to be entirely based on an interview he gave to Slovak Radio, but they could've called up his Wikipedia page, no?)

04.02.2026 06:55 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Slovak adviser who resigned over Epstein texts says he feels like a โ€˜foolโ€™ Miroslav Lajฤรกk communicated with Jeffrey Epstein when he served as a foreign minister in Slovakia.

...his EU career ("...served as Slovak foreign minister in multiple Fico governments between 2009 and 2020")?

The article about Lajฤรกk literally doesn't mention his EU jobs at all.

What's going on here?

04.02.2026 06:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0