Grigore Pop-Eleches

My kid came back upset and terrified from school, after they had a shelter-in-place due to an ICE raid. This cruelty and madness has to stop!

Ru has tried to murder Zelensky numerous times. Pu reportedly promised Israeli ex-PM Naftali Bennet to spare Zelensky's life in exchange for Ukr surrender. So do not juxtapose Maduro's kidnapping to the fact Zelensky is still in Kyiv. Ru keeps trying and failing to kidnap/assassinate Zelensky!

There are some horrible analogies flying around today. A reminder: the US kidnapping of Maduro in no way justifies, vindicates, or lifts responsibility from the Ru govt or the Ru people. Their war against Ukraine continues to be an unprovoked act of aggression with war crimes and genocidal intent.

This from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Venezuela is both 100% correct and completely laughable:

"An unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of an independent state, the respect for which is a fundamental principle of international law."

mid.ru/en/foreign_p...

Trump announces new "Trump class" of Navy battleships President Trump announced plans to build a new "Trump class" of battleships, part of the Pentagon's new "Golden Fleet."

Trump is rapidly achieving levels of personalism and a cult of personality that it took Romania's #Ceaușescu and Turkmenistan's #Niyazov many years to achieve.

www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-h...

UNC’s CSEEES was such a bright part of my time at UNC. It not only supported my research, but also felt like home. Such a loss for UNC, its students, and Eastern European and Eurasian studies in the US.

Looks like this story is gaining momentum: over 650 judges have signed a petition confirming the charges in the documentary.

tvrinfo.ro/creste-numar...

The question now is whether the outrage and reform pressures get enough momentum before the story is swept under the rug by those with a stake in perpetuating the culture of impunity.

DOCUMENTAR RECORDER. Justiție capturată După câțiva ani în care Justiția a dispărut aproape complet de pe agenda publică, societatea românească s-a trezit în fața unei realități greu de digerat, în

In other news, Romania is being rocked by the revelations about the political capture of judicial institutions and the successful neutralization of anti-corruption institutions in an excellent new documentary. Well worth watching!
recorder.ro/documentar-r...

How a Manosphere Star Accused of Rape and Trafficking Was Freed

Great NYT exposé on how the Trumps, Tucker Carlson, and former Romanian PM Victor Ponta, helped free the accused child trafficker, rapist, and manosphere icon, Andrew Tate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/u...

Tourists from 42 countries will have to submit 5 years of social media history to enter U.S. under Trump plan The Trump administration is proposing to ask visitors from countries with visa-free travel to the U.S. to submit five years of their social media history before they can enter.

Trying their best to kill US tourism (in addition to its democracy). Brought to you by the people complaining of free speech restrictions under Biden.

www.cbsnews.com/news/us-tour...

Opinion | Trump Is Not Attacking Europe. He’s Attacking Something Else.

Leave it to a Claremonter and Orban propagandist to claim that "three and a half decades of American-style liberal international order" have been more of a threat to Europe than Hitler and Stalin.

‘Dishonors the decades-long bipartisan commitment’: Democrats slam Trump for his European takedown In a Monday sitdown with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns, Trump expressed skepticism that Ukraine would prevail in its war against Moscow.

Precisely...
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

Trump's frustration with Ukraine and Europe boils over The president is clearly eager to move beyond the war, but a peace deal remains elusive.

Of course it makes more sense to try to do business with dictators and war criminals than to engage with your democratic allies to support a country fighting for its survival.
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

Donald Trump: US president named inaugural Fifa Peace Prize winner US President Donald Trump receives the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize before the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.

It makes perfect sense coming from one of the most corrupt international organizations. But maybe this will slow down Trump's haste for "peace" at all costs in Ukraine?

Very timely (and interesting) article by Milan Svolik in World Politics.

Good lesson in how to channel anger productively...

Exhilarating performance by Pussy Riot in Brooklyn last night!

Ukraine war: Trump says Ukraine ungrateful as officials meet to convince Kyiv to accept peace proposals Ukraine's allies have expressed concern that the plan favours Russia, but Zelensky says Kyiv's interests could be included.

It is puzzling indeed that Ukraine is not jumping for joy at the opportunity to give up most of what they fought for almost 4 years just to give Trump a PR win in time for Thanksgiving.
www.bbc.com/news/live/c3...

Even if Zelensky can be strong-armed into accepting the plan, it lacks basic legitimacy for the majority of Ukrainians. And it is naive to think that it will do anything but embolden Putin (and confirm his beliefs that the West lacks the determination to stop him.

Ukrainians don’t think much of Putin’s ‘peace’ plan. Our surveys from earlier this summer show overwhelming opposition to a Russian land grab.

Trump's "peace' plan for Ukraine is not only morally unacceptable but myopic and no basis for a lasting peace. goodauthority.org/news/ukraini...

The Most Efficient Traveler Isn’t a Bird or a Fish—It’s You on a Bike A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom

It's nice when science reaffirms our natural inclinations.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...

Hard to believe that even Putin's endorsement wasn't enough for Trump to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Check out my new piece on Moldovan 🇲🇩 elections with @grigopop.bsky.social

But DA's success arguably came at the expense of the other pro-Russian parties, especially Dodon's "Blocul Patriotic" and Ceban's "Alternativa".

One unexpected bright spot for Russian manipulation tactics was the ability of "Democrația Acasă" to get into parliament with 5.6%. DA was endorsed by Romanian ultranationalist leader, George Simion, and its leader, Vasile Costiuc, ran on the AUR list in last year's Romanian parliamentary elections.

Moldovan voters have given the pro-EU PAS (of President Maia Sandu) a narrow but clear parliamentary majority, despite Russia hybrid warfare tactics. Let's hope that the planned opposition protests are not a foil for even more aggressive Russian tactics.

Trump floats pulling licenses if networks are 'against' him after Jimmy Kimmel suspended President Donald Trump has applauded the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show over comments he made about the man accused of murdering Charlie Kirk.

We don't need to worry about stealth authoritarianism anymore. It's pretty clearly out in the open.
www.cnbc.com/2025/09/18/t...

‘Censoring you in real time’: suspension of Jimmy Kimmel show sparks shock and fears for free speech ABC decision over Kimmel comments about Charlie Kirk killing comes hours after Trump-appointed chair of US media regulator threatened broadcaster’s license

The authoritarian playbook in action...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

‘I told my family, I’ll probably die’: US immigration sends Russian asylum seekers back to Moscow Russian national who applied for asylum on political grounds describes inhumane treatment while in US custody

Yet another instance of the staggering human costs of US deportation practices.

‘I told my family, I’ll probably die’: US immigration sends Russian asylum seekers back to Moscow www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...