MCC Feszt – Normalising the Normalisation of the Far Right MCC’s annual festival is merely a propaganda tool for the far right that the mainstream willingly participates in - writes Gabriela Greilinger

Great article by @gabrielagreilinger.bsky.social on Orbán's successful efforts to bring far right and "mainstream right" elites together.

What is important about these recent event though, is that the "mainstream right" and far right now meet on far-right events and, thus, on their terms.

Meanwhile in Russia: state media outlet RIA Novosti:

Brutal punishments are being meted out to Russian soldiers no longer willing to fight for Putin | CNN Russian soldiers call the practice a sacrifice to Baba Yaga, a fearsome witch from Slavic folklore who feasts on her victims.

edition.cnn.com/2025/07/28/e...

The wheels of anticorruption must be turning for real if we see this kind of growing pains. Ukr institutions and society need to push forward. Defending free, independent media like Ukrainska Pravda is essential.

This seems to indicate a qualitative change in Russian policy towards media use, shifting the focus from punishing publication to punishing reception of banned ('extremist') content. (1/2)

Soon, the 'deliberate search of extremist materials' via a VPN will be punishable by an administrative fine of between three and five thousand rubles (around fifty euros). This may only be the beginning. (2/2) meduza.io/news/2025/07...

This seems to indicate a qualitative change in Russian policy towards media use, shifting the focus from punishing publication to punishing reception of banned ('extremist') content. (1/2)

Chinese propaganda surges as the U.S. defunds Radio Free Asia Beijing expanded its state propaganda, including to the persecuted Tibetan and Uyghur minorities, as RFA pulled back.

After Trump shut off funding to the US-backed Radio Free Asia, the Chinese expanded their own broadcasts
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

“Terms such as ‘true German’ […] belong in the history books”: How Germans with and without migrant backgrounds understand concepts used in survey research on national attachments Whilst survey research on national attachments has used various measures, the question of how respondents understand these measures, and especially the highly ambiguous concepts they entail, has rema...

New publication out in Political Psychology! Joint work with the wonderful @piwoni.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

“Don’t Complain. Adapt. Be Successful”: How Highly Educated, #MiddleClass #Germans of Polish, Turkish, and Sub-Saharan African Background Respond to #Racism

Author: Eunike Piwoni @piwoni.bsky.social

University of Passau

Coming soon!

#antiRacism #qualitativeInterviews

‘These people are disposable’: how Russia is using online recruits for a campaign of sabotage in Europe Moscow’s intelligence services have launched a new type of attack on the west, violent but piecemeal and hard to prove

‘These people are disposable’: how Russia is using online recruits for a campaign of sabotage in Europe #ICYMI www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

dark blue background. on it, there is text saying "The Delegated Act on 40.4 DATA ACCESS is here", "Delegated Act on 40.4 DATA ACCESS" is yellow, the other text is white.

📢 Big news for platform researchers across Europe and beyond:

Today, the @ec.europa.eu adopted the Delegated Act for Article 40 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) – a long-anticipated milestone enabling researchers to request access to non-public platform data under Article 40.4.

Good 🧵 from the excellent @dsaobservatory.bsky.social on the newly dropped Delegated Act on data access 💥

Full Act ⬇️

Time to put it to work.

digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/d...

Just so we're clear on what MAGA's "final solution" really is, they're not hiding it. The problem isn’t that it’s a secret; it’s that you don’t believe they actually mean it when they talk about ethnic cleansing.

This is an amazing and important graphic and close monitoring of the damage being done to #pressfreedoms and to independent media.

Analysis and deeper dive here at @justsecurity.org: www.justsecurity.org/112792/trump...

Thanks to the brilliant @bechamilton.bsky.social

After months of talk about a ceasefire to which Ukraine has agreed & sanctions against Russia if it does not too, the US has now reduced sanctions against a long list of Russian banks & cut twice earlier promised military support for Ukraine.

Peace is punished.

War is rewarded.

I wrote this a year ago when Stanford told Jim Jordan we wouldn’t study the 2024 election, & I wasn’t being renewed.

Jordan took a victory lap: House Weaponization had exercised “robust oversight” over Stanford.

It wasn’t Jordan’s place to dictate research agenda.

www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/o...

Why do people search for individual politicians? Because they (don't) like them. In a new paper we find sympathy/antipathy to be important predictors of political information seeking. We also find searches for female politicians more often concerned with appearance & family. doi.org/10.1177/1461...

I call on the Hungarian authorities to allow the Budapest Pride to go ahead.

Without fear of any criminal or administrative sanctions against the organisers or participants.

To the LGBTIQ+ community in Hungary and beyond:

I will always be your ally.

Forgetful by Design? A Critical Audit of YouTube's Search API for Academic Research This paper critically audits the search endpoint of YouTube's Data API (v3), a common tool for academic research. Through systematic weekly searches over six months using eleven queries, we identify m...

YouTube's API search function is "not adequate for robust academic research, especially concerning Digital Services Act requirements".

Clear and problematic conclusions by @riederb.bsky.social Adrian Padilla & Oscar Coromina

#commsky #DSA #dataacess #youtube

arxiv.org/abs/2506.11727

Meanwhile, IR students will be reading Barry Posen’s recent article, which claims Ru is pursuing a defensive, preemptive war. Because it’s important to have a scholarly debate or something, regardless of how disconnected from facts some takes are.

This Teaching Database is an excellent initiative from our @polcomm.bsky.social divisions #ica25 #apsa25 #polcomm #commsky 🚀

Ein russisches Militärgericht in Belgorod hat Nadine Geisler (Nadezhda Rossinskaya) zu 22 Jahren Haft verurteilt. Sie gründete Armiya Krasotok, eine von Frauen geführte Freiwilligeninitiative, die ukrainische Zivilisten unterstützt.

Sergej Tichanowski umarmt seine Frau Swetlana Tichanowskaja.

Sergej Tichanowski ist nach fünf Jahren endlich frei! Seine Frau erhielt zwischendurch Nachrichten, er sei tot - und nun das!

Was für eine gute Nachricht! Er ist einer von 14 politischen Gefangenen, die Lukaschenko frei gelassen hat.

Hunderte andere bleiben in seinen Kerkern.

European University Viadrina opens Germany's first graduate programme for Ukrainian studies • European University Viadrina

On 16 June, the #Viadrina celebrates the opening of the first graduate programme for Ukrainian Studies. 12 doctoral students will start their dissertations in June in the @kiu-network.bsky.social. Registration by 13 June to: kiu@europa-uni.de. 👇

Telegram, the FSB, and the Man in the Middle The technical infrastructure that underpins Telegram is controlled by a man whose companies have collaborated with Russian intelligence services. An investigation by IStories

Eine sehr interessante Recherche zu den Verbindungen zwischen Telegram und dem russischen Geheimdienst FSB. istories.media/en/stories/2...

Liebe Freunde Osteuropas! Der Monat Mai ist rum, Zeit zurückzublicken, was sich so Neues auf dem #Osteuropa-Buchmarkt tummelt. Der vergangene Monat war etwas ruhiger, aber ich habe 27 Sachbücher und 17 Romane für auch ausfindig gemacht. Da sollte für jeden was dabei sein. 1/33

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has undertaken a review of its award portfolio. Each award was carefully and individually reviewed, and the agency has determined that termination of certain awards is necessary because they are not in alignment with current NSF priorities. Effective immediately, the following are terminated: NSF AWARD ID: 2120496 NSF is issuing this termination to protect the interests of the government pursuant to NSF Grant General Conditions (GC-1) term and condition entitled 'Termination and Enforcement,' on the basis that they no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities. This is the final agency decision and not subject to appeal. Costs incurred as a result of this termination may be reimbursed, provided such costs would otherwise be allowable under the terms of the award and the governing cost principles. In accordance with your award terms and conditions, you have 30 days from the termination date to furnish an itemized accounting of allowable costs incurred prior to the termination date. Sincerely, Jamie H. French, Division Director Office of Budget Finance and Award Management (BFA) Division of Grants and Agreements (DGA)

Today, we received notice that our team’s last remaining NSF grant was terminated. For the first time since 2009, when I received an NSF Fellowship for Graduate Research, I have no active NSF grants.

April 1990: Westbesuch macht Spaziergang /-Fahrt durch Görlitz YouTube video by Saskee D. Flowers

Eine der schönsten Städte Deutschlands? Görlitz! Wären die SED-Kommunisten länger an der Macht geblieben, hätte es dort wie in vielen anderen ostdeutschen Städten nichts mehr zum Sanieren gegeben. Wer die DDR verklärt - zeigt Ihnen solche Fotos und Videos! www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

The real story isn’t young men supposedly voting far right. It’s what young women are up to | Cas Mudde There is an opportunity staring centre-left parties in the face – if they reject the male gaze distorting our politics, says political scientist Cas Mudde

We enjoyed reading this recent piece in @theguardian.com from @casmudde.bsky.social and what is, essentially, a call to action to speak to intrinsic values www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...