Marcel Krueger

“The only historian capable of fanning the spark of hope in the past is the one who is firmly convinced that even the dead will not be safe from the enemy if he is victorious.”

even the dead will not be safe from Grammarly...

(ol' Walt Benjamin On the Concept of History)

Back in the 80s, we all really wanted to be living in the future. Little did we know:

A) when we got to the future, we'd want to go back, and

B) we were already living in the future.

I have seen a lot of cursed stuff in my time in academia but this is among the *most* cursed.
Grammarly is generating miniature LLMs based on academic work so that users can have their writing ‘reviewed’ by experts like David Abulafia, who died less than two months ago.

NA ALSO GEILOO VAMOSSSS

Just a matter of time before one of our more putinized Trumpers calls this a "special military operation"

And of course the tragedy is that those most vulnerable in Gulf societies are migrant workers from Global South countries whose explored labour is vital to sustaining "expat" comfort, security and luxury. Three migrant workers from the Indian subcontinent have been killed in UAE by Iranian attacks.

The Irish Sea, March 1st, 2026.

The acts of defiance can be big or small. Painting over a bigoted piece of graffiti. Running a youth club for refugees in an area that mostly loathes them. Wearing a rainbow flag in an anti-queer neighbourhood.
These acts all accumulate towards something better, I have seen that in action.

One thing I have learned: you have to attack far-right/anti-democratic voices in the places and on the issues where they appear to be the strongest. You have to remove their assumption that they have *any* easy wins. The more pointless the battle feels, the more important it is to fight it.

I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to

"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school

Nur noch ein Krieg bis zum Frieden.

Nur noch einmal Töten für das Leben.

Nur noch ein völkerrechtswidriger Angriffskrieg mit Bomben für die Freiheit.

Versprochen.

Der alte Spendenlink ist abgelaufen.
Der Krieg leider nicht.

Deshalb habe ich eine neue Aktion gestartet.
Einige Patches sind bereits verschickt. Weitere folgen – wenn wir genug zusammenbekommen.

Wenn ihr helfen wollt:
Liken. Teilen. Spenden.

Sam Altman tweet: Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network. In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome. AI safety and wide distribution of benefits are the core of our mission. Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems. The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement. We also will build technical safeguards to ensure our models behave as they should, which the DoW also wanted. We will deploy FDEs to help with our models and to ensure their safety, we will deploy on cloud networks only. We are asking the DoW to offer these same terms to all AI companies, which in our opinion we think everyone should be willing to accept. We have expressed our strong desire to see things de-escalate away from legal and governmental actions and towards reasonable agreements. We remain committed to serve all of humanity as best we can. The world is a complicated, messy, and sometimes dangerous place.

My goodness.

The talk to your friends app and the witness the horrors app being the same app is not great for the mental health is it

Reading Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” in front of the fire.

2 degrees on the east coast of Ireland this morning.

gorse 12 + 13 are now available in @chaptersbookstore.bsky.social.

Oooh, I’ll definitely go. Thank you!!

Gemeinsam für die Ukraine:
Engagierte Organisationen im Überblick

Wenn ihr mehr darüber erfahren möchtet, wie die Ukraine unterstützt wird, findet ihr hier eine Auswahl an Organisationen, die sich unermüdlich für die #Ukraine einsetzen.

@efdavies.bsky.social

Marlo Mihkelson, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Estonian Parliament
@markomihkelson.bsky.social:

This is not an AI-generated, Hollywood-style horror. This is the reality in Ukraine, Kostyantynivka right now. This is how Russia is using its “precision” ammunition.

Dundalk Port and the Castletown River, February 2026.

If the Berlin film festival ousts its director, there may be no way back Hosting an audience-friendly festival in a highly political capital city has always been a challenge. If Berlinale’s organisers push out Tricia Tuttle over the latest Gaza row, they may as well give u...

"Once authorities realised that there are corners of the world that are not on the same page as Germany, for example when it comes to Gaza, they rush to stamp the whole thing down." Berlinale, but also the Goethe-Institut in Exile programme this week.

www.theguardian.com/film/2026/fe...

Back at my favourite bay for some writing.

I thought about what to write today, but I am so tired of us all ignoring the twelve years that Ukraine is defending Europe. I remain in awe of the resilience of the people of Ukraine, and will keep supporting them. This artwork is by Ukrainian artist Bogdana Chilikina: ‘TUT LYUDY’ (‘PEOPLE HERE’).

Literary Walking Tours of Berlin European Writers Salon is delighted to bring you two fantastic opportunities to explore and be inspired by literary Berlin.

Whilst in Berlin, as well as hosting our salon, we'll be touring and writing. You can join us and @marcelkrueger.bsky.social as we explore literary Berlin through two different eras. Find out more here - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/literary-w...

Wisst ihr noch, „close the skies“? Da hieß es, nein, „dann müssen wir ja russische Kampfflugzeuge mit russischen Piloten drin abschließen“. Heute traut sich kein russisches Kampfflugzeug in den ukrainischen Luftraum. Aber Hilfe beim Abschießen von russischen Raketen wäre angebracht.

Portraitfoto der Journalistin Nora Hespers. Darauf die Daten der Veranstaltung Erzählcafé: 2. März 2026, 15 Uhr, Bürgerzentrum Nippes - Altenberger Hof, Mauenheimer Straße 92, 50733 Köln

Auf blauem Hintergrund steht in weißer Schrift: "Das Kölner Erzählcafé findet mehrmals im Jahr statt und steht Schulklassen, Jugendgruppen und anderen Interessierten offen. Bei Interesse an einer Teilnahme bitten wir um eine kurze Voranmeldung unter 0221-179294-0 bzw. rex@nsberatung.de.

Für den Bundesverband Information und Beratung für NS-Verfolgte in Köln darf ich am 2. März 2026 über meinen Großvater Theo Hespers erzählen und wie seine Geschichte über die Generationen bis ins Heute wirkt. Vielleicht mag ja jemand vor Ort dabei sein. Kommt gerne auch mit Schulklassen.

#BlueLZ

Wir, die @de-ua-gesellschaft.bsky.social, wollen eine gute Zukunft für die Kinder und Jugendlichen in der Ukraine. Deshalb haben wir eine auf Dauer angelegte Fundraising-Kampagne gestartet, mit der ukrainische Schulen eine sichere Energieversorgung durch Solarenergie erhalten sollen.1/

A Serbian Film. Don’t @ me.