Holger Kiik

Ilia State University Deputy Rector Prof. Giorgi Gvalia says Georgian Dream’s new education policy will strip the university of up to 90% of its programs and students. Popular fields like law, psychology, international relations, and business would effectively be eliminated.

Day 443 of daily, uninterrupted protests in Georgia.

Recently a citizens assembly met in Kadrina, Estonia to discuss "What makes a good life?".

The sign on the community building directly translates to "House of the people", so fits well.

+Pics from wintery #Estonia.

rahvakogu.info/en/goodlife/
#DeliberativeDemocracy #minipublic #citizensassembly

Meanwhile in Kyiv

The performance of masculinities in the 2025 presidential elections in Romania This article examines the 2025 Romanian presidential runoff through the lens of gendered political leadership. It explores the contours of different t…

OA article available at this link 3/4

Shameful smear campaign like "the suspect was prepared for maximum damage", and "officers fired defensive shots", foxnews blaming "the far-left network that helped put Alex Pretti in harm's way" while the video shows the victim laying down after the first shot being shot many times over.

Federal gas lighting at an Orwellian level "A gang of thugs pepper spraying, beating and then executing an innocent person is self-defense".
"The agitators should have known better" or "Suspect approached them with a gun" which was concealed and within the 2nd amendment they usually take pride in.

So OK: Trump isn't going to use force to invade Greenland. So, he needs to convince Europeans. I don't think 'you're nothing and I'm everything' is a convincing argument!

Ukraine war briefing: Estonia leads with entry ban on Russians who fought in Ukraine ‘We call on other countries to do the same’ says foreign minister; major fires after Ukraine targets Russian drone plant at Taganrog. What we know on day 1,421

This is a no-brainer. Of course, we will not let russian occupation soldiers in ever again, whether they are at the moment carrying a weapon or not.

The only reason they are in the west shamefully let in some global sport competitions is russian blood-money.

#Ukraine #Estonia #EU #ArmUkrainetoWin

2020–2021 Belarusian protests - Wikipedia

In case it remained unclear, the video is to bring out the similarity with 2020 pro-democracy protests in Belarus, their violent repression by Lukashenka&co, and state-staged pro-government rallies.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2...

YouTube video by AP Archive Supporters of Lukashenko rally in Minsk

#Iran
Authoritarian playbook: after a violent crackdown on protests, to project legitimacy gather pro-regime people on the street, no matter whether sincere supporters or busloads of workers from state-owned institutions to unenthusiastically stand or toddle around.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccbJ...

Huge anti-government protests in Tehran and other Iranian cities, videos show Rallies on major roads in the capital and in Iran's second city were peaceful and not dispersed by security forces.

Making no predictions, but I do hope that the Iranian people will finally rise up, and finish the job that has been halted many times, and will build a prosperous future for themselves. In the name of Mahsa Amini and for all who died in the previous uprisings.
#Iran
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Cognitive Diversity or Cognitive Polarization? On Epistemic Democracy in a Post-Truth World Pessimism over a democracy’s ability to produce good outcomes is as longstanding as democracy itself. On one hand, democratic theorists consider democracy to be the only legitimate form of governme...

An argument that cognitive diversity, often proposed as an epistemic resource for democracy, is problematic within the deeper epistemic dissent e.g. what is knowledge, who to deter to, how to assess information.
Solution offered seems pragmatist.

by Esther K. H. Ng
#philsky #epistemology #democracy

Kuressaare christmas market. The city square is usually not that crowded as in the picture ;)

Kuressaare castle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tehumardi?wprov=sfla1

The memorial of battle Tehumardi. Used for soviet propaganda, recently aristically renovated to remove the occupation symbols and give broader historical context. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tehumardi?wprov=sfla1

It's my favorite day of the year- the day after the winter solstice!
The days are growing longer again. If yesterday Tallinn saw only 6h02min49sec of daylight, then today we enjoy a whoppin' 6:02:53, a whole 4 seconds more!

On Saaremaa island it is a few minutes lighter. Enjoy some pics!

FEW DAY LEFT to apply to the York Centre for Social Justice and Democracy (formerly known as York Centre for Political Theory) 2026 BOOK MANUSCRIPT WORKSHOP (DEADLINE Friday, 19 December 2025)

Information can be found here:

www.york.ac.uk/politics/cpt...

@martinoneill.bsky.social

The project focuses on how knowledge and evidence inform public policy (Policy Advisory Systems). 🧠

I’ve been at IBEI for two years now, and I can honestly say it’s a great place to be a predoc. It’s a very active research hub with a really supportive atmosphere.

Chris Ranalli and I have a new paper in the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism. We argue that philosophical scepticism need not lead to political conservatism. We also suggest that scepticism may support an anti-political stance that is worth cultivating.

brill.com/view/journal...

Came across this on peer reviewers using AI just after reading Loru et al's (2025) 'The simulation of judgment in LLMs'.
Epistemia: "the illusion of knowledge emerging when plausibility replaces verification"; an epistemic shift in judgment.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Surviving december in Estonia with the 6h of daylight.

Surrounded by pleasers, the unspeakably wealthy are removed from plurality; and plurality is what vindicates or underwrites reality (that we see the same things, however differently, defeats solipsism).

For those who lose hold of (betray) reality, AI is the perfect fate, actually, but not for us

Toompea Lukku 2025 Explore this photo album by Kaitseliit on Flickr!

📸All photos: Silver Jaanson
🔗 Flickr-album: flic.kr/s/aHBqjCDKJU

What I do as a softhearted academic philosopher from Estonia: write articles, teach, military practice, answer e-mails.

#EstonianDefenseLeague #Kaitseliit #Estonia

Avaleht | Rahvakogu rahvakogu, hea elu, kodanikualgatus, demokraatia,

Rahvakogu jaanuar-veebruar 2026: Mida on heaks eluks vaja?
Milline sotsiaal-majanduslik poliitika tagaks inimeste ja looduse heaolu?

30 juhuvalimiga eripalgelist inimest arutamas.

#Eestitwitter #Rahvakogu #DeliberativeDemocracy
Rohkem lugeda ja enda huvi osaleda saad märkida siin:
rahvakogu.info

EU ‘veggie burger’ ban stalls after talks collapse An MEP’s crusade for naming restrictions on non-meat foods expands to ‘liver’ and ‘ham’ — but national governments aren’t buying it.

Great focus. Lucky there's no war going on in the continent, nor is factory farming a major contributor to climate crisis. /s

Given the US administration currently holds "Might makes right", it would be so silly if during a deadly war we in the EU were like "Debates no one needs 500, please"

"Political Meritocracy in the 21st Century" (Cambridge series of Elements in Political Philosophy) by Brian Kogelmann.

Free to download until TOMORROW, 12th December 2025.

www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Children love animals. How do they turn into meat-eating adults? We investigate how children trade off their moral values with the importance of food for human traditions. The great Alex Carter's first PhD paper now out in SPPS: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... #socialpsyc #devpsy #philsky

🌟 PHD FELLOWSHIP ALERT! 🌟

I’m hiring 1 PhD fellow for my ERC project ECONENGAGE (@ Gothenburg 🇸🇪)! Starting 09/26! Great PhD community + int'l & supportive environment + FUN city. 💰for conferences + workshops! Lots of mentoring & career development opportunities! Deadline Jan 29th. Please apply!

They are having some stress and territorial disputes, so now they get even more wet food as "therapy for food-oriented beings" and also more playtime.