Paul T. Levin
@paultlevin
Director of the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies. Managing Director Consortium for European Symposia on Turkey. Docent (Assoc. Prof.) of and pontificator on international relations. Opinionated. Painter.
In this case, it may be a combination of legal changes in Spain & a Moroccan decision to punish Spain for improving relations with Algeria. I’m not an expert on the region so I’ll leave it to others to determine the causes. But simply dismissing concerns as “fascist” is not productive.
TBH, (speaking for Europe) we’d much prefer California, but Florida would be more fun for other reasons.
I’ve seen a surprising number of people say it was a bad call by the ref & his VAR team. It’s in fact a very clear red card: Nowhere near the ball, sole first, & lunges with excessive force that endangers the opponent. No exception for lack of intention Textbook send-off due to Serious Foul Play.
The coach of the Norwegian team is appropriately clear: Rescinding the suspension of Balogun is a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision by FIFA.
Read the article. BSW: “since the AfD has 40 percent of the vote [in polls in Saxony-Anhalt], we must also involve it in certain policy decisions.”
I hear you and am struggling with this myself. Been meaning to write something on Substack about hawks and doves in times of wars of aggression. BTW, that the formation spells out “100” can be seen more clearly in this pic (courtesy of Expressen):
This just happened as I was walking the dog. The Swedish Air Force celebrates 100 years. I’m anti-nationalist to the core, but in the wake of February 24, everything looks different, so I am thankful for their service & proud that we inked a deal to build the Ukrainian Air Force yesterday. 🫡🇸🇪
The Swedish & Danish Coast Guards has the opportunity to do something really funny… Swedish Radio: “After three years off the radar, Putin’s luxury yacht has been sighted in Kattegatt” between Sweden and Denmark. www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/puti...
When Ukraine strikes Moscow, not only does it cripple oil and gas production, it is a psychological and political blow to the Kremlin, which wants to project strength & has tried to pretend that there is no war. That is charade is harder to maintain when it’s literally raining oil.+
And then there are the deep strikes, in St Petersburg & Moscow etc. Russia strikes successfully in the heart of Ukraine, too. On June 2, a massive barrage killed over 20 civilians. But the political/strategic effects are very different. Killing civilians in Ukraine only hardens their resolve.+
Russia made slow territorial gains Nov 2024–Feb 2026, but since then the trend is reversed. My guess is as good as yours, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some more significant sudden changes in Ukraine’s favor in the coming months.+ www.russiamatters.org/news/russia-...
Who could have known that giving the job in a no bid contract to this guy would end badly?
That’s true and I’m not a supporter of economic nationalism when it comes to the EU. I want a stronger Europe. But the juxtaposition was a bit weird. And defense budgets started growing after 2014 in response to the Russian threat, they’re not primarily a concession to Trump.
To all the doomers who blasted Ukraine for not "negotiating" with (i.e., surrendering to) Putin, and said that Zelensky had "no cards." Well, it turns out he does, and he is bringing the war to the Russian capital, making it impossible for Putin to keep pretending that it is just a small operation.
I'm sorry, but WTF, India? I understand the concept of multi-alignment, but India should get a lot more grief for this than they do. Imagine if China were to launch a full-scale war of annihilation and conquest against India, and Europe then decided to increase Chinese imports sevenfold?
Very clear signaling from the U.S. to Russia: -Don’t you dare try anything! Also: -Here you go.
In case someone thought I made an error: While I haven’t personally checked the math, there was apparently actually a typo in the OG bleet. The true difference is larger…
Får vi nu vänja oss vid rubriker som ”SVT profilen gjorde vit makt tecken”? ”Hitlerhälsning”? Var går gränsen? Jag hittade en bild på när Alinia gör tecknet som betyder ”WP” (White Power) i SVT studion.
No no no. Not even this administration can be this stupid, can they? It’s like they exist in a world in which their behavior do not have consequences. Developmentally, this is the mental capacity of a toddler. I’m not even going to respond to this.
What, they did not realize that Iran would use its last resort deterrence if they made the war existential by trying to kill the entire government? Are you kidding me?+
What, Russia launched some 50,000 Shahed-type drones last year but the Pentagon forgot that Iran also had some thousands of the drones that they designed, and they the drones plus ballistic missiles and speedboats can target ships as well?+
Thanks for checking them out, Rennie! He actually has a rock band, too, but I haven’t really heard their music yet so I’ll have to get back to you on that. 😃🎸🤘🏼
My son is releasing his first album tomorrow. Search for “Taylev” in Spotify or iTunes (iMusic?). I may have a slight bias, but I genuinely think his songs are crazy good.