Tomorrow in Vienna or online: events.ceu.edu/2026-03-13/o...
Tomorrow in Vienna or online: events.ceu.edu/2026-03-13/o...
Think and write, usually
While politicians will be dealing with the consequences, memoirists and historians will be trying to argue their diverse positions on โwhyโ. Gradually they will reach a consensus. Textbooks will have it, and mems will emerge, and โnever againโ will be making circles
CNN: Kuwait, Iraq, and the UAE are shutting off wells as storage tanks overflow. Once these wells go dark, they cannot simply be flipped back on, creating a looming supply crater that would create a cascading effect on the global economy.
#ProudBlue #Pinks #SheShed #VoteOutRepublicans
In the meantime, Dutch and Czech versions of my book have been published
Not great when the only people in the free world who believe and trust Vladimir Putinโs word on critical things despite all evidence to the contrary are currently running the government of the United States.
Good morning and happy Wednesday to everyone. The problem with Trump jokes: Republicans donโt think theyโre funny, and Democrats donโt think theyโre jokes. ๐คทโโ๏ธ
To wit: "No other president can do the kind of shit I'm doing." ~Fat Satan
Have you seen Vladimir on Netflix? A dynamic and sensual show, I love the first episodes. An aging American lady develops a crushing dependence on a random guy called Vladimir. Thanks for readingโ now you have a better sense of the politics of the decade
Will there be anything more stupid than Donald Trump wanting credit for stopping wars he started?
Few reflections, including mine
www.newstatesman.com/world/europe...
has written the House of Government, an idiosyncratic but revealing book about Stalinism and its ideologists. What a bitter irony www.stimson.org/2026/fyodor-...
Fedor Lukyanov is a mastermind of Russiaโs self-justifications. In a recent interview, he said that Russiaโs โpositionโ has not changed. โWeโ want a transformation of Ukrainian statehood. Trump is a model but he should do more for โusโ. The host is Peter Slezkine, whose father
A global criminal enterprise that carried out crimes against humanity. Inquiries should also be launched into how it was possible for such crimes to be committed for so long
www.reuters.com/world/allega...
Argentinaโs economy is crashing after Trump gave Melei $20 billion. People are taking out loans for food. So he must mean He wants Orban to do well, not Hungary. This is some sort of payoff. America 2nd ๐ฅ
Rubio to Orban in Budapest:
"We want this country to do well. It's in our national interest -- especially as long as you're the prime minister and the leader of this country."
Indecent and self-damaging policy that defeats any rational explanation, confirming the wildest of conspiracy theories
Revenge of humanities? www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-pr...
The Guardian: In 2024, Trump urged 20 fossil fuel tycoons to stump up $1bn for his presidential campaign โ while vowing to remove controls on the industry.
Marc Bloch, historien et rรฉsistant juif, entrera au Panthรฉon le 23ย juin
Iโm not a conspiracy theorist. But when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, there are a lot of things that remain objectively strange. A DOJ draft press release dated the day before his death, with the final version adding the phrase โof an apparent suicide.โ 1/3
โTwentieth-century fascism found a welcome base in the security forces. Millions participate in widespread protests, but few believe that they lead to change. Evennwithout political parties, hyperpolitics will retain its power. True disorder may be just beginning.โ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/o...
So many senseless choices are making sense in the light of the Epstein drama. But there is a limit to explaining politics this way. Epstein was a charmer but, for one, I am not enchanted. Whatโs primary, gerontocracy or pedophilia? Capital or desire? Or, to formulate it personally, Trump or Epstein?
Yes
Oh yes, I do
Here is a real image, from an old Soviet film, with the very young Churkin (the future ambassador to the US and Epsteinโs friend), with an actor playing Lenin
Again, best way to understand Epstein is to see him as a master of psychological manipulation. This art relies on construction of differences โ the interlocutor feels on the top but not quite, and climbing. It easily comes to narcissism, racism, machismo and then, a MAGA sort of delusion