1/ Donald Trump's aggressive tactics over Greenland are causing consternation among his far-right allies in Europe. With European publics overwhelmingly against surrendering Greenland, leading European far-rightists have come out in opposition to Trump's plans. ⬇️
2/ Bloomberg reports that Trump's designs have forced his ostensible allies to reconsider their support for him. Some may fear voters turning on them for their past support of Trump, much as Pierre Poilievre suffered in Canada in 2024.
3/ 🇩🇪 Alternative for Germany co-leader Alice Weidel says that Trump has acted no differently to Vladimir Putin in his actions in Venezuela and threats against Greenland. "Trump has violated a fundamental campaign promise — namely not to interfere in other countries," she says.
4/ 🇩🇪 The other AfD co-chair, Tino Chrupalla, has rejected Trump's "Wild West methods". His opposition is particularly notable as he is considered to be pro-Russian within the AfD.
5/ 🇫🇷 National Rally leader Jordan Bardella has denounced the US capture of Venezula's President Maduro as "a return to imperial ambitions" and a world in which "the law of the strongest trumps respect of international rules."
6/ He says that "by President Trump’s own admission" the intervention "paves the way for the economic interests of American oil companies," and calls his threat to seize Greenland "a direct challenge to the sovereignty of a European country."
7/ 🇸🇰 Milan Uhrik, leader of Slovakia's Republic party, has also denounced Trump's actions as violating international law. "Who has ever seen a commando from one country abduct the president of another? Where would we end up if international conflicts were resolved this way?"
8/ Although the recently published US National Security Strategy talks of supporting far-right forces to combat "civilizational erasure" in Europe, Trump's approach – particularly towards Greenland – is making it politically much harder for the far-right to ally with him.
9/ Far-right parties are likely to be worried that being on the wrong side of an anti-Trump wave, as happened to Canada's Pierre Poilievre, will severely damage their prospects. In Canada, Trump's threats led to a sudden Liberal revival and decisive victory in 2025. /end
1/ Russia's logistical capability to threaten Greenland, 1500 miles away, is fundamentally dependent on its ability to project naval power over long distances, potentially in contested waters. However, Russian warbloggers admit that this is severely limited even in peacetime. ⬇️
2/ 'Military Informant' writes that the Russian logistics vessel MYS ZHELANIYA has "delivered important cargo to the Afrika Korps, calling at the Libyan port of Tobruk. The SPARTA IV, escorted by the large anti-submarine ship Severomorsk, continued on to the coast of Syria."
3/ However, the channel acknowledges, this operation highlights the limits of "the real capabilities of the Russian Navy to escort its merchant ships at great distances from the country's coast."
1/ 30 years ago, Russian law enforcement agents started wearing masks to carry out their duties. It soon became a standard tactic to intimidate and extort those seen as opponents of the regime, and became known in Russian as a 'mask show'. ⬇️
2/ During the Soviet era, there was no need for law enforcement officers to hide their faces. They were the agents of an all-powerful state, which although corrupt had huge resources to repress crime and political dissidence.
3/ This changed in the 1990s, when the chaotic collapse of the Communist economy led to the rise of widespread and deadly gangsterism. The police came under direct threat from well-armed criminals. To deal with this, some officers began wearing masks to conceal their identities.
1/ Cuts to public funding due to money being redirected to Russia's war effort are having increasingly severe effects on its already struggling health service. In one region, a collapsing maternity care system has produced horrifying stories of mistreatment and abuse. ⬇️
2/ An increasing number of Russian regions are facing financial crises due to the federal government making severe cuts to regional budgets. This is having a host of negative effects, ranging from collapsing healthcare to cities being flooded with sewage.
3/ The West Siberian region of Kemerovo is one of many to be affected, and faces a healthcare crisis that locals say is already costing lives. A recent scandal has centred on the Maternity Hospital No. 1 in the city of Novokuznetsk, where a number of newborns have died.
1/ Donald Trump isn't the first person to be given someone else's Nobel Prize medal. The last recipient of an unearned Nobel medal was none other than Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, at the instigation of Norwegian author Knut Hamsun. ⬇️
2/ Hamsun had won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920. After Nazi Germany invaded Norway in April 1940, he became a strong supporter of the Nazi occupation, writing numerous highly Anglophobic articles blaming the British for fighting over Norwegian territory.
3/ He was also an enthusiastic admirer of Hitler, travelling to the Eagle's Nest to meet him. Hamsun wrote in 1940 that "the Germans are fighting for us", and later eulogised Hitler as "a warrior for mankind" and "a preacher of the gospel of justice for all nations".
1/ An announcement by the US Army that it is creating a new career pathway for officers to specialise in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) has prompted Russian concern that it may leapfrog their own military AI/LM capabilities. ⬇️
2/ A new paper in the journal International Organization gives a good explanation of Trump's organising principle, which the authors call "neo-royalism" (analogous to roughly 16th century Europe):
3/ "The neo-royalist order centers on an international system structured by a small group of hyper elites, which we term cliques.