🚨🚨 In a bombshell new report for @MCC_Brussels, I reveal how the European Union’s Jean Monnet Programme, ostensibly an academic initiative, is in fact a taxpayer-funded, global propaganda network designed to embed pro-EU narratives, quash dissent and shape public opinion far beyond the classroom. This programme, part of Erasmus+, funnels an estimated €25 million of public money every year into universities worldwide, transforming academic institutions into vehicles of institutional propaganda. 🧵 👇🏻

brussels.mcc.hu/publication/pr… An explicitly political project — beyond academic study

While proponents often frame the Jean Monnet Programme as fostering excellence in academia, my report demonstrates that its core purpose, as openly acknowledged by the European Commission itself, is not merely to study European integration — but to “promote” it. The EU’s own directives require Jean Monnet Centres of Excellence and Designated Institutions to maintain “continuous and frequent alignment” of their teaching and research with EU policy priorities and to promote European identity. This goes far beyond neutral academic inquiry.

🚨New report: the EU is spending €80 million annually to fund media across Europe and abroad — not to “support independent journalism”, but to promote pro-EU narratives. This raises major concerns about editorial independence and democratic integrity👇

brussels.mcc.hu/news/report-un… While often branded as support for “media freedom”, this vast EU media funding ecosystem operates as a political influence machine. The goal? To shape public discourse and marginalise dissenting voices.

🚨New report: the EU is spending €80 million annually to fund media across Europe and abroad — not to “support independent journalism”, but to promote pro-EU narratives. This raises major concerns about editorial independence and democratic integrity👇

“ brussels.mcc.hu/publication/th… While often branded as support for “media freedom”, this vast EU media funding ecosystem operates as a political influence machine. The goal? To shape public discourse and marginalise dissenting voices.

🚨🌎 Today it’s World NGO Day — so let’s talk about how “NGOs” have been weaponised by governments for pretty dark ends.

🇪🇺 Check out this 🧵 on my latest bombshell report on The EU’s Propaganda Machine: How the EU Funds NGOs to Promote Itself:
brussels.mcc.hu/publication/th… 💰 The European Commission channels billions to European NGOs and think tanks to promote pro-EU, pro-integrationist narratives — and even undermine EU-critical governments — in what may be described as propaganda by proxy. Here’s how it works ⬇️

🚨 By now everyone knows how US-based orgs like USAID fund NGOs to promote US interests abroad. But did you know the EU has its own USAID?

A 🧵 on my latest bombshell report on The EU’s Propaganda Machine: How the EU Funds NGOs to Promote Itself:
brussels.mcc.hu/publication/th… 💰 The European Commission channels billions to European NGOs and think tanks to promote pro-EU, pro-integrationist narratives — and even undermine EU-critical governments — in what may be described as propaganda by proxy. Here’s how it works ⬇️

A 🧵 about European leaders and pundits suffering from Peace Derangement Syndrome. Suggestions welcome. I’ll start:

https://x.com/kajakallas/status/1889800055303049695

If you’re like me, and can only really digest information in written form,
you might appreciate my written breakdown of the highlights of Jeffrey Sachs’s recent bombshell interview with Tucker Carlson. Full text below, scroll for 🧵.
thomasfazi.com/p/the-jeffrey-… “Saying that Russia’s invasions of Ukraine was unprovoked is very dangerous because it’s wrong”.

Farmers are protesting across Europe. But why? What are the roots of these protests? And are they really all about opposing the EU’s “green” agenda?

A 🧵 about my latest report for @MCC_Brussels about the EU’s damaging approach to trade and agriculture.
brussels.mcc.hu/publication/re…
Certainly, the spark for these protests has been endless and insane environmental regulations. But farmers have been struggling for years with rising costs, over-regulation and unfair competition. The latest wave of “green“ policies is simply pushing them to the brink.

What the hell is going on in Germany? A 🧵 about the country’s descent into rampant authoritarianism, based on my latest article.
unherd.com/2024/05/german…
Everyone agrees German democracy isn’t in good health. But who is to blame? The liberal-centrist consensus is that the country is facing an unprecedented threat from nefarious populist and far-right forces — most notably the AfD.

Gaza: the heaviest bombing campaign in history.

A short 🧵. The pace and scale of the bombing campaign in Gaza is historically unprecedented. In less than seven weeks, Israel has destroyed a comparable percentage of buildings in northern Gaza (around 70%) as that caused by the years-long carpet-bombing of German cities during WW2.

Is Israel’s war on Gaza really about controlling the multi-billion-dollar gas resources off the Gazan coast?

A 🧵:
unherd.com/2023/12/who-wi… 1/ When we talk of the Israeli-occupied territories, or of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more in general, we tend to focus on the latter’s political, social and humanitarian dimensions. But there’s also an important economic dimension that is often ignored.

Henry Kissinger has died. Here’s everything you need to know about America’s most controversial and polarising statesman — ruthless imperialist and diplomatic genius at the same time.

A 🧵:
unherd.com/2023/05/kissin… 1/ As National Security Advisor and Secretary of State from 1969 to 1977 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, Kissinger played a pivotal role in marshalling the United States through one of the Cold War’s most violent and turbulent decades.

America’s enabling of the carnage in Gaza, and its involvement in Israel’s low-intensity proxy war with Iran, are turbo-charging the demise of the Western-led order — to the benefit of China and Russia.

A THREAD 🧵.
unherd.com/2023/11/israel… 1/ Over the past five weeks, the IDF has been engaged in daily clashes with Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese border, and has launched several air raids on militias in Syria. Meanwhile, Ansar Allah, the Houthi movement that controls most of Yemen, has launched...

As horrific as the situation in Gaza is, things could get much worse. The war is causing tectonic shifts across the region which could easily escalate into a regional or global war.

A 🧵 to make sense of the complex geopolitics of the conflict.
unherd.com/2023/11/will-i… 1/ Tensions are already flaring up throughout the region. Since the beginning of the war, Israel has been engaged in daily clashes with the Iran-linked armed group Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese border...
aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/3…

🧵 We need to talk about Oslo.

Thirty years ago 🇮🇱 and 🇵🇸 signed a “historic peace deal” that was supposed to end the conflict. It failed. The reasons are still hotly debated, with most blaming the Palestinians. So let’s settle the issue once and for all.
unherd.com/2023/10/why-pe… 1/ In 1987 the First Intifada broke out, as a reaction against Israeli repression including “beatings, shootings, killings, house demolitions, uprooting of trees, deportations, extended imprisonments, and detentions without trial”.
jstor.org/stable/2537242

🧵 @elonmusk is once again at the centre of a media firestorm — this time concerning the role of his Starlink satellite system in Ukraine. But what is he doing there in the 1st place? And what are his ties with the US military-industrial complex?

A THREAD
unherd.com/2023/09/elon-m… 1/ The WP recently published excerpts from a new biography on Musk revealing that he thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to use SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet system to launch a major sneak attack in September 2022 on the Russian fleet based in Crimea.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…

🧵 George Soros is reportedly pulling out of Europe. Good. There are ample reasons to oppose Soros and his philanthropic empire that have absolutely nothing to do with antisemitism or wild conspiracy theories.

A THREAD.
unherd.com/2023/09/is-thi…
1/ A bit of context first. According to a letter sent out to various partner organisations, Open Society Foundations (OSF), Soros’ powerful philanthropic organisation is planning to significantly scale back its operations in Europe.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

So I read the latest “China is taking over the world” FT article, accompanied by the trademark scary dragon imagery. Here’s what I learnt: For starters, China is sponsoring initiatives to promote development, alleviate poverty and improve health in the developing world. Ugh.

🧵 The Ukraine war — or more precisely the West’s response to the latter — is causing Europe to deindustrialise at frightening speed. What’s worse, there is ample evidence that, from America’s perspective, this was the intended outcome all along.

THREAD.
compactmag.com/article/americ… 1/ The Russia-Ukraine conflict has deeply transformed transatlantic relations, leading to a greater degree of European “vassalisation” (in the words of a recent @ecfr report) to the US than ever before.
ecfr.eu/publication/th…

🧵 A crucial point has been missing in the debate about Niger/other Sahel coups: monetary imperialism. These countries are all former French colonies which still use a currency — the CFA franc — largely controlled by their former colonial ruler.

A THREAD
unherd.com/2023/08/niger-… 1/ An anti-Western revolt is sweeping across the Sahel region of West Africa. On July 26, in Niger — not to be confused with neighbouring Nigeria — a military coup led deposed Niger’s pro-Western Mohamed Bazoum, elected in 2021 amid allegations of fraud.
theguardian.com/world/2023/jul…

🧵 Two agreements secured early in the conflict — the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and a deal that allowed Russian gas to continue flowing to Europe via Ukraine — avoided a global economic catastrophe. But one is gone and the other is at risk.

A THREAD.
unherd.com/2023/07/the-uk… 1/ It is often unappreciated just how much worse the global economic repercussions from the conflict could have been. Russia is the world’s leading exporter of gas and provided around 50% of the EU’s demand before the war; Ukraine, meanwhile, is a major exporter of grain.