Europe correspondent at the Economist. @mattsteinglass.bsky.social is where I mostly post now. Almost done with Musk’s crap platform after his latest idiocy
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Dec 2, 2022 • 15 tweets • 4 min read
I wrote about the European Court of Justice striking down one of the best tools to fight money-laundering and tax evasion: open-access ultimate beneficial ownership registers. Sounds obscure but a huge blow to corruption-fighters. 1/ economist.com/finance-and-ec…
When you read the ICIJ's Pandora Papers expose of political and business corruption, or watch Alexei Navalny's YouTubes about Russian officials' secret wealth, one reason they're possible are ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) registers. 2/ icij.org/investigations…
Oct 27, 2022 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
A theory about why Putin invaded Ukraine that circulates in the anti-corruption community is that it was triggered by Ukraine's steady sidelining of the corrupt oligarchs and power structures which Russia counted on to surreptitiously control the country. 1/
A telling event here was the sanctioning of pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk in February, seizure of his oil pipeline and other businesses and banning of his three TV stations. Russia invaded 5 days later. 2/ reuters.com/article/us-ukr…
Oct 26, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The general rule is that train competes with air travel up to 4-5 hour journeys. But Berlin-Amsterdam is currently 6h17m and I absolutely prefer train, no contest.
Fairness with my Ukraine tweeting dictates that I note that Minden, which I had also never heard of, has a very cute station too.
Jul 12, 2022 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
De gewone NLer vindt deze voorstel idioot omdat zij een gezonde afschuw heeft van schoolbeschietingen op z’n Amerikaans. Maar het zou fijn zijn als NLers het ook idioot vonden omdat juist Nederland het onbenut van “georganiseerde milities” heeft bewezen. 1/
Ten eerste: Amerikaanse burgers hebben geen recht om vuurwapens te gebruiken tegen de overheid. Ben je gek. Burgers mogen niet in hun eentje beslissen dat de overheid “tyranniek” is en dat bewapende geweld tegen agenten gerechtvaardigd is. 2/
Jul 11, 2022 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
Dutch pundit notes that the global far-right, eg Tucker guest Eva Vlaardingerbroek, are the actual globalists—the same schtick in every country. Also notes the “somewhere/everywhere” meme recycled by Wierd Duk, which is interesting. 1/11
The “people from somewhere” v “people from anywhere” figure was invented about 2017 by UK squishy Brexiter David Goodhart, well critiqued here by Jonathan Freedland. 2/11 amp.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar…
Jun 9, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Running an errand in what was listed as the Netherlands’ worst “no-go zone”a while back, the Kolenkit in Amsterdam. Apparently sharia law reigns here and non-Muslims dare not enter! Will let you know how it goes
No violence yet
Feb 16, 2022 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
First reaction to the ECJ's approval of the conditionality mechanism that stops Hungary and Poland getting covid-recovery funds unless they comply with the rule of law: it's a somewhat mixed bag. /1 curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/do…
Basically the ECJ sides with the European Commission: making EU aid conditional on observing the rule of law is justified under EU treaty law. /2
Oct 6, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Aaaand we're back, because cOrRuPtIoN iS tHe MoSt ImPoRtAnT sToRy In ThE wOrLd, PART 93 ft.com/content/802ad2…
Corruption is the most important story in the world, part 94
It’s five days before the election and the Dutch media have decided to again put the populist right on TV all the time, a dynamic which we already know leads to meaningless bs yelling matches and higher populist vote share. I thought they’d grown out of this.
If this is driven by a desire for higher ratings it’s needless. Everyone is watching anyway. It’s election time.
Mar 1, 2021 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Yesterday’s Dutch election debate raised an issue relevant to Obamacare. The Dutch system is basically universal Obamacare, with lots more subsidies. But GreenLeft and the Socialists want to eliminate the for-profit element. 1
The Socialists want to go to a single national insurer. GreenLeft wants to eliminate profit-seeking for the existing private insurers, which would be a less radical change. 2
Feb 28, 2021 • 47 tweets • 5 min read
Dutch leaders of major parties about to start their first debate 1
“What is the worth of a human life” is a tough q to start with 2
Feb 26, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Omdat we het allemaal over Amanda Gorman hebben: ik vond het in de eerste instantie (tijdens de ceremonie) een erg goede voorlezing van een, ja, leuk gedichtje met sommige afgezaagde delen. Maar op de tweede lezing merk ik nieuwe dingen... 1/
Anderen zullen dit zeker hebben gemerkt, maar "the dawn is ours before we knew it" is een interessante referentie aan het eerste gedicht voorgelezen door een Poet Laureate bij een inauguratie: "The Gift Outright" van Robert Frost, in 1961. 2/
Nov 7, 2020 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
There’s a lot of gloating today directed at Trump as a specifically infuriating individual. I think we should keep in mind that Trump is partly the American incarnation of the world-spirit of his time, just as Reagan and Thatcher incarnated theirs. /1
Trump incarnated the spirit of 2016 in two related but distinct ways: as a corrupt oligarch, and as a lying nationalist-authoritarian populist. /2
Feb 1, 2019 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
In the past when government popularity sank, Russia drummed up hysterical threats: the anti-gay crusade of 2012, the war on Ukraine. This time is harder. Voters want something the regime is now intrinsically unable to provide: rising prosperity. /1
Putinism can't provide broad prosperity because it's a mafia state, based on corrupt crony control of the economy. Growth driven by rising energy prices is played out. Rising prosperity now requires entrepreneurship, property rights, a good investment climate. /2
Nov 29, 2018 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
With today's news on a Deutsche Bank money-laundering investigation piling on top of recent news about Danske et al, it's worth remarking how huge a theme corruption is today, compared to say 15 years ago. Why is that? /1 ft.com/content/fff8c5…
My own thinking about corruption was transformed a few years ago when I started reading the work of Nobel-laureate economist Douglass North. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglass_… /2
Sep 9, 2018 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Noah's thread is interesting. I would try to answer the question two other ways: one simple, one a bit counterintuitive. /1
The simple version is one Matthew Yglesias already came up with years ago: American products have global reach because they are already design to succeed in a diverse society. Our movies work for many audiences because they have to work for a diverse American audience. /2
May 25, 2018 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
The Netherlands and Australia will take legal measures to hold Russia responsible in the downing of flight MH17, following the JIT's declaration yesterday that the missile that shot it down was deployed by a Russian Army brigade. Some thoughts /1 rijksoverheid.nl/regering/nieuw…
This step addresses the inability of western publics, including the Dutch, to cope with Russia's deny/divert/distract "firehose of disinformation" tactics in MH17 and similar situations. rand.org/content/dam/ra… /2
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