Alex Stronell

Land Warfare Analyst at @JanesINTEL. Graduate @sciencespo @mgimo @UniofOxford. Russia nerd. Views my own, etc.

[Lucy Fisher @LOS_Fisher]

Hard hitting resignation speech by John Healey in the Commons, with a parting shot at the Chancellor

‘Our adversaries don’t follow timetables set by the Treasury,’ he told MPs

‘This is the age of hard power and rising threat, this is not the moment for calibration or incremental change. That means bigger politics, bolder priorities, harder choices,’ he said

He repeated his call for Britain to commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030

[John Healey @JohnHealey_MP]

My letter to the Prime Minister

[Tommo @Sierra__Alpha]

A member of 4th Battalion Parachute Regiment conducts defence engagement operations with locals. Falkland Islands. 2026.

4 PARA is currently the deployed infantry company in the South Atlantic.

[Tim Farron @timfarron]

I want rid of an unelected 2nd chamber…but in this case, the Lords did the job that the commons failed to do. It shamed MPs because it actually scrutinised this dangerous bill rather than settling for banal platitudes, it listened to disability campaigners and clinicians.

[Alex Stronell @AEStronell]

Finally some solid leadership from No. 10

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer has set up a "Beer Committee" to protect supplies for the World Cup amid potential CO2 shortages

[@martinabett]

[Marcus Walker @WalkerMarcus]

This isn’t wrangling, this is the Treasury and Number 10 mortgaging Britain’s safety for its own political advantage. That’s a lot worse than wrangling.

[William Atkinson @WTMAtkinson]

£1300 a month in Zone 4.

[(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges]

Over the past week I’ve had a lot of Starmer supporters furiously castigating me for having the temerity to point out the chasm between his rhetoric and his actions. Not sure you can find a more perfect example than this.

[Marcus Walker @WalkerMarcus]

Of CUTS?!?

[Charlie @barbourtwat]

They have £100m to spaff on reparations but churches are crumbling and visiting St Pauls costs £30.

Make it make sense

[Daniel Sugarman @Daniel_Sugarman]

This is genuinely ridiculous behaviour. This is a local election, about local services. Planning. Social care. Roads. Housing. Bin collections.

And all these people can find to talk about is Israel.

Still, I guess we know who they'll be blaming for potholes if they're elected.

[alexmassie @alexmassie]

Defence should be a first-order, top-tier priority for any serious government.
By that reckoning, we have not had serious governments for a long time.
But Starmer promised seriousness and nowhere has he disappointed more than on defence.

[Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp]

I've seen a lot of takes that Orbán's defeat means that he was never an authoritarian in the first place.

This is completely wrong — and, in fact, betrays a complete misunderstanding of both Hungarian politics and modern authoritarianism.

Here's why.

[(((Tendar))) @Tendar]

The collective meltdown among most at the far right regarding Péter Magyar's resounding victory in Hungary is probably the most telling moment you will see regarding the so-called "conservative" or "patriotic" movements across the globe. I will elaborate:

Péter Magyar is not a lefty or woke. His ideology is center-right. Tisza will partially follow an even harsher immigration policy and continue some decisions made under Orban, e.g. opposing the EU migration and asylum pact, a core demand of many of the far-right figures. Magyar himself describes his movement a "renewal", not a "revolution".

So why the meltdown? The answer is so unmasking. Péter Magyar and Tisza are no Russian puppets. They haven't forgotten what Soviet-Russia did in 1956. They made a clear stand against the Russian aggressions, both of those in the past and today.

Furthermore, the system of rampant corruption Orban and his allies have built is not limited to Hungary. It has deep ties to foreign actors. It is obvious that it will reveal some very interesting money streams coming from East and West. So, we are not talking about Hungary alone, but an international network of right-wing movements actively collaborating.

Most of those right-wing movements bemoan this development, and this development alone. It unmasks that their political leaning of being "conservative" was but a sharade. It was only about money and a deeply corrupt network benefiting them, with money streams coming from Russia and elsewhere.

[Alex Stronell @AEStronell]

Curious (or perhaps not) that these far right anon accounts immediately reach for Trianon or 1848-9 … rather than the pre-eminent memory of repression in Hungary—the Russian crushing of the 1956 uprising.

One wonders why that might be 🤔

[Based Hungary 🇭🇺 @HungaryBased]

With a Supermajority Tisza will be capable of Constitutional Change.

Meaning there will never again appear a Hungarian Sovereignist Party. This loss is great, people will remember these elections for decades.

But unlike other times in history, we elected ourselves into a client state status.

The EU will make brutal changes in Hungary so another sovereignist and nationalist will not rise again.

Repression will be made on levels not seen since Trianon or post 1848-1849 War of Independence.

[Alex Stronell @AEStronell]

No doubt this has been workshopped in certain strip-lit back rooms of Moscow for some weeks now

[Aleksandar Djokic (Александар Джокич) @polidemitolog]

If Orban loses, while being supported by the US and Russia unanimously, how are the truth-seekers going to blame the CIA for the color revolution?

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

Indeed. Every word she uttered was straight from Kremlin talking points. Every sentiment from the Putin Playbook. Including all the anti-NATO stuff. She’s not against war. She’s in favour of Western surrender and Russia winning the war.

[ᗰᗩƳᖇᗩ @LePapillonBlu2]

There, I fixed it…

[Alex Stronell @AEStronell]

@NickOresme @afneil Slightly different situation though, wouldn’t you say? No chance of enemy air attack, no active combat operations on home soil, etc.

Britain had its (delayed) election in 1945 after the war in Europe ended, but before Japanese surrender. Ukraine is in a very different place.

[Nigel Gould-Davies @Nigelgd1]

@elonmusk Oh look Elon, Grok explains Ukrainian elections.