catherine bastide

art space . éco-design . curatorial plateform Marseille

[Marion Van Renterghem @MarionVanR]

Farage est silencieux, que se passe-t-il?

Il a oublié de déclarer 5M£ en cryptomonnaie venus de Thaïlande.

Il a oublié de déclarer des avantages fournis par George Cottrell, un criminel condamné pour fraude qui l’appelle “papa”.

La vie est trop dure.https://t.co/pFeCCnLKvH

[sarah @sahouraxo]

This is Gaza today.

Israel is blowing up residential building after residential building in Khan Younis.

Buildings filled with innocent families.

A genocide in broad daylight — and the world watches in silence.

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

Thousands of firefighters are battling wildfires across Spain, France and Portugal after extreme heat and strong winds fuelled fast-moving blazes.

Authorities warn the fire season is only just beginning.

Al Jazeera's @francesreadtv reports.

[Bill Madden @maddenifico]

Masked Trump-loving Nazis — the white supremacist hate group Patriot Front — invaded Washington, D.C. today.

The Reuters photojournalist who took this pic should get the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.

[Mohamad Safa @mhdksafa]

Everyone should pay attention to Albania right now. The revolution is starting there.

Albania just rejected Zionism and Epstein Class.

Stand with you Albanians 🇦🇱

[Akayla Gardner @gardnerakayla]

NEW: Since President Trump won a second term, his two eldest sons — Eric and Don Trump Jr.— have become linked to investments in at least 10 companies in the defense sector that have received approx. $3.7 billion in federal funds in Trump 2.0, up nearly $1B compared to the end of Biden’s term. https://t.co/NbHH7pPaXI

[🔻agitprop + absurdity🔻 @agtprpnabsrdty]

Kushner's Albanian "eco-resort" is a $6B bet on one of Europe's most strategically sensitive maritime chokepoints.

Sazan island sits at the mouth of Albania's Bay of Vlore, a deep-water harbour 75 km across the Strait of Otranto from the Italian heel — a gap comparable to Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, two of the world's most contested waterways. The Adriatic beyond hosts 11 major ports handling bulk oil, LPG and LNG, including Trieste's crude terminus and Venice's offshore regasification platform. Whoever controls access to that strait controls the energy nervous system of central and southern Europe.

Sazan is not beach property:

During the Cold War, the 5.7 sq. km island was engineered to survive nuclear war and simultaneous amphibious assault by both NATO and Warsaw Pact forces. It housed over 3,000 servicemen, 3,600 concrete bunkers, 16 km of reinforced underground tunnels, a subterranean command centre, advanced naval artillery, surface-to-air missile batteries, radar installations, and a small harbour for patrol and torpedo boats. The adjacent Zvernec Peninsula carried its own coastal defence network, including a fire-control bunker overlooking the Adriatic.

Kushner's plan packages all of this as a $1.4B eco-resort on Sazan and a $4.7B hotel, apartment and villa development across Zvernec. Albania is not a natural destination for that kind of capital — the country has documented judicial corruption, opaque property rights, infrastructure deficits, and organized crime penetration throughout its economy.

What sharpens the picture is Israel's proposed EastMed mega-pipeline from the Leviathan gas field, routed through Cyprus, Crete, the Greek mainland, and Italy, with its European terminus positioned precisely in the zone Kushner is moving to acquire.

[𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 @WorldWarAgain]

🔥 Kushner’s Albanian “Eco-Resort”: Luxury Hideaway or Master Plan to Control Europe’s Energy Lifeline? 🔥

Hold on — this one is sneaky

On paper, Jared Kushner’s massive $1.4 billion “eco-resort” on Albania’s fortress island of Sazan, plus a staggering $4.7 billion sprawl of hotels, villas, and luxury flats on the nearby Zvernec Peninsula, looks like a baffling gamble.

Why sink billions into a country notorious for judicial corruption, nonexistent property rights, crumbling infrastructure, and organized crime? Albania isn’t exactly topping any “world’s hottest destinations” lists.

But what if it’s not about tourism at all?

What if the luxury playground is the perfect cover for seizing one of Europe’s most critical maritime chokepoints?

The Fortress That Could Lock Down the Adriatic
Sazan isn’t some sleepy rock in the sea. This 5.7 sq km island was a hardcore Cold War death trap — built to survive nuclear Armageddon and invasions from both NATO and Warsaw Pact forces.

It housed over 3,000 troops, bristled with 3,600+ concrete bunkers, 16+ km of reinforced underground tunnels, a secret subterranean command center, advanced naval artillery, surface-to-air missiles, radars, and a naval harbor for torpedo boats. The adjacent Zvernec Peninsula had cliff-top fire control bunkers staring straight out over the Adriatic.

Location? Lethal.

Sazan guards the entrance to Albania’s deep-water Bay of Vlorë (50-70m depths — perfect warship shelter). It sits just 75 km from Italy’s heel across the Otranto Strait — narrower than many famous global chokepoints. Think Hormuz.

Think Bab al-Mandab. This is the gateway that controls everything flowing in and out of the Adriatic Sea.

Eleven major ports handle massive oil, LPG, and LNG traffic here, including Trieste’s crucial pipelines and Venice’s LNG terminals. Israel’s planned mega-pipeline from the Leviathan gas field? Its final European leg runs right through this exact zone

A luxury resort with its own harbor, helipads, security infrastructure, and permanent foreign presence on this strategic rock? That’s not a vacation spot. That’s a potential stranglehold on southern and central Europe’s energy and trade routes.

Disguised as high-end real estate… but delivering real geopolitical power.

Is this just savvy business? Or something far more calculated?

The timing, the location, the history — it all lines up too perfectly. While protests erupt in Albania over environmental damage and foreign control, the bigger picture may be hiding in plain sight.

Europe’s energy security should not be for sale.
What do you think — innocent resort… or brilliant power play? Drop your take below. 👇

[POLITICOEurope @POLITICOEurope]

France’s far-right National Rally hoped to put its legal woes behind it next week and finally focus all its energy on next year’s presidential election.

But fresh police raids mean the party’s judicial headaches are likely to drag on.
https://t.co/az0eMea7e8

[TRT Afrika @trtafrika]

Senegal's parliament has descended into chaos with some MPs pushing and pulling each other during a crucial session to amend the constitution. Here's why

[Afshin Rattansi @afshinrattansi]

Holocaust Survivor Dr. Gabor Maté on why the US, UK, and EU support Israel:

'The English-speaking countries...these countries were all rooted in, founded in colonialism, or had colonial policies themselves.

So they're more likely to identify with the colonial mindset than with the mindset of the people being colonised'

[stranger @strangerous10]

David Pocock pauses, overcome with emotion, while detailing UN’s horrific findings against Israel
“IDF has now killed 20,000 Palestinian children”
“…deliberately shot at children’s limbs…as a twisted game of target practice”😔
Barbaric & sickening. This is our ally?

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

The world’s oceans are under heat stress, with average sea surface temperatures hitting 21°C, surpassing the record highs of 2023 and 2024.

They’re expected to rise further as El Nino, a natural climate pattern that warms the tropical Pacific for months, develops.

[alain servais @aservais1]

The World Has an Anchovy Problem. Because of El Niño. Global production of anchovies, a main ingredient in fishmeal, has plunged as much as 40% from a year ago, and prices are up 80% over the same period to an all-time high. https://t.co/794XlmYOFI

[catherine bastide @CBastide]

‘It’s dangerous and it’s going to erode trust’: redesign of US government websites stokes surveillance fears
The National Design Studio, staffed by Doge veterans, installed visitor-tracking software on vital federal websites https://t.co/G5NfODoYHU

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

France is actively compromised by a toxic mix of billionaire media ownership and unchecked foreign interference.

A democratic collapse next year would lie squarely at the feet of President Macron and the regulators who chose to tolerate Kremlin assets.

The probability of a Bardella versus Mélenchon second round grows higher by the day, presenting a dark future where both options serve Russian interests. In a direct matchup, Bardella would likely secure the Élysée Palace, initiating an era of political instability that would devastate the entire European continent (not that Mélenchon would be any better).

Despite these high stakes, French oversight agencies remain completely toothless against foreign agents. The former director of RT France has successfully transitioned into a prominent commentator within Vincent Bolloré's media apparatus, echoing Moscow's talking points to millions of households. Meanwhile, alternative media ventures like Sud Radio and Omerta continue to monetize aggressive Russian disinformation campaigns.

If the French government or regulatory agencies fail to intervene to secure France’s information space, the nation will simply crumble from within

[catherine bastide @CBastide]

‘We should be worried’: report sheds light on ICE’s booming arsenal of hi-tech surveillance tools
Spending on government contracts with tech firms that use AI-powered tools to track immigrants has soared to record levels under Trump 2.0, report says https://t.co/WSRyD5iQRl

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is genuinely shocking, and says so much about our approach to China.

I decided to check for independent reviews of the English version Xi Jinping's latest book, published a year ago, to see what people had to say about it since I hadn't read it myself.

To my surprise, I couldn't find any: not a single thoughtful review about the book out there! Even on Amazon, check it for yourself (https://t.co/1LVlhACA53): the book has only 3 ratings, that's it.

No matter where you stand on China, you’ve got to admit that’s pretty crazy: the sitting president of the world's rising superpower publishes a 700-page book explaining exactly what he's doing and why, and we don’t even care to look.

If there ever was a fact that illustrates just how willfully ignorant we are about China, this is it.

All the more because we then go spew the usual clichés around how secretive and impenetrable the Chinese system is: the book is on Amazon for $21 for crying out loud!

Anyhow, this felt so wrong that I figured I'd fix it. I bought the book, read it attentively and wrote what I hope you'll agree is a thoughtful review of it.

The book contains genuinely surprising passages, such as Xi writing that oversight of the Communist Party by "the judiciary, the public, and the media" was not just something the Party must “readily accept,” but something that he framed as historically decisive - an essential component to "escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall" that has doomed every dynasty in China's history.

Other passage that I'm sure would surprise many: a common narrative out there is that China blames the West for the century of humiliation and is driven by revenge. Well, Xi explains that's not true at all: the century of humiliation was China's own mistake, originated in the Ming Dynasty's disastrous "policy of national seclusion" that "resulted in China missing out on the opportunities presented by the Industrial Revolution" and "led to China’s decline."

All in all, the book is remarkably self-reflective and thoughtful. For instance Xi recognizes that his drive for “full and rigorous internal governance” - including to rid the Party of corruption - risked "instill[ing] fear and apprehension, or intimidate members into inaction.” He emphasizes the need for pragmatism in this regard, codified in a framework called the “Three Distinctions” that separates honest mistakes - made while experimenting, reforming, or operating without precedent - from deliberate violations committed for personal gain.

And many other surprises still. I found it a genuinely fascinating read for anyone interested in how the Chinese system works and how Xi thinks - or anyone interested in governance, period, as so much of what he writes is pretty universally applicable.

This is the link to my review of the book, an article I titled "The Book the West Refuses to Read": https://t.co/DYowWEESOd

[Greg Gunthorp @GGunthorp]

“If we want more independent farmers and stronger rural communities, we need to block concentration and restore fair competition.” Greg Gunthorp

@openmarkets

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

Hundreds of migrants in Paris have been left exposed as a heatwave sweeps across Europe, with some resorting to unsafe swimming to cope with record-breaking temperatures.