christian elfving

This account is personal. Tweeting here primarily about defence, business/economics and road biking.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Lindsey Graham: "I spent 4.5 hours with President Trump on Friday. Here's what I think will happen next. If this deal fails, President Trump is gonna take the Strait of Hormuz over by force. We'll charge a fee for all those who go through to pay for the operation ... if Iran contests control of the Strait of Hormuz by the United States we'll obliterate them."

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Zelensky tells the Belarusian dictator that he has one week to remove the missile guidance systems that he allows Russia to use for targeting Ukrainian cities or "we will remove them ourselves".

[Pekka Toveri @PToveri]

Bulgarian uusi puolustusministeri levittää Venäjän valeita. Bulgarian johdolle pitää tehdä kuten Orbanille tehtiin.

[IllimarLepikvonWirén @iLepikVonWiren]

The Swedish government is exploring legal mechanisms to enable the State Treasury to forcibly take over private property owned by russian citizens located close to military facilities.

Stanislav Aleshchenko, who also holds a Cypriot passport, purchased a 600-square-meter house and plot of land on the shoreline of Muskö Island in the Stockholm archipelago in 2017, the newspaper Expressen reported. 

The property sits on cliffs under which a secret underground naval base operated during the Cold War before being abandoned in 2004. 

Swedish armed forces returned to the base in 2019. 

Recently, Swedish media have reported that the russian Orthodox Church, which is closely tied to President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, has acquired property near Västerås Airport, an international airport outside Stockholm. The national security service, SÄPO, has warned of espionage activities in the area.  

https://t.co/WvQAdAiIhN

[C4H10FO2P ☠️ @markito0171]

🇷🇺#Russia'n corvette "Boykiy" in #Kronstadt/ #SanktPetersburg after hit by drones from 🇺🇦#Ukraine

[UAVoyager🇺🇦 @NAFOvoyager]

“Liberated,” they said.

Imagine an entire European town wiped off the map.

This is Bakhmut.

Once home to 70,000. More than two years under the “russkiy mir.”

Today — nothing but ruins.

russia doesn’t liberate cities. It erases them. Don’t pretend you don’t understand this.

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

In two weeks, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine will have lasted as long as the entire World War I.

[Anders Åslund @anders_aslund]

Russia announces that it will systematically bomb Kyiv, including diplomatic missions.
Trump & the US do not even protest.
Trump is the greatest coward the US has ever had as president.

[Martin Paasi @MartinPaasi]

Ymmärtäkää nyt ihan kaikki: Suomen julkinen sektori on paisunut liian isoksi.

Suomessa on yli 300 000 työtöntä. Vaikka kaikki pääsisivät töihin, Suomen julkinen talous ei olisi tasapainossa.

Meidän on pakko priorisoida ja leikata julkisia menoja. Se on yhtä välttämätöntä kuin hapen hengittäminen.

https://t.co/0n7NTglWKR

[Carl Bildt @carlbildt]

This is starting to be usual in Europe. Weapons ordered from 🇺🇸 are delayed or diverted. https://t.co/PXBuuyQLH8

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

Jens Stoltenberg went on Fox News this week. It did not go the way Trump would have liked.

The former NATO Secretary General, now Norway’s Finance Minister, was asked about Trump’s threats to pull the United States out of the alliance.

He answered with the kind of calm, precise demolition that only a Norwegian diplomat can deliver without raising his voice once.

On why Europe didn’t join the war: “NATO is a defensive alliance. The strikes or the war against Iran were never an attempt to make that into a NATO operation.”

On whether Europe disagrees with America about Iran: “We all agree the Iranian nuclear program is dangerous. The question is how we achieve that goal.” Translation: the problem was never the destination. It was the lunatic who decided to get there by setting the car on fire.

On what Trump should have done before launching: “If you want NATO to contribute, then at least you have to sit down with NATO allies, as you did after 9/11. You cannot expect us just to be there without any consultations, any discussions in NATO before you take the decision to launch the attack.”

This is Stoltenberg saying, in the most polished terms imaginable, that you do not start a war at two in the morning on Truth Social and then ring your allies for help at breakfast.

On whether Europe abandoned America: “The majority of European allies have made sure that their bases and infrastructure were available for the United States. There are some exceptions, but most have contributed.” Most helped. Quietly. Without being asked to endorse a war they considered illegal.

On why leaving NATO would be catastrophic for America specifically: “The United States is 25 per cent of the global economy. But together with NATO allies, we are 50 per cent of the global economy and 50 per cent of the world’s military might. So it makes the United States safer to have friends and allies — something that Russia and China don’t have at all.”

And then, in a separate interview, the warning nobody in Washington wants to hear: “It’s not a natural law that we will have NATO forever. It’s not carved in stone that NATO will exist for the next ten years.”

That last line was not a threat. It was a diagnosis.

Trump called NATO a Paper Tiger. Stoltenberg replied, with characteristic Norwegian understatement, that paper tigers tend to be considerably less useful once you’ve set them on fire yourself.

Gandalv / @Microinteracti1

[Carl Bildt @carlbildt]

That’s it - decisive win for tor the opposition in the 🇭🇺 elections. It’s not been a good week for JD Vance.

[Carl Bildt @carlbildt]

Is this the Suez moment for 🇺🇸?

[Carl Bildt @carlbildt]

Another day in these strange times. Trump 🇺🇸 threatens to obliterate thousands of years of Iranian civilisation. JD Vance is in Budapest campaigning with Orbán and spreading lies about the EU. And Trump Jr is in Banja Luka with Dodik and his gang. Could it get worse? Probably…

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

The White House wonders why Europe won’t rally behind America in Iran. Maybe start by asking why your Vice President is flying to Budapest to have a warm chat with Viktor Orban, the man running a Russian influence operation from inside NATO’s borders.

While Europe has been bleeding money and weapons to stop Russian aggression, Hungary has been blocking NATO decisions, sheltering Russian intelligence, and doing Moscow’s diplomatic dirty work at every turn. Orban isn’t America’s friend. He’s Putin’s man in Brussels.

And JD Vance calls him a “good friend.”
Europe is supposed to line up behind a war that had no plan for day two, no strategy for the Strait of Hormuz, and no consultation with allies beyond Israel. A war that has already sent oil past $100 a barrel and left one of America’s most powerful warships reportedly retreating toward the Indian Ocean.

You don’t get to lecture Europe about loyalty while embracing the man working to destroy the alliance from within, and then demand backup for a war you started without asking anyone.

Gandalv / @Microinteracti1

[christian elfving @chriselfv]

Tässä viisaiden miesten ajatuksia

[Leevi Leivo @leivoks]

Välivaalien merkitys Yhdysvalloissa.

"Jos välivaaleissa demokraatit sattuisivat saamaan tarpeeksi suuren enemmistön edustajainhuoneessa ja senaatissa, Trump erotettaisiin presidentin virasta"

- Markku Ruotsila

[Tere Sammallahti 🇫🇮💙🇺🇦 @TereSammallahti]

Ensin "pienituloisten etua" ajava rikas poliitikko edistää Hitasta ja asumistukia. Sitten hän ostaa halvalla Hitas-tukiasunnon, jonka vuokraa kalliilla asumistukea saavalle pienituloiselle.

Veronmaksaja maksaa, poliitikko rikastuu. Täydellinen rikos. https://t.co/W3DVgqjuEQ

[Vesa Puttonen @InvestmentTraps]

Rahan perään olen.

En kuitenkaan kehtaisi hankkia valtion tukemia asuntoja ja kerätä lisää rahaa vuokraamalla niitä eteenpäin.

Joku roti sentään.

[Furkan Gözükara @FurkanGozukara]

BOMBSHELL: A former CIA officer confirms the US is deploying its most elite kill squads to the Middle East. Delta Force, SEAL Team 6, and the 75th Ranger Regiment are all moving into position right now. They are preparing for a massive ground invasion.