Evert, Manders

Doet dingen in de Provincie. Ook bezig met medicijnen. Like ≠ endorsement. Tevens van mening dat Twitter helemaal ruk is met Musk aan het roer.

[Evert, Manders @evert_manders]

Trots op ons stadsie waar wel voor iedereen plek is 💚♥️

[Arend Jan Boekestijn @ajboekestijn]

Grote klasse @sherminamiri

De rangorde in onze verontwaardiging https://t.co/K5CRhGutzY

[Jan Paternotte @jpaternotte]

Absurde beelden vanuit Ceuta en Melilla. Binnen 24 uur zijn tienduizenden migranten de grens overgestoken, met tientallen doden tot gevolg. Dat is geen instroom van asielzoekers, dat is totale ontwrichting. Het laat zien dat Spanje in haar twee Afrikaanse enclaves afhankelijk is van Marokkaanse grenswachten. Dat is niet langer houdbaar.

Europa heeft controle nodig over de buitengrens, zodat wie bescherming zoekt hier ook een zorgvuldige procedure in normale opvang kan doorlopen. De stormloop op Ceuta maakt dat totaal onmogelijk. Spanje kan nu alleen maar inzetten op deze mensen zo snel mogelijk terugsturen. Dat is ook in het Nederlands belang, en laten we daarom Spanje duidelijk maken dat ze er niet alleen voor staan. Druk op Marokko moet nu geen Spaanse, maar Europese druk zijn. Om de grens weer onder controle te krijgen, én om mensen zonder beschermingsgrond zo snel mogelijk terug te nemen.

De EU heeft al terecht extra steun toegezegd via Frontex; Nederland moet daar onvoorwaardelijk in meegaan: extra capaciteit voor grensbewaking en registratie. Ik reken erop dat het kabinet hier bovenop zit.

Ik zie ook Kamerleden die over de beelden uit Ceuta idiote uitspraken doen. Alsof de Marokkanen daar al in de Schengenzone of zelfs op weg naar Nederland zijn. Dat is onzin: Ceuta en Melilla vallen niet onder de vrij reizenzone van Schengen. En vrijwel zeker zal bijna niemand van hen een verblijfsvergunning kunnen krijgen. Spanje moet de strenge aanpak die door het EU-migratiepact mogelijk is nu toepassen op deze migratiestroom: snel beslissen en zsm terugsturen. De Spaanse regering noemt de stormloop zelf een ‘aanval’ en wil dan ook precies dat doen: zorgen dat deze schending van de Europese buitengrens niet beloond wordt.

[Sjamadriaan @zeg_eens_aad]

Inspirerend hoe Dennis Schouten aantoont dat zelfs als je geen enkel talent hebt, je met hard werken en een flinke dosis doorzettingsvermogen het toch nog kan schoppen tot de fluffer van Jan Roos

[Arend Jan Boekestijn @ajboekestijn]

Events Sir, events….. https://t.co/5JERLYQoWl

[Jan Paternotte @jpaternotte]

4 jaar terug begon Poetin zijn grootste oorlog. Hij dacht met raketten, verkrachting en ontvoeringen een vrij, democratisch land er wel onder te krijgen.

Maar Zelensky vluchtte niet, Oekraïeners vechten door voor vrijheid. En 🇺🇦 verdient onze volle steun.

[Бианка @BiankaB12]

@WhiteHouse You should really consider squeezing some basic geography in between the active shooter drills in your schools.

[Simon van Teutem @S_VanTeutem]

Waarom we baden in luxe maar verdrinken in onvrede.

Nieuwjaarsessay voor @decorrespondent: https://t.co/TwNuJbcU1N

[POLITICOEurope @POLITICOEurope]

Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz has compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler, warning that the Kremlin leader’s ambitions won’t stop with Ukraine. https://t.co/UCtAZlB2mj

[NRC @nrc]

Donald Trump weet precies hoe hij Europeanen het hardst kan raken: door te zeggen dat ze altijd verdeeld zijn, dat hun economieën in verval zijn dat er niemand meer naar ze luistert, ziet Caroline de Gruyter. „Niemand zal beweren dat alles perfect is in Europa, verre van. Maar dit is echt complete flauwekul.”
https://t.co/QNdcY0cHqx

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Chancellor Merz:

Dear friends, the decades of Pax Americana are largely over for us in Europe, and for us in Germany as well. It no longer exists as we knew it.

That's the way it is. The Americans are now very, very aggressively pursuing their own interests. And that can only mean one thing: that we, too, must now pursue our own interests.

And, dear friends, we're not so weak after all. We're not so small after all.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Today, I am in the Kupyansk sector, with our warriors who are getting the job done for Ukraine here.

The Russians kept going on about Kupyansk – the reality speaks for itself. I visited our troops and congratulated them. Thank you to each and every warrior! I am proud of you! And I thank all of our Land Forces – today is your day!

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Nick Fuentes says women are “very difficult to be around,” shouldn’t be allowed to vote, and should just stay home.

The 27-year-old, Hitler-loving white nationalist also admitted to Piers Morgan that he’s never had sex.

[EenVandaag @EenVandaag]

Hoe moet Europa verder na 'afscheid' van Amerika? 'Eigenlijk moet je elk Europees land opheffen' https://t.co/K7YgjZf8tS

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

"In Ukraine, the state itself is investigating the government, the cabinet, even the president’s closest advisers. By contrast, it is impossible to imagine Kash Patel’s FBI investigating anyone in Trump’s White House."
https://t.co/prMS10No4B

[Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham]

In October 2015, Germany ran a US$630 million trade surplus with China.

By October 2025, it flipped to a US$1.78 billion deficit, a swing of 338% in the last decade. In the first 10 months of this year alone, China’s trade surplus with Germany soared 121% vs a year earlier.

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

Can't think of another example of a global power so demonstratively burning its assets and destroying its influence, in a single document

[Arend Jan Boekestijn @ajboekestijn]

De nieuwe veiligheidsstrategie van de VS:
1. Ondermijnen Europese eenheid en NAVO
2. Steunen rechtsradicalen in EU
3. EU moet VS wapens kopen
4. Russische wensen hoog op agenda

[Arend Jan Boekestijn @ajboekestijn]

Het uur van Europa breekt weldra aan. Trump trekt zich misschien verder terug uit Europa (nationale veiligheidsstrategie kwam vandaag uit) en de Europese keuze tussen inzetten van Russisch bevroren assets of Eurobonds.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

I had hoped I was wrong with my post 4 days ago 👇, but it looks like we are indeed on the edge of Europe's most humiliating moment in history.

I went in detail through all the 28 points of Trump's proposed "peace" plan for Ukraine, as well as Europe's counterproposal, and some of the clauses proposed by the U.S. are just unbelievable.

Take points 4 and 15 of the Trump plan for instance:
- Point 4: "A dialogue will be held between Russia and NATO, mediated by the United States, to resolve all security issues and create conditions for de-escalation in order to ensure global security and increase opportunities for cooperation and future economic development."
- Point 15: "A joint American-Russian working group on security issues will be established to promote and ensure compliance with all provisions of this agreement."

Taken together what they actually say is that the U.S. won’t act as a NATO member anymore but as a “mediator” outside NATO who, as per point 15, will work with Russia - but not with Europe - within an “American-Russian working group on security issues” in charge of enforcing the agreement.

In effect what this means is that Trump is proposing that Washington and Moscow become co-managers of European security - with Europe itself excluded from the mechanism.

As such, this is an agreement that would redraw the entire European security architecture, over Europeans’ heads. This isn’t exaggeration, when asked about European involvement, the White House reportedly said: “We don’t really care about the Europeans” as I referenced in the post below. The document merely formalizes that sentiment.

The tragedy is the US plan, whatever its flaws, is a deal. It offers Russia things Russia wants (territory, sanctions relief, NATO freeze, denazification in Ukraine) in exchange for things the US wants (profit extraction, resource deals, geopolitical repositioning). It’s cynical but coherent. Both parties get something.

The European counter-proposal, however, is not a deal. It’s a list of objections that makes the arrangement worse for both parties who actually hold the cards. Russia gets less. America gets less. Their “counterproposal” - which, tellingly, nobody even asked them for (remember, they "don’t really care about the Europeans") - is simply them editing someone else’s document and hoping to be included.

As I told my daughters over dinner, if you have a deal with someone and someone else asks to be included in the deal, but that makes it worse for both of you, would you have them join? "No, duh!" was their answer. Yet that's essentially Europe's counterproposal...

Europe could force the US and Russia to change their deal if it has significant leverage but, that's the other tragedy here from a European standpoint: when push comes to shove there really isn't much one can do against a party that provides your security umbrella, your financial plumbing, your digital infrastructure, and even the LNG that heats your homes since you sanctioned Russian gas.

Hubert Védrine, France’s former Foreign Minister, has this expression where he accuses Europeans of thinking they inhabit a “world of Care Bears” ("bisounours" in French) whereas the world actually is closer to being “Jurassic Park.” And Europe is anything but an apex predator, it's not even one of those large herbivorous dinosaurs: in this analogy it's closer to being the goat tied to the post.

My latest article is a detailed analysis of both proposals and what they reveal about where the US-Europe relationship actually stands. From the title of the article - "Is the U.S. at war with Europe?" - you can guess my conclusion. But the evidence is what matters, and it's all there: https://t.co/bRDjPjfDmk

[Donald Tusk @donaldtusk]

As a result of the investigation, we now know it was the Russian Secret Services that commissioned the blast of the Polish railway and recruited two Ukrainians to do it. We also know the identities of the perpetrators who immediately fled Poland for Belarus.