Nuno M. Salgueiro

Dwarf sojourning in the (Danish) Shire. @IsaRussell's stalker.

[Nuno M. Salgueiro @nmsalgueiro]

Dipping my toes in the Twitter ocean. Feels good, actually, @IsaRussell . 😉 #FirstTweet

[Mosab Hassan Yousef @MosabHasanYOSEF]

According to the 14-point draft agreement, the US is immediately lifting oil sanctions so Iran can resume selling oil, and giving Iran access to its frozen assets (estimated at around $300 billion globally).

In return, Iran simply promises not to build nuclear weapons, while being allowed to keep its entire stockpile of enriched uranium.

This isn’t a deal. This is surrender dressed up as diplomacy.

[Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen]

Today, the European Union took a major step forward.

All Member States agreed to open the first accession negotiations cluster with Ukraine and Moldova.

At the first Intergovernmental Conference on Monday, we will open the cluster on fundamentals; the backbone of the accession process.

It covers the core values and principles on which the EU is built, from the rule of law to strong democratic institutions.

This is a recognition of the determination, courage and hard work shown by both countries in advancing reforms, even in the face of immense challenges.

And a signal that the EU’s offer of peace, stability and opportunity is unmatchable.

Enlargement is a strategic choice.

By bringing our nations closer together, we strengthen peace, security and prosperity across our continent.

In a world marked by growing uncertainty, a larger European Union is in our common interest.

Enlargement remains one of the EU’s greatest success stories and our best investment in our shared future.

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

One of the most terrible things we will have to face in the future is learning, one way or another, how many people died in Mariupol in the spring of 2022, when Russia was leveling the city to the ground along with its inhabitants.

Among them were my former classmate and the father of a good friend of mine.

And how many more remain unknown to us, lying in the vast anonymous mass graves on the outskirts of Mariupol, visible even in satellite images.

[😱 Scary Larry 😱 🇺🇦✊🏻🇺🇸🗽 @aintscarylarry]

The next time a dipshit MAGA calls you a “communist,” reply to them with this photo.

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

"How could they have screwed everything up this badly? It’s hard to comprehend."

Russian "Z-blogger" Ilya Remeslo sharply criticizes Putin and Russian authorities in these "ceasefire chronicles":

"As usual, gloomy news ahead of Victory Day. The 'ceasefire' chronicles are as follows.

Ukrainian drones carried out hundreds of strikes across Russia. Perm again, Yaroslavl, and other cities with oil refineries.

Also, after a drone hit an air navigation administration building, operations at 13 airports in southern Russia were suspended.

Clearly, the opponent feels not the slightest fear - or even respect - for the ominous threats coming from the foreign ministry and defense ministry. Western embassies remain in Kyiv.

Nobody negotiates with people who are incapable of keeping their promises.

Earlier, when the situation at the front was better, there was a real window of opportunity for a deal. Everyone was running around Putin - Trump, Erdoğan, various European countries - while Zelenskyy was being publicly humiliated and pressured into negotiations.

Remember Trump at that scandalous White House meeting telling Zelenskyy, 'You have no cards'? How happy we were then, thinking our great geopolitical strategist would quickly secure a favorable peace deal?

Well, that time is gone forever. The longer the war continues, the harsher the conditions imposed on us will become - while destruction inside Russia keeps growing.

How could they have screwed everything up this badly? It’s beyond comprehension. I do not know another example in history where a ruler makes catastrophic military mistakes at the beginning, then receives completely undeserved opportunities for victory - and still manages to throw it all away.

Well, he wanted to end up in history books. And now he definitely will."

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

The MAGA crowd in Washington has decided that since Europeans don’t sufficiently appreciate Trump, the American bases on the continent must go. This is the strategic reasoning of a man who burns down his own kitchen.

American bases in Europe were never a favour. They are the logistical spine of every war the United States fights east of Gibraltar. Ramstein moves the cargo, Aviano launches the jets, Rota services the ships. Without them the Pentagon does not project power into the Middle East. It projects PowerPoint.

The fantasy assumes the alternative is aircraft carriers gliding majestically into the Persian Gulf. That era is ending. A modern carrier is a thirteen-billion-dollar trophy that can be reduced to scrap by a couple of hundred cheap missiles fired from the Iranian coast. China noticed.

The other fantasy is that America simply fights from home. Picture the alternative: twenty thousand transatlantic sorties shuttling spare parts, munitions, fuel bladders, mechanics and replacement pilots from Norfolk and Dover to wherever the war happens to be. A C-17 burns through roughly 35,000 dollars of fuel every hour it flies, and the round trip from the American east coast to the Gulf is the better part of a day. Multiply that by every bolt, every missile, every spare engine. The war becomes a sustained airborne traffic jam with the bill arriving by the second.

So you need land, specifically land near the war. Modern combat aircraft are not Spitfires you fuel up and send off with a wave. An F-35 demands an entire Walmart of spare parts, a small city of technicians, climate-controlled hangars and a supply chain stretching halfway round the planet. Drones need operators, networks, satellites and a steady diet of components no carrier can store. Modern war arrives by container ship and lives in a warehouse.

Close the bases, and Washington loses the warehouses. Lose the warehouses, and the next confrontation with Iran is either fought by phone or fought from Kansas with a flight schedule that bankrupts the Treasury before the first missile lands.

MAGA thinks shutting Ramstein punishes Europe. It punishes America. Europe will be inconvenienced. America will be unarmed.

And so, after a thousand insults, a thousand sneers, a thousand late-night posts about freeloading allies, Europe is quietly drafting the politest letter in diplomatic history. It thanks America for its service. It wishes the troops a safe journey home. It suggests, with great warmth, that Washington might now turn its attention to its neighbours in Latin America, where a fading superpower can busy itself with whatever a fading superpower busies itself with.

Spain had its century. Britain had its empire. The Soviets had their parades. Each ended the same way: as a shadow of itself, with the historians left to argue, volume after volume, about precisely when the rot set in and why nobody noticed in time. America is welcome to join them on the shelf.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

If you like what you read, please follow Gandalv on Substack:
https://t.co/2TO5x2O8nI

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

As of today, there has been no official appeal to Ukraine regarding the modality of a cessation of hostilities that is being claimed on Russian social media. We believe that human life is far more valuable than any anniversary “celebration”. In this regard, we are announcing a ceasefire regime starting at 00:00 on the night of May 5–6. In the time left until that moment, it is realistic to ensure that silence takes effect. We will act reciprocally starting from that moment. It is time for Russian leaders to take real steps to end their war, especially since Russia’s Defense Ministry believes it cannot hold a parade in Moscow without Ukraine’s goodwill.

[Combat_Clips @Combat_Clipss]

German WWI veteran describes killing a French corporal during a bayonet charge and articulates his view on war as a whole

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

Trump and Elon Musk destroyed most of the global H.I.V. program that saved hundreds of thousands of lives in Zambia.
Now the US is threatening to cut remaining support, unless Zambia gives access to the country’s mineral resources.
https://t.co/AnLnhEMA1E

[Chili Dog @RobertJMolnar]

Trump is going to go for staged assassination attempt again

blame it on Iran

I will put a 25% chance on this play

Trump has lost all global respect (such that he had)....allies and enemies alike, laughing at him

[Alvin Foo @alvinfoo]

This speech will go down as one of the best written and spoken by Jeff Daniel. These words are as important and as relevant today as when he said them.

[David French @DavidAFrench]

This is the American that embodies our best values and ideals. Not the man in the White House. I am grateful that the world can see a very different side of the American people through his faithful witness.

[Furkan Gözükara @FurkanGozukara]

Absolute bombshell. Data reveals someone made a massive 580 MILLION dollar trade on oil exactly 15 minutes BEFORE Donald Trump posted his tweet about pausing the Iran war. Someone on the inside just made a life changing fortune. The corruption is blatant.

[axe @axepreneur]

Reminder: this is still the greatest ad ever made.

[Dustin @r0ck3t23]

Dario Amodei just gave his first interview since the Pentagon blacklisted his company. The toll is visible on his face.

He was asked one question. What would you say to the President right now?

He didn’t hesitate.

Amodei: “We are patriotic Americans. Everything we have done has been for the sake of this country.”

Anthropic built their models to defend America. They were the first AI lab cleared for classified military systems. They wanted to help the warfighter.

But the Pentagon demanded unrestricted access to fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens.

Amodei drew the line.

The government responded with emergency Cold War powers. A supply chain designation normally reserved for foreign adversaries. A six-month federal phaseout ordered from Truth Social.

Amodei: “When we were threatened with supply chain designation and Defense Production Act, which are unprecedented intrusions into the private economy, we exercised our classic First Amendment rights to speak up and disagree with the government.”

The administration framed Anthropic’s refusal as anti-American.

Amodei’s response dismantled that framing in one sentence.

Amodei: “Disagreeing with the government is the most American thing in the world.”

Here is the deeper paradox nobody in Washington wants to say out loud.

We are in a geopolitical race against autocratic adversaries who use AI for mass surveillance of their own citizens and autonomous weapons with no human oversight.

The Pentagon demanded that Anthropic build those exact capabilities for America.

Amodei: “The red lines we have drawn, we drew because we believe that crossing those red lines is contrary to American values.”

You cannot defeat authoritarianism by adopting its methods.

You cannot defend the open society by forcing private companies to build its antithesis under threat of wartime emergency powers.

Anthropic held the line. Got blacklisted for it. And came out the other side saying the same thing they said going in.

That is what it actually looks like to mean it.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

Some have asked me to comment on the SCOTUS ruling striking down tariffs based on emergencies declared by the Executive. Why should I comment when Gorsuch has already nailed it right here? 💯

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

Do you remember that very night -- the night before the day of all days, four years ago?

How many of us didn’t sleep at all.

We sat in the dark in silence, in front of our laptops, refreshing news feeds.

Here was Blinken saying the invasion was inevitable within the next few hours. Here was Zelensky speaking in the middle of the night in Russian, pleading with all Russians to come to their senses at the last moment and not take a fatal step.

Here was the news that the runways of Ukraine’s largest airports had been blocked with overturned vehicles.

We sat with Flighradar24 open. Here at 1 a.m., over northern and eastern Ukraine, an American drone was making multiple circles, monitoring the massive Russian grouping on our border from Belarus to Crimea.

A plane seemed to have taken off, evacuating Turkish diplomats. They must have been among the last ones... Russia had closed all airspace along its entire border with Ukraine later on.

In journalists’ chats, hundreds of colleagues just as sleepless. “Guys, be ready… it seems like today.”

But hope, of course, died last.

Maybe today it would pass. Maybe it was still a bluff and blackmail, because that would be logical. They couldn’t possibly go through with such madness. It would be a catastrophe of biblical proportions and a bloody slaughter in which it would be impossible to win. They couldn’t fail to understand that.

And then -- “live” on Russian TV (in reality, of course, everything had been recorded well in advance as part of a pre-invasion propaganda performance) -- Putin’s face, distorted with sadistic hatred and a smirk of gloating, announcing the “special military operation.”

What is there to say, four years have passed since that night.

If someone had told me then that four years later independent Ukraine would be at the forefront of the entire free world,
fighting alone on equal terms against the full military power of Russia,
with the Ukrainian flag over every regional capital that was free from occupation that night,
with Ukrainian-made drones and cruise missiles that smash Russian oil refineries, airfields, and giant military factories every single night
— I would never, ever have believed it.

And yet, through unparalleled heroism and enormous sacrifice, fighting Ukraine has changed the course of history.

She disproved all the arrogant skeptics who were burying her alive back then and giving her no chance, already ready to run and “negotiate” with yet another deranged maniac hungry for blood and territorial grabs.

Glory to Ukraine!

[Nuno M. Salgueiro @nmsalgueiro]

@USAmbEU This must be really embarrassing for you. Or maybe not, you don’t look intelligent enough to understand.

[Stephan Jensen @StephanAJensen]

Maybe you should have thought of that before you threatened to invade Denmark 🤷‍♂️

Yeah, that happened. You really did do that.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

Russia runs an influence and disruption campaign against the US and its allies. Western intelligence services and major investigative reporting have repeatedly described the core objective in plain terms: weaken NATO cohesion, fracture Western unity, erode trust in democratic institutions, and trigger internal polarization. Russia benefits most when the US turns inward and treats allies as rivals.

Against that backdrop, Trump has repeatedly advanced positions that line up with what Moscow wants, whether intentionally or not. He has attacked NATO’s credibility and signaled conditional commitment, which makes deterrence weaker and encourages Russian risk taking.

He has turned trade and alliance management into constant confrontation, including broad tariff threats and punitive measures that trigger retaliation and pull partners away from US led coordination. He has also normalized the idea that international cooperation is a loss, pushing the US toward withdrawal, non compliance, or sabotage of multilateral arrangements that the US itself built to anchor global influence.

Domestically, the same pattern helps Russia even without any secret coordination. When a US president undermines courts, delegitimizes elections, attacks independent media, and frames political opponents as enemies, the result is predictable: less trust, more division, and a weaker state capacity to respond to external threats. When the US is consumed by internal conflict, allies hedge, institutions stall, and the West’s collective response to Russia becomes slower and less unified.

The factual claim is that Russia wins when American leadership weakens alliances, escalates trade conflict with partners, withdraws from cooperative frameworks, and inflames domestic division, and Trump’s approach has repeatedly produced exactly those outcomes.