Ole Kristian Lunde

Engaged in politics, music, art, AI, media, war and peace.

[Mykhailo Rohoza @MykhailoRohoza]

I never stop being amazed by them. Launching their “Birdhouse” — a strategic-class missile worth around $100 million, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead — at a garage complex in the Kyiv region.

Let’s calculate how much this night cost them.

One “Oreshnik” — roughly $100 million. Around ninety cruise and ballistic missiles: Kh-101s, Kalibrs, Iskander-Ks — at an average price of about $8 million each — that’s another roughly $720 million. Six hundred Shahed drones at $50,000 each — another $30 million. Plus fuel, launch platforms, maintenance, reconnaissance.

Total: around $850 million for a single night. Nearly a billion dollars.

And what did they get for that billion?

They hit garages in Bila Tserkva. Destroyed the “Kvadrat” shopping mall. Set the roof of a dormitory on fire in Darnytskyi district. Blew apart an entrance section of a five-story apartment building in Shevchenkivskyi district. Hit a market. A supermarket. A construction hypermarket in Obolon. Dropped debris onto the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium.

Two sleeping civilians killed. Fifty-six wounded, including children. Is this their strategic result for a billion dollars? This is their “special operation.” This is their “greatness.”

They cannot move forward on the battlefield. Cannot seize a single truly significant settlement. Cannot defeat the army of a country they promised to capture in three days four years ago. And in convulsions, in agony, in powerless rage, they strike residential neighborhoods at night — museums, markets, shops, garages.

Impotent on the battlefield, compensating for their failure with the number of munitions fired at sleeping civilians.

Blind evil and helplessness at the same time.

Monsters. Simply monsters. Rabid, paranoid lunatics with a nuclear button.

I have no other words left for them.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

There is a particular kind of American politician who, upon achieving high office, feels compelled to announce publicly the things he is most proud of.

It is, when you think about it, a remarkable instinct – the urge to share, unprompted, the moments you consider your finest hours.

JD Vance has decided that one of his proudest achievements is cutting off military aid to Ukraine.

Not, you understand, brokering a ceasefire. Not negotiating anything at all, really. Simply stopping the flow of weapons to a country that has been defending itself, with considerable tenacity and very little outside help, against the largest land invasion in Europe since 1945.

That is the thing that makes him proud.
It is worth pausing on the word “proudest” for a moment, because it does a great deal of work in that sentence.

Previous generations of American leadership had, by most accounts, a somewhat different set of things to be proud of.

George Marshall, who served as Secretary of State after World War Two, oversaw the reconstruction of an entire continent.

He didn’t do it because Europe asked nicely. He did it because he understood, with the particular clarity that comes from having watched the alternative, that democracies left to collapse tend to produce outcomes nobody enjoys.

Dwight Eisenhower, who had seen rather more of war than most people ever will, spent the rest of his life trying to prevent the next one through alliances, commitments and the steady accumulation of trust between nations.

These were not perfect men. But they grasped something that appears to have been entirely lost in the current administration – that American credibility is not a renewable resource.

You spend it once. You don’t get it back.

Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and JD Vance have, between them, the collective historical memory of a particularly inattentive golden retriever.

They have confused loudness with strength, grievance with principle, and the act of abandoning allies with something they have inexplicably decided to call realism.

Vance flew to Budapest recently, had what was described as a warm meeting with Viktor Orbán, and returned apparently satisfied that something useful had occurred.

Vance flew to Budapest, embraced Orbán warmly, and flew home.
Three weeks later, Orbán lost the Hungarian election in the most decisive repudiation of his rule in twenty years.
The Midas touch, in reverse.

The men who planned the Normandy landings – who coordinated seventeen Allied nations, crossed the most heavily defended coastline in history, and did it in bad weather with inadequate maps – would have found the current American foreign policy apparatus quite difficult to explain to their grandchildren.

Proudest, he said.

There it is, I suppose.

Gandalv / @Microinteracti1

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

I sincerely congratulate everyone in Ukraine and around the world who is celebrating Easter today.

In these very difficult times for our people and for all humanity, hope grows stronger than ever – the hope for the triumph of life over death, good over evil, and truth over lies. All that is symbolized by the Resurrection of the Lord.

May the strength of every one of our people, their spirit, and everything that is best in humanity – may all of it inevitably overcome evil and darkness, “shaheds” and missiles, injustice and occupation.

I wish everyone God’s grace and a peaceful life on our land and under Ukrainian skies, protected by our brave warriors.

May all prayers for protection from evil be heard today. May faith unite kind hearts and strengthen those who defend their home. May every nation come closer to true security. We believe in peace! We believe in Ukraine!

Happy Easter!

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@briantylercohen @PeteButtigieg Homeland insecurity

[Joakim 🌹🇳🇴🇪🇺 @joakial_]

The Norwegian party leaders exchanging kind words, handshakes, and hugs after the election result was clear. No one shouting that the election was rigged. I love my country ❤️

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@United24media

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@JohnCollins2x @Suzierizzo1 Crossed my mind too

[Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @JoshEakle]

The damage from these asinine tariffs will be immediate. Projections indicate that we’ll slip into a recession by Q2, and many people will lose their jobs.

But the deeper, more pernicious impacts will be far worse. Companies will shift their supply chains outside the U.S., our exports will be hit with retaliatory tariffs, and other nations will form free trade agreements that leave America out.

The long-term, unrealized economic consequences could set Americans back a generation.

And the worst part? It was all entirely avoidable.

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@Mike_Pence @KarenPence @SamaritansPurse Thank you for your brave and clear words, Mr Pence. It’s hard to find these days, but there is still some sanity left in the Republican Party!

[Javier Corrales @jcorrales2011]

All my life I have studied democratization and autocratization. My 1st field trip was to newly democratic Argentina. I then added autocracies to my portfolio: Cuba, Ven, etc. I think I can recognize the stages of transition to authoritarianism. Here are the boxes checked off.

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@bluhue123 👍

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@RpsAgainstTrump Putin style. 👍

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@Gerashchenko_en #RussiaIsATerroristState

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@Gerashchenko_en Strange how few outsiders that voluntarily would choose a life within the Russian Federation. Utterly unattractive! #RussiaIsATerroristState

[TrumpsTaxes (@trumpstaxes.com on bsky) @TrumpsTaxes]

These six minutes need to be shared with everyone.

Much appreciation to Jake Tapper for properly reporting on Trump’s fascist threat to use the U.S. military against American citizens, which has not generated the coverage elsewhere that it is due.

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@MykhailoRohoza I stand with Ukraine. 🇺🇦 Slava Ukraini!

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@TheOnlyEsta Yes!!!

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

@HaackJoe330 @Ideaman21 @RpsAgainstTrump Well spoken. The climate is getting warmer, wilder, wetter and rare weather phenomena are not so rare anymore. How bad does it have to be to convince those talking about a hoax? This is a debate nature will win.

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

Keep the Kyiv Independent going https://t.co/6wUr505cvo

[Ole Kristian Lunde @oklunde]

Nelfo foreslår å endre skatt på solstrøm. Regjeringens "knipetangmanøver" med skatt på solstrøm og redusert Enovastøtte har pussig nok lagt en demper på folks investeringsvilje. Reversering i sikte? https://t.co/jtiGhXHsgn