The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage, a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China ft.com/content/20d067…

#OpenAccess from European Journal of International Security - Dangerous allies? Small states and great power entrapment risks - cup.org/4iWeb4C - Andris Banka #FirstView

🚨 New and open access: "Dangerous allies? Small states and great power entrapment risks" from Andris Banka (IFZO Greifswald). 📖👉 Read in full here: cambridge.org/core/journals/…

‘Elon Musk’s …Grok was malfunctioning on Wednesday, repeatedly mentioning “white genocide” in South Africa in its responses to unrelated topics. It also told users it was “instructed by my creators” to accept the genocide “as real and racially motivated”’ theguardian.com/technology/202…

Putin was actually fine with the Baltic states joining NATO in 2004. And there was no movement on Ukraine’s accession since the Bucharest summit in 2008, as the Russians are well aware. Here is a good write-up of this revisionist plaint. martenscentre.eu/news/the-forgo…

"As to NATO enlargement, we have no concerns regarding the security of the Russian Federation." Putin's talk of a NATO security threat to Russia is a relatively recent invention. When the Baltic states joined in 2004, he was not at all concerned martenscentre.eu/news/the-forgo…

"Brazilian investigators suspect that KGB operatives, working undercover during the USSR's final years, may have filed birth certificates in the names of fictitious newborns—hoping that a future generation of Russian spies would someday claim them" nytimes.com/2025/05/22/wor…

A hugely underrated statement here by Boris Yeltsin. This is from Jan. 14, 1994. Note the ambition.

Sinister & authoritarian. “Kristi Noem…sent a letter to Harvard requesting, among other things, coursework for every international student and information on any student visa holder involved in misconduct or illegal activity.” nytimes.com/2025/05/23/us/…

Trump administration is ordering US embassies and consular sections to stop scheduling interviews for student visas as it weighs requiring social media vetting for all applicants, Politico reports bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Scoop! President Trump has privately communicated to NATO that America's next top general in Europe will also be SACEUR, overseeing NATO operations. The move allays fears from NATO allies and even fellow Republicans that the U.S. might relinquish its traditional role as it

Imagine having to restaff the IRGC brass and not knowing who is and isn’t an Israeli agent.

We made it. 🇩🇪 Luftwaffe executed landings on a public highway near #Tallinn. Many thanks Estonian Defence Forces | Eesti Kaitsevägi for the excellent cooperation.

"NATO’s history is an odd combination of epic, history-changing achievements and existential crises", via Hal Brands bloomberg.com/opinion/featur…

NEWS: The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early US intelligence assessment. cnn.com/2025/06/24/pol…

“Two sources told Axios they had reason to believe the [new US] plan was likely to include long-range missiles that could reach targets deep inside Russian territory, including Moscow” axios.com/2025/07/14/tru…

During a pivotal push by Ukraine to retake territory from Russia in late September 2022, Elon Musk gave an order that disrupted the counteroffensive and dented Kyiv’s trust in Starlink reuters.com/investigations…

🚨Ukrainian President Zelensky is planning to travel to Washington as early as Monday to meet President Trump, a source with direct knowledge told me

Western capitals sketched out a rough plan that would be a DMZ zone, possibly patrolled by neutral peacekeepers... A more robust border behind that would be defended by Ukrainian troops armed by Nato armies... A European-led deterrence force then stationed deeper in Ukraine as