Hugo Dixon

My X account was hacked a few days ago. I have deleted the offending comments and reposts. I hope this will not recur.

The Delphic Oracle told King Croesus that if he attacked the Persians in 546 BC he would destroy a great empire. He thought he would smash their civilisation but it was actually his own that he wrecked. Is Trump today’s Croesus?

@SecScottBessent So, basically, remove sanctions on Russia, remove sanctions on Iranian oil, send 5000 troops into harm's way, ask Congress for another 200 billion, keep the same regime in place, and recover none of the 60% enriched uranium. Oh, and bomb a girl's school, killing 170. Nice job!

Χαίρομαι που μπορώ να πω ότι είμαι έλληνας. Να την ιστορία της ελληνικής μου Οδύσσεια. kathimerini.gr/society/564026…

.@vonderleyen backed a reparation loan for Ukraine. Here’s how we think it should work ukrainereparationloan.com

An op-ed by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Lee Buchheit and me on how Merz can help Ukraine with Russia’s $300 billion frozen assets internationalepolitik.de/de/wie-merz-de…

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.

Me and the boys are practicing

@vonderleyen smart move

Europe is ready to negotiate with the US. We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods. Because we're always ready for a good deal. But we’re also prepared to respond with countermeasures. And protect ourselves against indirect effects through trade diversion.

@albertocavallo oops!

While the USTR tariff calculator cites the findings from Cavallo, Gopinath, Neiman & Tang (2021) it is not entirely clear how they use our findings. Based on our research, the elasticity of import prices with respect to tariffs is closer to 1. If that figure were used instead of 0.25, the implied reciprocal tariffs would come out about four times smaller.

Trump could be the gift that heals Brexit - my latest reuters.com/breakingviews/…

4. The EU has other higher priority strategic issues: defence, defence, defence. The sooner it can defend itself (and ideally Ukraine), the sooner it can stand up to Trump.

3. Instead, the EU should let China pummel it out with the US - and hope that the coming US recession and inflation will undermine Trump.

1. Those wanting the EU to hit back hard against Trump’s tariffs think it will force him to back off. I’m doubtful. He can hit harder – not just with tariffs but sanctions and threats to remove the US military umbrella. And any unity the EU cobbled together would crumble fast

Dear @FoxNews For almost three decades you have always had the stock market ticker on screen during all of your shows. Today - after three decades - it was removed. Why??

So I put a quick timeline on the insane Signal classified chat and sure enough it looks like Kremlin asset Witkoff was in Moscow when he was added to the Houthi chat. I checked Russian media and he left 3/14 Friday morning (Moscow time) meanwhile the chat was set up Thursday

@KofmanMichael Agreed. I think the European force doesn’t need to be on the front line but near the front line. as such, it wouldn’t really be a tripwire – and its role wouldn’t be to monitor the ceasefire. Its role would be to help Ukraine fight back if Russia attacks again.

Brief thoughts on a European force for Ukraine. I think there is a degree of requirements paralysis. It doesn’t have to be hundreds of thousands of troops, or cover a 1200km contact line. Where it is deployed, and in what role, is more important than the overall size. 1/

Trump and Musk’s ally-bullying weakens the West | my latest column reuters.com/breakingviews/…