Martin von Willebrand

HODGES: Little over year ago, Trump and Vance yelled at Zelenskyy in the Oval Office with this ridiculous assertion that Ukraine had “no cards”. Here we are today, where Ukraine is helping Gulf countries defend themselves against Iranian drones. What an amazing turn of events.

If only Europeans showed the same motivation to defend Ukraine from shaheds as they do to defend the Middle East. Our continent should be more of a priority, but it sadly isn’t

It is nearly impossible for a European to comprehend the psychological reality inside Russia. It is not just "fake news." It is a total deconstruction of reality. Let me try to immerse you in the world Russians live in [1/9]

"We will liberate our land. There is no alternative. But we must understand that every kilometer comes at a high cost, and that is why we need time, support, and unity." "I ask you, do not get tired of supporting Ukraine". - Volodymyr Zelensky 🇺🇦 President of Ukraine

Hungarian youths are already celebrating, the regime change concert is on full swing, 48 hours before the election

If ASEAN had to choose between the U.S. and China, who would it pick? s.nikkei.com/4ctJy6z

The Most Expensive Mistake Since Someone Invaded Russia in Winter For years, Trump told Europe it was freeloading. Not paying its share. Weak, comfortable, ungrateful. He said it so often it became received wisdom, carved into the MAGA catechism as though Moses himself had brought it down from the mountain. The numbers do not cooperate. European NATO members spent $454 billion on defence in 2024. Russia, the actual threat, spent $149 billion. Europe outspends the aggressor three to one. But that $454 billion is the floor, not the ceiling. Trump uses the narrowest possible accounting definition and presents it as the complete picture. European support to Ukraine’s armed forces alone exceeds €63 billion. None of that appears in the number he waves around at rallies. Meanwhile, America pays roughly 16 percent of NATO’s common budget. Germany pays a similar share. The rest of the American defence budget funds 750 bases across 80 countries and the considerable overhead of running a global empire nobody formally asked Washington to build. At The Hague in 2025, Trump got his great concession. Europeans committed to 5 percent of GDP on defence by 2035. He called it a historic achievement. He was right, in the same way that a man who kicks over a hornets nest is right to call it a significant event. Because 80 percent of European defence spending already flows to domestic suppliers. The EU now formally targets 60 percent of all procurement from European manufacturers by 2035. Germany directs 92 percent of new defence purchases to European suppliers. American systems receive 8 percent. Berlin was once one of Washington’s most reliable arms customers. It has quietly stopped being one, and European capitals are not embarrassed about why. European weapons arrive without usage restrictions, without congressional conditions, without the risk that a change in Washington renders your equipment politically unusable. Ukraine taught Europe that lesson at considerable cost. The American defence research machine runs partly on allied procurement. When Europeans buy American hardware, they co-fund the next generation of American military technology. When they stop, that bill lands on the American taxpayer. Trump demanded Europe pay more. Europe is paying more, to itself, building the industrial base that makes American partnership optional rather than necessary. He wanted customers. He created competitors. The arithmetic was never complicated. It just required someone to actually do it. Stay connected, Follow Gandalv @Microinteracti1

At least the windows have bars in prison. Just watch out with the tea.

@IlvesToomas And underwear.

Finnish OS for the free world

France has begun plans to move government desktops from Windows to Linux. Each ministry must submit a formal implementation plan by autumn 2026 as part of the country’s push for greater digital sovereignty and reduced reliance on foreign technology providers.

Just a reminder: in 1982, when Great Britain was attacked by Argentina, starting the Falklands War, the United States did not come to their aid because the Falklands are not in the North Atlantic and the British did not bitch about it. In 1956, when the French and British attacked Egypt, causing the Suez Crisis, despite the fact that France and Great Britain are in NATO, the United States not only refused to assist, but went to the United Nations to condemn them for attacking Egypt. In 2019, when Turkey decided to attack Syria, the Trump administration had the Pentagon send out an official notice that they did not support the campaign and would not send troops. So kindly shut the fuck up, everyone in the White House.

No nyt ollaan jännän äärellä. Suomen sähköntuotanto 2300 MW alijäämäinen iltapäivällä, mutta Baltiasta virtaa 700 MW puhdasta sähköä. Baltian maiden aurinkovoima tuottaa 113% heidän tarpeestaan ja lisäksi tuuli- ja vesivoimaa heillä yli 1000 MW verran huhtikuun alussa 10.4. klo 13. Ei hassumpaa.

"...every square meter of our land is Ukrainian land and, with all due respect to any of our partners, it is definitely not theirs."

ZELENSKYY’S response to JD VANCE: Vice President, with all due respect, isn't taking part in negotiations between US, Ukraine, and Russia. Otherwise he would understand the difference between 'scrap of land' and sovereign territory of Ukraine. This important territory is priority from security perspective with strong defensive structures, fortifications, and where about 200,000 people currently live. He would understand that Russia's goal is occupation of Eastern Ukraine in order to prepare a bridgehead for subsequent offensive actions. So, before doing anything, we need to have detailed security guarantees. For now, Ukraine simply does not have security guarantees necessary to talk about other steps. And of course, every square meter of our land is Ukrainian land and, with all due respect to any of our partners, it is definitely not theirs.

Ex-CIA Director, Petraeus: Ukraine will be the most important military industrial complex in the free world. It is producing cutting-edge unmanned systems in the air, on the ground and at sea. Software changes come in under a week, hardware changes every few weeks. 1/

USA HAS NO BASES IN EUROPE‼️ They like to say 'their bases,' but it’s just a fantasy! All bases are owned and sovereign to the host nation. USA uses these bases FOR FREE‼️ Our tax money is SUBSIDISING THE US ARMY‼️ BASES: * Pituffik Space Base Greenland 🇬🇱
Owner: 🇩🇰
Rent payer: 🇩🇰 * Morón Air Base 🇪🇸
Owner: 🇪🇸
Rent payer: 🇪🇸 * Ramstein Air Base 🇩🇪
Owner: 🇩🇪
Rent payer: 🇩🇪 * NSF Redzikowo 🇵🇱
Owner: 🇵🇱
Rent payer: 🇵🇱 * Aviano Air Base 🇮🇹
Owner: 🇮🇹
Rent payer: 🇮🇹 * RAF Lakenheath 🇬🇧
Owner: 🇬🇧
Rent payer: 🇬🇧 * Lajes Field (Azores) 🇵🇹
Owner: 🇵🇹
Rent payer: 🇵🇹 * Incirlik Air Base 🇹🇷
Owner: 🇹🇷
Rent payer: 🇹🇷 * Chièvres Air Base 🇧🇪
Owner: 🇧🇪
Rent payer: 🇧🇪 * Spangdahlem Air Base 🇩🇪
Owner: 🇩🇪
Rent payer: 🇩🇪 * US Army Garrison Ansbach 🇩🇪
Owner: 🇩🇪
Rent payer: 🇩🇪 * US Army Garrison Bavaria 🇩🇪
Owner: 🇩🇪
Rent payer: 🇩🇪 * US Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz 🇩🇪
Owner: 🇩🇪
Rent payer: 🇩🇪 * US Army Garrison Stuttgart 🇩🇪
Owner: 🇩🇪
Rent payer: 🇩🇪 * US Army Garrison Wiesbaden 🇩🇪
Owner: 🇩🇪
Rent payer: 🇩🇪 * RAF Mildenhall 🇬🇧
Owner: 🇬🇧 Rent payer: 🇬🇧 * RAF Fairford 🇬🇧
Owner: 🇬🇧
Rent payer: 🇬🇧 * RAF Menwith Hill 🇬🇧
Owner: 🇬🇧
Rent payer: 🇬🇧 * RAF Fylingdales 🇬🇧
Owner: 🇬🇧
Rent payer: 🇬🇧 * Naval Air Station Sigonella 🇮🇹
Owner: 🇮🇹
Rent payer: 🇮🇹 * Naval Support Activity Naples 🇮🇹
Owner: 🇮🇹
Rent payer: 🇮🇹 * US Army Garrison Italy (Vicenza) 🇮🇹
Owner: 🇮🇹
Rent payer: 🇮🇹 * NSA Souda Bay (Crete) 🇬🇷
Owner: 🇬🇷
Rent payer: 🇬🇷 * Naval Station Rota 🇪🇸
Owner: 🇪🇸
Rent payer: 🇪🇸 * Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base 🇷🇴
Owner: 🇷🇴
Rent payer: 🇷🇴 * NSF Deveselu 🇷🇴
Owner: 🇷🇴
Rent payer: 🇷🇴 The US only covers their own operational costs on the European bases. Host nations subsidises 34% of the operational costs on average, through free utilities, logistics, maintenance, support staff, waived taxes and direct financial aid etc + free rent. In Germany alone the USA has 119 facilities - ALL PAID BY GERMAN TAX MONEY ‼️ #NAFO

Tänä päivänä 1865 Yhdysvaltojen sisällissota päättyi. Unionin kenraali Grant kohteli antautuvaa Lee’tä suurella kunnioituksella. Hän ei vaatinut nöyryyttävää antautumista. Lee sai pitää miekkansa, hänen upseerinsa hevosensa, eikä sotilaita vangittu, vaan heidät päästettiin kotiin sanoin: “He eivät enää taistele meitä vastaan.” Antautumisehdot kirjasi ylös Grantin adjutantti, everstiluutnantti Parker, syntyperältään seneca-intiaani. Kun Lee huomasi Parkerin, hän totesi: “Olen iloinen nähdessäni täällä todellisen amerikkalaisen.” Parker vastasi: “Me olemme kaikki amerikkalaisia.”   Molemmat osapuolet pyrkivät säilyttämään arvokkuuden ja kunnioituksen vaikeassa tilanteessa, mikä osaltaan edisti kansakunnan eheytymistä sodan jälkeen. Hetki historiassa on jollain tavoin kohottava. Suurten konfliktien keskellä löytyy kohtaamisia, joissa on läsnä kunnioitus, myötätunto ja toivo🙏🏼

1/2. Notice that after losing the war Trump threatens his allies rather than Russia — even though Russia quite literally helped Iran defeat the US and he knows it.

Karoline Leavitt: “They were tested and they failed.” Here’s the thing about NATO that apparently needs explaining to the most powerful government on earth: it is not a taxi. You do not ring NATO. You do not place an order. You do not specify delivery within 72 hours and then stand in the Rose Garden bewildered that nothing has turned up. NATO is a collective defence alliance built on the radical concept that its members are, in fact, members, with votes and opinions and sovereign militaries they get to deploy according to their own national interests. This is written down. It has been written down since 1949. The documents are available in English. Nobody in this administration has read them. Let’s go back to Greenland for a moment, because this is apparently where the rot set in. Trump wanted Greenland. Just wanted it. Asked if he could have it. Was told no, it belongs to Denmark, which is a NATO ally, which means the whole thing was always going to be diplomatically awkward at best and catastrophically self-defeating at worst. His response was not to reflect on this. His response was to decide that NATO was a large problem. An alliance of thirty-two nations that has kept the peace in Europe for seventy-five years was, in his assessment, getting in the way of his property acquisition. This tells you everything you need to know about how the man thinks. And it tells you everything about who he hired to think alongside him. Every serious leader in history, every CEO worth the title, every general who ever won anything, has operated on the same basic principle: hire people smarter than yourself. Steve Jobs did it. Churchill did it. Every remotely competent executive who ever ran anything of consequence understood that your job is not to be the cleverest person in the building. Your job is to find the cleverest people in the building and then get out of their way. Surround yourself with people who will tell you when you’re wrong. Who know things you don’t. Who have read the documents.Trump inverted this entirely. A cabinet selected not for expertise but for loyalty. Not for knowledge but for the willingness to perform agreement. Pete Hegseth at Defence. A communications team that announces things with confidence at a ratio entirely disconnected from understanding. An administration where the qualification for the job was, essentially, never making the man at the top feel inadequate. The outcome of this philosophy is Karoline Leavitt at a podium reading four words as though she had just solved something. Delivered with the serene confidence of someone who has never had to sit in a room and actually work out what NATO is, how it functions, why it was built, or what the word collective means in the context of collective defence. They were tested and they failed. Europe is not shaking its fist. Europe is shaking its head. Slowly. Wearily. In the way you do when you’ve explained something seventeen times and the person across the table still hasn’t got it and you’ve finally accepted that they never will. The allies are building their own defence architecture now, with people in the room who have read the documents. They stopped waiting for Washington to grow into the role some time ago. And somewhere in all of this, Greenland is still Danish. Still will be tomorrow. NATO is still an alliance of sovereign nations who get to say no. Still will be next week. And the White House is still staffed by people who find both of these facts baffling. Some things don’t change just because you haven’t understood them.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​ Stay connected, Follow Gandalv @Microinteracti1