Luc Van Braekel

@Dan_Schwartz @PM_ViktorOrban I never posted in support of Orban because I get the inside scoop from Hungarians. He was extremely corrupt, and the economic stagnation is no joke. Magyar was widely perceived as Orban minus corruption.

.@vonderleyen "The European #AgeVerification app is technically ready. It respects the highest privacy standards in the world. It's open-source, so anyone can check the code..." I did. It didn't take long to find what looks like a serious #privacy issue. The app goes to great lengths to protect the AV data AFTER collection (is_over_18: true is AES-GCM'd); it does so pretty well. But, the source image used to collect that data is written to disk without encryption and not deleted correctly. For NFC biometric data: It pulls DG2 and writes a lossless PNG to the filesystem. It's only deleted on success. If it fails for any reason (user clicks back, scan fails & retries, app crashes etc), the full biometric image remains on the device in cache. This is protected with CE keys at the Android level, but the app makes no attempt to encrypt/protect them. For selfie pictures: Different scenario. These images are written to external storage in lossless PNG format, but they're never deleted. Not a cache... long-term storage. These are protected with DE keys at the Android level, but again, the app makes no attempt to encrypt/protect them. This is akin to taking a picture of your passport/government ID using the camera app and keeping it just in case. You can encrypt data taken from it until you're blue in the face... leaving the original image on disk is crazy & unnecessary. From a #GDPR standpoint: Biometric data collected is special category data. If there's no lawful basis to retain it after processing, that's potentially a material breach. youtube.com/watch?v=4VRRri…

Happy Tax Day! It’s good to remember that the Top 1% of earners pay 46% of all federal income taxes. The bottom 50% of America pays for just 2%.

Average American workers pay low taxes compared to those in EU countries, Cato’s @adamnmichel and @SantiagoForster report. Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, and Italy confiscate more than half of their workers’ pretax compensation. An average US worker sends less than a third of their income to the government. ow.ly/Aw1T50YHiqv

I genuinely don’t know whether to laugh or lose my mind anymore at this European hypocritical double standards. When it comes to Vladimir Putin, suddenly it’s Churchillian resolve. No compromise. No dialogue. Arm Ukraine to the teeth, sanction everything that moves, wreck your own energy security if necessary - because tyranny must be confronted. Fine. I actually respect the consistency of that … in isolation. But then you turn around and lecture us - us - the Gulf monarchies, Jordan and Israel, about showing restraint with Tehran? About dialogue? About coexistence? Are you serious? For forty years - forty bloody years - this regime has been waging a shadow war across the region. Militias, proxies, sleeper cells, terror networks, destabilizing entire countries - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen - and threatening the Gulf monarchies, Jordan, and Israel nonstop. This isn’t theoretical. This isn’t abstract. This is lived reality. And yet here come Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, and the rest of the European choir, gently advising us to calm down, de-escalate, and - what was it again? - “give diplomacy a chance.” Diplomacy with who, exactly? With a system that has built its entire regional strategy on plausible deniability and proxy terror violence? You were willing to absorb inflation, energy shocks, and political backlash at home to confront Moscow. You made that choice. You said: this is the price of standing up to a tyrant. So don’t come here and tell us - after decades of being on the receiving end - that we should just sit down, smile politely, and “coexist.” Either you believe in confronting tyranny everywhere .. or you don’t. Macron, Starmer, rest of EU leaders and top bureaucrats should just STFU and spare us the self righteous sanctimonious lectures!🤐🤫

BREAKING: Vance reveals that whatever skepticism he had about the Iran war went away after meeting them face to face. He makes clear that these people can never be trusted.

@dua_rob @wduyck Dan had hij “minimuminspanning” moeten zeggen in plaats van “minimumuitkering”.

Wat Jeroen bedoelt is: ik kan perfect gaan werken maar ik kan heel prettig leven als ik dat niet doe, en mijn buurman die wél gaat werken de helft van zijn salaris afstaat om mijn prettige uitkering te betalen. Dat is ‘sociaal’.

Five things I've found almost no Europeans know (and lots of Americans don't either) that warps the view of America vs. Europe: - The distance from NYC to LA is as great as the distance from Moscow to Lisbon; - If you measure across all of Europe (excluding Russia, which would make the comparison worse for Europe), not just within each country, income inequality is greater than in the US, even though Europe is geographically smaller; - The overwhelming majority of Americans have much greater access to insured quality healthcare than the median European; - Disposable household income in the poorest US state, Mississippi, is higher than in any country in Europe that is as large or larger than Rhode Island; - How federalism works in the U.S. Ignorance on these 5 simple issues alone explains much of how people (incorrectly) view life in the U.S. vs. life in Europe.

@ABell2019 @MichaelARothman The US did sign, but did not ratify, UNCLOS.

The US naval response referred to international law. The relevant law is UNCLOS. And guess what? The US, in pursuit of American exceptionalism, and as with many international treaties, REFUSED TO SIGN. As, incidentally, did Iran. So tough luck US, you can't run squeaking to UNCLOS now. Negotiate, idiots.

𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍’𝐒 𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐎𝐄𝐃 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓 — 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 This will be fun. Iran’s Navy just 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 transiting the Strait of Hormuz, warning them to stay away. The U.S. response? They cited 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 and kept right on sailing. Iran threatened to fire. The American destroyers didn’t flinch. This is a regime whose 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 by Operation Epic Fury — their leadership is gone, their missile sites are rubble, their navy is a ghost fleet. And their response to two U.S. destroyers clearing mines from international waters is to get on the radio and bluff. More embarrassment is coming to the Iranian regime. They’re a paper tiger broadcasting threats from the wreckage of their own military infrastructure, and 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 in real time. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐍𝐚𝐯𝐲. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭.

Speaking as someone inside Iran who stayed connected through Starlink during the total blackout, I can sincerely affirm the real mood across the country right now: We are relieved the ceasefire negotiations collapsed. The spirit inside Iran and the genuine desires of the people stand totally against any truce or bargaining with this brutal regime — particularly figures like Ghalibaf, a murdering psychopath who has countless Iranian blood on his hands. Every form of engagement or compromise with the Islamic Republic is strongly opposed by ordinary Iranians. We are determined to complete the uprising we launched in January. Any support the international community — above all the United States — can offer is deeply appreciated. For nearly five decades we have suffered relentless torture, sexual violence, executions, degradation, and sorrow at the hands of this tyranny. The outside world has no real grasp of the extent of our pain. The Iranian public feels zero concern for Hezbollah, yet the regime is ready to endanger the entire nation for them. They have always prioritized their terrorist proxies over the well-being of their own citizens. We exhausted every peaceful option: huge street demonstrations, open resistance, attempts at gradual reform, dialogue — you name it. None succeeded. The regime’s consistent reply has been gunfire, nooses, and fresh waves of fear. With the talks now broken down, I’m writing this from inside Iran with mixed emotions of anxiety, hope and grief. Whatever unfolds from here, most Iranians will feel a sense of release. No price is too steep to get rid of this evil regime and the price of letting this nightmare drag on is far greater, and for many of us, even dying feels better than one more day under these monsters. This reflects the authentic voice of the majority of Iranians — a people who frequently lack internet access, global reach, or any platform to speak. When we lose internet access, the Iranian diaspora becomes our voice abroad. While the ceasefire talks dragged on, they took to the streets in protest, clearly showing the world that we reject any negotiation with this regime and want Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to represent the Iranian people — because no one inside this regime ever can. As I have said before, the world will soon see why we declare: Anything for freedom. Anything to destroy this evil. #IranRevolution2026‌ #KingRezaPahlavi‌

It's crazy to me how Robin Hood is now popularized as "stealing from the rich to give to the poor" (Socialist messaging) In reality, Robin Hood stole back the taxes that a cruel leader unjustly levied against the population (Anti-socialist messaging)

The American empire is arrogant, brutal and the only thing standing between Western civilisation and those who want to end it. You can hate Trump’s America all you like, but who else can defend the West? The EU? Don’t be ridiculous, says Joel Kotkin buff.ly/93CB5Z0

In this conflict, the UAE is playing the role of Margaret Thatcher, making sure we don’t go wobbly. Not the UK. Certainly not France and definitely not Spain. It’s the UAE reminding the world of the principles at stake and the importance of defeating Iran once and for all.

Normal, sane, people on X need to come to grips with the following reality The people getting the clicks on X are largely driven by foreign accounts trying to promote extreme points of views It happened when the left controlled Twitter, it's happening now when the right is dominant What this means is that many Americans on the left have been radicalized to think that men can be women and that cops want to kill black people...it also means many Americans on the right have been radicalized to be antisemitic and to think isolationism is the way forward So if you're still here, try to find sane people, unswayed by engagement, to give you honest takes on what's happening...otherwise you're just joining a cult

Thinking about this Bono quote again

Your daily reminder that the USS Bush, USS Ford, and USS Boxer all converge on the Middle East at exactly the same time the "ceasefire" ends.

We live in an era of admiration of hysteria, neuroticism, and narcissism. Endless waves of panic, perpetual emotional incontinence. You know the answer…

Funny how anti-Americanism in Europe is proportional to distance from Russia.

If you've never negotiated to buy a Persian rug in the Middle East, you probably don't understand what's going on right now😂

Marc Andreessen: "Starlink just hit massive subscriber numbers, but most people don't realize this used to be the ultimate 'graveyard' business." Back in the 90s, Bill Gates and Craig McCaw (the guy who basically built what is now AT&T Mobile) teamed up to launch Teledesic—a satellite internet network. The result? A complete catastrophe and total bankruptcy. Motorola tried it next with Iridium. It became a classic business school case study in complete capital destruction. Then Elon Musk comes along and says, "I'm going to do number three." Anyone who knew the history of satellites thought it was the craziest idea in the world. But Elon saw the board differently. In retrospect, it's total genius. Because SpaceX figured out reusable rockets, they were going to be launching constantly. Instead of waiting around for customers to bring him payloads to fill those rockets, he just decided to build his own. He built a consumer-priced, global internet network as a side project at his rocket ship company. It’s an absolute masterclass. Andreessen points out that there's a clear method here—a brilliant mix of the "Henry Ford" and "Alexander the Great" playbooks. It combines raw, zero-to-one invention with massive, brute-force scale. SpaceX isn't just a company anymore; they are literally building their own city down in Texas. It is a unique formula that captures both sides of the spectrum—and yet, it's maybe the least studied and understood business model in the world right now.