Just a reminder: France, to liberate a French hostage in Azerbaijan, wants to take Z oligarch Usmanov from the sanctions list. So ashaming @EmmanuelMacron All Europeans overseas are now potential hostages to get someone desanctioned. lemonde.fr/article-offert/94…

The US cannot compete with Denmark.

A good start

A chemical tanker is enroute to Aughinish. It departed Buetzfleth, Stade, Germany. There is a Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) manufacturing plant close to the jetty it departed from. This is used in the extraction of alumina from bauxtie. Is Germany ok with this? #alumina22 /1

The US Justice Department is now formally intervening in X’s appeal against a €120 million EU fine. The argument they brought reveals how this administration understands sovereignty. Brussels fined X in December 2025 under the Digital Services Act. The charges: insufficient transparency, restricted data access, and a verification system designed to launder engagement rather than verify identity. Washington’s response? The European Commission “unlawfully expanded its regulatory powers” over American companies outside its jurisdiction. That claim collapses on contact with the facts. X operates in the EU market. It sells ads to EU users. It collects EU data. A company becomes subject to EU law the moment it does business there, just as any European company operating in the US is subject to American law, and that reciprocity forms the basic architecture of international commerce. The second argument is even weaker. The DOJ complains the Commission calculated the fine using Musk’s aggregate global revenues, not just X’s EU income. That is standard regulatory practice for deterrence. A fine based only on EU revenue would be a parking ticket for a company whose owner treats sovereign regulators as customer service. What Washington is actually defending is the right of an American oligarch to run a disinformation platform inside a democratic market without consequence. Trump called the fine “foreign extortion. ” The extortion is coming from inside the administration. The EU should not tolerate this. Not because it opposes America. Because tolerating it means accepting that a foreign government can shield its tech monopolies from the laws of every democracy where they operate. That is something else. A permission structure for platform-enabled election interference. And when it happens is important. The administration pushing to control Europe's leadership also boosts far-right groups across the continent. The X case concerns something other than a fine. The question is whether the EU still has the nerve to enforce its own rules when the pressure comes from Washington instead of Moscow. If Brussels folds here, every autocrat learns the same lesson: buy a platform, capture an administration, and democratic regulation becomes optional.

I’m a human and russia is my enemy

Luxemburg got Mikhail Fridman off the sanctions list because he was suing them over frozen 14 billion €. Now he has access to these 14 billion €. That pays for 70000 Geran 4 or 700000 Geran 2 drones. Bravo Luxemburg! Bravo 🇫🇷 for starting this game! alexzfinley.substack.com/p/t…

A big report on @berlinstory in Ukraine the Latest. Congrats @ennolenze Good night and Slava Ukraini

Liebe Freunde, nur 500 € werden benötigt, um Instantsuppen aus Polen nach Cherson zu transportieren. Danke allen, die die Versorgung der Zivilisten unterstützen.

Rybar is THE Z milblogger. Turns out it operates from Berlin.

Recently, we sent two North Korean prisoners of war to the Republic of Korea… These guys are not easy to capture alive. One of them, when he realized he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself. And he was shocked that fate did not let him die. This is how they raise people in the North. They take away their freedom. They take away their right to choose. And they drill into them that they must die, no matter what. Do you really want to give such a force more time to learn how to wage war? From an address to UNGA. (2/7)

russian GRU trying to cause a fire at a Munich construction site.

Ach schau mal an. faz.net/aktuell/politik/inla…

🚨Russian Shadow Fleet Alert Sanctioned Russian shadow tanker VELLAMO flying a false Sierra Leone flag is currently SW of Ireland sailing in a NW direction. She is likely returning to Russia but keeping a wide berth of Ireland to do so. Slightly unusual route and suggests her main decision was to avoid the English Channel where she would be more likely to be arrested than off the West of Ireland.

He is right - look at them

Good opportunity for #FiverFriday

The convicted, ruble-grabbing Marine Le Pen is out here acting like helping Ukraine is somehow bankrupting France. Host: “…. no longer financial aid from France? » Le Pen: “We can no longer do it. I have reiterated this once again: we can continue to train their soldiers, we can train their military leadership, we can provide them with material aid, in particular military equipment, but we can no longer grant financial aid to Ukraine.” The financial aid she’s crying about is a microscopic fraction of the French budget—around 0.12% of France's yearly spending. And then there’s the ultimate hypocrisy: lecturing the public about wasted money while representing a party whose own MEPs spent a decade and a half treating the European Parliament like a personal ATM. As for her brilliant "alternative" of training Ukrainian soldiers? Yeah, because French troops clearly have more combat experience than the army actually fighting the war. Pure demagoguery, start to finish.