Ex-@StgMiraMedia @OpenSociety @CEU but that's a while ago. Originally studied E-European history. Love elections, maps, charts. Also on Bluesky, better there.
Joined March 2009
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This defines Central Europe pretty well:
The Slavic Congress of 1848 was one of the most Slavic events to ever happen. They met, pretended to understand each other’s languages as mutually intelligible, secretly repeated each stipulation in German in private, agreed on absolutely nothing.
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How a Romanian family was forced to flee their home last night: "The house was pelted with bricks, and lit fireworks were shoved through the letterbox. Another neighbour helped the family to escape after men in balaclavas broke down the door."
theguardian.com/uk-news/2026…
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I don't like the framing of Lynch's post, nor that of the IRSP statement. But without endorsing either, they give a sense of how the ground might shift in catholic communities too, even if they won't slide into such outright fascist scenes quite as easily
x.com/arisroussinos/status/2…
Jun 9
Very good and measured response, as you would expect from Gerry. The one thing I would add is that the IRSP (which possesses what we can euphemistically term influence in the area) has recently begun addressing immigration as a point of differentiation with Sinn Féin
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"Unaided flight (using own wings)"
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The age group that expresses by far the most regret that generative AI exists? 18-24 year olds
‘Backrooms’ director Kane Parsons has criticised AI as “cultural rot” and said if he could snap his fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, he would - but would the British public?
Would: 42%
Would not: 36%
Link in replies
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A key element of the AfD's strategy is its "calculated ambivalence". On both social policy and the meaning of "remigration," they prefer a "polyphony" of contradictory voices over clarifying a position, so they can keep catering to different electorates
linkedin.com/pulse/afd-im-os…
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It is far from impossible for a second placed candidate to win the run-off. Cepeda, however, is unlikely to pull that off in Colombia. "It is safe to say that Cepeda’s bid to be the comeback candidate has been a complete disaster".
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"Renewed invasion" being the right wording. Those who pretend this is just Russia responding to some speculative "NATO expansionism" studiously ignore that Russia already invaded Ukraine 7 years ago because it couldn't countenance closer EU ties either.
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Those who deflect blame for Russia's invasion by arguing that NATO "provoked" Putin and he was driven by legitimate security concerns, face the problem that Russia's initial aggression was sparked by Ukraine's approach to the EU, not NATO. Putin again literally admitted this:
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Rare moments in East-European politics: that time the Party of Communists of Moldova tried welding together its hammer and sickle and the EU stars (via @CristianCantir)
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In a run-off against Bardella, even the top candidates of the French centre and centre-right would lose, albeit narrowly.
Then there's the spectre of a run-off between the far right leader and leftist Mélenchon... who would be absolutely shellacked, 68% to 32%
May 29
France, Toluna-Harris poll:
Presidential run-off election
Bardella (RN-PfE): 54%
Philippe (HOR-RE): 46%
Bardella (RN-PfE): 57%
Attal (RE-RE): 43%
Bardella (RN-PfE): 68%
Mélenchon (LFI-LEFT): 32%
Fieldwork: 25-27 May 2026
Sample size: 1,744
➤ europeelects.eu/france
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Why did Orban finally lose? Asked what the government's main mistakes were that led to its election defeat, easily the top reasons people mentioned were corruption and the state of healthcare. The decline of the rule of law was mentioned by just 22%.
nepszava.hu/3323491_orban-vi…
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Unlike Népszabadság, which closed in 2016, Népszava survived Orbán's 16-year rule, if with some compromises. "It's hard to describe how surreal this feels": the very moment the press can finally do its job freely again, Hungary’s oldest independent newspaper faces a sudden end.
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Sinn Féin is a member of @Left_EU, but the way its profile fundamentally differs from your regular leftist outfit was perhaps nicely illustrated by vote transfers in the Dublin South bye-election. The SF candidate only lost in the 9th and last count.. rte.ie/news/bye-election-202… 1/2
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... By then, transfers had almost doubled her tally. But she got a lot more of them from anti-immigrant independent and gangland figure Gerry “the monk” Hutch than from eliminated leftwing candidates. Those preferred the Soc-Dem by a ratio of 4.6 to 1.
x.com/CSBlenner/status/20584…
Total transfers received by Sinn Féin from leftwing parties (Labour PBPS Greens) = 1,110
Transfers received by Sinn Féin from Gerard Hutch = 1,641
In contrast, the SDs got 5,078 transfers from the left and just 625 from Hutch.
Make of that what you will.
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The rise of the anti-migrant right is leaving Sinn Féin squeezed on both sides. Promising to “manage migration” helped it get "the most transfers when Hutch was eliminated, but that was at the cost of support from progressive and particularly women voters"
workersliberty.org/story/202…
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Op jacht naar een vierde zetel zoekt de SGP "refobaptisten" op, en zelfs katholieken zoals kardinaal Eijk. Tijdens de raadsverkiezingen stonden "baptisten, pinksterchristenen en een lid van de Russisch-Orthodoxe Kerk" op de lijst. Maar er klinkt gemorrel..
nd.nl/nieuws/politiek/131870…
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Tenslotte moeten SGP leden instemmen met de Heidelbergse Catechismus, waarin de katholieke mis ‘een vervloekte afgoderij’ is. "De G in de SGP staat niet voor godsdienstig, maar voor gereformeerd," schreef Chris Janse. "Instemming met de grondslag" [mag] geen formaliteit zijn."
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