"Whatever happens now is only a starting point,” said a Western diplomat previously involved in nuclear talks. "That’s why the 2015 JCPOA [Iran nuclear deal] ran to 160 pages."
www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
Maybe I missed it, but did #Maduro turn himself in because of the US naval blockade?
Now watch #Greenland creep back to the top of Trump's agenda...
Nederland produceert als een van de weinige Europese landen behoorlijk wat #diesel en #kerosine.
Toch best handig zo'n petro-chemisch cluster.
Gulf states are (finally) discovering the importance of diversification...
Gulf states consider new pipelines to avoid Strait of Hormuz - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
Good, frustrating piece
+ this quote made me chuckle:
“I have spent the past 5 years telling people not to worry about Trump and NATO,” says a European diplomat in DC. “Now I am genuinely quite worried about Trump and NATO”
Perhaps he/she isnt a very good diplo
www.economist.com/europe/2026/...
US support for the war split along partisan lines
Maga stands by Trump on Iran — for now - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
I empathise for the 'Prioritisers' in the US administration
The ones that wanted to refocus US military attention away from Europe and the Middle East
So the US could concentrate on China
And who now see US military stocks depleted, costs soar, and assets deployed from the W-Pacific to Iran
🚨 New publication! 🚨
'Coercive Extractivism' describes US foreign policy towards Europe:
Washington leverages European dependencies (security, economic, support for UKR) to extract regulatory & econ. concessions and (geopolitical) benefits
📚 Read it here ⬇️
www.clingendael.org/publication/...
Who would have thought! 🤷🏻♂️
Trump threatened to stop weapons for Ukraine unless Europe joined Hormuz coalition - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
Guess what I found?
I love historical artefacts.
This one resonates on so many levels...
''De tragiek van Europa momenteel is dat het 't liefst zo min mogelijk doet omdat het zo weinig kan.''
@remkorteweg.bsky.social in de Jortcast van Jort Kelder over de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten en wat die betekent voor de wereldhandel en economie.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt_E...
"Greater North America"...I guess we should've seen that coming
www.reuters.com/business/ene...
As the Houthis enter the Iran war, keep a close watch on #Yanbu
"I want us to get to frictionless trade [with the EU]"
Sir Chris Bryant, UK trade minister tells #CHGlobalTrade conference
Are we back to unicorns and 'magical thinking', or is there a real willingness to revisit UK red lines?
Who knows 🤷🏻♂️
Good suggestion.
If Trump is transactional, let's transact.
The glitch however, is that the US is mission-critical to Ukraine's success, whereas Europe may not be mission-critical to opening the Strait of Hormuz (or is it?)
www.politico.eu/article/euro...
Watching the very troubling events in the Middle East made me remember this Economist cover from 2022
The Gulf as we know it is changing: for years, economic opportunities defied the region's obvious geopolitical risks. That calculus may be shifting.
And the effects are global.
My sympathies for all those people that foolishly thought 2026 would not lead to any #tariff turbulence
It's almost like something changed over the past year in the global trade environment, that makes deals like this make more sense 🤷🏻♂️
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
This is going to happen to other countries as well that negotiated a deal with Trump last year.
I'm particularly looking at the EU and Japan.
www.cnn.com/2026/01/26/e...
Happy EU-India Trade Deal Day!
🇪🇺🇮🇳🇪🇺🇮🇳🇪🇺🇮🇳🇪🇺🇮🇳
The trade talks started in a very different geopolitical context, which feels like aeons ago:
'W' was in the White House
The UK firmly in the EU
Putin still out of Georgia
and Lehman Bros solvent
But now, the time is ripe!
www.politico.eu/article/eu-i...
