(note, it's timely, but it was recorded last week. So a tad bit out of date. But not really as much as we might have hoped/feared) 2/2

On the new @crisisgroup.org War & Peace podcast, @lisamusiol.bsky.social and I talk through what Washington's European friends and allies are doing about & learning from the US/Israel war against Iran. With the US lately giving new meaning to "entangling alliances" it's a timely conversation 1/2

Hungary's next government promises better relations with both Brussels & Kyiv (& smoother sailing for Ukraine aid), but strong anti-Ukraine sentiment & energy ties with Russia ensure some challenges will remain, writes @luciankim.bsky.social in this new Analyst's Notebook entry for @crisisgroup.org

Recipes will tell you to discard the roast eggplant skin. I will tell you to shred it and stir it in, for smokey, chewy deliciousness

Orban is cooked.

Increasingly convinced that @bluejo.bsky.social's protagonist in My Real Children is responsible for all of this.

And also, maybe don't give them ideas? Probably too late now, though. 2/2

Friends: I don't think Trump is actually making a nuclear threat. True, never say never with these folks, & extreme threats from nuclear weapon states allow for the possibility, but it's really quite bad enough without being a nuclear threat & it's not as though the man is generally subtle. 1/2

Y'all remember way back in the far off past, how when insane things happened, the normal thing to do was be glued to the news until the insane thing stopped happening? No? Never mind, I gotta get back to work anyway.

Opinion | Start a Band, Even if You’re Terrible

This is true. Relatedly, anyone in London wanna play some indie-rootsy-punky (but not too fast) music? Drummers esp. welcome. Don't have to be good, just have to be able to keep a beat for more measures than I can (two).

Foot & Leg Clinic’s debut album, Sit Down for Rock and Roll, is quirky indie-rock goodness The Glasgow-based band formerly known as Wife Guys of Reddit has a new name, Foot & Leg Clinic, and now a debut album, Sit Down for Rock and Roll just released on Bingo Records. The first is gu…

New Doctor Dioxide review at @loudwomen.org. The doctor really enjoyed The Foot & Leg Clinic's debut album, Sit Down for Rock and Roll. But she did find their new name a bit of an internet search nightmare.

I would postulate that are two kinds of people who make lists of who is Jewish: Jews and anti-Semites.

Cold Hard Truths: Arctic Security in a Changing World | International Crisis Group This week on War & Peace, Olga speaks with Gabriella Gricius, Senior Fellow at the Arctic Institute, to discuss Arctic security, Donald Trump’s ambitions to acquire Greenland, Russia’s and China’s int...

Feeling the need to cool down? On the new @crisisgroup.org War & Peace podcast, I talk to @ggricius.bsky.social about Arctic security--what it is, what great powers want from the region, what NATO is doing & why. If you want answers to these questions, listen in!

This is not an administration particularly guided by policy documents, even its own. They're kinda going to do what they feel like doing. That in mind, I may be a bit relieved at the prospect of not haveing to read another Trump administration NPR.

It's a paradox that feeds resentment in Ukraine: Ukrainians want an end to the war—but from a position of strength that depends on European solidarity. European partners want the same thing—but worry that they may be next.

For Valentine’s Day, The Black Mariah Theater’s ‘It’s You (It’s Not Me)’ makes the angry breakup song fun again The Black Mariah Theater, a twin sister twosome out of Seattle, are back with a rocking Valentine’s Day single, ‘It’s You (It’s Not Me)’.

Doctor Dioxide really enjoyed this song @blackmariahtheater.bsky.social @loudwomen.org

New START’s Expiration and the Need for Continued Nuclear Restraint : DeepCuts The Deep Cuts Project analyses the potential for US-Russian nuclear arms control under adversarial conditions.

The expiration yesterday of the New START Treaty ends formal limits on U.S. & Russian nuclear deployments. To mitigate the resulting dangers, Russia & the US can commit to remain under the previous limits & negotiate new treaties. Glad to have signed this @deepcutsproject.bsky.social statement.

Home, remixed: Kallemi’s debut EP, Viajeras, melts cultures, languages, and genres to strike deep Kallemi hit the global music scene in 2018, at the Palestine Music Expo in Ramallah. Since then, Jasmin Albash, La Nefera, Rasha Nahas, and Maysa Daw, each an accomplished musician in her own right…

Doctor Dioxide (see prior post) also really enjoyed Kallemi's debut EP, Viajeras. The doctor likes it when music draws on a wide range of musical and cultural styles, plus, migration is, of course, a theme near and dear to her heart. @loudwomen.org

Kid Sophie’s ‘Love Again’ casts a rhythmic spell. Kid Sophie’s new single, ‘Love Again’ is a hypnotic new wave chant that pulls you in with its first notes and then softly floats you on its waves. This soaring yet gentle heartbreak anthem combines…

Hi friends. Happy to announce that my alter ego, Doctor Dioxide (you'll figure it out) is writing about music with @loudwomen.org. The doctor thinks Kid Sophie's new single is pretty darn groovy

Amid Ukraine’s Battlefield Struggles, Zelenskyy’s Domestic Legacy is a Work in Progress | International Crisis Group Since Russia’s all-out invasion in 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met domestic political and governance challenges even under fire. But the country’s political truce will not last f...

Even as fighting continues & Russian bombings leave civilians without heat, Ukrainian politics is back, both behind closed doors & more publicly. However the war unfolds, Mr. Zelenskyy must now think to the future. In this @crisisgroup.org commentary, @luciankim.bsky.social explains the dynamics.

Waiting at Davos: U.S. Allies Wrestle with Trump’s Threats to Greenland | International Crisis Group U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he will engage with allies about his expansionist designs on Greenland. In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts look at the...

Hence all the applause for Canadian PM Mark Carney at Davos. So, again. Read our explainer. By me, @mwhanna.crisisgroup.org & Marta Mucznik with help from @bcfinucane.bsky.social @lisamusiol.bsky.social & @alissadecarbonnel.bsky.social 10/10

But given a choice between an alliance that does as its strongest member says or suffers punishment vs becoming independent of that ally, the preference is surely for the latter. As they try to talk their way out of this crisis & prepare for the next, that is surely in the back of allied minds. 9/10

An alliance is of far less value if you can't trust your ally & they, indeed, threaten you. But it has some value as long as adversaries believe in it & it continues to provide military infrastructure for your defense needs. Break that, & there are an awful lot of gaps to fill, awfully fast 8/10

When it comes to making it stop, they have leverage, economic & military. There is also opposition in the US, though unclear if it would act. This time around, markets, which punished U.S. bonds and the dollar, also helped out. That's surely a warning to Washington for the future, as well. 7/10

But a demand for an ally's territory, whether by force or not, is an assault on sovereignty & territorial integrity. However negotiations sort out, hard to paper over. So, allies face the challenge of somehow making this stop while also retaining as much US as possible as long as possible. 6/10

This stuff isn't new, of course--it began in the 1st Trump administration & moved at dizzying speed in the first year of the 2nd. Allies have responded by trying to keep US as engaged as possible while they figure out how to reduce dependence, both to help Ukraine & to meet their own needs. 5/10

But the US shift on Ukraine, ending most assistance to the country at war, is the starkest example, in that it either rejects the NATO/EU/formerly US argument that Russia's war threatens European security interests writ large, or indicates that the US no longer cares. 4/10

The seeming disconnect between demanding an ally's territory and, well, being an ally could be explained in part by this administration in general backing away from the transatlantic security bargain of the past 80 yrs, with expressed doubts of NATO value, associated commitments, etc. 3/10

Trump's desire for an ally's territory is tough to explain--US has great military leeway there now, & the local population is unenthusiastic, to say the least. His comments about "psychological" needs & USG narratives of hegemony & territorial acquisition for its own sake may be the core logic 2/10

At Davos, by saying he would not use force, Trump somewhat cooled a crisis engendered by his insistence the U.S. own Greenland. But the crisis continues, & however it sorts out, transatlantic relations are irrevocably altered. Our @crisisgroup.org pre-speech analysis lays it out 🧵 1/10