Frank Witte 🇪🇺 🇳🇱 🇩🇪 🇨🇵

A rainy October 19th, 1812. From a burnt and looted Moscow, an emaciated army of some 100,000+ soldiers from over a dozen nations, losing every day a hundred men or more to Cossack raids, began its retreat. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QMz...

One of the biggest parts of truly becoming an adult is being able to see something you find cringe and think "ah this just isn't for me" and move on. So many people are still living in their 14 year old mindset as 20+ year olds

France & England ... you know what to do. There is only one way out: UNSC veto! #VetoOrban

The abysmal narrow-mindedness of the UK remains staggering in a 21st century Europe. Especially the rejection of Schengen is just stunningly idiotic ...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyWv...

It's been quite the ride ... this PHP ... thing.

I woke up at 5 am today to bake my bread before teaching, and dare I say, this looks like a success?

“A comparable scenario would have been President Franklin Roosevelt siding with Hitler or Stalin in 1939. 'Mind-boggling that we have a president in this position'...” www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

This 👇 The unwillingness of Europe's political leaders to unambiguously point at Russian *and* US troublemakers, with their useful fools in AfD, RN, Reform, and such ilk, and their hostile behaviour is in conflict with their duty to their electorate.

Tuberville: "Zelensky will play hardball, but you know what? He's not even a player in the game. Putin, President Trump, and the people on our side will make the final decision about Ukraine's future."

No, they won't. The Ukrainian people & their European brothers & sisters will have the last word. If Tuberville doesn't get that, he knows little of European history. This betrayal shall come to haunt the Americans.

🟢 Well, our Canadian neighbors have spoken. Alberta, one of Canada’s most conservative provinces, voted 77% to 23% against separation. Trump wants Canada as the 51st state. Musk backed separatists. Well, that didn’t go as planned. Good night, Canada. 🇨🇦

A great piece that vibrates with the kind of authentic personal stakes that regrettably have become much to rare on- and off-line. I could say a lot more about my own thoughts on this ... but there will be another time for that. sootyempiric.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-...

A great post by @lastpositivist.bsky.social about the "ostrich tendency" on the left (very prevalent here!) of those who are unwilling "to acknowledge the possibility of the average person in an advanced western economy simply not being markedly poor." sootyempiric.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-...

The entire manuscript with the Aernout van Buchell drawing of the Swan Theatre (as described by Johannes de Witt) is online! objects.library.uu.nl/reader/1874-...

Im Gegensatz zum Programm des in mediale Vergessenheit geratenen Sieges der Nazis stehen im Berliner Koalitionsentwurf für Demokratie und Gesellschaft nur nützliche Punkte. Wir werden daher Zeuge der Kernschmelze des Konzeptes, den Raubzug des Kapitals gegen die Gesellschaft als Politik zu verkaufen

Soon the Far Left will scream about Eralp's "betrayal" over pragmatic deals with business or policing of protests and gangsters There will be enough Linke screw ups to discuss, but how so many on this and the other site memory holed how much Linke already are Berlin establishment is a bit weird

For 10 weeks, we asked five AI chatbots the same questions every day. None repeated the core misinformation they were tested on, but they reported proposals as law, quoted outdated figures and gave different answers on different days. Our first report: fullfact.org/ai-benchmark...

What can 6,000-year-old Arctic sea ice tell us about the future? Quite a lot, it turns out. Ancient biomarkers helped reduce uncertainty in winter sea ice projections by 85%, suggesting future ice extent could be nearly 1 million km2 lower than previously estimated. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Is Ukraine better off than if Trump hadn't been elected? Has this 'jolt' actually solved any of our previous problems (the war being the most important)? How many problems have we *added* because of Trump? How many of these things would have happened anyway because of other factors (like China)?

This should set off a siren in every defence ministry in Europe: there needs to be much more urgency about developing autonomous capabilities, not subject to US caprices, for early warning of attacks, countering ballistic missiles, communicating with forces or controlling offensive weapons.

I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.

There are a number of things to say about the Prime Minister's public statement that Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

All thanks to the tireless work of @peterjukes.bsky.social @carolecadwalla.bsky.social @bylinetimes.bsky.social who were ignored for years, and in Carole’s case hounded through the courts for years. I’m glad the PM is at last speaking the truth; but the real heroes surely deserve a Pulitzer!

We so often talk about accountability of politicians that frequently it's just talk. But we talk way to little about the accountability of voters, and it's the electorate that fails to hold politicians & media accountable and soothes themselves on the lies of populists. And they know it!

In this year 2026, Israel continues to commit crimes against humanity and the Israel PM is wanted by the International Criminal Court whilst his buddy US President imposes sanctions on the Court. With Europe defending the court and international institutions. And the media is criticising Europe?

In this year 2026 alone, the extra petrol bill paid by Europe because of the illegal US - Israel war on Iran is more than €100 billion. With the US stealing oil from Venezuela. And the media is criticising Europe?

In this year 2026 alone, Europe supports Ukraine with €100 billion whilst the US, India and China profit in making deals with war criminal Putin. And the media is criticising Europe?

Can we finally start to be open about the fact that this US is no longer an ally, but t best a 'mercenary' partner that offers 'support' when they consider the price extracted to be right, at worst, a hostile power with a hostile agenda, or a mercenary bought into service of other hostile powers.

I don't see anything erratic here. For over a decade, Trump has prioritised "getting along with Russia"; since 20 January 2025, Trump administration policy has reflected that priority. It's perhaps the most consistent aspect of Trump foreign policy. 🧵on Trump and sanctions.

If anything, this understates the consistency of the policy, and how much it is driven by Trump's personality. Trump has consistently been a simp for Putin.

A worthy cause!!

To help me gather more evidence like this 👇 - and to acquire such a sample! - have a look here: wemakeit.com/projects/gla... ...and spread the word! 🙏

Meanwhile in the UK. Was. "Let's make our universities financially dependent on overseas students." Then. "Let's make overseas students feel increasingly unwelcome." Now. "Screw that, let's just withdraw our offers so they don't come in the first place." Next. "Who needs universities anyway?"

✏️ René Goscinny aurait eu 100 ans en 2026. Deux ouvrages reviennent sur sa personnalité : un recueil de témoignages de nombreux confrères et des entretiens dans lesquels il se montre drôle et détaché de la critique. Morceaux choisis. ➡️ https://l.liberation.fr/8e0

In half a Trump term the #USA goes from an ambition to draw from "the best of the Roman Republic" to actually enacting "the worst of the Roman Empire". #USisnotanAlly www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

#ECMWF & #ICON models for Friday to Saturday night.

How a U.S. Diplomat Suppressed and Altered Reports Critical of Israel A top aide to Ambassador Mike Huckabee skewed information to portray the Netanyahu government in a favorable light, according to multiple officials and documents obtained by The Times. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/w...

The headline is a little misleading as EU funding remained in place. But.the reported response by the French is chefs-kiss. The others are cowards.

... because everyone knows the point of games is winnibgvthem & not the journey or the interactions long the way ... 🙄

That orange motherfucker demanding sovereign, non-moron led countries release their emergency reserves to cover for his fucking war causing the global fuel crisis 🤬🤬🤬

Tomorrow - Open hybrid lecture in Archaeology 🏛️ Prof. David Griffiths (University of Oxford & UHI) "The 'Southern Route' and hidden histories of the Viking Age in the North Atlantic." 📆 1 October 2026, 17-18 UTC 📍 Oddi 206 & Zoom More info, Zoom link and abstract below

The problem isn't rogue #AI models, it's *negligent companies*. If a biomedical firm put their product in public water supply because they wanted to test it 'in the real world', they'd be treated as criminal at corporate & individual level. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...