Palma Polyak

This Hormuz choke to cause financial meltdown was the strategic calculation on Iran's part:
Pain delivery to get Trump and Netanyahu to a negotiated settlement.
Bloomberg: "Global markets have lost $6 trillion since the war began. Stagflation Trades Sweep Markets as Trump Signals Widening War"

As always, a must-read
buttondown.com/polycrisisdi...
@70sbachchan.bsky.social

BUT I’m not quite on board with the Sánchez fandom

A stronger EU is built through defense investment, not rhetoric & 🇪🇸’s been no help. Meanwhile Macron outlined a real shift that somehow disappeared from the news cycle

1956: Hungary's communist leaders phone Moscow for help

2026: Hungary's postcommunist leaders phone Moscow for help

"What has changed compared to previous oil crises and oil price scares - even the 2021-22 one - is how affordable the clean energy solutions needed to replace oil and gas imports are."
This is the KEY point made by @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social

There are Alternatives now. bsky.app/profile/70sb...

💥SCOOP: Putin tasked Sergei Kiriyenko to run a Moldova-style election meddling operation in Hungary for Orbán, sending three GRU-linked political technologists with diplomatic or service passports to operate from the Russian Embassy in Budapest. More in my newsletter: vsquare.org/goulash-krem...

Thank you so much! And thanks for your amazing research providing the blueprint

📣 Publication day! The first paper from my project on Europe’s EV battery roll-out is finally out

I unpack how the EU’s EV battery boom is entangled with sacrifice zones—investment in Serbia & Hungary de-risked through autocracy.
www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

Thx ❤️

Thank you 🤗

Thank you 🤗

Thank you! And sounds great!

📣 Publication day! The first paper from my project on Europe’s EV battery roll-out is finally out

I unpack how the EU’s EV battery boom is entangled with sacrifice zones—investment in Serbia & Hungary de-risked through autocracy.
www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

To all those colleague who told me repeatedly over the past year that Europe would never, ever move towards any sort of stand-alone military alliance or nuclear capacity--a reminder that we all need to unleash our political imaginations to even begin to grasp the world we live in today.

5 postdocs just advertised: Come work with us at the LSE Global School of Sustainability @gsos-lse.bsky.social. With 150 people working full-time on the political economy of decarbonisation, you'd be joining the largest research community on the topic.

jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

Fascinating report on Europe's chokepoints

- Without EU market access, 7 US big tech firms could lose 30% of market value
- 80% of low-enriched uranium used in US comes from EU
- if Siemens + co prioritised putting their turbines in EU data centres, a €50bn hit to US tech firms

Our next Resisting Mining Book Club is coming up on 11 March, and it's a hybrid event!

Join us in person or online to discuss "Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism" with @triofrancos.bsky.social.

Find all the details and register here:
londonminingnetwork.org/2026/01/resi...

Two-speed Europe, coalitions of the willing, core Europe - all different labels currently circling in the debate for same idea that way forward is no longer at EU27.

But the how is important, and I think different people understand different things by the concept.

Quick thread on legal options:

A small bombshell on rule of law conditionality from Luxembourg today: Advocate-General Capeta finds in her opinion that Commission was not allowed to unfreeze EU funds to Hungary in December 2023 and proposes that the Court of Justice annul the decision: curia.europa.eu/site/upload/...

Thread:

Hungary's opposition Tisza promises wealth tax, euro adoption in election programme Hungary's opposition Tisza party plans to introduce a wealth tax for the rich, adopt the euro currency and firmly anchor Hungary in the European Union and NATO, its 240-page election programme publish...

With Hungary’s elections only 2 months away, let’s look at what the opposition promises when it comes to the EU, rule of law & Hungary’s alliances. Media coverage highlighted euro adoption and independence from RU energy by 2035 but there's much more in the program
www.reuters.com/business/hun...

Handwritten note saying: "But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything."

Let's celebrate #DarwinDay by reminding ourselves that everyone has moments when they feel worse for wear.

Darwin wrote to Charles Lyell in 1861:
"But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything."

www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-L...

So, hang in there, #academicsky!
🧪🌏🐵

Lol. Bannon is president of the Orbán fan club, Epstein still workshopping the spelling.
(h/t telex.hu)
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

That's right, the finance summer school is coming to Europe! June 4-5 at the LSE – applications are open until March 1.

Thanks @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social for including my book in this wonderful list! And I totally share the motivation and spirit

Looking forward to discussing Franziska Cooiman’s paper next week 👇

Amazing, congrats, guys! 🤩
Great to see this out

🚨New piece in Politics & Society! w/ @maxkiefel.bsky.social @mathiaslarsen.bsky.social
Internationalizing Industrial Policy: How China and the United States Use State Capacity to Secure Critical Minerals for Electric Vehicles 🇨🇳 🇺🇸
doi.org/10.1177/0032...

🚨 The political economy of finance summer school is back, 3rd year running! Better still: We're bringing it to London via @lse-ei.bsky.social.

𝐓𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜: Finance & democracy
𝙳̲̲𝚊̲̲𝚝̲̲𝚎̲: 4-5 June 2026
𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦: March 1. Link below.

We've got brilliant instructors as usual. Please spread the word!

Applications are open for the Finance Summer School 2026. Last two have been at Brown. This one is at LSE thanks to LSE European Institute and Huth Initiative, plus the Berkeley Program on Finance and Democracy. Stellar Line up. Apps open: forms.gle/WsEVk4Yy52Dn...

We are looking for a postdoc!

brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis