📣 Earlier today @katjabego.bsky.social (Senior Research Fellow, @cheurope.bsky.social) chaired the highly anticipated session on ‘Drones: The defence buzz word’ at the @chathamhouse.org Security and Defence Summit #CHSecDef
More about the conference: www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/c...
A lot of this incoming, basically:
www.politico.eu/article/wash...
The trouble is, in part, American and right-wing British media painting EU leaders as weak, indecisive, decadent, incompetent or stupid. For decades. Even Paul Krugman went along during the euro crisis.
No wonder some Americans (and Brexiteers before them) have come to believe the caricature.
A fundamental shift is taking place. While some European leaders may still be kowtowing to the Trump administration, the European public want more independence from Washington. https://bit.ly/4tBhYL4
They should make a ski discipline that starts with a ski slope jump, and then continues into a downhill slalom race.
(a non-zero chance this one is already buried in 200 other ski races the Norwegians have been winning).
📯 We are happy to announce that as of today @katjabego.bsky.social has joined Europe Programme at @chathamhouse.org as Senior Research Fellow. Welcome to the team Katja!
Learn more about Katja’s work and her latest publications at: www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our...
New piece on the strategic vacuum in Washington when it comes to understanding what a more independent, sovereign Europe actually means.
I worry that even a more transatlantic-minded future administration will adapt very poorly to no longer being able to call all the shots in the alliance.
Some of the strategic decision-making out of Westminster continues to astound.
At a time when the world needs the BBC World Service more than it has done in decades - this?
The kind of short-sighted, peace dividend-era thing to do, at a time when our geopolitical holiday is decidedly over.
Outgoing Dutch State Secretary of Defence tells podcast that European countries have ways to jailbreak F-35s and make them fully European, if the Americans were to restrict access:
"I'm not allowed to tell you more."
(Probably shouldn't have said any of this at all, lol)
www.bnr.nl/podcast/boek...
"This focus on the short-term is largely justified. Europe needs at least five to ten years to rearm, while according to NATO’s own estimates, Russia may attempt an incursion into NATO territory in as soon as four. The current European response still lacks urgency and strategic vision."
#WakeUpCall
"This prospect of a more autonomous Europe, less beholden to the US, carries the seeds for significant future tensions. Managing these tensions will require more strategic thinking and careful management on both sides of the Atlantic."
@chathamhouse.org
www.chathamhouse.org/2026/02/what...
The other blue banana:
New piece on the strategic vacuum in Washington when it comes to understanding what a more independent, sovereign Europe actually means.
I worry that even a more transatlantic-minded future administration will adapt very poorly to no longer being able to call all the shots in the alliance.
(Longer thread with analysis incoming)
The Dutch coalition agreement has just dropped - and it calls for the creation of a European Five Eyes 💪
www.kabinetsformatie2025.nl/site/binarie...
A 100% - and that's one of the biggest challenges we currently face as a continent.
But reframing the discussion a little bit, it seems this may well be a market with a significant second-movers advantage (and where open source >> massive capex spending to chase the frontier)
When it comes to actually adopting AI - rather than just pumping billions into developing it - Europe isn't performing all that badly at all.
A look at history (and China) shows us that it is exactly this race to quickly diffuse a technology that can prove the far more consequential one.
He doesn’t actually believe this.
But for NATO to survive (in its current form) Europe needs to remain reliant on the US.
And it’s clear that’s not the long-run direction of travel.
He doesn’t actually believe this.
But for NATO to survive (in its current form) Europe needs to remain reliant on the US.
And it’s clear that’s not the long-run direction of travel.
This is the correct take. And what do we think will happen if (when?) the civil unrest in the US gets worse?
It's simple. If you look like a political basket case, your currency becomes much less appealing.
NB: Very interesting! I'd heard about some people using older visa frameworks that somewhat resemble asylum (e.g. Netherlands has this)- but didn't think they had grounds for typical human rights/political asylum yet.
Curious if any EU countries are granting these already.
bsky.app/profile/nvon...
Very interesting! I had heard about some people using older visa frameworks that resemble this a little (Netherlands has some of these)- but didn't think they had grounds for typical human rights/political asylum yet.
Curious if any countries are honouring those requests already?
Rather remarkable that it's really not unlikely at all that European countries will soon start to receive political asylum applications from the United States.
It's not just Sweden and the Danes: Dutch pension fund ABP - among the largest in the world - has also been rapidly reducing its US Treasuries holdings over the past few months.
It still had $29 billion worth in March - down to $19 billion by September. May be lower now.
nos.nl/artikel/2599...
It's not just Sweden and the Danes: Dutch pension fund ABP - among the largest in the world - has also been rapidly reducing its US Treasuries holdings over the past few months.
It still had $29 billion worth in March - down to $19 billion by September. May be lower now.
nos.nl/artikel/2599...
Sanchez has unsurprisingly also just declined the invitation to join the “Peace board”:
elpais.com/espana/2026-...
Many things will take far longer to disentangle, but this is one area where we will start to see decoupling straight away:
Europe and Canada simply will no longer feel as obligated to join in on ill-advised US wars and other foreign policy adventurism.
End of an era.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
He’s still Dutch :)
Or bsky.app/profile/katj...
