CDU/CSU &SPD have just proposed a sea change in German fiscal policy:

- defence spending above 1% of GDP exempt from debt brake
- 10-year €500bn special fund for infrastructure
- looser debt rules for states
- further debt-brake reform in new Bundestag

This is Mzia Gabeshia, a 74-year-old solo protester at Martvili City Hall who is there every day regardless of weather conditions. She says she is fighting for political prisoners, for justice, and for accountability. #GeorgiaProtests
📷 Salome Kinkladze

Very sad news. Belarus Hajun project has been an invaluable (and unique) source of information on the activities of Belarusian security forces and the Russian military in Belarus. Its loss will be felt.
Wishing safety to all the volunteers who risked their lives to bring this information to light.

Today’s damage to a subsea cable in the Baltic Sea is the latest incident affecting the critical infrastructure of EU Member States.

Tomorrow, I will discuss with Foreign Ministers how to better deter and respond to hybrid threats amid Russia's intensified campaign.

Putin’s cousin, Anna Tsivileva, seems to have shit the bed a bit during a recent State Duma roundtable, disclosing some MIA numbers that the authorities would rather keep quiet.

ru.krymr.com/a/news-ukrai...

“There will be no lesson today.

The teacher is on strike.

Georgia will not be Russia.”

An inscription on one of the Georgian school boards this morning.

A Russian spy ring was tasked with kidnapping and/or murdering my two colleagues, Christo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov, a UK court has now heard. www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

President-elect Trump has nominated Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. This is a strong start for negotiations, in my view, as he is a good pick to enforce Trump’s “Peace Through Strength” policy. Watch his recent interview on Fox News:

www.foxnews.com/video/636505...

A DHL flight departing from Leipzig has crashed - weeks after German authorities warned of Russian parcel bombs on DHL flights.

Let's await the facts from the investigation.

But: because our adversaries are targeting companies, they'll have to ramp up monitoring.

www.politico.eu/article/priv...

Christmas has come early in Russia, where this senator is giving the gift everyone wants: a beautifully wrapped rocket

For folks interested in reading on the Russian approach to escalation, deterrence via intimidation versus through limited use of force, concepts of dosed or deterrent damage, etc. warontherocks.com/2022/09/esca...

Doubling down on threats by Putin, spokesman Peskov says Russia “working through mechanisms” to warn Ukrainians “if new ballistic missile attacks are planned.” As a matter of record, Ukr civilians are well used to Russian ballistic missiles, if not quite IRBM used Thurs.

Not a great outlook for Russia when even its own propaganda media has to report news like this.