Christian Kloetzer
@ckloetzer.bsky.social
PhD student in Political Studies at the University of Milan (UniMi)
Working on: electoral behavior, cleavage transformation, European radical-right electorates
But interested in, and posting about, all sorts of things.
Working on: electoral behavior, cleavage transformation, European radical-right electorates
But interested in, and posting about, all sorts of things.
This is, of course, worrisome. But we see how ineffective MAGA is at propaganda for Americans, a target group they are familiar with. Them trying to shift opinion in Europe, which exists in MAGA heads only as a caricature, could easily backfire.
US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe
State department grants to spread ‘American values’ are part of Washington’s 250th anniversary celebrations
www.ft.com
February 7, 2026 at 11:38 AM
This is, of course, worrisome. But we see how ineffective MAGA is at propaganda for Americans, a target group they are familiar with. Them trying to shift opinion in Europe, which exists in MAGA heads only as a caricature, could easily backfire.
Quite the comeback for the CDA, from five seats in the previous Parliament to having Ministers of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Economy.
February 5, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Quite the comeback for the CDA, from five seats in the previous Parliament to having Ministers of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Economy.
The NYT still thinks Trump's claims about immigrants stealing elections is a disagreement about facts. But MAGA supporters undoubtedly understand the message: namely that a system of elections that allows MAGA to lose is not worth having. Everything else is a footnote to that story.
February 3, 2026 at 1:55 PM
The NYT still thinks Trump's claims about immigrants stealing elections is a disagreement about facts. But MAGA supporters undoubtedly understand the message: namely that a system of elections that allows MAGA to lose is not worth having. Everything else is a footnote to that story.
I am sure all the people — and countries — that trashtalked the UN because a country like Saudi Arabia also sat on its Human Rights Council will want nothing to do with this Board of Peace contraption.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE join Trump's 'Board of Peace'
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan and Qatar have accepted invitations to join U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, the Saudi foreign ministry said in a joint statement ...
www.reuters.com
January 22, 2026 at 11:15 AM
I am sure all the people — and countries — that trashtalked the UN because a country like Saudi Arabia also sat on its Human Rights Council will want nothing to do with this Board of Peace contraption.
Reposted by Christian Kloetzer
Generative AI is the devil, but this is genius. And what a song! www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ln...
Greenland Defense Front - Not For Sale (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by demonflyingfox
www.youtube.com
January 22, 2026 at 9:22 AM
Generative AI is the devil, but this is genius. And what a song! www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ln...
"If Europe wants to retain its independence, it needs to commit to action. The anti-coercion instrument, for all its faults, is the best option that Europe has. It should start the process of activating it, and quickly announce the specific measures it would impose."
Opinion | Europe Has a Bazooka. Time to Use It.
www.nytimes.com
January 21, 2026 at 12:19 PM
"If Europe wants to retain its independence, it needs to commit to action. The anti-coercion instrument, for all its faults, is the best option that Europe has. It should start the process of activating it, and quickly announce the specific measures it would impose."
Germany's sane parties really should start hammering the AfD for their ties to MAGA, *before* their apathy leads enough voters to believe that MAGA ideology is just the new normal that one has to find some sort of arrangement with. And the AfD could not make it easier for them.
January 16, 2026 at 11:25 AM
Germany's sane parties really should start hammering the AfD for their ties to MAGA, *before* their apathy leads enough voters to believe that MAGA ideology is just the new normal that one has to find some sort of arrangement with. And the AfD could not make it easier for them.
Reposted by Christian Kloetzer
@abenewman.bsky.social is right. There is an alternative. as.ft.com/r/7b8f914c-f...
January 14, 2026 at 12:25 PM
@abenewman.bsky.social is right. There is an alternative. as.ft.com/r/7b8f914c-f...
Reposted by Christian Kloetzer
I mean sure, but you know who else helped? Germany. Germany's behaviour during the 2-year long carnage in Gaza also helped. You cannot pick and choose. International law is not a menu. You have to respect it. Always. Otherwise it breaks down and then we're where we are now. #IntLaw #Germany
GERMAN PRESIDENT STEINMEIER:
“.. the United States has broken with the values that it helped to establish ..
“.. we have now moved beyond the stage where we can lament the lack of respect for international law or the erosion of the international order; we are far beyond that, I believe.”
“.. the United States has broken with the values that it helped to establish ..
“.. we have now moved beyond the stage where we can lament the lack of respect for international law or the erosion of the international order; we are far beyond that, I believe.”
January 9, 2026 at 11:39 AM
I'm sure the European strategy of offering the least possible pushback against the Trump administration, from tariffs to Ukraine and now Venezuela, will make it clear that European interests cannot simply be disregarded when it comes to, say, Greenland.
January 7, 2026 at 11:29 AM
I'm sure the European strategy of offering the least possible pushback against the Trump administration, from tariffs to Ukraine and now Venezuela, will make it clear that European interests cannot simply be disregarded when it comes to, say, Greenland.
For some reason the administration had a much lower threshold for invasion when it invoked the Alien Enemies Act over illegal immigrants present on American territory.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Why wasn't congressional authorization necessary?
RUBIO: It wasn't necessary because this was not an invasion. We didn't occupy a country. This was an arrest operation.
RUBIO: It wasn't necessary because this was not an invasion. We didn't occupy a country. This was an arrest operation.
January 4, 2026 at 8:19 PM
For some reason the administration had a much lower threshold for invasion when it invoked the Alien Enemies Act over illegal immigrants present on American territory.
“The invasion of Iraq was a disaster, but what about a slightly more surgical invasion of Venezuela, where the ripple effects of the country’s destabilization will affect us much more directly?”
- The Trump administration, apparently
- The Trump administration, apparently
Update--Trump is claiming Maduro has been captured and is being transported out of the country. As I said in the piece, getting rid of Maduro is likely to be the easiest part. Let the regime change commence....
January 3, 2026 at 9:54 AM
“The invasion of Iraq was a disaster, but what about a slightly more surgical invasion of Venezuela, where the ripple effects of the country’s destabilization will affect us much more directly?”
- The Trump administration, apparently
- The Trump administration, apparently
The list reads like a who is who of the most professional international aid organizations. This is yet more proof of Israel's insincerity in committing to the provision of aid to Gaza in the EU-Israel agreement of July 2024.
Israel to halt ops of numerous humanitarian orgs in Gaza in 2026, including because they have supported legal cases against Israeli officials:
apnews.com/article/gaza...
List:
apnews.com/article/gaza...
NB: these orgs have key evidence of the war crimes about w/ Israel is demanding their silence👇
apnews.com/article/gaza...
List:
apnews.com/article/gaza...
NB: these orgs have key evidence of the war crimes about w/ Israel is demanding their silence👇
December 31, 2025 at 12:28 PM
The list reads like a who is who of the most professional international aid organizations. This is yet more proof of Israel's insincerity in committing to the provision of aid to Gaza in the EU-Israel agreement of July 2024.
That stubbornly flat line of Reform unfavourables, despite the Starmer government alienating large parts of their base to court these voters, really speaks volumes to what an ill-guided strategy Labour has been pursuing.
I mean look at these graphs - 82% of 2024 Green voters disapprove of Starmer, 64% of LDs and 53% of the Labour voters *who explicitly voted for him less than two years ago.* That is not normal. I suspect it may be unprecedented.
December 31, 2025 at 12:20 PM
That stubbornly flat line of Reform unfavourables, despite the Starmer government alienating large parts of their base to court these voters, really speaks volumes to what an ill-guided strategy Labour has been pursuing.
I am growing increasingly convinced that (a) under Trump, the clean cut of security arrangements between the US and Europe will not happen because (b) the ambiguous status quo serves Trump's interests the best, and as it happens it also serves Putin's interests the best.
A reasonable interpretation of the Trump-Vance play is they are telling Europe that in unless it gifts Greenland to the US we will abandon Europe to Russia.
So our madman leader is now simultaneously attempting to take all of Venezuela's oil and a big chunk of mineral-rich European territory.
So our madman leader is now simultaneously attempting to take all of Venezuela's oil and a big chunk of mineral-rich European territory.
This dramatically enhanced pressure on Europe/Denmark and the new outrageous sanctions on info researchers coming at a time when Putin is escalating his physical attacks on Ukraine suggests that the US is now *coordinating* with Russia to weaken Europe and Ukraine.
bsky.app/profile/donm...
bsky.app/profile/donm...
December 28, 2025 at 3:30 PM
I am growing increasingly convinced that (a) under Trump, the clean cut of security arrangements between the US and Europe will not happen because (b) the ambiguous status quo serves Trump's interests the best, and as it happens it also serves Putin's interests the best.
Right, why not try.
December 26, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Right, why not try.
The Israeli FM declares that the country's security needs against a neighboring state trump international law and can be enforced through military means in violation of it, while Smotrich justifies this expansion of settlements with the denial of a Palestinian state's right to exist.
December 25, 2025 at 4:33 PM
The Israeli FM declares that the country's security needs against a neighboring state trump international law and can be enforced through military means in violation of it, while Smotrich justifies this expansion of settlements with the denial of a Palestinian state's right to exist.
Is defending Ukraine’s sovereignty a European core security interest or not? Protecting stubborn banks’ assets is not. It’s mind-boggling that these banks and their governments expect Europeans to jeopardize their security so they don’t have to write off their investments in a lawless kleptocracy.
Putin’s retaliation threat over frozen assets rattles EU capitals
Italy, Belgium and Austria worry about Russia moving against their companies
giftarticle.ft.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Is defending Ukraine’s sovereignty a European core security interest or not? Protecting stubborn banks’ assets is not. It’s mind-boggling that these banks and their governments expect Europeans to jeopardize their security so they don’t have to write off their investments in a lawless kleptocracy.
More than one third of young adults in the UK enters higher education, they’re all elitist winners? And at least over here, plenty of underprivileged students have the resource gathering skills to open university emails and apply for Erasmus as well as for financial support while abroad.
My unpopular opinion: Erasmus+ is an elitist waste of money that only benefits young adults that have already “won” by (a) making it to university, and (b) having the plummy, ski-seasoned social capital to have heard of the scheme in the first place.
December 18, 2025 at 9:49 AM
More than one third of young adults in the UK enters higher education, they’re all elitist winners? And at least over here, plenty of underprivileged students have the resource gathering skills to open university emails and apply for Erasmus as well as for financial support while abroad.
The Reform leadership’s browser history is probably sufficient to explain this puzzle.
Quite a position to argues that the wokes are destroying a civilisation built on Christian faith but gang bangs are fine actually.
Reform MP Danny Kruger on pornstar/provocateur Bonnie Blue announcing her support for the party: "We’ll take votes from wherever we can get them, we want all the support we can get. Quite like Bonnie Blue."
Says party isn't "going to be fussy, we're not going to be judgemental" about Reform voters
Says party isn't "going to be fussy, we're not going to be judgemental" about Reform voters
December 16, 2025 at 3:37 PM
The Reform leadership’s browser history is probably sufficient to explain this puzzle.
Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a link between liberals leaving Twitter and MAGA folks increasingly cannibalizing on each other in the absence of a shared enemy on their preferred platform. So I’d rather let that process go on undisturbed.
People are losing their minds on Twitter and becoming more trick lazy, sloppy and radicalised because the libs are not there to argue against and challenge. Come back.
December 15, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a link between liberals leaving Twitter and MAGA folks increasingly cannibalizing on each other in the absence of a shared enemy on their preferred platform. So I’d rather let that process go on undisturbed.
It’s a great blogpost. America now wants to undermine our institutions, but on the plus side, its foreign policy apparatus may be too uncoordinated and unprofessional to be effective at it. Quite the silver lining. I just have two points where I’m not sure the analysis is not too rosy.
Missed this on Saturday (because I was busy rewiring the internet), but it must have been one of the first posts about the new NSA, and it's a banger: 'This is, quite straightforwardly, a program for regime change in Europe, aimed at turning it into an illiberal polity.'
America has identified its greatest enemy: Western Europe
Trump's new National Security Strategy: what if groypers cosplayed George Kennan?
www.programmablemutter.com
December 14, 2025 at 7:53 PM
It’s a great blogpost. America now wants to undermine our institutions, but on the plus side, its foreign policy apparatus may be too uncoordinated and unprofessional to be effective at it. Quite the silver lining. I just have two points where I’m not sure the analysis is not too rosy.
Let’s see how long it takes the Trump admin to switch from “Europe shouldn’t be buying Russian gas” to “Europe should be buying more Russian gas”, all while bombs are coming down on Ukraine.
Extraordinary WSJ reporting today that unveils the extent to which Trump, Witkoff, Kushner and US business executives are salivating over business deals with Russia while Putin’s forces kidnap Ukranian children and bomb civilians in their apartments.
🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...
🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...
November 29, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Let’s see how long it takes the Trump admin to switch from “Europe shouldn’t be buying Russian gas” to “Europe should be buying more Russian gas”, all while bombs are coming down on Ukraine.