Andrew Stroehlein
@andrewstroehlein.bsky.social
Subscribe to my free newsletter, "International Affairs for Normal People": https://www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/
Other links: https://linktr.ee/andrewstroehlein
Other links: https://linktr.ee/andrewstroehlein
Pinned
“Normal People”? What?
I am not really an expert in anything. However, I have some experience in dealing with experts. Over the last couple decades, I’ve been privileged to work closely with brilliant people in internationa...
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu
New newsletter launched: "International Affairs for Normal People" - read my first post and subscribe. It's free: www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/normal-peopl...
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
🌍 “The infrastructures we built after WWII still matter, they’ve kept the world from chaos.”
@andrewstroehlein.bsky.social on why post-war institutions, from the UN to human rights frameworks, remain vital in 2025.
🎧 Watch The #ZNL Podcast → bit.ly/4oikeDU
@andrewstroehlein.bsky.social on why post-war institutions, from the UN to human rights frameworks, remain vital in 2025.
🎧 Watch The #ZNL Podcast → bit.ly/4oikeDU
November 10, 2025 at 5:35 PM
🌍 “The infrastructures we built after WWII still matter, they’ve kept the world from chaos.”
@andrewstroehlein.bsky.social on why post-war institutions, from the UN to human rights frameworks, remain vital in 2025.
🎧 Watch The #ZNL Podcast → bit.ly/4oikeDU
@andrewstroehlein.bsky.social on why post-war institutions, from the UN to human rights frameworks, remain vital in 2025.
🎧 Watch The #ZNL Podcast → bit.ly/4oikeDU
The latest ball in Trump's tariff roulette seems to have landed on Italian pasta makers. Americans' loss.
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
Italian Pasta Is Poised to Disappear From American Grocery Shelves
The Trump administration is set to impose duties of 107% on Italian pasta imports, among most punitive of the tariffs it has levied.
www.wsj.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:40 PM
The latest ball in Trump's tariff roulette seems to have landed on Italian pasta makers. Americans' loss.
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
"Last year, I drove through the Obrikom oil and gas field,…where I saw crude petroleum gushing furiously from a broken pipe and into a river. The sight of that blackened water was horrifying. That the pipeline wasn’t fixed for months was even more appalling."
My father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, died fighting for a clean Nigeria. Thirty years on it’s time to stop sucking on the dirty teat of the oil cash cow | Noo Saro-Wiwa
In 1995, as one of the Ogoni Nine, he was hanged after protesting against Shell’s oil pollution. With education and a move towards renewable energy, we can honour his legacy
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
"Last year, I drove through the Obrikom oil and gas field,…where I saw crude petroleum gushing furiously from a broken pipe and into a river. The sight of that blackened water was horrifying. That the pipeline wasn’t fixed for months was even more appalling."
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
Do subscribe to Andrew Stroehlein's excellent newsletter, International Affairs for Normal People:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/about/
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/about/
About this site
International Affairs for Normal People is a newsletter about world events, global trends, international crises, and human rights – written for those of us who are not experts.
My name is Andrew Stro...
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu
November 10, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Do subscribe to Andrew Stroehlein's excellent newsletter, International Affairs for Normal People:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/about/
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/about/
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
It’s too easy – and too wrong – to dismiss the atrocity-ridden crisis in #Sudan by saying "no one cares".
I can assure you, lots of people care.
The problem is elsewhere.
Read more in the latest edition of my newsletter:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/no-one-cares...
I can assure you, lots of people care.
The problem is elsewhere.
Read more in the latest edition of my newsletter:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/no-one-cares...
“No One Cares about Sudan”
It’s not easy to write about Sudan’s latest round of mass murder. And it’s hard to hear how some people dismiss it.
The recent fall of the city of El Fasher, following an 18-month siege, to the Rapid...
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu
November 9, 2025 at 6:03 PM
It’s too easy – and too wrong – to dismiss the atrocity-ridden crisis in #Sudan by saying "no one cares".
I can assure you, lots of people care.
The problem is elsewhere.
Read more in the latest edition of my newsletter:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/no-one-cares...
I can assure you, lots of people care.
The problem is elsewhere.
Read more in the latest edition of my newsletter:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/no-one-cares...
The prospect that the Brexit-pushing, Farage-promoting, Israeli-government-favouring BBC may now turn even more to the hard right is chilling.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The BBC is facing a coordinated, politically motivated attack. With these resignations, it has given in | Jane Martinson
The corporation should have stood up to the Telegraph, Trump and the Tories. Now, its enemies know how little it takes for it to fold, says Jane Martinson, professor of financial journalism
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:23 AM
The prospect that the Brexit-pushing, Farage-promoting, Israeli-government-favouring BBC may now turn even more to the hard right is chilling.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
It’s too easy – and too wrong – to dismiss the atrocity-ridden crisis in #Sudan by saying "no one cares".
I can assure you, lots of people care.
The problem is elsewhere.
Read more in the latest edition of my newsletter:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/no-one-cares...
I can assure you, lots of people care.
The problem is elsewhere.
Read more in the latest edition of my newsletter:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/no-one-cares...
“No One Cares about Sudan”
It’s not easy to write about Sudan’s latest round of mass murder. And it’s hard to hear how some people dismiss it.
The recent fall of the city of El Fasher, following an 18-month siege, to the Rapid...
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu
November 9, 2025 at 6:03 PM
It’s too easy – and too wrong – to dismiss the atrocity-ridden crisis in #Sudan by saying "no one cares".
I can assure you, lots of people care.
The problem is elsewhere.
Read more in the latest edition of my newsletter:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/no-one-cares...
I can assure you, lots of people care.
The problem is elsewhere.
Read more in the latest edition of my newsletter:
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/no-one-cares...
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
My mind immediately went to Carl Sagan and Neil D Tyson. I grieve for the future student -- full of ambition, talent, and wanting skill -- who wanted to get into Cornell. That student will be forced to consider their hopes on an ethical scale thrown off balance by the institution itself.
November 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
My mind immediately went to Carl Sagan and Neil D Tyson. I grieve for the future student -- full of ambition, talent, and wanting skill -- who wanted to get into Cornell. That student will be forced to consider their hopes on an ethical scale thrown off balance by the institution itself.
How Cornell University gave in to the Trump regime's extortion... Here's the "agreement":
statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
statements.cornell.edu
November 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
How Cornell University gave in to the Trump regime's extortion... Here's the "agreement":
statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
That there are polls on such issues shows a society seriously considering barbarism as an option.
The stocks? What’s next? The wheel? Flaying? Impaling?
At least most see sense and oppose the authorities beating people.
However, it’s sad most think it’s OK for authorities to murder people.
The stocks? What’s next? The wheel? Flaying? Impaling?
At least most see sense and oppose the authorities beating people.
However, it’s sad most think it’s OK for authorities to murder people.
November 7, 2025 at 5:47 PM
That there are polls on such issues shows a society seriously considering barbarism as an option.
The stocks? What’s next? The wheel? Flaying? Impaling?
At least most see sense and oppose the authorities beating people.
However, it’s sad most think it’s OK for authorities to murder people.
The stocks? What’s next? The wheel? Flaying? Impaling?
At least most see sense and oppose the authorities beating people.
However, it’s sad most think it’s OK for authorities to murder people.
Super interesting thread.
OK, as promised, here's my thread about the links between tear gas/pepper spray and the arms trade and gun industry.
November 6, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Super interesting thread.
He should have been prosecuted for torture.
www.hrw.org/report/2015/...
Another ugly criminal escapes justice.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.hrw.org/report/2015/...
Another ugly criminal escapes justice.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Dick Cheney, vice-president and giant of Republican politics, dies aged 84
Cheney, who served under presidents from Nixon to George W Bush, will be remembered for key role after 9/11
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
He should have been prosecuted for torture.
www.hrw.org/report/2015/...
Another ugly criminal escapes justice.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.hrw.org/report/2015/...
Another ugly criminal escapes justice.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
Let’s be clear, most EBT users are white. The reason he’s specifically lying about “weaves” and we’ve seen so many AI fakes of Black women ranting about food stamps is they need to make BW the face EBT because they know many Americans don’t care if Black people suffer, and some actually wish for it.
ROB SCHMITT: People are using SNAP benefits to get their nails done, to get their weaves and their hair. This is a really ugly program.
SEN. RON JOHNSON: That program needs to be dramatically reformed.
SEN. RON JOHNSON: That program needs to be dramatically reformed.
November 1, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Let’s be clear, most EBT users are white. The reason he’s specifically lying about “weaves” and we’ve seen so many AI fakes of Black women ranting about food stamps is they need to make BW the face EBT because they know many Americans don’t care if Black people suffer, and some actually wish for it.
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
In short, the ANES data shows:
📉 Social media use is shrinking
💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right
🧩 Platforms are splintering
🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme
📉 Social media use is shrinking
💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right
🧩 Platforms are splintering
🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme
October 30, 2025 at 8:09 AM
In short, the ANES data shows:
📉 Social media use is shrinking
💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right
🧩 Platforms are splintering
🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme
📉 Social media use is shrinking
💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right
🧩 Platforms are splintering
🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme
"From Brussels to Budapest, from Bratislava to Sofia, EU institutions and national governments are deploying a five-step playbook to eliminate the independent organisations that stand between corporate power and the public interest."
euobserver.com/news/ar1c67c...
euobserver.com/news/ar1c67c...
EUobserver
Influential. Investigative. Independent. EUobserver is a online non-profit news outlet reporting on the European Union.
euobserver.com
October 29, 2025 at 5:28 PM
"From Brussels to Budapest, from Bratislava to Sofia, EU institutions and national governments are deploying a five-step playbook to eliminate the independent organisations that stand between corporate power and the public interest."
euobserver.com/news/ar1c67c...
euobserver.com/news/ar1c67c...
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
Arrested & tortured by Russian forces in Central African Republic, humanitarian researcher Joseph Figueira Martin has been imprisoned in inhuman conditions for over 500 days. Finally, he has a trial date: Tuesday, 28 October.
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
Hope for Joe
Readers who followed me here from my newsletter at Human Rights Watch may remember the grim case of my one-time colleague at the International Crisis Group, Joseph Figueira Martin.
Joe was arrested b...
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu
October 23, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Arrested & tortured by Russian forces in Central African Republic, humanitarian researcher Joseph Figueira Martin has been imprisoned in inhuman conditions for over 500 days. Finally, he has a trial date: Tuesday, 28 October.
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
"History has already shown us how this story unfolds. Fascism is not built only in the camps and cells. It is built in the shrug, the silence, the insistence that life can go on as if nothing has changed"
Frederick Joseph"A Thought on Normalcy in Fascism" frederickjoseph.substack.com/p/normal-tim...
Frederick Joseph"A Thought on Normalcy in Fascism" frederickjoseph.substack.com/p/normal-tim...
Normal Times in Dire Times
Fascism does not break normal life, it feeds on it.
frederickjoseph.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
"History has already shown us how this story unfolds. Fascism is not built only in the camps and cells. It is built in the shrug, the silence, the insistence that life can go on as if nothing has changed"
Frederick Joseph"A Thought on Normalcy in Fascism" frederickjoseph.substack.com/p/normal-tim...
Frederick Joseph"A Thought on Normalcy in Fascism" frederickjoseph.substack.com/p/normal-tim...
'The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, said: “This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”'
Six Britons jailed for £1m arson attack on warehouse holding aid for Ukraine
Six Britons jailed for £1m arson attack on warehouse holding aid for Ukraine
Old Bailey judge says gang mounted campaign of terrorism and sabotage to help Russia
Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been jailed for setting fire to a London warehouse storing humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
Sentencing the men, a judge at the Old Bailey said they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian state. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:25 PM
'The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, said: “This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”'
The Epstein Ballroom. As disgusting as you'd expect.
Oh look, there are renderings. The Versailles jokes make themselves. Also, this architecture firm should be laughed out of existence.
October 24, 2025 at 11:56 AM
The Epstein Ballroom. As disgusting as you'd expect.
"The message is clear that dissent will be punished."
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...
United States: Federal Agents Use Excessive Force in Illinois
Federal law enforcement agents have since mid-September 2025 used excessive force against peaceful protesters, legal observers, volunteer street medics, and journalists during demonstrations outside a...
www.hrw.org
October 23, 2025 at 6:58 PM
"The message is clear that dissent will be punished."
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
This is a pretty grim story about the new humanitarian realities in some parts of Africa-especially when Russian involvement is part of the problem…
Arrested & tortured by Russian forces in Central African Republic, humanitarian researcher Joseph Figueira Martin has been imprisoned in inhuman conditions for over 500 days. Finally, he has a trial date: Tuesday, 28 October.
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
Hope for Joe
Readers who followed me here from my newsletter at Human Rights Watch may remember the grim case of my one-time colleague at the International Crisis Group, Joseph Figueira Martin.
Joe was arrested b...
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu
October 23, 2025 at 12:42 PM
This is a pretty grim story about the new humanitarian realities in some parts of Africa-especially when Russian involvement is part of the problem…
Arrested & tortured by Russian forces in Central African Republic, humanitarian researcher Joseph Figueira Martin has been imprisoned in inhuman conditions for over 500 days. Finally, he has a trial date: Tuesday, 28 October.
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
Hope for Joe
Readers who followed me here from my newsletter at Human Rights Watch may remember the grim case of my one-time colleague at the International Crisis Group, Joseph Figueira Martin.
Joe was arrested b...
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu
October 23, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Arrested & tortured by Russian forces in Central African Republic, humanitarian researcher Joseph Figueira Martin has been imprisoned in inhuman conditions for over 500 days. Finally, he has a trial date: Tuesday, 28 October.
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
www.internationalaffairsfornormalpeople.eu/hope-for-joe/
Reposted by Andrew Stroehlein
The problem is that in Hollywood films, which is the only way lotsa people learn history, 20th century fascism is portrayed via battlefields and romanticized secret resistance groups and they don't make movies about the complicity of corporations and big business.
October 22, 2025 at 5:55 PM
The problem is that in Hollywood films, which is the only way lotsa people learn history, 20th century fascism is portrayed via battlefields and romanticized secret resistance groups and they don't make movies about the complicity of corporations and big business.
"A majority of Americans agree 'President Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy' (56%)"
prri.org/research/tru...
prri.org/research/tru...
Trump’s Unprecedented Actions Deepen Asymmetric Divides
The 16th annual PRRI American Values Survey examines Americans’ opinions on how democracy is working, what it means to be “truly American,” concerns about the economy, and belief in the American Dream...
prri.org
October 22, 2025 at 2:07 PM
"A majority of Americans agree 'President Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy' (56%)"
prri.org/research/tru...
prri.org/research/tru...