Nisi utile est quod facimus stulta est gloria
DRASTIC co-founder
Joined April 2020
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António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
Mon quota d’indignation est épuisé…
‼️ António Guterres @antonioguterres , secrétaire général de l’ONU, a nommé le « diplomate » russe Gleb Dessiatnikov sous-secrétaire général chargé de la lutte antimines et de la police au Département des opérations de paix.
En cinquième année d’invasion russe, environ 133 300 km², soit près de 22 % du territoire ukrainien, sont minés par les camarades de Dessiatnikov.
Leurs mines et munitions 🇷🇺 non explosées tuent des civils, dont des enfants ukrainiens.
💰Sur quels critères Guterres a-t-il choisi ce représentant du Kremlin ?
La pieuvre vénéneuse de moscou étend ses tentacules dans presque toutes les institutions internationales.
À quoi sert encore @UN sinon à entretenir une bureaucratie de #nababs aux frais des contribuables, pendant que ceux qu’elle doit protéger meurent sous les bombes et les mines de membres de sécurité de l’ONU?
Ce cirque onusien absurde, incohérent et cynique doit être dissous.
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
Russia kills at least 24 in horrific bombing on Ukraine school trib.al/Jwog60N
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
To understand Russian culture, understand that Russians just dropped nine multi-ton guided bombs on 60 people that had come to a local school to line up for weekly humanitarian aid distribution.
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
In Saporischschja hat Russland eine (geschlossene) Schule angegriffen, in der humanitäre Güter an die lokale Bevölkerung verteilt wurden.
➡️18 Menschen wurden ermordet, fünf weitere verletzt.
In Deutschland ist der Massenmord kaum noch eine Nachricht wert …
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
According to the fake referendum, 90% of voters in occupied Oleshky voted for Russia. Yesterday, 73% chose evacuation to Ukraine.
The penny hasn't dropped yet at the White House.
The U.S. proposal: a quick resumption of Russian natural-gas sales to Europe via Ukrainian pipelines, with an American company acting as an intermediary and money going to an escrow account. Our scoop. wsj.com/world/europe/u-s-pus…
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
Kallas: At G20, Lavrov wasn’t constructive at all. He was saying that Putin will talk to Zelenskyy if he comes to Moscow. This is not the way it is. There are many neutral places where they can meet. If Putin would be serious, he would first stop killing civilians. 1/
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
In today’s Vatnik Soup, we examine the ties of Donald Trump and his family to Russian intelligence operatives and the Kremlin. His current dealings with Putin may shock some people, but the pattern of collusion has been clear for more than a decade.
1/25
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
Okay:
- Attached bottlecap
- Schengen, expanded to Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria
- The euro joined by Croatia and Bulgaria
- Air passenger rights (older, 2004, newly updated 2025)
- Galileo satellite navigation
- EU-Canada trade deal (CETA)
- EU-Mercosur trade deal
- EU-Japan trade deal
- EU-Singapore trade deal
- EU-Vietnam trade deal
- EU-Indonesia trade deal
- End of roaming charges, extended to 2032
- Price cap on calls and texts to other EU countries
- USB-C common charger
- Geo-blocking ban for online shopping
- Streaming subscriptions that work abroad
- Payment Services Directive (PSD2), no card surcharges and open banking
- Instant payments regulation
- EU Digital Identity Wallet
- eCall automatic crash alert in new cars
- Automatic emergency braking in new cars
- EU-Alert emergency warnings on phones
- Single Digital Gateway for cross-border admin
- No more apostille stamps between member states
- WiFi4EU free public wifi
- DiscoverEU free Interrail passes for 18-year-olds
- Erasmus+ (older, 2014), budget nearly doubled
- European Universities alliances
- European Solidarity Corps
- EU Digital COVID Certificate
- Joint COVID vaccine procurement
- Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA)
- EU4Health
- Europe's Beating Cancer Plan
- European Health Data Space
- NextGenerationEU joint borrowing
- SURE short-time work loans
- 15% global minimum corporate tax
- European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR 3), euro clearing back in the EU
- Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA)
- European Green Bond Standard
- Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) on defence
- European Defence Fund
- European Peace Facility arms for Ukraine
- EU military training mission for Ukrainian troops
- Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP)
- Strategic Compass and the 5,000-strong rapid deployment capacity
- European Defence Industrial Strategy
- Security Action for Europe (SAFE), €150bn joint defence loans
- ReArm Europe / Readiness 2030
- First ever Commissioner for Defence and Space
- Military mobility funding
- IRIS² sovereign satellite constellation
- EU Space Programme and the EU Agency for the Space Programme
- rescEU shared firefighting fleet
- 5G security toolbox
- Foreign investment screening
- Foreign Subsidies Regulation
- International Procurement Instrument
- Anti-Coercion Instrument
- Dual-use export control regulation
- Temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees
- Candidate status and accession talks for Ukraine and Moldova
- Ukraine Facility
- €90bn joint-borrowing loan to Ukraine
- Sanctions on Russia (older, 2014), big packages from 2022
- Russian banks cut from SWIFT
- Russian oil embargo and oil price cap
- Russian gas import phase-out
- Western Balkans Growth Plan
- Global Gateway
- REPowerEU
- Gas storage regulation
- Joint gas buying through AggregateEU
- Coordinated gas demand cut
- Windfall levy on fossil energy profits
- Electricity market reform
- European Climate Law, net zero by 2050
- Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
- Emissions Trading System reform and the Social Climate Fund
- Renewable Energy Directive, 42.5% by 2030
- European Wind Power Package
- European Hydrogen Bank
- Methane regulation
- Nature Restoration Law
- Ambient air quality directive
- Drinking water directive
- Urban wastewater directive, polluter pays
- Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA)
- Conflict minerals regulation
- European Chips Act
- Net-Zero Industry Act
- Batteries Regulation with battery passport
- European Battery Alliance
- Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on batteries and hydrogen
- EuroHPC supercomputers, including JUPITER
- InvestAI and the AI gigafactories
- Horizon Europe and the European Innovation Council
- Ecodesign regulation, no destroying unsold clothes
- Right to repair
- Ban on products made with forced labour
- Ban on vague greenwashing claims
- General Product Safety Regulation
- Common Agricultural Policy (older, 1962), current version 2023 to 2027
- Unfair trading practices directive protecting farmers
- Geographical indications reform for food, wine and spirits
- EU-China agreement protecting European regional products
- Geographical indications for crafts, like Murano glass and Delft Blue
- Creative Europe (older, 2014), current programme 2021
- Culture Moves Europe grants for artists
- Music Moves Europe
- European Year of Cultural Heritage
- European Capitals of Culture (older, 1985)
- New European Bauhaus
- European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage
- Ban on importing looted cultural goods
- 30% European content on streaming platforms
- Culture Compass for Europe
- European Media Freedom Act
- Anti-SLAPP directive protecting journalists
- European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO)
- Rule of law conditionality on EU funds
- Annual Rule of Law Report
- Article 7 against Hungary
- Whistleblower protection directive
- European Labour Authority
- Work-life balance directive, paternity leave
- Adequate minimum wages directive
- Pay transparency directive
- Women on boards directive
- Violence against women directive
- European Child Guarantee
- European Accessibility Act
- European Disability Card
- Rail passenger rights (older, 2007), recast 2021
- Trans-European Transport Network (older), revised 2024
- Single Market Emergency Instrument
- EU Inc (proposed)
- Digital euro (in negotiation)
- Next EU budget at close to €2 trillion (proposed)
- European Competitiveness Fund (proposed)
- AgoraEU culture and media programme (proposed)
- Savings and Investments Union (proposed)
- European supervision of big stock exchanges and crypto firms (proposed)
- Scaleup Europe Fund (launching)
- Startup and Scaleup Strategy
- Digital Omnibus simplification (proposed)
- European Business Wallet (proposed)
- European Innovation Act (expected)
- Quantum Act (expected)
- Cloud and AI Development Act (expected)
- Chips Act 2.0 (expected)
- Biotech Act (proposed)
- Advanced Materials Act (expected)
- Industrial Accelerator Act (expected)
- Circular Economy Act (expected)
- Critical Medicines Act (proposed)
- EU Space Act (proposed)
- European Grids Package (proposed)
- 2040 climate target of 90% (in negotiation)
- European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP)
- Defence Readiness Omnibus (proposed)
- Military mobility package (proposed)
- European Drone Defence Initiative and Eastern Flank Watch
- High-speed rail linking European capitals (plan)
- Single cross-border train ticketing (expected)
- EU Customs Authority (in negotiation)
- European Affordable Housing Plan
- Union of Skills and cross-border recognition of qualifications
- EU-India trade deal (in negotiation)
- Montenegro and Albania accession
- Qualified majority voting in foreign policy (under discussion)
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
In recent days, a humanitarian operation has been carried out to assist the civilian population in the city of Oleshky. I hope that the cooperation between the parties, which made this necessary humanitarian act possible, will strengthen the desire for dialogue and lead to new concrete peace initiatives. Let us entrust to Mary, Queen of Peace and of All Saints, all those throughout the world who are suffering because of war.
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
Dnipro Osint says 10% of Russian refining capacity was hit in 3 days, ending the so called energy truce. Ukraine held off on refinery strikes for two weeks at the US administration's request, while Russia kept killing Ukrainians with Gerans and missiles.
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
A lot of people seem shocked by China's heavy-handed retaliatory actions on Mbappé. They assumed once the Chinese understood the context - that the Mao meme was self-deprecating, that the "Chinese dictator" line was not malicious - the whole thing would get walked back as a giant misunderstanding.
Let me explain why this kind of thinking is wrong, and why they were never going to backpedal.
What happened to Mbappé is the modern version of that famous 1937 Stalin photo with Nikolai Yezhov. After Yezhov fell out of favor, the photo got retouched so comprehensively that the space where he had once stood was filled in with canal water and railing. It was as if he was never there. It's the same playbook here - once the system decided someone or something or some event is a problem, the record gets airbrushed until the problem no longer exists.
Dan Wang, in his excellent book Breakneck, describes China as an engineering state run by technocrats who excel at construction and large-scale execution. He contrasts this with America’s lawyerly society that is process-heavy, rights-oriented, and tends to get stymied by obstruction.
The same mindset that builds high-speed rail, factories, and manufacturing process knowledge also extends into social engineering that treats society, narratives, and public sentiment as systems to optimize. Wang’s examples include the One Child Policy and zero-COVID, both of which locked in once launched because the system prioritizes outcomes and consistency over flexible correction.
You'll notice that the system tends to lurch to the extremes. These numbers - One Child, Zero Covid - are seriously autistic in its drive and focus to achieve overtly neat outcomes that are humanly impossible. The targets are unrealistic and sound like engineering specs, because leaders that are literal-minded end up seeing human activity as flows that can be turned on or off with valves.
Mao remains the founding leader in official historiography; jokes or “dictator” labels challenge Party legitimacy and the narrative of national rejuvenation. Back in 2018, the Law on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs came into effect which criminalizes the slander of those officially designated as heroes and martyrs.
So once the reaction to Mbappé's clip ignited (Weibo outrage, coordinated brand statements), however erroneous it was, however much of a misunderstsanding it was, the engineering state executed a full response that left no room for nuance or de-escalation:
> Chinese state media canceled La Liga broadcasts indefinitely
> Companies dropped him
> His face was scrubbed from all ads in China
> His products were removed from shelves
> Mbappé has been removed from Chinese versions of major football video games
> Platforms muted or restricted accounts and promotional material that mentions him.
While a lawyerly society such as ours might weigh context, free speech, the light tone, or other extenuating circumstances, the engineering state doesn't do that. It cannot self-correct mid-course. It is built to solve problems and the problem here is to protect heroes and martyrs, restore face, and deter future incidents. Partial retreat would leave the “problem” half-solved and look like incomplete execution.
This is why the CCP proactively shapes historical memory and public sentiment. Mao’s status is non-negotiable. Tiananmen has to stay scrubbed from collective memory at all costs. Admitting the reaction was excessive or that the joke was harmless would concede ground on a foundational myth and imply the engineered social order is contestable.
The funniest part is that the lengths they went to protect the narrative boundary meant they couldn’t even accurately report on what Mbappé said. “Chinese dictator” would itself be slandering a hero. So the Chinese people were told he had insulted China, with vague references to “inappropriate remarks.”
Behind the Great Firewall, people are outraged and have purged Mbappé from everyday life while having no idea exactly why. It's basically like The Borg from Star Trek, operating as a hive-mind. Not to mention, "face" (面子) matters a lot in Chinese culture and the manic devotion to "saving face" makes about-turns almost impossible.
This is why Mbappé’s, Javier Tebas’s, and Real Madrid’s apologies have zero impact. The engineering state acknowledged the apology (while still not being able to tell the Chinese people what it was for), but it will not meaningfully restore the contracts and licensing deals. The system is driven toward decisive, all-or-nothing execution on any problem it decides is important and to the Chinese, Mao is VERY important.
Reversing course would be a public admission that the original solution was flawed. In a system that presents its policies as scientifically rational and historically correct, that’s moral and even civilizational suicide.
That said, the system can be reversed. The one-child policy was eventually relaxed in 2015 and then ended. Zero-COVID was abandoned very abruptly in late 2022 after widespread protests (very rare in China), signaling that the costs of maintaining it was too high.
What will likely happen here is what happened after the Chinese canceled the NBA and Houston Rockets over Daryl Morey's innocuous tweet supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement in 2019. There will be no formal public reversal. Instead what you will see is a gradual and low-key restoration of the status quo.
Daryl Morey left the Houston Rockets in 2020 and then by 2022, fully two and a half years later, Chinese state TV (CCTV) fully resumed regular NBA broadcasts. It was all very discreet.
The lesson here is: never apologize. It's pointless. You only compromise your own integrity.
The over-the-top reaction is a feature of the Chinese system, not a bug. It's not just because of different values, it's also because you're trying to do business with a culture that has implemented a specific institutional and cognitive style that treats society as yet another engineering problem to solve. There is no mechanism to self-correct so you just have to wait it out.
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
This needs to be posted again:
“How Putin’s Russia embraced fascism while preaching anti-fascism”
atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/uk…
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
Patrick Stewart. Turned up so early and so unobtrusively to be a star in the reasonably priced car, we mistook him for a delivery driver and asked him to go round the back. Took his hat off and said, “But I’m the captain of the Enterprise”. Fucking nice guy.
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
Wszystkie ruskie aktywa w Europie krytykują Tuska.
Czyli sytuacja w Polsce idzie w doskonałym kierunku🇵🇱👏
Trzymajmy prozachodni azymut💪
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
Thank you Netflix for warning me this 18-part documentary about serial killers also has scenes with smoking
António Duarte 🇵🇹 🇺🇦 retweeted
A private prison company offered Minnesota an empty prison for 75 million dollars. The state said no. Then Trump’s administration paid the same company almost 500 million for it.
The prison has sat empty in Appleton, Minnesota since 2010. Last year CoreCivic emailed the state and offered to sell it for 75 million, upgrades included. Minnesota passed. Fifteen months later, Homeland Security bought it for an ICE detention center at 495.6 million.
How could this be? You guessed it. CoreCivic gave half a million dollars to Trump’s inaugural committee. And it still gets paid about 75 million a year to run the place.
Republicans love talking about fraud in Minnesota. JD Vance says his task force is all over it. So where are they on this one? I break it all down in today’s show (link in reply).