Director, Dahrendorf Programme @stantscollege Senior Fellow @Carnegie_Europe New: "The Scramble for Europe" out from Oxford UP. https://xitter.cf/t.co/Gp9d1Qq4pj
Oxford, England
Joined March 2009
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Dimitar Bechev retweeted
Fishermen from the Bulgarian coastal city of Nesebar said explosions and military operations in the Black Sea are disrupting fish migration and causing a drastic decline in catches along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.
frognews.bg/novini/zaradi-at…
Dimitar Bechev retweeted
Can confirm my sources saying the same: "We are seeing loss of connectivity in various areas at speeds of 130–160 km/h."
Dimitar Bechev retweeted
Trump says Iran has kneecapped his Russia policy. First he went much farther than Biden in sanctioning Russian oil giants Rosneft & Lukoil and personally approving intel to guide Ukraine's deep strikes.
Now he is reduced to commending Russia for not helping Iran kill more Americans than they already did & desperately trying to get their oil to calm markets.
If anything, this projection of weakness might increase Putin's ambitions at the negotiation table.
My decision on Russia is a very simple one. I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table. Great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations! Signing that document at this time will do that, and I can sign it later, or any time that I want! Perhaps more importantly, Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way, and will, unless stupid people get in the way. Lastly, Zelenskyy is using Diesel Refineries in Russia as a target, knowing that these attacks are seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States. Farmers, ranchers, and businesses of all kinds are suffering greatly from this, but Russia is, nevertheless, sending, at a low price, millions of barrels of diesel to the World. Zelenskyy doesn’t care, and frankly, with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him, and that Crooked Joe Biden gave him in the past, he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did. He could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now. His country is in shambles, a large portion of his land is lost, his oceans and seas are gone, and his male population is low, wounded, and/or dead. I WANT THIS WAR END! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP
( TS: Oct 18 2026, 4:36 PM ET )
An informative thread about the paper by @SamorukovM we just published on the Russia-Europe standoff at the Dahrendorf Programme. Maksim says the risks associated with confrontation are rising. A workable response by Europeans would involve both push-back and talking to Moscow.
New paper from #EuropeInAChangingWorld 📄 Can Europe avoid a war with Russia? @SamorukovM (@CarnegieRussia) argues the Kremlin now treats conflict with Europe as inevitable, and that escalation has become its path of least resistance. 🧵(1/4) sant.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/upl…
Dimitar Bechev retweeted
Крайній передвиборчий тиждень у #Сербії.
#Вучич грається з #ЄС, #США і #КНР, а #Дачич облизує #москву
На думку @DimitarBechev , так Вучич і Дачич поділили повноваження. Партії обох діячів були в коаліції в парламенті. Схоже, коаліційно діють у передвиборчих процесах.
One of the benefits of a SNS-SPS coalition is the division of labour. Vucic takes Europe, US and China. Dacic handles Russia, sparing his chief, Vucic (Medvedev is clearly not the boss, imho)
Since the far left is setting Europe on fire, maybe you've missed the fact that Serbia's Interior Minister, Ivica Dačić, spent the weekend reporting in person to his bosses in Moscow. He was stuck there for a while because Ukrainian drones had shut down most of the airports. He comes from Milošević's party, the successor to Yugoslavia's Communist Party, and is an ally of Vučić.
Dimitar Bechev retweeted
Russian vessels in the Black Sea are using an unusual and potentially co-ordinated method of spoofing their tracking systems to hide voyages, as Moscow brings the shadow fleet under its own control to protect it from attack.
At least 12 sanctioned tankers appear to have used identical devices to transmit false, frozen positions even as the vessels sailed hundreds of miles away, according to Ollie Ballinger, a specialist in shadow fleet tracking at University College London. He said this appears to be a co-ordinated method of deception.
via @alicemhancock
ft.com/content/f9dd0c26-3de3…
Dimitar Bechev retweeted
Ukraine carried out its largest-ever drone attack on St Petersburg on Sunday, defying US demands to halt strikes against Russian energy infrastructure. Fires broke out at the oil terminal in St Petersburg’s port. Airports in Moscow and St Petersburg were closed for several hours during the attack.
@maxseddon @fabrice_deprez
ft.com/content/734dad42-2eef…
Dimitar Bechev retweeted
“we will pay any price….to assure the success and survival of liberty.” Is this still true? Do we prize liberty or do we prize power and purse? No more clear test than the choice between Ukraine and Russia. Abandon Ukraine and we abandon liberty. Eventually even our own.
Dimitar Bechev retweeted
"'Now, we have dangerous days ahead of the elections,' Zelenskyy said, referring to the Nov. 3 midterms in the US. 'My latest model was: We don’t target Russian diesel, you give us missiles for Patriot systems to protect our facilities. But they just want us to stop attacking diesel. And if we strike that, they will disconnect us from something.'
As relations between the US and Ukraine reached a new low, Zelenskyy laid out what he said were a series of unfriendly moves by Washington toward Kyiv. Those include the deliberate slowing of Starlink internet speeds, which are crucial for Ukrainian troops fighting Russia, and delaying already scarce deliveries of Patriot interceptors for ballistic missiles, which have become a nightmare for Ukrainian cities, he said Sunday in an interview with Bloomberg.
'I believe steps have been taken to convince Ukraine to capitulate,' Zelenskyy said while sitting in his office in Kyiv. 'I am not saying that this is the goal our partners are pursuing. I don’t want to think that our American partners believe the war' against Russia 'could be ended sooner at Ukraine’s expense. But that’s how it looks.'"
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Dimitar Bechev retweeted
One of the darkest and most reprehensible ideas of our time is the notion that those who do the right thing by helping a country under attack are somehow responsible for the war and the suffering it causes.
It struck me recently that people who support the endless Ukraine-Russia was because they "want to punish the aggressor" make the same mistake as people who during the Vietnam war supported the endless war "because if Vietnam falls, all of SE Asia will be communust".
In both cases they were wrong because they failed to look at a broader picture and at the future.
Starlink facilities have come under attack also in Poland and Bulgaria
Within hours today, #Lithuania faced two serious security incidents. Overnight, a sabotage attempt targeting Starlink infrastructure near Vilnius was thwarted. Its purpose was clear: to undermine a capability critical to #Ukraine’s defence and civilian communications.
This morning, an unidentified UAV violated Lithuanian airspace, posing a risk to our citizens and their property.
Both incidents are a direct consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its wider repercussions for European security. Hybrid attacks, sabotage, and airspace incursions threaten critical infrastructure, spread fear, and seek to undermine European support for Ukraine.
Lithuania supports, and will continue to support Ukraine in exercising its inherent right of self-defence, in full accordance with Article 51 of the #UN Charter. We also urge Russia to immediately cease its aggression against Ukraine.
We remain vigilant. Attacks against our critical infrastructure will be investigated, exposed, and met with resolve. We stand with our Allies and with Ukraine.
2/5 Trump's diesel deal with Putin and the reported Starlink disruption have shaken confidence in Washington. But we've seen this movie before: Trump swings towards Moscow, then back towards Kyiv. The latest rapprochement may prove short-lived.
4/5 Europe has stepped up enormously.But it cannot replace the US overnight.Not on intelligence, Starlink, air defence or diplomatic leverage (though it's questionable US can sway Putin). Strategic autonomy is a worthy goal, but building the necessary capabilities will take years
1/5 🇺🇦🇺🇸 My latest for @AJEnglish: Trump is once again tilting towards Putin. Ukraine and Europe have every reason to worry. Yet for all the tensions with Washington, they have little choice but to keep Trump onside. Here's why.
aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/…
Dimitar Bechev retweeted
Informație de presă – UPDATE
Sâmbătă, 17 octombrie, sistemul de supraveghere radar al Ministerului Apărării Naționale a detectat un grup de ținte aeriene care evoluau la aproximativ 120 de kilometri est de Insula Șerpilor, pe direcția sud-vest.
Două aeronave F-16 ale Forțelor Aeriene Române, de la Baza 86 Aeriană Borcea, aflate în serviciul de luptă Poliție Aeriană, au decolat la ora 17.43 și au doborât două ținte aeriene deasupra apelor teritoriale ale României, în spațiul aerian național.
Țintele neutralizate erau drone de atac din familia Geran, cu propulsie cu reacție.
Prima a fost doborâtă la ora 18.01, la sud-est de Sulina, după ce a evoluat timp de două minute în spațiul aerian național, iar cea de-a doua, la ora 18.05, la est de Sulina, după o evoluție de cinci minute în spatiul aerian national. mapn.ro/cpresa/19446_informa…
The Black Sea is where the two fronts come together. Hot war has now spilled over into Romanian territorial waters (and Bulgarian EEZ). Since August, Bulgaria has become the target of sabotage - arson attacks against arms depot and a Starlink facility.
Russia is waging a war on two fronts: a hot war against Ukraine and a hybrid war against the West. It's stalled on the first front but making great strides on the second. It's insane to watch Ukrainians go through hardship every day just so a spoiled Westerner can vote for the communo-fascist horseshoe.