Author of Public Sphere newsletter: https://xitter.cf/t.co/3hIiQFG1Ty. Freelance Journalist reporting on Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe. [email protected].

Berlin
Joined September 2008
Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Die offene Homophobie, die hier und anderswo in den vergangenen Tagen zutage getreten ist, hätte ich in dieser Massivität und unverhohlenen Offenheit nicht für möglich gehalten. Ich meine nicht die nachvollziehbare Kritik an der Leihmutterschaft, sondern das Gemisch aus Andeutungen, Vorurteilen gegenüber Schwulen und einem Duktus wie aus den 1960-Jahren. Das hätte es bei einem heterosexuellen Paar nicht gegeben und das ist schlicht widerlich. All das zeigt, wie wichtig es ist, immer wieder für Toleranz und Akzeptanz einzutreten - auch in Deutschland, wo wir offenbar noch lange nicht dort angekommen sind, wo wir uns selbst gerne sehen.
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
The scenes coming from #Sednaya are haunting — this wasn’t just a prison & torture center, it was a concentration camp. A true horror. Mountains of bodies. Rooms full of disposed clothes & shoes. Skeletons. Bodies partially destroyed by acid.
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Replying to @INDEX_Ukraine
@INDEX_Ukraine launches the Victoria Amelina Fellowship for writers from Ukraine and abroad in partnership with PEN Ukraine. The Fellowship will take place in Amelina’s native city of Lviv to honour her memory and carry on the ethos of her work. 🔗index-ukraine.org/news/victo…
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
When the first thing you say about your CIA pick is what a great job he did going after your political opponents... This is a signal. Get ready.
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
BREAKING: Germany is expected to hold early elections on February 23. The governing SPD and the opposition CDU/CSU parliamentary groups have reportedly agreed on the date. It comes after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition.
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Pro-Palestinian mob harassing a Ukrainian refugee. Demanding to show his passport.
A Ukrainian refugee forced to chant Free Palestine amid a pogrom in Amsterdam is quite an illustration of how all the conflicts are converging in the world on fire.
There's a new version of this post
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
West EU in 2024: Antisemitic pogrom in Amsterdam proudly broadcast o social media. Jews have been unsafe in many west-EU nations with mass Muslim migration and now it’s organised violence on the streets. Not in Eastern Europe though, by irony of history (and lack of migration)
Horrific scenes from Amsterdam last night, echoing Europe's darkest history: Hundreds of fans of Israel’s @MaccabiTLVFC were ambushed and brutally attacked in Amsterdam last night after the match against @AFCAjax. Mobs chanted anti-Israel slogans and proudly shared videos of their violent acts on social media—kicking, beating, even running over Israeli citizens. On the eve of Kristallnacht—when Jews in Nazi Germany faced brutal attacks—it is horrifying to witness antisemitic violence on the streets of Europe once again. @IsraeliPM Netanyahu and Foreign Minister @gidonsaar announced Israel is sending an aid mission, including two rescue planes.
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
The Letter to the Editor that the Baltimore Sun won't publish:
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Peak Germany: the government appoints five academics to advise on economic policy and they end up *suing each other*.
While Germany is facing the worst economic crisis in at least a generation, the government's most renowned independent economic advisory team is gripped by internal strife that has cumulated in a lawsuit over an ethics code. ft.com/content/2da45c5c-8dc9…
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
"Today, dear Moldovans, you have given a lesson in democracy, worthy of being written in history books. Today, you have saved Moldova! In our choice for a dignified future, no one lost," President Maia Sandu said. rferl.org/a/sandu-president-…
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
As Olaf Scholz meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Berlin today, he opposes a membership perspective for Ukraine. Now a counter proposal has popped up in my discussions with officials in Berlin: Ukraine should take a "neutral" status like Finland had for decades ... 1/
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Green parties in Europe are calling for Jill Stein to withdraw.   The race for the White House is too close for comfort. We call on her to withdraw from the race & endorse Kamala Harris for President of the United States.   Read the full statement here ⬇️ europeangreens.eu/news/us-el…
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the information about Ukraine's desire to receive Tomahawk missiles, which was published by the New York Times the day before, was confidential. Ukraine and the White House had discussed it on the condition of secrecy. "You see what is happening in the media now. They said that Ukraine wants or wanted to get a lot of Tomahawk missiles and so on. But this was confidential information between Ukraine and the White House. How to understand these messages? It means that there is nothing confidential between the partners." - the president said.
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Everyone in Kharkiv is shaken by this attack on Derzhprom—symbol of the city and unique site of world architecture, the largest building in the world in the style of constructivism. This is Russia’s strategy of terror and intimidation in action.
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Media reports that people are booing Orban as he arrives at the Tbilisi Marriott Hotel, where opposition members and diplomats are meeting.
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
NEW: We got ahold of private speeches from one of the key Trumpists, an architect of the RNC platform. He lays out his plans for the next Trump admin. And his take on the US. It's apocalyptic stuff. @mtredden, @AndyKroll & @NickSurgey propublica.org/article/video…
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
As controversies go, it was easy to miss this one. It all took place within the conservative media ecosystem. But it could foreshadow what might happen to the U.S. service academies if Trump is elected next month. thebaltimorebanner.com/opini… – at Annapolis Neck, MD
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Georgian Dream-linked group physically assault opposition supporters outside precinct No 60 in Gldani, Tbilisi. The group was led by GD-linked activist Shako Kuchashvili.
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Luke Johnson (ljohnson.bsky.social) retweeted
Canceling a newspaper subscription helps politicians who don’t want oversight, does nothing to hurt the billionaires who own the newspapers and make decisions with which you may disagree, and will result in fewer journalists trying to hold the powerful to account.
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