The Dutch intelligence agencies AIVD and MIVD have reduced their information sharing with their American partners, according to the heads of the Dutch agencies. Peter Reesink (MIVD): “It’s true that we sometimes stop sharing information.” Erik Akerboom (AIVD): “Sometimes you have to consider each case individually: can I still share this information or not?”
This is the first time that the AIVD and MIVD have acknowledged that developments in the United States, where human rights and the rule of law are under pressure, are impacting the intelligence relationship. This marks a striking rupture in the decades-long relationship between the Dutch agencies and American intelligence agencies such as the CIA and NSA.
In Europe, a leading group of Northern European agencies has emerged that collaborate more intensively and exchange intelligence. This includes the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavian agencies, France, and Poland. They also share raw data with each other.
Here’s that’ part of the interview:
While this is looming over Europe, the US is rapidly moving towards an autocracy. US President Donald Trump is deploying the military against his own people. Judges’ rulings are being ignored. The head of the NSA surveillance agency was fired for allegedly not being loyal enough.
Reesink: “To our great sorrow. We knew the man well.”
Is it still responsible to continue intensive intelligence sharing with the US at the same pace?
Reesink: “We visited the CIA and NSA a few months ago. Even with my own surprise: how are things going on the work floor? I was positively reassured. The ties are good and will remain good. That doesn’t change the fact that we regularly evaluate this collaboration.”
What is the conclusion, for example, when it comes to sharing intelligence about Russia, with the US uncertain about what it will do with it?
Reesink: “That’s being weighed.”
Are you more reluctant to share certain information?
Reesink: “I can’t comment on what that relationship is like now compared to before. But it’s true that we’re making that assessment and sometimes even not sharing things anymore.”
That’s a striking shift. What has been the most significant change?
Akerboom: “We don’t judge what we see politically, but we look at our experiences with the services. And we’re very alert to the politicization of our intelligence and to human rights violations.”
What does it mean in practice if there are risks in those areas?
Akerboom: “Sometimes you have to consider case by case: can I still share this information or not?”
Is it possible to share bulk data, such as intercepted telecom and internet traffic, containing details of Dutch citizens, with the US?
Akerboom: “We can’t say what we will or won’t share. But we can say that we’re more critical.”
More critical than a year ago?
Akerboom: “Yes.” Just to be clear: does it still happen that raw data, including information from Dutch people, is sent to American services?
Reesink, hesitantly: “Phew.”
Akerboom: “I don’t think we can rule it out.”
Reesink: “I find it difficult to rule it out completely.”
Does that also have to do with the technology of these kinds of systems?
Reesink: “Yes, it’s very technical. We try to extract Dutch data, but we can’t always rule out complete success.”
Reesink: “For example. You can’t submit every country for verification in that system.” Now that the United States is a less obvious ally, the Netherlands is looking more explicitly at cooperation with European services.
Wow, just wow.
Akerboom says that there has been “a huge escalation.” He speaks of a leading group of Northern European services, such as the British, Germans, Scandinavians, supplemented by the French and Polish, who exchange intelligence. “Raw data too.” A break with the past, when those relationships were more one-on-one. Due to the war in Ukraine and the Russian threat to Europe, multilateral relationships are starting to emerge. A similar development is visible in the military services, says Reesink.
You can’t blame them for not trusting us anymore. We are completely untrustworthy. They are turning elsewhere — and to each other. What choice do they have?
Trump thinks of Europe as a bunch of losers. But together they are as powerful as the U.S. and China. America is an idiotic nation for electing such a ridiculous person to the presidency and allowing him to destroy the most powerful alliance in history without any regard for what’s to replace it. His “policies,” such as they are, consist of paying protection and licking his boots. That’s it. And that is not a sustainable strategy in a nuclear world.
By the way, it’s particularly interesting that they are reluctant to share information about Russia with the U.S. Gosh, I wonder why…?
BARTIROMO: You said you wanted to develop Gaza. Do you have plans for that?
TRUMP: I liked it as, like, freedom place you call it. And we would get all of the people that live there into decent homes throughout the region. Egypt has a lot of land, Jordan has a lot of land. pic.twitter.com/6mpcFmIXdN
The thing is that Trump is commonly just going back in time to say things that are no longer even part of the conversation anymore and I think it’s because of the encroaching dementia. His memory is bad so he defaults to stuff he’s said in the past even though it’s no longer relevant. He’s always repeated himself so it’s hard to see it — but it’s different now.
On the other hand, it’s also very possible that this is actually still the plan. Before Egypt was saying “hell no” but it’s always possible that Trump has promised them Hawaii or nuclear submarines or something so you never know.
Either way, this is a grotesque idea — a crime against humanity — for which Trump thinks he should get the Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel on Sunday launched its heaviest wave of attacks on Gaza since a fragile cease-fire took hold a week ago and said it was suspending humanitarian aid to the territory after accusing Hamas of firing on its forces and violating the truce.
Israel said two of its soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza on Sunday. Gaza’s health ministry initially reported 14 Palestinian deaths across Gaza on Sunday.
Both Israel and Hamas have now accused each other of violating the truce after repeated flare-ups of violence over the past three days. But both made clear on Sunday that they were still committed to maintaining the truce.
We always get these huge Trump announcements with much media hype and fanfare with lots of big promises and assurances, effusively praising himself looking for awards & prizes, while experts say the details are scarce or nonexistent. Then a short time later we get the reality.
I don’t think we have any idea what reality in this situation (or, really any situation) is anymore. The hype and the lies and the propaganda are so thick it’s hard to see. But bombs and killing are real. And they’re still happening.
So the president- wants to wear a gold crown as he- dumps feces on mothers holding babies because they are- protesting kings and fascists?OK. Just clarifying.
In my first post below, I mentioned The Washington Post “exclusive” about Marco Rubio. David Waldman above succinctly summarizes the metamessage.
Betrayal is the Trump administration’s one-word mission statement. First and foremost, his betrayal of the U.S. Constitution. Ask the people of D.C., Chicago, and Portland about their betrayal. Ask the Afghan translator snatched by ICE. Or the Iraqi Christian killed after being deported. Or the hundreds of stiffed Trump Organization subcontractors. Because you still can.
An easy flow chart for you. Do you have a deal with Donald Trump? l l Yes No l l V VNo you don’t Correct
In the days before the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador, the president of that countrydemanded somethingfor himself: the return of nine MS-13 gang leaders in U.S. custody.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a March 13phone call with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, promised the request would be fulfilled, according to officials familiar with the conversation. But there was one obstacle: Some of the MS-13 members Bukele wanted were “informants” under the protection of the U.S. government, Rubio told him.
To deport them to El Salvador, Attorney General Pam Bondi would need to terminate the Justice Department’s arrangements with those men, Rubio said. He assured Bukele that Bondi would complete that process and Washington would hand over the MS-13 leaders.
The Post offers, “While the outlines of the quid pro quo have been public for months, the Trump administration’s willingness to renege on secret arrangements made with informants who had aided U.S. investigations has not been previously reported.”
“Who would ever trust the word of U.S. law enforcement or prosecutors again?” said Douglas Farah, a U.S. contractor who worked with the DOJ to take down MS-13.
I’ve been focused on how the Republican Party’s nationwide attacks on voting and gerrymandering systematically undermine the Article IV, Section 4 guarantee to each state “a Republican Form of Government“:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
Perhaps we should be as focused on Section 1:
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
In an attention economy and a war for attention, opponents of fascism are outgunned but not outnumbered. Indivisible and MoveOn estimate that 7 million people took to the streets for more than 2,700 No Kings rallies on Saturday in 50 states. Kudos to Indivisible, MoveOn and other groups that organized this huge event.
Strangely (or not so strangely), The New York Times places a couple of pictures below the fold on Page One and plops its coverage on Page 23. This after an estimated 100,000 filled the streets of Manhattan. The protests don’t even merit a photo on the landing page, just one line. The Washington Post print edition announces the protests with its top headline and photos. But its landing page places the story below an “exclusive” about Marco Rubio. Politico buries its coverage down the left sidebar and focuses on Trump’s attacks on “No Kings.” The Guardian did better.
Good luck finding coverage on Fox News. Although despite the administration’s preemptive efforts to brand protesters as violent, Fox reports, “there were no reports of violence or arrests at the afternoon rallies amid the ongoing government shutdown.” CNN notes that the protests were “largely peaceful,” but a closer look reveals that the few reported arrests on Saturday were not directly related to the rallies.
That’s not what they’ll hear from the man with the biggest megaphone (CNN):
President Donald Trump and his allies have spent weeks painstakingly trying to manufacture an image of an irredeemably violent American left…. The Trump team and its allies suggested that the rallies, which are likely to draw millions of people, will essentially be chock full of antifa, terrorist sympathizers and even terrorists themselves.
Still, even on one of the largest protest days in U.S. history, millions of Americans taking to the streets to protest “the government’s swift drift into authoritarianism” (signs I saw went straight to fascism) under Donald Trump is not the biggest news of the day. Even 7 million Americans in the streets does not wrest control of the nation’s biggest media outlets. Point being, the way this movement builds is for more people need to know about it and join it. That means finding ways to get attention. People must see that their neighbors involved, ordinary Americans like them. It will take more than one-off days of big protests. A nationwide strike will be necessary, but for that to happen, the movement must first be visible, building, and persistent.
For his part, the wannabe dictator (or his account) issued a series of AI “Truths” mocking the protests and playing up himself as king. False bravado?
I am curious how the famously thin-skinned Trump and his majordomo, Stephen Miller, will react in the wake of such massive public defiance. Authoritarians like these never back down. They double- and triple-down. Do that and the public pushback will intensify. It needs to. The irony is that the would-be king is helping.
“When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.”—John Lennon
It’s nearly impossible to observe the disconnect of these privileged aristocrats carrying on in their gilded bubble while the impoverished and disenfranchised rabble sharpen up the guillotines without drawing parallels with our current state of affairs (history, if nothing else, is cyclical).
You can go back even further in time, and the same holds true. From my 2012 piece on the 1976 BBC-TV adaptation of I, Claudius:
While an opening line of “I, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus…” could portend more of a snooze-inducing history lecture, rather than 11 hours of must-see-TV, the 1976 BBC series, adapted from Robert Graves’ 1934 historical novel about ancient Rome’s Julio-Claudian dynasty, was indeed the latter, holding U.S. viewers in thrall for its 12-week run.
While it is quite possible that at the time, my friends and I were slightly more in thrall with the occasional teasing glimpses of semi-nudity than we were with, say, the beauty of Jac Pulman’s writing, the wonder of the performances and historical complexity of the narrative, over the years I have come to realize that I think I learned everything I needed to know about politics from watching (and re-watching) I, Claudius.
It’s all there…the systemic greed and corruption of the ruling plutocracy, the raging hypocrisy, the grandstanding, glad-handing and the back-stabbing (in this case, both figurative and literal). Seriously, over the last 2000 years, not much has changed in the political arena.
Case in point…just this week, I was reminded of a scene from I, Claudius. This was the trigger:
Q: "Are you considering strikes on land in Venezuela?"Trump: "Well, I don't want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now because we have the sea very well under control."
Given the Current Occupant’s predilection to utilize the royal “We” as his preferred personal pronoun, coupled with His Imperial Majesty’s somewhat grandiose proclamation that “We have the sea very well under control” (not to mention the Romanesque optics of that gaudily appointed Oval Office), this is the scene that instantly came to mind:
“Your emperor is amongst you once again. All his wars successfully concluded, and the victorious armies brought back to Rome. He had thought, in his divine innocence, that the roads might be lined with cheering crowds; he had thought that the streets might be strewn with flowers; he had thought that there’d be messages to greet him telling him of triumphs to be awarded. And what did he find, this conqueror of the Germans, this victor of the mighty Neptune? The streets empty of crowds and flowers, no triumphs rewarded, no games, no celebrations–but three miserable, old, ex-counsels waiting at the gates to meet him, and a room full of cowardly, stay-at-home senators who have spent all their time in the theatre and in the baths, while he has spent six months, living no better than a private soldier!? Yes! Your emperor has returned! BUT WITH THIS IN HIS HAND! (produces a frighteningly large battle sword from his robes) (The terrified senators remain silent for a few beats, until one steps forward)
Senator: (cautiously) But Jove, you ordered no triumphs!
Caligula: (amazed at the senator’s stupidity) Well, of course I ordered no triumphs, do you think I’d ordered triumphs for myself?!
Senator: But you ordered us not to order any!
Caligula: Yessssss, and you took me at my word, didn’t you? Typical! It didn’t occur to you that I might be leaving it up to you for your love to show itself freely; didn’t occur to you that it might be my natural humility speaking! “I ordered you not to celebrate”. But you ordered celebrations for the anniversary of Actiom, didn’t you? Didn’t forget to celebrate the defeat of my great-grandfather, Marc Antony! How many bottles of wine did you open, toasting his murder while I was doing battle with the sea? (to his soldiers) Show them our booty! Show them the plunder we gathered from old Neptune! (Four soldiers quickly empty two trunks of their contents; everyone watches in silent horror as thousands of dry seashells spill out onto the floor.)
Senator: Seashells?!
Caligula: (chuckling to himself with delight) Yes! Spoils of the sea; loot from old Neptune! Hee-hee! He’ll not take me on again in a hurry…
“Do you think I’d ordered triumphs for myself?!” Which reminds me of another funny story… remember Trump’s counter programming to the first “No Kings Day” last June?
“He had thought, in his divine innocence, that the roads might be lined with cheering crowds; he had thought that the streets might be strewn with flowers…” Well, Mr. President…as your favorite campaign rally song goes: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” – even when you order a $45 million military parade in honor of your own birthday (give some people an inch, they think they’re a ruler). Historical sidebar-the mad emperor Caligula actually did declare war on the sea. All one can say about that is that he is long gone, but the sea is still here.
But hey…if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Via Snopes this past Thursday:
As activists planned another “No Kings” protest on Oct. 18, 2025, to voice discontent with the administration of Republican U.S. President Donald Trump, a rumor spread on social media that the president was planning a “show of force” by launching missiles over California.
The rumor claimed the administration planned on closing Interstate 5 “to shoot out missiles from ships” and into Camp Pendleton, a training facility for the Marines about 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Users across social media sites such as Instagram (archived), X (archived) and Facebook (archived) shared the claim. Some suggested Trump planned on using the excuse of a military showcase in order to intimidate “No Kings” protesters, citing the administration’s attempts to characterize the protests as anti-American.
Many Snopes readers emailed us to ask about the veracity of this rumor.
On Oct. 15, 2025, the Marines posted a statement on their official website announcing “a live-fire Amphibious Capabilities Demonstration at Red Beach, Camp Pendleton” that would be followed by “a community Beach Bash at Del Mar Beach on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, to mark the Marine Corps’ 250th birthday and America’s Semiquincentennial.”
The statement said “the capabilities demonstration will feature integrated Navy and Marine Corps operations across air, land, and sea” and assured the public that “all training events will occur on approved training ranges and comport with established safety protocols.”
The statement also confirmed “no public highways or transportation routes will be closed” and that the White House would be capturing the event on film for a Nov. 9 television broadcast.
Snopes reached out to the White House for comment on the assertion that Trump intended to use the demonstration as a “show of force” against protesters and will update this article if we receive a response.
You’ve gotta at least give the Prez credit for trying, bless his heart. Meanwhile, members of the Court of the Orange King have kept themselves busy this past week sounding the alarm:
But ahead of the “No Kings” rallies across the country on Saturday, the GOP’s effort has taken a rather stunning turn.
The Trump team and its allies suggested that the rallies, which are likely to draw millions of people, will essentially be chock full of antifa, terrorist sympathizers and even terrorists themselves.
It’s baseless and ugly, yes. But it’s also highly suspect strategically.
The GOP rhetoric surrounding this and the Democratic base more broadly has grown remarkably pitched.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has called them “hate America” rallies and said it’s “all the pro-Hamas wing and, you know, the antifa people.”
“This interview proved that the Democrat Party’s main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Oct. 16.
(Deep breath) Let’s see how the No Kings Day rallies are going so far:
No kid should ever have to protest or advocate for their friends’ basic humanity.But they’re standing up at No Kings anyway.
So overall (if I may paraphrase Huey Lewis) …things are rockin’ in DC, San Antone and the Liberty Town, Boston and Baton Rouge, Tulsa, Austin, Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco, too. The heart of democracy is still beating. On that note, let’s keep the party going!
The Beatles – “Revolution”
Frank Zappa – “Trouble Every Day”
Elvis Costello – “Night Rally”
Green Day – “American Idiot”
The Clash – “Clampdown”
Woody Guthrie – “All You Fascists Bound to Lose”
Bob Marley & the Wailers – “Get Up, Stand Up”
Graham Nash – “Chicago“
The Style Council – “The Whole Point of No Return”
Tracy Chapman – “Talkin’ About a Revolution”
John Lennon – “Power to the People”
Sly & the Family Stone – “Stand!”
Heaven 17 – “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang”
Public Enemy – “Fight the Power”
Rage Against the Machine – “Take the Power Back”
Gil Scott-Heron – “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
Oh wait, sorry. That was the MAGA insurrection on Jauary 6th when the president had a temper tantrum because he lost an election and persuaded a bunch of idiots to storm the Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power. Excuse me, my bad.
Here’s the No Kings protest in DC today:
The "No Kings" protest in Washington DC is massive! Over 100,000 people are expected. It seems like even more than that may already be there!
As we watch Trump openly talk about deposing the Venezuelan president and wielding threats all over the world, both economic and military, people seem to be surprised. After all, isn’t he an America First “isolationist?”
Donald Trump’s inaugural address produced yet another torrent of commentary about his “populist, isolationist” ideology and what it means for the future of the republic and the world. Unfortunately, he is all about neither of those things.
It’s true that he deployed the voice of a demagogue to rant about elites and powerful politicians and repeatedly evoked “the people.” But considering that his hires include six Goldman Sachs alums, three billionaires and several more vastly wealthy multimillionaires for his Cabinet, his alleged populism seems a bit strained. After all, to the extent the hellscape he described in that speech exists, it was created by the very people he is now empowering.
Calling Trump an isolationist rests mostly on his use of the archaic term “America First,” which was associated with attempts to keep America out of World War II (and also came with strong undercurrents of anti-Semitism.) But there is no evidence that Trump had a clue about that association when he started using the phrase.
Recall that when journalist Michael Wolff interviewed him in June, just before the big vote in the U.K., Trump clearly hadn’t heard of Brexit. Granted, he subsequently become fast friends with Brexit architect and right-wing provocateur Nigel Farage. But his idea of “isolationism” in this case is a simplistic belief that any nation “run by smart guys” can “make better deals” without having other countries represented at the table.
As far as security is concerned, Trump’s threats to withdraw from NATO and other alliances aren’t really about wanting to pull America to remain within its borders. He never says that. In fact, he wants a huge military and wants to show it off so everyone in the world will be in awe of American power. He just wants NATO and other alliances to pay protection money to the U.S. for whatever price he sets.
Trump has repeatedly made the fatuous claim that he’s going to make the military so massive that “no one will ever want to mess with us” but never has actually suggested that he would have any reluctance to use it. Indeed, he’s made it clear that he intends to do just that, telling his rowdy crowds during the campaign:
ISIS is making a tremendous amount of money because of the oil that they took away, they have some in Syria, they have some in Iraq, I would bomb the shit out of them.
I would just bomb those suckers, and that’s right, I’d blow up the pipes. I’d blow up the refineries. I’d blow up ever single inch. There would be nothing left.
And you know what, you’ll get Exxon to come in there, and in two months — you ever see these guys? How good they are, the great oil companies. They’ll rebuild it brand new. . . . And I’ll take the oil.
This has been his promise from Day One. Yesterday, press secretary Sean Spicer, reacting to Russian reports that the U.S. military was already engaged with Russia’s forces in bombing Syria, offered up this startling answer:
Spicer: I know it’s still developing and I would refer you back to the Department of Defense. I know that they’re — they’re currently monitoring this and I would refer you back to them on that. And I think . . .
Question: Generally open?
Spicer: I think, the president has been very clearly. [sic] He’s gonna work with any country that shares our interest in defeating ISIS. Not just on the national security front, but on the economic front. If we can work with someone to create greater market access and spur economic growth and allow U.S. small businesses and companies to . . .
Question: [inaudible] to doing joint military actions with Russia in Syria?
Spicer: I — I think if there’s a way that we can combat ISIS with any country, whether it’s Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure we’ll take it.
The Pentagon adamantly denied that the U.S. military was currently helping Russia in Syria, where the Russian military has been accused by the U.N. of committing war crimes by using bunker-busting and incendiary bombs on civilian populations. Spicer didn’t mention any of that, but Trump is undoubtedly unconcerned since his strategy is the same: “Bomb the shit out of them.”
As for “taking the oil,” which is a suggestion Trump has repeated for months (including as recently as Saturday when he told the CIA officials they “might get another chance at it”) even conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer was taken aback, correctly noting that “seizing the oil is a war crime.”
If you have listened to Trump talk about China over the past 18 months, it is clear that he is not simply talking about a potential trade war but is prepared to confront the world’s largest nation militarily. In his confirmation hearings, secretary of state-designate Rex Tillerson made it clear that he agreed with Trump that the U.S. would not allow China to build military bases on islands in the South China Sea, and Spicer made that official yesterday:
I think the U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there. If those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yes, we’re going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country.
Does that sound like any definition of “isolationism” you’ve ever heard?
When Donald Trump says “America First,” he really means “We’re No. 1.” He talks incessantly about “winning,” so much we’ll be begging him to stop. He openly declares that he believes in the old saying “to the victors belong the spoils,” either suggesting that he has no clue about the West’s colonial past and how that sounds to people around the world or simply doesn’t care. He’s not talking about isolationism but the exact opposite — American global dominance without all those messy institutions and international agreements standing in the way of taking what we want.
No, Trump is not an isolationist. He’s not a “realist.” Neither is he a liberal interventionist or a neoconservative idealist. He’s an old-fashioned imperialist. He wants to Make America great again by making it the world’s dominant superpower, capable of bullying other countries into submission and behaving however we like. He doesn’t seem to understand that the world won’t put up with that.
_______________
No man with his violent, hateful personality is a man of peace. Please. He revels in confrontation and dominance.
Mitch McConnell fell down the other day. Utah Senator Mike Lee scolded some unnamed people for allegedly making fun of it.
Right.
I know, I know. But Mike Lee is a US Senator who has gone so far down the MAGA rabbit hole that he’s become nothing more than the id of Eddie Haskell in a red hat. He is as much of a problem as Trump and he’s going to be around for a good long while.
