iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

One thing that I think is happening is a pretty significant effect of self-selection into the Brussels bubble. If you go to work in Brussels, you probably think the European Union is a pretty good idea. Makes sense, why work for something if you think it makes the world worse. So far, so good

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 5m

When I read news like this, I always get the sense that enlargement has become an end in and of itself for people in Brussels. What do we actually gain by admitting Montenegro and Albania to the European Union? What are the downsides of admitting them?

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 31m

You know what's a nice place? Canada. Beautiful nature, friendly people, won't invade Denmark. A wonderful place to spend our pounds, euros and zloty

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 37m

Americans: Locking up tourists, threatening allies with invasion, insulting friends at every opportunity, cozying up to their enemies Also Americans: Why do fewer people want to visit us? It's so weird, how could this possibly happen

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AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 1h

'Catastrophic': Swiss glaciers lose 20% of mass in five years. Swiss glaciers saw 5.5% of their volume melt away just this year, the second-biggest melt on record, Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) network reports u.afp.com/S9B2

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 1h

Glückwunsch! Und viel Glück

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 19h

All politicians lie at times, but it really is something to see just how natural it comes to representatives of the Russian government. All lies, all the time.

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Shipwreck @shipwreck75.bsky.social · 20h

Israel is treating an incident aboard flydubai FZ1073 (Dubai to Tel Aviv) as a terror incident. Officials say the Omani copilot stabbed the Emirati captain over Jordan and tried to take control. The captain signaled a possible hijacking and the jet dropped about 14,000 ft in a minute.

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 22h

"Has personally won every single war in human history."

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 22h

It's not Game of Thrones, you're not picking a champion to fight The Mountain. It's all about putting hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in a position to contribute in some way.

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 22h

I'm sure the Ukrainian military has thousands of manly men blowing people's heads off, but the primary reason they're still in the war is probably that they've figured out how to supply thousands of teenagers with Xbox controllers connected to FPV drones, raining hell on invading Russians

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 22h

And importantly, those farmers and teenagers had to be clothed and fed and supplied by a giant machine that involved all types of people. Mothers who worked in ammunition factories, old men driving trucks, math nerds decrypting enemy communications and on and on. Militaries are machines

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 22h

Not a military analyst but when I look at the big wars of the 20th century, they weren't won by bodybuilders possessed by killing. They were farmers from Wisconsin or skinny 18 year-olds from Dorset. Just completely normal people, thrown into a situation they didn't want to be in

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 22h

When we look back, I think we will find that the post-9/11 wars combined with a very particular type of media coverage fried a lot of people's brains on this topic. Special forces! Beards! Muscular men, kicking in doors! Death, lethality, the punisher!

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likeradio.bsky.social @likeradio.bsky.social · 22h

Zusammenfassend haben alle politischen Parteien schon immer recht gehabt & der einzige Fehler den sie begangen haben war sich zu sehr von ihren Weg von ihren Koalitionspartnern beeinflussen zu lassen bzw. die blöden Wählenden, die sie nicht in die alleinige Regierungsverantwortung gebracht haben.

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 22h

I'm amazed anything works in France at all. As a people, the French seem completely ungovernable. And yet, France is one of the nicest places on earth

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 22h

One thing I love about France is that they're always 100% France. They know what they're about and they follow through at all times

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 23h

I don't have a solution here, so I guess I'm just asking for a bit more analytical honesty. AfD voters might want exactly the same thing as you, but perhaps they also don't. We should entertain that possibility

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 30/09/2026

Seems like a really big coincidence that everyone's policy preferences from far-left to Greens to Social Democrats to Christian Democrats are totally aligned with those of the AfD voters they're looking to win back

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 30/09/2026

Makes you wonder: Among all the people telling us how to fight back against the AfD, are there any who think doing so would require implementing policies they personally dislike?

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 30/09/2026

"Only [this one policy I always wanted anyway] can prevent the rise of the AfD. We must implement [this one policy I always wanted anyway] now."

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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 29/09/2026

“Estonian authorities have confirmed that the 15 August arson attack against the Estonian defence company Milrem Robotics in Tallinn was an act of sabotage ordered by Russian security services.” www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

theguardian.com

Estonia says arson attack on ‘consistent with other acts of sabotage carried out in Europe on behalf of Russia’ - Europe live

Foreign minister summons Russia’s chargé d’affaires over attack on Milrem Robotics as security agency says incident was ‘deliberate and pre-planned’

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 29/09/2026

Ggf. ja, aber nach dem Gespräch mit Hanna Notte bin ich eigentlich davon überzeugt, dass die unabhängig von uns einfach ihr Ding machen. Einfluss begrenzt.

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 29/09/2026

"DAKAR, Sept 28 (Reuters) - More than 50 members of Niger's security forces have been killed in two attacks in the west of the landlocked Sahel nation, ‌where jihadists including members of the regional Islamic State affiliate are active, two security sources said." www.reuters.com/world/africa...

reuters.com

More than 50 members of Niger's security forces killed in attacks, sources say

More than 50 members of Niger's security forces have been killed in two attacks in the west of the landlocked Sahel nation, ‌where jihadists including members of the regional Islamic State affiliate ...

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 29/09/2026

I'm not sure it really matters whether the German Foreign Minister meets Sergey Lavrov. Nothing will change for Ukraine. And the Germans that keep saying diplomacy is the way to stop the war? They won't change their mind, either. Meet him or don't meet him, doesn't matter.

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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 29/09/2026

"More than 100 Jewish settlers went on the rampage in a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank on Monday night, torching buildings and cars, stoning Israeli security forces and preventing the return of a Palestinian family displaced by previous settler attacks." www.ft.com/content/4f56...

ft.com

More than 100 Israelis go on rampage in Palestinian town

Jewish settlers blocked roads, set tyres ablaze and prevented the return of a Palestinian family in latest surge of violence in occupied West Bank

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The Next Best with Marcel Dirsus @thenextbest.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thinking through next episodes. Is there anyone you'd like to see on the podcast?

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

Das wäre wahrscheinlich wirklich ein Nachteil

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

My incredibly controversial opinion is that journalism is good, actually

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

And when the road gets repaired during the holidays, you don't decide to vote out that particular representative or mayor or party because you literally have no idea who these people even are or what they do and don't get to decide. Imho, that's all related to the death of the newspaper

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

Now, nobody reads local papers and just about everything is national/international level ragebait. Nobody really knows anything anymore, it's all just opinions both ways. TikTok sends you opinions, and you then have feelings towards those opinions. Just general anger, all the time

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

Relatedly, journalism is so important in part because it tells voters who to be angry at. It used to be that people get the local paper and it explains who is responsible for what decision. Stupid example: Roadworks during a public holiday, everyone is upset. Well, you will know who made that call

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

That's part of the reason why the death of local newspapers is so detrimental, I think. I can go online to see some podcast host rage about the latest idiotic tweet by someone else, but if local reporters don't investigate corruption in your town, nobody else will. We just won't know

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

It kind of does though? If not through journalists, how do we get verified information about anything? Sure, some things you can see with your own eyes and there are some alternative options for credible info, but for the absolute vast majority of things we need reporters

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Oliver Grimm @grimmse.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Jedes Wort. Jedes einzelne.

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

Russia keeps targeting central Kyiv, not just during the night but also during the day.

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Hanna Notte @hannanotte.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Great conversation with Marcel about my book WE SHALL OUTLAST THEM and about Russia's place in the world today

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

Don't know what the solution is here, but I am personally so over the "Trump bad" or "Trump good" posts and articles and podcasts. I want to know about puzzles, or learn something new. I think Trump is bad but I don't need to hear it again, and I'm done raging at "Trump is good." Life's too short

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

The irony is that everyone who does opinion relies on reporters. Because it's all based on the things that are happening, and we all know about it because someone reported on it! So a newspaper finds out something, reports it and then other people use that information to make money

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

You know what's cheap? One guy saying "Trump bad" or "Trump good" in some variation for the 8000th time. The newspaper can pay that guy $250,000 and still make money because people love to either (a) have their views confirmed or (b) rage against views they don't hold. Clicks! Money! $$$

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think even at newspapers that have somehow managed to survive, the most profitable part of the business aren't reporters. Reporters are expensive. They need time and budgets and teams. And then after weeks of work nobody clicks on the article, so no money

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

Of all the bad things happening, the death of the newspaper has to be among the most consequential. We just no longer have a common reality, and reporting has been replaced by opinion, opinion and opinion. It's all reels and podcasts and personalised algorithms

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 28/09/2026

I knew things were bad but this chart is devastating. And I'm guessing things will only get worse

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Marcel Dirsus @marceldirsus.com · 23/09/2026

I'm incredibly happy to say that Micah is free and out of Djibouti. He's home in South Africa! A big thank you to everyone who reached out with contacts, sent messages of encouragement or shared the post to spread the news. Good things can still happen.

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