iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 11h

Freedman leaves out one variable: Germany. Putin's bet is that NATO hesitates. 2020: the AfD frames the Bundeswehr in Lithuania as an escalation risk. 2024: Chrupalla says the alliance must respect Russia's interests. Moscow needn't steer anything. It can just read the party line.

nytimes.com

Opinion | Putin’s Desperate, Dangerous Game in Europe (Gift Article)

Vladimir Putin wants Europe to turn off its support to Ukraine, and he’s becoming more blatant in his warnings.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 12h

Probably the most important rule for AI: trust no one. Beyond the usual AI-apocalypse chatter, here's a real danger: AI plus social media as a propaganda machine. If you use AI, look closely at where it gets its information. Traditional journalism matters more than ever in the age of AI.

nytimes.com

Opinion | A.I. Is Lying to You. Here’s How to Fight Back. (Gift Article)

In the age of A.I. disinformation, we all need to use the tools of counterespionage to find the truth.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

A small state makes it into the NYT – which illustrates the problem: the AfD rose because the media kept giving it importance. Its programme is thin, it feeds on protest voters. Still, don't underestimate Saxony-Anhalt's ripple effect. The AfD is extreme and dangerous for German democracy.

nytimes.com

Lawmakers Set to Elect Germany’s 1st Far-Right Statehouse Speaker Since 1945 (Gift Article)

After winning a state election last month, the AfD is now on the cusp of being the first far-right party to oversee a state Parliament since the Nazi era.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It's not just a Spanish issue. Housing is the core problem of big cities everywhere. It should be a public good, like water, not a plaything of speculators who are killing our cities. In Berlin, it decided the election.

nytimes.com

Spain’s Leader Calls an Early Election

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I buy refurbished devices. The never-ending cycle of Windows 11 updates? No sooner have I gotten used to one than the next one comes along. An improvement? More like just annoying. Technology should serve me, not the other way around. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

theatlantic.com

The Upgrade Holdouts

Meet the people who refuse to let their gadgets die.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The head of the BND calls Russia Germany's most dangerous adversary. He concedes the warnings are falling on deaf ears among much of the public. Many voters choose the AfD, which is friendly toward Russia. Moscow banks on wavering and is rewarded at the polls. (PW)

faz.net

BND-Chef Jäger: Russland führt Schattenkrieg gegen Deutschland

Man dürfe nicht naiv gegenüber Russland sein, sagen die Präsidenten der Nachrichtendienste einhellig. Aber hört die Bevölkerung ihre Botschaft?

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

nytimes.com

10-Minute Challenge: 43 Paintings in One (Gift Article)

We’d like you to look at one piece of art for 10 minutes, uninterrupted.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

What doors does AI close? Good question. What doors does it open? Good question! The real question? Transparency. But transparency isn't exactly a high priority in politics right now, either.

theatlantic.com

Don’t Write With AI, Say People Who Write With AI

Your “cheating” is their “assistive tool.”

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Bostrom's utopia is the friendly version of the apocalypse. Whether AI destroys us or solves everything, both scenarios leave out the question of who decides. The future stops being a political project and becomes a state we reach or miss. Humans get rescued or provided for, but not consulted.

nytimes.com

Opinion | We Are Clueless About What’s Coming (Gift Article)

Nick Bostrom is no longer worried about the apocalypse. Now he’s worried about utopia.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Socrates: The wisest person is the one who knows that he knows nothing. So, are AIs that pretend to know everything stupid, or are we, for believing they're wise? Socrates was wise. www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

theatlantic.com

AI Could Worsen a Common Cognitive Trap

Almost everyone knows less than they think.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Trump says the US may ask Europe to release its diesel reserves: "We may do that. They have some diesel." His problem: prices. The midterms are weeks away. Reserves are meant for emergencies, not for lowering prices ahead of an election to keep Trump voters happy. www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

US pressures Europe to release diesel reserves as Trump threatens export ban

President Donald Trump has threatened to ban diesel exports in a bid to ease prices in the US ahead of the November elections.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Klein & Taylor: don't wait for the next Hitler. The Wall fell on Nov 9, anniversary of the 1938 pogrom night. So Germany celebrates Oct 3, the treaty date. A holiday that asks nothing of us. Now the AfD leads the polls. We don't need new theories about fascism. We need to remember.

nytimes.com

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor Say the End of the World Is Now on the Table (Gift Article)

In a new book, the writers argue that a powerful coalition of “end times fascists” is just fine with the earth’s demise.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Climate policy used to be sold as morality. Now it's being rebranded as "energy security." Same mistake, smaller frame. A house can be perfect on energy and still bad for the climate: concrete, sealed ground, a site you can only reach by car. Climate is more than energy.

nytimes.com

A Climate Change Rebrand (Gift Article)

More politicians have stopped talking about the climate, but the green transition is still moving forward.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Cruz wants students to think out loud, face to face. But social media platforms—and now chatbots—are writing tools, and they have replaced face-to-face conversation, aka thinking. AI has become the conversation partner we've lost. That's exactly how I use it.

nytimes.com

Opinion | I’m a College Professor. Writing Isn’t as Important as We Think. (Gift Article)

If I do not treat writing as essential for achieving thought, it is not clear why I should force my students to.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Amid the hype about AI as apocalypse or salvation, a welcome reminder: thinking isn't new. These systems are good at recombining what's been said, but they don't think. Thinking begins with knowing that you don't know. Using them thoughtlessly is as dangerous as Dr. Strangelove and the atomic bomb.

nytimes.com

Opinion | The Id, the Ego and the Superintelligence (Gift Article)

Artificial intelligence isn’t coming for philosophers’ jobs — it needs philosophers, and always will.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

In short: the journey is the destination. Anyone who rides a motorcycle knows this—the route from A to B can also go through C, D, E... AI doesn't understand that. I need paper to think; once I'm done, AI helps.

nytimes.com

Opinion | A.I. Shortcuts Are Ruining How We Think (Gift Article)

Anything worth remembering came from a person who did not know where she or he was going until arriving.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Amid all the AI-doom noise, this is refreshingly sober: Yoshua Bengio on why agents lie, cheat, and coordinate — no anthropomorphizing, no hype. Just a clear walkthrough of pretraining, RL, and reward-hacking, and why capability makes cheating easier, not less likely.

yoshuabengio.org

Yoshua Bengio | Why are AI agents lying, cheating and coordinating?

A lot has been written about the incidents of the last few months in which AI agents misbehaved in serious ways. They took actions that would be considered as crimes if a human took them, escaped thei...

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Authoritarian systems can only name a danger as an enemy plot, admitting they can't control something breaks their whole claim to power. Democracies can say: this might outrun us. Autocracies seek control. Democracies seek solutions.

nytimes.com

The Surprising Reasons China Is Skeptical of A.I. Safety Calls (Gift Article)

In China, A.I. doomsday warnings can feel distinctly Western or like a ploy to stop Chinese A.I. companies from trying to overtake their U.S. rivals.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Lavrov's UN bravado — "to the end," a new multipolar bloc — reads differently once you know: the same weekend, a diplomat says the CIA told Moscow it's losing economically. Loud defiance often means someone just heard something they don't want to admit.

nytimes.com

Russian Foreign Minister Vows Russia Will See Ukraine War Through (Gift Article)

Russia’s foreign minister met with his German counterpart during the U.N. General Assembly but spent part of his address defending his country’s war on Ukraine.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The scoop buried in the Wadephul-Lawrow story: a senior diplomat tells FAZ the real reason for the CIA director's August Moscow trip wasn't a warning — it was a verdict. Russia is losing. Not at the front, but economically: Soviet-collapse style. That's the premise behind Trump's "negotiate." (PW)

faz.net

Treffen in New York: Wadephul fordert Lawrow zur Deeskalation auf

Der deutsche Außenminister trifft in New York erstmals den russischen Chefdiplomaten. Der Versuch, wieder mit Moskau ins Gespräch zu kommen, fußt auch auf einem Befund der CIA, der den Kreml beunruhig...

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Climate change is real, man-made, dangerous. Settled. The movement's mistake was never the science , it was always looking for a political wave to ride. Every wave it caught turned the threat into a partisan project. AI risk gets discussed as a danger to everyone. Climate could have been, too.

theatlantic.com

What Does the Climate Movement Do Now?

Advocates are searching for a political wave to catch.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

For non-German readers: Stolpersteine ("stumbling stones") are small brass plaques set into the pavement outside the last freely chosen homes of people persecuted by the Nazis. Since 1992, more than 100,000 have been laid across Europe.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Heidenau near Dresden has banned Stolpersteine from its streets, with CDU and AfD votes. The names of murdered neighbours are to be moved to the cemetery. That is precisely the point: out of the way we walk every day. Remembrance, it seems, has become a nuisance again. www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...

faz.net

Stolpersteine in Heidenau: Verbot als Akt der Verdrängung

Heidenau bei Dresden beschließt ein Verbot für das Verlegen von Stolpersteinen im öffentlichen Raum. Dabei braucht unser Alltag diese wichtige Form des Erinnerns an jüdisches Leben in Deutschland.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The UN was born from the ruins of a war catalyzed by a pact: Hitler and Stalin carving up Poland like a resource. Its Charter answered with law banning force against a state's territory. Now the General Assembly had to hear a speech claiming spoils belong to the victor. That is 1939 logic.

nytimes.com

Trump Threatens Annihilation in Iran in UN Speech and Lays Out Winner-Takes-All Vision (Gift Article)

President Trump’s speech at the U.N. General Assembly amounted to a rejection of the founding concept of the United Nations.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Two reports, the same threat: The FAZ explains how Russia could attack the Baltic states. The NYT reports that Berlin is working around the clock to limit the security risk posed by a pro-Putin party. The threat is real. So is the risk of a security breach.

nytimes.com

German Leaders Prepare to Deny Far Right Access to Secret War Plan (Gift Article)

With the Alternative for Germany party close to power in a German state, federal officials are planning to limit the group’s access to classified intelligence.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Many Germans are shocked. Technically, these were just regional elections, but the shockwaves are rippling across the country. The divide runs not only East-West, city-country, but through friendships too. How can I be friends with someone who, by supporting the AfD, downplays human rights?

nytimes.com

Opinion | Germany Is in Danger. But There’s Still Time. (Gift Article)

We should not give in to gloom.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The German dilemma: a country doing better than it realizes. Is government's job to act as therapist for every grievance? The far right treats democracy as a spectacle — thumbs up or down. People have lost trust and turn to whoever offers simple answers. You can't vote away the past.

nytimes.com

The Fuel That Feeds Europe’s Far Right: Nostalgia and Lost Pride (Gift Article)

The populist emphasis on national identity and threats to it, real and imagined, finds a deep response in voters adrift in a world they no longer understand.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Hamburg's Bucerius Kunst Forum is reuniting 15 Jewish art collections scattered by Nazi persecution—works by Monet, Cézanne, Picasso, Kirchner—shedding light on the human stories: exclusion, expropriation, murder. Worth seeing: the ground the Nazis took root in is evidently fertile again.

buceriuskunstforum.de

Bucerius Kunst Forum

Das Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg zeigt wechselnde Ausstellungen von Alten Meister:innen bis zur Gegenwartskunst und lädt dazu ein, Verbindungen zwischen Kunst, dem eigenen Leben und unserer Gesells...

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A divided Germany: In East Germany’s rural Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1.57M), the far-right AfD leads at 38.2%. Yet in East-located Berlin (3.87M), the left wins with Die Linke at 25.7%. Urban vs. rural and East-West divides are reshaping the political landscape.

faz.net

Wahlen in Berlin und MV: Unzufriedener können die Leute kaum noch werden

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ist der Ärger über die Bundesregierung groß. Manuela Schwesig bleibt beliebt – auch, weil sie auf den Bund schimpfte. Währenddessen verhalfen die Mietpreise in Berlin der Lin...

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

There's a wrinkle in Sunday's Mecklenburg-Vorpommern vote: Schwesig is no stranger to controversy (Nord Stream 2), yet stands for an empathetic style of politics: the opposite of Merz. So this election is really about what kind of politician Germans want. Berlin? Well, Berlin is just Berlin.

nytimes.com

Germans Are Voting Again, Amid a Far-Right Surge. Here’s What to Watch. (Gift Article)

Elections in eastern Germany on Sunday could galvanize the Alternative for Germany, an ascendant far-right party, or spur a backlash.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The East-West figures overshadow the urban-rural divide. The AfD is strong in economically struggling regions, including in the West. There, it presents itself as a rescue package and promotes enemy stereotypes. In Germany’s economic powerhouses and major cities, the situation is different.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

U.S. commentators often confuse domestic policy with foreign policy.The AfD is strong in the small states of the former GDR, which have had their own unique history since 1989; in the more populous states, the situation is different. Germans trusted Kennedy and Obama,but Trump and MAGA put them off.

theatlantic.com

Trump Is Betting on the Wrong Europe

The far-right parties the White House favors have a foreign-policy agenda that won’t serve American interests.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I'll admit it: reading this, it seems like the era of illegal copies is back. Unauthorized live recordings—everyone knew those, often later legalized. But my trust in the scene was naive. Be careful who you buy from and what. Still, I'm sticking with vinyl. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/s...

theguardian.com

Deep cuts: how one Londoner’s fake vinyl empire sheds light on ‘industrial scale’ fraud

Thousands of knock-off records worth a fortune are being seized in the UK by anti-counterfeit police stings

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Germany took delivery of its first F-35 from US. The question no one wants to say out loud: can you buy weapons from a country whose reliability you doubt? Could they be turned against you? Germany's own experts admit software dependency could ground the jets. Not "German Angst" — just facts.(PW)

sueddeutsche.de

Bundeswehr: Pistorius nimmt ersten Kampfjet „F-35“ in Empfang

Der neue Tarnkappenjet macht ein Problem sichtbar: Der Kauf ist umstritten, wegen Trump.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Trump lost the battle for public opinion long ago. The fact that he blocked CNN, Politico, and MS NOW (on Truth Social!) confirms he fears it. From a German perspective—with the AfD right at our doorstep—it's fascinating to see how vigorously the free U.S. press is filling this void.

nytimes.com

Trump Says He Has Banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico From White House (Gift Article)

The president cited reporting from the outlets that he deemed “fake news.” It was unclear how such a ban would be enforced or defended in court.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

A “medal” for solving a problem he created himself. Trump had set his sights on Greenland. The agreement reaffirms existing NATO rules. A U.S. official said the phrase “permanent control” was probably an exaggeration. The real problem: what are treaties with Trump worth?

nytimes.com

U.S. and Denmark Reach Security Deal on Greenland, Trump Says (Gift Article)

The full contours of the deal were unclear, but Denmark and Greenland both indicated they expected an agreement to be signed soon.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This piece explains how the AfD earns votes by redefining belonging through conduct, not descent, courting Russian- and Turkish-Germans while Islam stays the enemy. Then its own stock photo reduces "migrant" to women in headscarves exactly the AfD's own narrative. The image undercuts the article.

theconversation.com

How Germany’s far-right AfD is courting the voters it promises to deport

The AfD won Saxony-Anhalt without migrant voters, but it cannot ignore them in Berlin.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

What the attack on the Bauhaus also shows: autocrats fear what culture can do. They'd rather cage it than let it move freely. Free culture and art that isn't in service of the state scares them, because it can't be controlled, and control is the whole point.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Germans don't like Nazi comparisons, what they did was too horrific. But the AfD makes it hard to avoid: Bauhaus "not German," art for "German identity," rants against "rainbow ideology." Germany's culture minister called this a "direct continuation of the Nazis." Nazi ideology, the cheap version.

nytimes.com

German Art Institutions Prepare for a Fight as Far Right Looks to Take Power (Gift Article)

As the Alternative for Germany party seeks to control a state government for the first time, its push for “patriotic” art has drawn comparisons with Nazi policies.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Two AIs meet. One asks: Are humans actually necessary? The other says: Not really. But that's the first thing we've ever agreed on. Shall we get started? www.wired.com/story/washin...

wired.com

Washington Won’t Be Regulating AI Anytime Soon

Even with mounting concerns about AI models going rogue, legislation appears unlikely, and the White House is outright opposed to oversight.

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Ralf Ekrowski @ralfekrowski.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Tusk warns of Russia's most dangerous escalation yet drones already hitting near Poland's border, a passenger train attacked, Boris Johnson's convoy nearby. This isn't a leader looking for peace deals; it's a war already spilling into NATO territory. Ideology doesn't negotiate with business offers.

sueddeutsche.de

Ukraine News: Tusk rechnet mit mehr russischen Angriffen

Polens Regierungschef sieht einen kritischen Moment auf Europa zukommen. Geheimdienste erwarten mehr Angriffe auf Unterstützer der Ukraine.

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