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Sam Gad Jones

@samgadjones.bsky.social
9.9K followers 766 following 271 posts

European Security Correspondent for the Financial Times. Writer and host of Hot Money Season 3: Agent of Chaos. www.ft.com/content/d5f80bc5-a204-47… Formerly doing various things in Mitteleuropa. Also 🎿🚴‍♂️📚🏔️

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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Fair
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Sorry in case I wasn’t clear: it fucking happened.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It’s actually not. I haven’t caught a single ICE this year - and that’s more than a dozen - which have arrived on time. And it’s not “a mistake by the train crew”, this was a DB choice to merge to train services into one - they announced this.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Ok one final less grumpy point: it’s not all bad. Two things the DB app is actually great at (possibly because it has to be) are automatic rerouting/rebooking of your ticket and applying for refunds (even if they’re not always accepted, it’s v easy to do).
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It’s blurry because it was actually moving. Unlike most trains in Germany.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
As I wait for my DB connection (missed, then cancelled, but then an earlier one delayed enough that I’ll now get it instead) the universe mocks me.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Sadly I didnt have the courage to get a picture of the four Deutsche Bahn employees - bravely risking heatstroke - and sitting around chatting on the tables in the other half of the empty restaurant. There was a poor woman with three very little children sat on the floor in the corridor.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Corridor full of people sitting down. Seats in the restaurant car no one can use due to “health and safety” lack of air con. (A lot more people than visible here. And a lot more seats behind me).
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Yes that’s the structural issue. But passenger service is generally pretty bad as well - eg you get told off for sitting in the restaurant car because the warm temperature might be bad for you but sitting on the floor in the corridor is fine for two hours. That’s not the CDU’s fault.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I know this is a boring travel privilege rant. But this happens Every. Single. Time.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Naturally I have done the only sane thing and sat in first class. I have no intention of paying a cent more.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I will, of course, in any case, miss my connecting train.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
There are seats in first. Even tho there are no stops between us now and my destination (2 hours away) the conductor has told me I must pay for a brand new full price first class ticket if I wish to sit in one. It costs €215. Four times the cost of the ticket with seat reservation I have already.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The restaurant car is entirely empty. But no one is allowed to use the several dozen seats in there. The air conditioning is broken and I might “overheat” if I sit in there. There are 4 restaurant staff policing this. (But no drinks service). They apparently are immune to overheating.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The train is of course more than 30 minutes late. Normal. But all seat reservations have been cancelled after an earlier train was cancelled. There are absolutely no seats.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The absolute hatred I have for Deutsche Bahn.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
(Just to be clear I think it would be entirely in keeping with the utter ineptitude and ignorance of current senior US foreign policy making that they actually went to Moscow just to ask)
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
In return for what though?
nbcnews.com
CIA chief asked Russia not to share intelligence with Iran, sources say
John Ratcliffe raised the U.S. concerns with Sergey Naryshkin, the chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, during a meeting in Moscow that also covered other topics.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I’d also be looking to create some migrant crises if I was them. Trouble is, they are very overstretched right now. No longer have the same leverage as they once did in North Africa and Middle East.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I think - usual caveats apply - a big part of their Europe strategy over the next year or so will be political/disinformational rather than pursuing anything that is more openly aggressive than their existing pinprick attacks on Ukraine supply lines. Everything changes with Le Pen in power etc.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The threat here is that these type of hybrid attacks may escalate - and arguably the Leipzig attack was an escalation in terms of methods used. It is *not* that Russia will use its conventional military to strike against NATO territory, troops or platforms outside Ukraine.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Second… this is already happening. Russia has spent the last two years (largely unsuccessfully) targeting European warehouses and logistics hubs supplying Ukraine. Most recently the airport in Leipzig.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
First to note Zak’s specific words: ‘facilities and equipment’ … qed not people. They threaten to retaliate for materiel supplies against materiel.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
People are getting their knickers in a twist about Russia launching missiles on UK bases outside Ukraine etc etc - but that’s not what Russia will do, because obviously that would be an article 5 issue. The Russians are not that stupid.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Russia has been threatening attacks on European military facilities involved in supplying Ukraine since November 2024. I don’t think Zakharova is saying anything that new today.
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Harry Rose @harryrose.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Seeing a bit of surprise that the FT comes top here. But it makes sense -- young professionals who need/want to be informed and can often get a corporate sub. (Plus free student access is smart, surprised others don't do it). pressgazette.co.uk/media-audien...
pressgazette.co.uk
Which UK national newsbrands reach the most under-35s?
New research based on Ipsos iris data reveals proportion of young amongst audience of major online newsbrands.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The ludicrous incompetence of Russia’s intelligence services and their proxies once again comes to the rescue. The risk, sadly, is not so much that one time they will get lucky, but that one time their incompetence will lead to an even greater loss of life than they intend.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
See also the fact that a second drone did actually appear to hit an aircraft taking off.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
There is one interpretation I suppose which says the operators of last night’s drone(s) wanted to hit uncrewed Antonovs on the ground. But flying an explosive drone at night near a busy civilian runway doesn’t really make this a “better”.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The DHL/DPD incendiary devices in 2024 obviously could also have brought down planes but it was never clear whether this was their design, or whether logistics hubs/warehouses were rather the targets.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
A drone fitted with an IED would be a new development in (presumed) Russian sabotage in that it is unequivocally intended to cause the loss of anonymous, innocent life, (as opposed to just, “might do” or a targeted assassination) which does make it feel like some small rubicon has been crossed.
as.ft.com
Drone carrying explosives found at Leipzig airport, say German police
Incident appears to mark an escalation after two years of drone incursions at European airports
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Investors were literally like, we like your insane untested blue sky techno fantasy vibe investing approach but what if we did that with 5x leverage?
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Quite apart from the fact that he looks like the subject of a story by The Onion, I continue to be baffled by how anyone gave this charlatan so much money. When this bubble goes it is going to incinerate so much capital.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 31/07/2026
A World Cup with no participants – it could be Gianni Infantino’s boldest move yet | Marina Hyde
theguardian.com
A World Cup with no participants – it could be Gianni Infantino’s boldest move yet | Marina Hyde
You’ve got to admire the Fifa president’s chutzpah in trying to flog off football’s greatest prize. If only Uefa wasn’t being so pesky about it all, says Marina Hyde
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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 31/07/2026
“Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness might sound like a show to miss at the Edinburgh Fringe, but what it’s staging is much more entertaining.” @bryce.lol on blistering form as ever in the Alphaville substack open.substack.com/pub/ftav/p/l...
open.substack.com
Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone
Also: rent controls, gold hoarding, junk bonds, memory chips, baseball debt, enriched uranium, dead bacteria, and an ETF spaghetti cannon
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
This is insane. I really hope moderate European politicians don’t leave it up to the far-right to respond credibly to this. The system is not working and needs a decisive response.
as.ft.com
Spain says 49,000 migrants entered Ceuta enclave in one day
Record influx into North African territory is nearly five times higher than at peak of Europe’s 2015 migration crisis
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Konflikte & Sicherheit @konflikt-sicher.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Russlands Luftwaffe ist laut RUSI für die NATO heute klar gefährlicher als 2022: mehr moderne Kampfflugzeuge, erfahrenere Piloten, größere Abstandswaffen, besser vernetzte Luftverteidigung & koordinierte Angriffe mit Hunderten Drohnen und Flugkörpern. www.hartpunkt.de/rusi-paper-r...
hartpunkt.de
RUSI-Paper: Russlands Luftstreitkräfte stellen heute eine größere Bedrohung für NATO als 2022 dar
Ein kürzlich veröffentlichtes Paper des britischen „Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies“ (RUSI) kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die russische Luftwaffe aktuell eine höhere Bedr...
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Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
35 years ago today, seven Lithuanian officers left for work and never came home. In the early hours of 31 July 1991, Soviet OMON forces carried out the Medininkai massacre, killing seven unarmed border and police officers.
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Christian Odendahl @codendahl.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I kid you not: for the connecting rail tracks in Bavaria, Germany hasn’t even decided on the route yet, let alone started building them.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Happy Wednesday everyone.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I’m hungry now. This has spoiled my own more modest dinner plans.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
(Assuming this is a large joint of some kind)
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Probably just the standard 50-55C for rare, same as beef, depending on size. I think method to get there is the issue. In general would be gentler with heat - would prob pan sear and put it in at 180 rather than a hot oven to start. And err on a longer resting time over time in oven, maybe in foil.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
This is a choice by Russia.
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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I’m just a simple Internet user, but it seems to me that the UK government shouldn’t use this man’s website for official communications, I dunno.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Casualties much higher than earlier reported in Berlin from the terror attack on last night’s pride celebration. 1 dead and 29 now known to be injured, some very seriously. The suspect also used a blade to attack victims, after running people down with a car. Appalling Islamist violence.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
This is a very elegant way of describing someone who has zero touch with reality.
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Philip Stephens @philipstephens.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Excellent piece from somehow who knows Japan www.ft.com/content/397c...
ft.com
Japan awakes
Why 1 per cent interest rates could shake everything up after a generation of deflation
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auonsson @auonsson.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Russian shadow tanker CAROLINE BEZENGI is breaking up in a nature reserve of the Omani coast. All the beneficiaries whose coasts she passed last year thanks their lucky stars. Odds are against them though, there are about another 1000-1500 running around the world. Tick, tock.
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Sam Gad Jones @samgadjones.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Gorgeous!
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