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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Icelanders are voting this Saturday, 29 August, on whether to resume membership negotiations with the European Union. In the accompanying article I discuss how ongoing changes in the international system - and the crisis of the Western alliance in particular - shape Iceland's options.

visir.is

Ísland, Evrópa og áhrifasvæði stórvelda - Vísir

Eftir nokkra daga ganga Íslendingar að kjörborðinu og svara því hvort hefja skuli aðildarviðræður við Evrópusambandið að nýju.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

It seems that the planned expansion of French nuclear deterrence in Europe is causing some jitters in Washington.

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Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke @kevinhorourke.eurosky.social · 09/03/2026

Defenders of the rules-based system would have condemned the invasion of Iran, and not signed the Turnberry deal. But if the EU was militarily strong enough to defend itself and Ukraine, without US help, it would be able to defend the values its citizens believe in. That should be the agenda.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I have a hard time wrapping my head around Merz. One day he's taking bold steps towards European autonomy and breaking with long-standing taboos. The next he's outdoing Meloni in Trump sycophancy and undermining European unity. He's been flip-flopping between these positions from day 1.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Miðflokksmenn tala gjarnan um hópa sem ekki vilja aðlagast siðum og venjum samfélagsins og telja að trúarbrögð sín standi landslögum framar. Þeir eru væntanlega að tala um kaþólsku kirkjuna.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

This is diehard Atlanticist cope. It sounds like it's finally dawning on Washington and their spokespeople across the Atlantic that Europe may actually slip out of their sphere of influence for good.

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Stanley Pignal @spignal.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

So to be clear we have actually reached the point where NATO states are deploying tripwire forces to deter *another NATO state* from invading *another NATO state.* I struggle to communicate the strategic and just regular insanity of this moment.

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Pierre-Yves Baubry 博磊 @pybaubry.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

By letting Putin off the hook in Ukraine and behaving this way in their own backyard, the U.S. also give China many excuses to attack Taiwan and decimate its leadership.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Iceland has officially pulled out of Eurovision. Good stuff.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

This comes as Taiwan makes a huge diplomatic push into Europe. I wonder if Taiwan's leaders realise just how badly this goes down with large parts of the European and global publics. Apart from the utter immorality of the stance, it's also very counterproductive to Taiwan's interests.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Let’s rephrase the question. “Whose judgment is worth more: government actors, making political decisions to achieve ideological goals, or the market?” According to Milei - the beacon of contemporary libertarianism - it’s the government. on.ft.com/4qLuOoO

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

I’ve wondered the same thing about Icelandic conservatives. Having screamed about sovereignty for as long as I can remember, they’ve now fallen conspicuously silent as their friends across the Atlantic are literally threatening to annex our closest neighbour by force.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

A new piece by me in @thediplomat.com. I argue that, despite considerable speculation to the contrary, #China will not invade #Taiwan in the near future. In fact, the Trump administration's trade wars are decreasing that likelihood.

thediplomat.com

Why China Will Not Invade Taiwan (For Now)

China has little to gain and everything to lose by altering the world’s current geopolitical trajectory.

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Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Shared Responsibility. creative done with @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social

black car with a red x and a bright yellow car with a green check mark.
It's getting dark out earlier, be sure to add a bright coat of paint to your vehicle. Remember road safety is a shared responsibility.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Ég hélt í augnablik að þessi fyrirsögn sneri að utanríkisstefnu Íslands. Og finnst það svo sem alveg passa.

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Adam Posen @adamposen.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Trade Wars Are Easy to Lose My latest. Escalation with China will be Trump's economic equivalent of the Vietnam War. The US will lose bigly. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state... via @foreignaffairs.com

foreignaffairs.com

Trade Wars Are Easy to Lose

Beijing has escalation dominance in the U.S.-China tariff fight.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

US two days ago: "We are starting a trade war with the whole world! Every country will come crawling to us pleading for mercy and deals. Also, we're poaching your most valuable firms." US today: "OK, sorry, we didn't mean that. But can you guys please join our team effort to squeeze China?"

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

two days ago, the Brits were padding themselves on the back for getting "better" tariff treatment than the EU.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

For Taiwan, it's always nice to see its status as a country reinforced by being labelled as such on a prominent list with other countries. Well... except on this list. We could definitely have done without this one.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Maybe Trump has some positive climate change policies after all.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

My favourite part is that Trump believes the US has a “champagne business”.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Ég skrifaði smá pistil um stöðu Íslands í alþjóðakerfinu í ljósi þeirrar upplausnar sem nú ríkir í vestrænu samstarfi. --- I wrote a piece on Iceland's international position and future prospects in light of the crisis in the transatlantic alliance.

visir.is

Staða Íslands og niðurbrot vestrænnar samvinnu - Vísir

Vestræn samvinna er í dag í sinni dýpstu krísu frá lokum síðari heimsstyrjaldar. Vandamálin eiga sér nokkra forsögu. Engu að síður eru þær breytingar sem hafa átt sér stað síðustu vikur svo hraðar og ...

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Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 19/02/2025

Trump loves your cynical takes. But if you think existing norms are nothing but window dressing, then you don't understand why he is so eager to be rid of them.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Svo það sé tekið fram, þá er þetta EKKI ég. Það vill bara svo leiðinlega til að þessi gæi er alnafni minn. bsky.app/profile/ruvf...

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Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · 02/08/2024

Journalists: you can call it "Taiwan." Chinese Taipei is just a name cooked up to satisfy China in international competitions. The people are Taiwanese.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 05/03/2024

Interesting. In that case, I guess Singapore wouldn’t object to other ASEAN countries negotiating similar “exclusivity deals” concerning international companies and their headquarters. bsky.app/profile/fina...

bsky.app

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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 07/02/2024

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 13/01/2024

Happy election day Taiwan! 🇹🇼

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Kári Tulinius @kattullus.bsky.social · 19/12/2023

the history of Iceland in a nutshell

Screenshot of a chat message, which says: I started that but then got distracted by volcano

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Mindy Weisberger @laminda.bsky.social · 12/12/2023

Public art makes cities better and more artists should be involved in urban infrastructure design, which is a roundabout way of saying that we need more Parking Squids for bicycles 🦑 seattlearts.emuseum.com/objects/3898...

A giant metal squid that is also a rack for parking bicycles.

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Thorsteinn Kristinsson @stennikr.bsky.social · 26/11/2023

A few pictures from an open lecture I gave at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages in Kaohsiung a few weeks ago. The talk was on Icelandic IR and the field of Small State Studies.

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