Luca Trenta
@lucatrenta.bsky.social
4.6K followers 870 following 1.2K posts
Associate Professor in IR at @swanseauni_ppir Work on assassination, covert action, US foreign policy, secrecy. Host of the Out of the Shadows Project Podcast. Follow The Brush Contact Substack for more.
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Reposted by Luca Trenta
thenerve.news
More than just a bad apple: why we must look closer at the Nathan Gill scandal

New evidence connects the Ukrainian politician who paid bribes to Gill - Reform UK’s former leader in Wales - to a campaign to destabilise the US election

@carolecadwalla.bsky.social reports
The contact of Reform UK's Russian puppet Nathan Gill is linked to efforts to destabilise the US and Ukraine. Why, even now, is no one asking questions?
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Unthinkable to have such a majority and waste it in such a cowardly manner.
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Things @teamlabouruk.bsky.social should do to improve the economy, society, and its electoral prospects:
1) Renounce and undo Brexit,
2) Change rhetoric on migration,
3) Tax the superrich, fund education and NHS,
4) Denounce and expose foreign interference and financing of UK parties.
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Again, every @teamlabouruk.bsky.social MP should be making statements on this every day.
zackpolanski.bsky.social
Glad to see Nigel Farage has finally remembered Nathan Gill, former leader of Reform in Wales - found guilty of taking bribes from Russia.

Maybe he'll now remember how much he took from Putin's propaganda broadcaster Russia Today for all his TV appearances when he was a MEP?
Nigel Farage on Russia Today.
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Why is @teamlabouruk.bsky.social not hammering on this every hour of the day? Surely, the lesson of 2016 should be that caution in the face of interference does not work.
bremaininspain.com
Several sources told The Observer that the Electoral Commission had been given prior notice by a party, understood to be Reform UK, that it had received a donation made in cryptocurrency in recent weeks.
Reform is the only political party in Europe to accept donations in crypto
Calls for transparency on political funding after first crypto donation made to UK party
Electoral Commission notified of financial contribution, which is understood to have been handed to Reform UK
uk.news.yahoo.com
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Oh no! I wonder where the donation in cryptocurrency comes from??
bremaininspain.com
Several sources told The Observer that the Electoral Commission had been given prior notice by a party, understood to be Reform UK, that it had received a donation made in cryptocurrency in recent weeks.
Reform is the only political party in Europe to accept donations in crypto
Calls for transparency on political funding after first crypto donation made to UK party
Electoral Commission notified of financial contribution, which is understood to have been handed to Reform UK
uk.news.yahoo.com
Reposted by Luca Trenta
zackpolanski.bsky.social
Glad to see Nigel Farage has finally remembered Nathan Gill, former leader of Reform in Wales - found guilty of taking bribes from Russia.

Maybe he'll now remember how much he took from Putin's propaganda broadcaster Russia Today for all his TV appearances when he was a MEP?
Nigel Farage on Russia Today.
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Brexit, UKIP, the Northern League, AfD, Le Pen, Farage the list never stops. There is very little effort to unmask this. More attention it given to expose Russia's territorial breaches than its (political) active measures.
Reposted by Luca Trenta
samfr.bsky.social
New post just out:

The relationship between Russia and the European radical right goes well beyond Reform's Nathan Gill being bribed.

In this post I trace the history back to the 1990s and look at the threat it poses now.

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/r...
Russia and the rise of the radical right
Marine Le Pen meets with Putin before the 2017 French Presidential election (Photo credit Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP via Getty Images)
open.substack.com
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Every year there is a post about lectures dying. They are not. University policies (horrible times, and immediately and universally available recordings) are not helping but attendance is stable (not great, but stable) at lectures.
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
'It is no secret that student attendance has plummeted in recent years, with near-empty lecture halls a staple of the post-pandemic world.'

Really? I lecture to all our 1st years. Lecture hall is full, not near-empty. Student engagement picked up last year and (early days) seems stronger again. 1/2
Fiction ‘brings lectures to life’ as academics face empty classes
University ‘whodunnit’ inspired by attempts to tackle poor attendance as scholars look for novel ways to engage mainstream audiences
www.timeshighereducation.com
lucatrenta.bsky.social
'There is a measure of hope in this book, but Sands shows that even in the face of overwhelming evidence, justice is never a foregone conclusion, especially when it comes to holding the powerful to account.'
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/b...
How to Get Away With Crimes Against Humanity
www.nytimes.com
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Odd how proud nationalists turn to bailouts when it comes to saving their own skin or that of their ideological ilk.
lucatrenta.bsky.social
He’s already invaded Congress. He can’t do it twice 😉
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Invasion of Norway incoming. Toddler Trump will be fuming. #NobelPeacePrize www.reuters.com/world/venezu...
www.reuters.com
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Just realised that The Brush Contact has reached 100 subscribers. For something I do on such an irregular basis, I’m very happy with it.
lucatrenta.bsky.social
I don’t think I can express the anger I feel at the failure of mainstream media across the world in the battle to defend democracy, on so many fronts.
lucatrenta.bsky.social
British Foreign Secretary just now on BBC claiming that there is great commitment on both side and Netanyahu won’t restart an offensive once/if the hostages are released. That’s a big bet to take on.
Reposted by Luca Trenta
joestieb.bsky.social
Inject this directly into my veins
junoryleejournalism.com
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.
lucatrenta.bsky.social
Of course they are ripoffs. What did you expect from Trump businesses?
lucatrenta.bsky.social
I’m not saying that the @teamlabouruk.bsky.social government could solve the situation here, as saving “elitist” academics does not resonate with Reform voters. Would be a good start to acknowledge that there is a problem.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Thousands more university jobs cut as financial crisis deepens
University workers will vote on national strike action this month over a 1.4% pay offer made in the summer.
www.bbc.co.uk
lucatrenta.bsky.social
So, let me get this straight. A veneer of a ceasefire is sufficient to make everyone forget that Netanyahu engaged in an unnecessary genocide of Palestinians instead of pursuing members of Hamas, after a colossal intelligence and political failure he is in part responsible for?!
a man in a leather jacket and tie is saying cool cool cool cool cool cool cool
ALT: a man in a leather jacket and tie is saying cool cool cool cool cool cool cool
media.tenor.com