Wester van Gaal
@westervangaal.bsky.social
Journalist @euobs in Brussels - EU politics, climate, green finance, industrial policy. Formerly @vice @decorrespondent
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
The baroque corruption schemes playing out in America and Russia completely outclass the kickback scandal in Ukraine.
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
Trumpian Corruption Is Worse Than Ukrainian Corruption
The people of Ukraine want an honest government, even as American and Russian kleptocrats circle their country.
www.theatlantic.com
December 7, 2025 at 2:15 PM
The baroque corruption schemes playing out in America and Russia completely outclass the kickback scandal in Ukraine.
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
In his book Kaput: The End of the German Miracle, political commentator Wolfgang Munchau traced many of today’s ills to this lust for the past.
“This is why errors of judgment in the corporate sector get amplified,” Munchau wrote. “Everybody hangs together....
“This is why errors of judgment in the corporate sector get amplified,” Munchau wrote. “Everybody hangs together....
December 7, 2025 at 8:09 AM
In his book Kaput: The End of the German Miracle, political commentator Wolfgang Munchau traced many of today’s ills to this lust for the past.
“This is why errors of judgment in the corporate sector get amplified,” Munchau wrote. “Everybody hangs together....
“This is why errors of judgment in the corporate sector get amplified,” Munchau wrote. “Everybody hangs together....
Sigh
🤷♂️
December 6, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Sigh
Great piece. The US announcing itself like this could finally help trigger some EU resistance. But arguably it still undersells how ready (formerly) centrist governments and lawmakers are to jump on Trump’s anti-EU rhetoric and work with his far-right allies for short-term policy gains.
Trump's new National Security Strategy: what if groypers cosplayed George Kennan?
www.programmablemutter.com/p/america-ha...
www.programmablemutter.com/p/america-ha...
America has identified its greatest enemy: Western Europe
Trump's new National Security Strategy: what if groypers cosplayed George Kennan?
www.programmablemutter.com
December 6, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Great piece. The US announcing itself like this could finally help trigger some EU resistance. But arguably it still undersells how ready (formerly) centrist governments and lawmakers are to jump on Trump’s anti-EU rhetoric and work with his far-right allies for short-term policy gains.
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
Still waiting a reaction by @vonderleyen, @eucopresident or @kajakallas on the new US National Security Strategy and its aim to destroy the EU and its liberal democracies.
No comment from Ursula von der Leyen's Commission on Trump's new national security strategy that represents a direct attack on European liberal democracy.
December 6, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Still waiting a reaction by @vonderleyen, @eucopresident or @kajakallas on the new US National Security Strategy and its aim to destroy the EU and its liberal democracies.
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
The Trump administration released its latest National Security Strategy--and one thing that can be said is that there is no more pretending. It’s a plan to weaken European unity, to make Europe MAGA, to force Europe to take economic dictation by the USA…. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
The New US National Security Strategy
Trump Says Openly That the US Wants to Dominate Europe and Make it MAGA
open.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 10:08 AM
The Trump administration released its latest National Security Strategy--and one thing that can be said is that there is no more pretending. It’s a plan to weaken European unity, to make Europe MAGA, to force Europe to take economic dictation by the USA…. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
The Trump administration wants to help “its political allies” on the far Right “restore their former greatness.” Just a reminder that the last time that they were in power across the continent was the 1930s & 40s. Tucker Carlson notwithstanding, I maintain that that period wasn’t all that great.
December 6, 2025 at 7:50 AM
The Trump administration wants to help “its political allies” on the far Right “restore their former greatness.” Just a reminder that the last time that they were in power across the continent was the 1930s & 40s. Tucker Carlson notwithstanding, I maintain that that period wasn’t all that great.
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
1/As FIFA delivers Trump his peace prize there will be many uncomfortable chuckles and head scratches. But this is no joke. It is another peace in building a neo-royalist order based not on states but hyper elites. Orders use symbols for legitimation.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System | International Organization | Cambridge Core
Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System - Volume 79 Issue S1
www.cambridge.org
December 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
1/As FIFA delivers Trump his peace prize there will be many uncomfortable chuckles and head scratches. But this is no joke. It is another peace in building a neo-royalist order based not on states but hyper elites. Orders use symbols for legitimation.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
Bang on from Ed Luce and Martin Sandbu.
Getting the Ukraine loan passed is now a key litmus test for Europe if it’s a herbivore in a carnivore world.
Getting the Ukraine loan passed is now a key litmus test for Europe if it’s a herbivore in a carnivore world.
December 5, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Bang on from Ed Luce and Martin Sandbu.
Getting the Ukraine loan passed is now a key litmus test for Europe if it’s a herbivore in a carnivore world.
Getting the Ukraine loan passed is now a key litmus test for Europe if it’s a herbivore in a carnivore world.
"Whereas a more ambitious political right would once have reacted to environmental pressures and demographic decline by formulating a coherent ‘imperial response to the climate crisis’, today’s European nationalists prefer childish denial and self-defeating chauvinism." 👌
Nicholas Mulder, Interludes of Abundance, NLR 155, September–October 2025
Nicholas Mulder on Arnaud Orain, Le monde confisqué. Reading of the current neo-mercantilist lurch as a return to the norm of long-run capitalist history.
newleftreview.org
December 5, 2025 at 7:36 AM
"Whereas a more ambitious political right would once have reacted to environmental pressures and demographic decline by formulating a coherent ‘imperial response to the climate crisis’, today’s European nationalists prefer childish denial and self-defeating chauvinism." 👌
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
The hegemonic transition? That train has left the station, buddy.
December 4, 2025 at 8:29 PM
The hegemonic transition? That train has left the station, buddy.
”The lack of courage is shared all by Europe’s leaders—not just Belgium’s De Wever. Their hesitation to extend financial solidarity to Belgium, their fears for the euro’s international standing, their reluctance to move beyond unanimity in sanctions all reveal Europe’s enduring aversion to risk.”
We are testing the Morning Post Europe
Today’s story by me: Belgium’s many good reasons are not enough on Ukraine
Don’t miss our brief: Russian oil, Mogherini stays, the Giorgia Majority in action against asylum seekers
With @cspillmann.bsky.social and @grimmse.bsky.social 👇
Today’s story by me: Belgium’s many good reasons are not enough on Ukraine
Don’t miss our brief: Russian oil, Mogherini stays, the Giorgia Majority in action against asylum seekers
With @cspillmann.bsky.social and @grimmse.bsky.social 👇
Belgium’s many good reasons are not enough on Ukraine
Good morning!
europemorningpost.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 7:38 AM
”The lack of courage is shared all by Europe’s leaders—not just Belgium’s De Wever. Their hesitation to extend financial solidarity to Belgium, their fears for the euro’s international standing, their reluctance to move beyond unanimity in sanctions all reveal Europe’s enduring aversion to risk.”
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
cant unsee
once you get this, the only thing you want in your country is FAR more public investment
once you get this, the only thing you want in your country is FAR more public investment
November 30, 2025 at 6:07 AM
cant unsee
once you get this, the only thing you want in your country is FAR more public investment
once you get this, the only thing you want in your country is FAR more public investment
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
The Indian state of Rajasthan produces more solar than any other. It has rejected a 3.2 GW coal power plant, because the bids to build it were more expensive than bundling renewables with batteries.
🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
India’s Desert State Reignites Coal-Fired Power Debate
The competitive cost of batteries is making clean energy a viable alternative to coal in parts of the country.
www.bloomberg.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:39 PM
The Indian state of Rajasthan produces more solar than any other. It has rejected a 3.2 GW coal power plant, because the bids to build it were more expensive than bundling renewables with batteries.
🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
Wat een totale afgang.
Dus nu heeft de hoofdredacteur haar lezers twee keer haar onjuist geinformeerd.
Dan ben je toch niet te handhaven?
Plus: de interne besluitvorming is problematisch.
En de Ombudsman is verkeerd geïnformeerd of heeft niet doorgevraagd/onderzocht.
Dus nu heeft de hoofdredacteur haar lezers twee keer haar onjuist geinformeerd.
Dan ben je toch niet te handhaven?
Plus: de interne besluitvorming is problematisch.
En de Ombudsman is verkeerd geïnformeerd of heeft niet doorgevraagd/onderzocht.
Ik denk niet dat het onredelijk is om te stellen dat NRC simpelweg het vuile werk voor de VVD-lobby heeft gedaan. En nu de Volkskrant dat kan onderbouwen, komt het berouw voor de bühne.
NRC rectificeert berichtgeving rondom informateur Wijers
Beste lezer, Deze week zijn er nieuwe feiten bekend geworden over onze berichtgeving over informateur Hans Wijers. Na nader intern onderzoek moeten we constateren dat we bij het voorleggen van zijn ve...
www.nrc.nl
November 28, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Wat een totale afgang.
Dus nu heeft de hoofdredacteur haar lezers twee keer haar onjuist geinformeerd.
Dan ben je toch niet te handhaven?
Plus: de interne besluitvorming is problematisch.
En de Ombudsman is verkeerd geïnformeerd of heeft niet doorgevraagd/onderzocht.
Dus nu heeft de hoofdredacteur haar lezers twee keer haar onjuist geinformeerd.
Dan ben je toch niet te handhaven?
Plus: de interne besluitvorming is problematisch.
En de Ombudsman is verkeerd geïnformeerd of heeft niet doorgevraagd/onderzocht.
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
on NYC bond markets, Zohran’s tech policy, the AI bubble’s growing debt component, the Gulf’s vision for compute, venture capital in the UK, Epstein’s role in global politics, performative China envy, Pynchon’s defense of the Luddites, and more thetechbubble.substack.com/p/sewer-soci...
Sewer Socialism, Cloud Debt, China Envy, Thomas Pynchon's Luddism, and the Epstein Class
Tech Bubble Consumer Dispatch #10: What I've been reading (11/28/25)
thetechbubble.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:31 PM
on NYC bond markets, Zohran’s tech policy, the AI bubble’s growing debt component, the Gulf’s vision for compute, venture capital in the UK, Epstein’s role in global politics, performative China envy, Pynchon’s defense of the Luddites, and more thetechbubble.substack.com/p/sewer-soci...
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
Really glad to see this out! @apsmolenska.bsky.social and I give our account for @boell.de of why the future of the dollar is also crucial for climate policy
🟢💶🌐 New Böll EU Brief "Green euro rising: Positioning the euro as the world’s green currency", by @apsmolenska.bsky.social & @jvtk.bsky.social 👉 eu.boell.org/en/green-eur...
🧵👇
@boell.de @janalbrecht.bsky.social @antonmoeller.bsky.social @rasmusandresen.bsky.social @baseickhout.bsky.social
🧵👇
@boell.de @janalbrecht.bsky.social @antonmoeller.bsky.social @rasmusandresen.bsky.social @baseickhout.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Really glad to see this out! @apsmolenska.bsky.social and I give our account for @boell.de of why the future of the dollar is also crucial for climate policy
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
If you read one thing today…
Incredible months-long investigation by @lauravilladiego.bsky.social for @desmog.com & @euobserver.com delves deep into the ‘sustainability’ claims of EU’s 1.5 billion euros exports scheme, exposing a string of deeply misleading narratives.
Dive in here 👇
Incredible months-long investigation by @lauravilladiego.bsky.social for @desmog.com & @euobserver.com delves deep into the ‘sustainability’ claims of EU’s 1.5 billion euros exports scheme, exposing a string of deeply misleading narratives.
Dive in here 👇
🔴 NEW 🔴
MEPs Call for Urgent Review of €1.5 Billion EU Food Scheme Pushing ‘Misleading’ Claims
📝 @lauravilladiego.bsky.social 👇
www.desmog.com/2025/11/25/m...
MEPs Call for Urgent Review of €1.5 Billion EU Food Scheme Pushing ‘Misleading’ Claims
📝 @lauravilladiego.bsky.social 👇
www.desmog.com/2025/11/25/m...
MEPs Call for Urgent Review of €1.5 Billion EU Food Scheme Pushing 'Misleading' Claims
EU taxpayers are funding a multi-year campaign blitz which frequently overstates the environmental benefits of eating meat and dairy while featuring bizarre and misleading claims. Since 2017, the Euro...
www.desmog.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:14 AM
If you read one thing today…
Incredible months-long investigation by @lauravilladiego.bsky.social for @desmog.com & @euobserver.com delves deep into the ‘sustainability’ claims of EU’s 1.5 billion euros exports scheme, exposing a string of deeply misleading narratives.
Dive in here 👇
Incredible months-long investigation by @lauravilladiego.bsky.social for @desmog.com & @euobserver.com delves deep into the ‘sustainability’ claims of EU’s 1.5 billion euros exports scheme, exposing a string of deeply misleading narratives.
Dive in here 👇
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
Dit vat de prioriteiten in het economisch beleid van het afgelopen kabinet mooi samen: op de plek van de nieuwe cleanroom van ASML is illegaal mest gedumpt...
Heeft de BBB al gereageerd?
www.mestverwaarding.nl/kenniscentru...
Heeft de BBB al gereageerd?
www.mestverwaarding.nl/kenniscentru...
Bodem nieuwe locatie ASML vervuild door lekkende mestzak met ammoniumsulfaat
Een perceel nabij de A2/N2 in Eindhoven - waar chipmachinefabrikant ASML de komende jaren kantoren en cleanrooms wil bouwen - is ernstig vervuild geraakt door een lekkende mestzak met spuiwater.
www.mestverwaarding.nl
November 25, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Dit vat de prioriteiten in het economisch beleid van het afgelopen kabinet mooi samen: op de plek van de nieuwe cleanroom van ASML is illegaal mest gedumpt...
Heeft de BBB al gereageerd?
www.mestverwaarding.nl/kenniscentru...
Heeft de BBB al gereageerd?
www.mestverwaarding.nl/kenniscentru...
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
Very good interview and important fact-checking.
November 25, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Very good interview and important fact-checking.
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
I enjoyed my conversation with @janrosenow.bsky.social. I’ve learned a lot from his work over the years, especially his critique of using expensive green hydrogen for home heating (or baking an egg).
Here we talk about how electrifying our industries can actually make them more competitive.
Here we talk about how electrifying our industries can actually make them more competitive.
According to Oxford professor of energy Jan Rosenow, rapid electrification of Europe's industry, not rolling back the EU's Green Deal, will save European industry.
Why electrification, not repealing green laws, will save Europe's industry
According to Oxford professor of energy Jan Rosenow, rapid electrification of Europe's industry, not rolling back the EU's Green Deal, will save European industry.
euobserver.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:27 AM
I enjoyed my conversation with @janrosenow.bsky.social. I’ve learned a lot from his work over the years, especially his critique of using expensive green hydrogen for home heating (or baking an egg).
Here we talk about how electrifying our industries can actually make them more competitive.
Here we talk about how electrifying our industries can actually make them more competitive.
Bowing Before Censorship
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Bowing Before Censorship
Reposted by Wester van Gaal
Electrification + efficiency — not rolling back climate policy — is the real path to a competitive European industry.
High fossil fuel prices hit industry hardest, not the Green Deal. Undermining clean-energy commitments would only push investment elsewhere.
euobserver.com/green-econom...
High fossil fuel prices hit industry hardest, not the Green Deal. Undermining clean-energy commitments would only push investment elsewhere.
euobserver.com/green-econom...
Why electrification, not repealing green laws, will save Europe's industry
According to Oxford professor of energy Jan Rosenow, rapid electrification of Europe's industry, not rolling back the EU's Green Deal, will save European industry.
euobserver.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Electrification + efficiency — not rolling back climate policy — is the real path to a competitive European industry.
High fossil fuel prices hit industry hardest, not the Green Deal. Undermining clean-energy commitments would only push investment elsewhere.
euobserver.com/green-econom...
High fossil fuel prices hit industry hardest, not the Green Deal. Undermining clean-energy commitments would only push investment elsewhere.
euobserver.com/green-econom...
"VW is among a clutch of European carmakers attempting to replicate the speed of vehicle development in China by hiring local engineers, collaborating with partners there and by tearing down vehicles made by BYD and other newer rivals."
Interesting times.
Interesting times.
VW is now admitting that "in China for China", its motto of the past years, is really "in China for the World" (minus the US). Not a good recipe for German jobs and the broader economy.
www.ft.com/content/b772...
www.ft.com/content/b772...
VW says it can halve EV development costs with ‘Made in China’ car
German automaker is seeking to reclaim share in the world’s biggest market
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:57 AM
"VW is among a clutch of European carmakers attempting to replicate the speed of vehicle development in China by hiring local engineers, collaborating with partners there and by tearing down vehicles made by BYD and other newer rivals."
Interesting times.
Interesting times.