Leopold Schmertzing's Avatar

Leopold Schmertzing

@leo81

Taking a writing break, associate fellow @aies.at, former program head @forumalpbach, @EP_EPRS, team @evamaydell, strategic foresight & security-defence nerd, @SAISHopkins/@univienna alum

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Latest posts by Leopold Schmertzing @leo81

Today has pretty much confirmed the North Korea argument of why you need nukes.

28.02.2026 23:15 👍 467 🔁 84 💬 18 📌 8
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Putin’s lobbyist in Europe. Viktor Orbán is a pathetic traitor

24.02.2026 08:51 👍 848 🔁 206 💬 93 📌 26

Wasn’t the AI act supposed to force platforms like youtube to mark AI generated content as such?

So many people around me get highly political short videos made by AI with fake news and antidemocratic propaganda!

Why do we have these laws, if they do not seem to work?

24.02.2026 08:56 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Alexei Navalny was killed by the toxin epibatidine which has been developed by Russia, the U.K. government announced in a statement.

"Only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin."

More on our #MSC2026 blog: www.politico.eu/article/muni...

14.02.2026 13:21 👍 149 🔁 55 💬 3 📌 7
Preview
Live Updates: Rubio Emphasizes Shared History With Europe at Munich Security Conference

One day China and the US mock Europe as old and declining; the next - like at #MSC2026 - they charm us, fearing we might obstruct their ambitions. Neither scorn nor flattery should distract Europe from its path to independence.

www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

14.02.2026 09:19 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

It’s a great podcast, subscribe to it!

10.02.2026 18:24 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Made a bet that I would get monetised on YouTube by April so I need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours until then. I've got 4,700 watch hours and 301 subscribers so I still need 699 more subscribers to get it done. If you have a YouTube account and you're into politics, help me win? Danke! 🙏

10.02.2026 17:41 👍 19 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 2

You go to the United States this can happen to you, too, my fellow Europeans.

10.02.2026 17:54 👍 40 🔁 32 💬 11 📌 3

This is huge. And my guess is that this doesn't lead to a two speed Europe but a mass bandwagon effect. If the Six agree others will almost all follow.

29.01.2026 22:03 👍 94 🔁 21 💬 4 📌 5
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Verlängern oder nicht: Kanzler Stocker kündigt Volksbefragung zu... | Leopold Schmertzing Erste Reaktion auf die angekündigte Volksbefragung über eine Verlängerung der Wehrpflicht in Österreich - Keine Wiederholung der Wehrpflichtdebatte von 2013 Die damaligen parteipolitischen Wendungen...

In meinem Beitrag habe ich hohe Hürden für einen Volksbefragung verlangt: sie muss schnell und geordnet verlaufen, kein Alt gegen jung, kein Abwälzen von Verantwortung, volle Unterstützung der Regierung. Trotzdem: besser wäre jetzt zu entscheiden.

www.linkedin.com/posts/leopol...

31.01.2026 09:14 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Feels like Trump is pretty much unconditionally surrendering as support collapses

26.01.2026 22:52 👍 3399 🔁 587 💬 155 📌 94
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TikTok Strikes Deal for New U.S. Entity, Ending Long Legal Saga

Now let’s do the same with those US social media poisoning our body politic…

TikTok Strikes Deal for New U.S. Entity, Ending Long Legal Saga www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t... let’s do the same with the Americans

23.01.2026 14:21 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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TikTok Strikes Deal for New U.S. Entity, Ending Long Legal Saga

Time to Ban Social Media for under 16 years and have all Social Media Companies operating in the EU owned by EU Companies and operating under EU laws: TikTok Strikes Deal for New U.S. Entity, Ending Long Legal Saga www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t... #tiktok #socialmedia

23.01.2026 07:59 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

@tbsky.app check out this thread

18.01.2026 14:09 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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I wonder how long it will take the media to catch on to the fact that ICE’s recruiting spree has effectively deputized every white supremacist hate group out there.

17.01.2026 05:32 👍 5487 🔁 2057 💬 133 📌 131

They don’t want Greenland.
They want to end NATO, and Greenland is just a way to do it.

16.01.2026 21:10 👍 416 🔁 93 💬 22 📌 3

i have written this a few times now but the reason JD Vance spends all day posting is that they barely tolerate his presence in the white house and have locked him out of every decision of consequence. he is basically unemployed

10.01.2026 17:44 👍 16116 🔁 3045 💬 414 📌 185
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Except if it’s this…

10.01.2026 22:22 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

From a professional side this looks horrible, what form of crowd control is that…

10.01.2026 22:22 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Here's the thing. These guys have no sense of how to act in public order. And if they keep escalating in cities while diddy-bopping around foolishly, they are going to face some seriously violent consequences as the reality of numbers manifests.

10.01.2026 12:51 👍 38 🔁 8 💬 4 📌 1

Agents like this should be identified and their name and picture posted on a searchable web site with videos and content like this linked to their names

10.01.2026 21:59 👍 4533 🔁 1208 💬 206 📌 67
The video also allegedly shows the CBP agent saying “Do something, bitch” before shots were fired. In private Signal chats, the CBP agent boasted to other officers: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” If he felt comfortable enough communicating that to fellow employees, it speaks to an irredeemable organizational culture.

The video also allegedly shows the CBP agent saying “Do something, bitch” before shots were fired. In private Signal chats, the CBP agent boasted to other officers: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” If he felt comfortable enough communicating that to fellow employees, it speaks to an irredeemable organizational culture.

This is the second time in three months a DHS agent called a US citizen a "bitch" as he shot her. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...

10.01.2026 19:32 👍 5582 🔁 1954 💬 105 📌 90
UNITED STATES
U.S. Central Command X.com
@CENTCOM
X Article
U.S., Partner Forces Strike ISIS Targets in Syria
TAMPA, Fla. — Today, at approximately 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces, alongside partner forces, conducted large-scale strikes against
2:42 PM • 1/10/26 • 67K Views

UNITED STATES U.S. Central Command X.com @CENTCOM X Article U.S., Partner Forces Strike ISIS Targets in Syria TAMPA, Fla. — Today, at approximately 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces, alongside partner forces, conducted large-scale strikes against 2:42 PM • 1/10/26 • 67K Views

⚠️ CENTCOM announces the US and unspecified “partner forces” have conducted “large-scale strikes” against ISIS in Syria tonight in response to the ISIS attack on US and Syrian forces in Palmyra that killed three Americans in December.

They released footage of the strikes as part of the announcement.

10.01.2026 21:14 👍 56 🔁 34 💬 11 📌 2
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Musk says X outcry is 'excuse for censorship' The government is urging Ofcom to use all its powers – up to and including an effective ban – against X.

Preventing the sharing of sexualised images of children is “censorship” according to Elon Musk.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

10.01.2026 05:50 👍 1806 🔁 816 💬 283 📌 544

@hennavirkkunen.bsky.social

07.01.2026 13:27 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Möglich wäre zB eine A2/AD Strat, offiziell wg RUS/CHN:
- kleine europäische Flottenverbände um Grönland, inkl U-Booten und der Beteiligung vieler Eur. Staaten.
- Versendung von 2-3t SOF, evtl Gebirgstruppen, schön verteilt und schwer auffindbar.

06.01.2026 18:22 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Grönland: Europäer warnen USA vor Annexion Die großen europäischen Staaten haben die USA in deutlichen Worten vor einer Annexion Grönlands gewarnt. „Grönland gehört seinem Volk. Es ist allein Sache Dänemarks und Grönlands, über Angelegenheiten...

Ok aber wo sind die Schritte, die wir ankündigen, um zu zeigen das wir es ernst meinen? Wo?!?!?

orf.at/stories/3416...

06.01.2026 18:12 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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So much winning. Please stop.

01.01.2026 09:35 👍 3191 🔁 1143 💬 173 📌 66
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Inside Instagram’s all-out battle to win the nation’s teens Instagram has pursued a yearslong strategy to win teens back to the app after its critics said the platform wasn’t safe for them, documents obtained by The Post show.

Per "internal documents written between 2023 and 2025 and viewed by The Washington Post... Instagram staffers considered the mandate to boost teen metrics their top goal last year," including "boosting their messaging activity... to set up an early pipeline for lifelong use of Meta’s platforms."

26.12.2025 13:37 👍 77 🔁 45 💬 4 📌 17

Xi Jinping trying to compensate for domestic economic and social stagnation through an export strategy based on hopes of endless expansion is not a sustainable political model

26.12.2025 14:52 👍 86 🔁 8 💬 2 📌 0