Carl Bildt
@carlbildt
Co-Chair European Council on Foreign Relations @ecfr. Former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden. På svenska på @cbildt.
Tomorrow will see the election to the Upper House in 🇯🇵, with opinion polls indicating a further setback for the LDP-dominated minority coalition. The Trump trade demands are hitting 🇯🇵 hard. japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/1…
You wake up each morning and wonder which country in the Middle East has 🇮🇱 bombed today. i24news.tv/en/news/israel…
Another night of massive 🇷🇺 attack against Kyiv and other cities in 🇺🇦. Putin is going all out for military victory. Trump 🇺🇸 gave him 50 days and is meanwhile busy with Epstein files.
PM Ishiba 🇯🇵 says he intends to stay after setback in the election, but there might well be tumultuous days ahead in the LDP party. Apart from all Trump 🇺🇸 troubles, next week brings also an 🇯🇵🇪🇺 summit. japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/elect…
Major loses predicted for ruling LDP and Komeito in the 🇯🇵 Upper House election. Can PM Ishiba and the government survive this? It’s a tense time with also the Trump severe tariff threat, japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/2…
Did 🇪🇺 blink in its efforts to limit abhorrent 🇮🇱 policies and practices in Gaza? The jury is out.
The EU gave Israel what it wanted – avoiding trade penalties – but got only vague promises of more Gaza aid that Netanyahu's government may never deliver on | @amirtibon haaretz.com/israel-news/20…
The18th round of 🇪🇺 sanctions against 🇷🇺 includes new and expanded measures also against the shadow fleet, and blocks the import of petroleum products derived from 🇷🇺 oil in third countries. themoscowtimes.com/2025/07/18/eu-…
It was a good move by @vonderleyen 🇪🇺 to spend a day in 🇮🇸. It looks as if the country in 2027 might revive its old 🇪🇺 membership bid, and then Brusseis awareness of the country is obviously important. mbl.is/frettir/innlen…
The Kaliningrad enclave is the Achilles heel of the 🇷🇺 strategic situation in Europe.
A NATO attack on Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad will trigger an adequate response from Russia, including measures stipulated by its nuclear doctrine, said Leonid Slutsky: vk.cc/cNM4x5
Let’s hope that attempts to create a genuinely united 🇸🇾 can be restarted. I think John Sawers has it right on the 🇮🇱 policy.
The wisdom of changing the 🇺🇦 minister responsible for opening up the 🇪🇺 negotiations at a very sensitive phase in the process eludes me. There is a risk of momentum getting lost. kyivindependent.com/ukraines-parli…
Everyone should have an interest in a unified and peaceful 🇸🇾, but that require careful diplomacy and responsible neighbors. With 🇮🇱 now bombing and intervening in 🇸🇾 it looks as if it seeks a fractured state that will be unable to recover from the horrible Assad dictatorship.…
Thus from a former Foreign Minister of 🇷🇺 - @andreivkozyrev knows what he is taking about.
@POTUS statement on Russia — important indeed. But with Putin, actions speak louder than words. He’s been spoiled by years of sanctions and loud but empty persuasions, threats, and promises. He wages aggressive war — weapons are his language.
It doesn’t seem as if Moscow 🇷🇺 was overly impressed by Trump 🇺🇸 yesterday. And the threat of 🇺🇸 consumers perhaps having to pay more for the chocolate and fertilizers they still import from 🇷🇺 50 days from now will hardly move the Kremlin.
I hope that 🇪🇺🇬🇧 spends its money for 🇺🇦 weapons in the most cost-effective way. Patriots and other unique systems are from 🇺🇸, but other weapons can probably be procured more cheaply elsewhere. And money to 🇺🇦 defence production will be highly cost-effective. Delivery time is…
Step by step Donald Trump 🇺🇸 is starting to see the real Vladimir Putin 🇷🇺. That’s welcome - although late. But so far he isn’t ready for any new 🇺🇸 support for 🇺🇦 - just letting the Europeans buy 🇺🇸 weapons for 🇺🇦. And new sanctions are deferred 50 days.
It’s encouraging that work is now accelerating on remaining parts of the important Pandemic Agreement. We need to be ready for the next pandemic challenge. @WHO healthpolicy-watch.news/new-body-adopt…
Total Trump trade chaos is threatening again. Today it’s 🇪🇺 and 🇲🇽 that he threatens with 30% basic tariff if they don’t accept his demands. Yesterday it was 🇧🇷 with 50%. Tomorrow nobody knows. thehill.com/homenews/admin…
“By demonstrating our commitment to recover Ukraine after the war, we demonstrate our confidence in the ability to achieve a ceasefire and to move on from that to reconstruction and the rise of the future sovereign and independent European Ukraine”, stressed @carlbildt, Minister…