Marijn Markus

AI Lead | Managing Data Scientist | Public Speaker

Universiteit Utrecht  

Capgemini

Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands 

May 18, 2026

🎤 Anne Applebaum is right: “The United States under this administration is no longer interested in leading democratic coalitions against Russia or anyone else.

President Trump has begun to align US foreign and domestic policies with the values and practices of the autocratic world.

Democracy is no longer at the center of United States foreign policy or American identity.

President and his administration attempted to strip funding from USAID or Radio Free Europe, American institutions that once promoted democracy around the world.

Trump verbally attacked Canada, European Union, America’s Asian partners, placing inexplicably high tariffs on their goods.

Trump shouted at the Ukrainian president in Oval Office, threatened to annex Greenland by force, claimed that EU was created to “screw US,” and echoed Putin in calling NATO a paper tiger.

Trump negotiated with Russia not to bring just peace to Ukraine or security to Europe, but in order to help US businesses profit from lifting of Russian sanctions.”

Video and link to article here :

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/marijnmarkus_anne-applebaum-is-right-the-united-states-activity-7461505018861412352-RuL6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAAbzsX4Bd5uGRRvx_FE5Zra0KIdYj1g_WBs

Comment from :

Adriaan de Groot

You do not have to be Anne Applebaum to make this analysis. It is quite evident for everyone who follows US internal and external policies. A more interesting analyses would be why this happens? Do American citizens think when Trump has gone in 2,5 years it will be politics as usual and Trump’s heritage has gone? I think a false perception.

🇪🇺🇺🇦Marcel ‘Otto’ YON

…and Trump is corrupt beyond measure. The US have become a rogue country.

Justin Adams

Accurate as long as MAGA remains in power within the United States.

Marijn Markus

It’s up to US citizens to decide how long that lasts.

Simon Lovegrove

Anne Applebaum makes s very clear statement that Trump wants dictatorship in America. Putin encourages and manipulates him but President Xi exposed him. And Iran has made him look weak.

One wonders how MAGA cannot see this or have they realised that they are so embarrassed, that, like the Titanic they will go down with their captain.

Marvin Couldwell

He said what he’d do and 70 million Americans voted for it. He even said he’d be a dictator but lied about the “for one day” bit. It has been clear from the start that he’s creating a Russian style oligarchy with a Duma style Congress. What’s still not clear is how he plans to get to president for life.

Michael Holt

Marvin Couldwell : He said we wouldn’t need to be bothered with the nuisance of having to vote anymore. Does that answer your question?

Nico Schouten

“In four years, you don’t have to vote again.”

The discussion that follows may say more than the statement itself.
As Maya Angelou said: when someone shows you who they are, believe them.
Rhetoric is rarely accidental. It’s information — if you know how to listen

…………………..

Related :

Arguing against defending Taiwan because it’s “far away” while actively waging war on Iran, which is even further away…

Jacob Kaarsbo

President Xi appears to have convinced Trump to break with approx 80 yrs of policy on Taiwan. From being “status quo” based on US deterrence, Trump has turned Taiwan into a bargaining chip in his “fantastic relationship” with the Chinese dictator.

• “I’m not looking to have somebody go independent. And, you know, are we supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war? I’m not looking for that”.
• “When you look at the odds, China is a very, very powerful and big country. That’s a very small island”.
• “Think of it; it’s 59 miles away. We’re 9,500 miles away. That’s a little bit of a difficult problem”.
• “If you look at the history, Taiwan was developed because we had presidents that didn’t know what the hell they were doing”.
• “They stole our chip industry”.

Chinese takeover of Taiwan is moving much closer.

I’d urge the pundits and commentators branding Trump as “5D chess player”, “China hawk” and “saving military resources in Europe because they’re needed in Asia/Pacific” to test their “analysis” once again!

https://lnkd.in/eh3vMwKc

………………..

🙄 Like clockwork, pro-russian AfD now claims Ukraine is a security threat to Germany – not russia.

Here, Alice Weidel says Ukrainian drone strikes inside russia threaten Germany’s security

Not russia invading another sovereign nation.
Not the daily teггог attacкs.
Not the massacгєs.
Not the millions displaced across Europe.

Only Ukraine fighting back.

Absolutely vilє hypocгisy.

☝️ Note Alice Weidel and the whole AfD crew are on Kremlin payroll, and they complain about whatever bothers their Moscow masters,

So Ukrainian long-range strikes are clearly hitting the old dictaтог where it huгтs.

It just proves we’re on the right track.

Video and link to article :

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/marijnmarkus_like-clockwork-pro-russian-afd-now-claims-activity-7461486966174289920-Y_gL?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAAbzsX4Bd5uGRRvx_FE5Zra0KIdYj1g_WBs

Comment from :

Oliver Hess

AfD is supported by Kremlin and the co-chairman of the AfD, Chrupalla, attends receptions and celebrations at the Russian embassy in Berlin – no further comment needed!

Pavlo Prochan

Under all the other circumstances, Putin-Russian propaganda would have described Alice Weidel as:

• granddaughter of SS-man & a Nazi judge appointed directly by Adolf H. (an artist from Austria);
• a LGBTQ+;
• married to a migrant from Asia;
• a child-free, etc.

But Weidel is paid by the Kremlins and that’s why the Russian “Goebbels TV” doesn’t laugh at her still.

Foreigners (non-Russian speakers) cannot understand that:

• You may be ethnic Russian, straight, believer, having White children, but to be imprisoned in Russia only because you criticised the Great Leader (Putin);
  and
• You may be LGBTQ+, child-free, drug-addict, non-Christian, non-White, but having support & grants from the Kremlins. Only because you idolize Putin openly.

Marijn Markus

Conclusion: it has got nothing to do with ideology and everything with conformity…

Thorsten Schneider

Anyone who describes Ukraine’s defence as “poking the Russian bear in the eye” has not merely lost their moral compass – they have handed it to the aggressor.
Russia invades a sovereign country. Russia bombs cities. Russia abducts children. Russia threatens Europe. And Ms Weidel essentially declares: the bear is not the problem – the problem is those who refuse to be quietly devoured. This is not peace policy. This is rhetoric of submission in German grammar.
Ms Weidel is not a politician in any serious sense. She is a follower of a party whose regional branches are officially classified as confirmed right-wing extremist. Her political competence amounts to echoing Moscow into a Berlin microphone.
I feel shame that such sentences are uttered from German soil – from a country that ought to know where appeasement leads.
This is not “the courage to speak the truth.” This is cowardice in the face of it.
The applause does not come from Berlin or Warsaw. It comes from Moscow.

Jeroen Werner

AfD and all its Russophile counterparts elsewhere pose a treacherous security threat to the continent.

Floris Weber

It is absolutely impossible to overlook the fact that the AfD speaks and acts in the interests of the Kremlin. Unfortunately, many Germans fail to recognize this duplicitous game. The only parties peddling even more Russian propaganda are the BSW and The Left.

Sergy Ilyenko

Ukrainians don’t care about Weidel’s security. Whatever she says, it’s her own problem. Ukraine will keep striking ᵣussia to ensure ᵣussia is not dangerous to its neighbours anymore.

……………

Some excellent comments. Unfortunately there are also filthy kremtrolls on LI :

Eduard Muntanion

Partner @ Private Equity, M&A, Multi-family Office

AfD has the highest rating and it keeps going up. This brave lady speaking the obvious truth is with a high probability the next chancellor of Germany. All that nasty propaganda against her doesn’t work anymore.