Category: Policy
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Thinking without trenches
I've never felt comfortable with rigid labels. I have one foot on the left, the other closer to the right, and a constant curiosity for people and ideas that don't easily fit into either category. I identify with values traditionally associated with the left: care, social justice, attention to the most vulnerable. However (and these days…
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From the Minimal State to a Surveillanced Identity: A Brief Essay on a Country in Contradiction
“"The liberty of an individual should be limited only to prevent him from harming others." John Stuart Mill. There are laws that regulate and others that reveal. The revision approved by Parliament on March 20, 2026, by PSD, Chega and CDS-PP, is not just a set of technical changes; it is a mirror of political anxiety…
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Hormuz | The echo of a strait that never forgives
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” Isaac Asimov. There are places that are not merely geographical. They are warnings. Hormuz is one of those points where History narrows, where the sea becomes a border, and where human ambition invariably stumbles. Today, as five centuries ago, Hormuz continues to be more than…
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History warns, does the world listen?
“"Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it." - Winston Churchill. There are moments in history when events seem to take on a life of their own. It's not just the succession of facts that is unsettling, but the pace at which they accumulate. The war in the east. The war in Gaza and the Middle East. The war…
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The Prestiani-Vinícius Case | The Moral Measure of Silence
“Not all who remain silent are guilty. But all the guilty are silent.” Albert Camus. The Prestiani–Vinícius case began like so many other football episodes: tension, dancing, provocations, words exchanged in the heat of the moment. One gesture, however, remained etched in the collective memory: the hand covering the mouth. When someone covers their lips…
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It's Passos Costa's fault.
“"Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past." - George Orwell. There is a political figure who has governed Portugal for over a decade. He doesn't appear on the ballot, he doesn't make statements to the country, he doesn't lead cabinet meetings. But he is always present… His name is Passos Costa. He is a useful hybrid. An entity…
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Disinformation, Cognitive Sovereignty, and the War on Narratives
“The ideal subject of a totalitarian regime is neither the convinced Nazi nor the convinced Communist, but the person for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, between true and false, no longer exists.” Hannah Arendt A few days ago, a news story spread faster than the facts. At the beginning of February, Público published an analysis…