Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #VisaBan

Most recents (24)

In January 2022, a few weeks before the full-scale invasion began, I went to a demonstration against the russian aggression by the Ukrainian embassy to the UK.

It was organised for Ukrainians by the Georgian community in the UK.

There is a reason why they did it. Image
Here is one of those reasons:

#russianwarcrimes in Gagra, Georgia 1992-1993

Before Putin.
Tsisia, 30, raped in front of her parents and guests, all of them shot dead.

#russianwarcrimes
Read 21 tweets
MINI-🧵 ABOUT RUSSIANS

There are two types of russians:

1️⃣ the russians who are killing Ukrainians

2️⃣ the russians who either support the genocide or aren’t doing enough to stop it

The war against us doesn't just happen in the trenches. It's literally everywhere.
❗️IMPORTANT POINT

🚩The russians who are bleating about russophobia during genocide of Ukrainians are not “good russians”

🚩🚩They are actually the WORST ones and should be shut down the moment they open their mouth.
The russians are not aware of is that both their action and inaction have consequences.

❓Why?

Because historically they have never been accountable for any of the genocides they carried out.
Read 6 tweets
@Afelia, dein Fazit ist voll nachvollziehbar. Es ist auch möglich, dass es 100% genau ist.

Nach🇺🇦Unterstützung aus mehreren Quellen außerhalb von🇩🇪 Media gibt es ein weiteres Szenario, das wahrscheinlicher ist.
🧵1/
#StandWithUkraine #SlavaUkraini #Misstrauensvotum
Keine Frage, in den ersten Kriegswochen herrschte Zögern.

Seit letztem Sommer hat sich das geändert. Der Fokus wurde darauf ausgerichtet, zu beurteilen, was🇺🇦am dringendsten benötigt wird.
🧵2/
Die 🇺🇸Priorität scheint sicherzustellen, dass es eine Koalition von Ländern gibt, insbesondere in Europa.

Dies ist notwendig, um die Unterstützung im Kongress und in der 🇺🇸Öffentlichkeit sicherzustellen.
🧵3/
Read 14 tweets
Ukraine steht vor den Tanklieferungen vor logistischen Hürden
🧵1/

washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/… Image
🧵2/ Image
🧵3/ Image
Read 11 tweets
This year has changed so much
- & changed so many of us.

#Russia's War & #Ukraine's heroic resistance have had a clarifying effect:
- what's right & what's wrong
- what matters & what doesn't
- what we have to do & what we shouldn't.

🧵on To Ukraine With Love 1/

wiki image Image
We've been inspired by Ukrainians' courage, ingenuity & humour in adversity
- & galvanised by #Ukraine's fight in our common war.

🇺🇦We've lost friends along the way, but made many new ones.

🇺🇦We've sought new ways to think & act
- & found them. 2/
amazon.com/Ukraine-Love-E…
When #Russia invaded #Ukraine, again, the stakes became higher - & more starkly apparent.

Even for those of us who had followed the situation closely for years, this was a step change that needed a response at every level.
3/
Read 25 tweets
This year has changed so much
- & changed so many of us.

#Russia's War & #Ukraine's heroic resistance have had a clarifying effect:
- what's right & what's wrong
- what matters & what doesn't
- what we have to do & what we shouldn't.

🧵on To Ukraine With Love 1/

wiki image Image
We've been inspired by Ukrainians' courage, ingenuity & humour in adversity
- & galvanised by #Ukraine's fight in our common war.

🇺🇦We've lost friends along the way, but made many new ones.

🇺🇦We've sought new ways to think & act
- & found them. 2/
amazon.com/Ukraine-Love-E…
When #Russia invaded #Ukraine, again, the stakes became higher - & more starkly apparent.

Even for those of us who had followed the situation closely for years, this was a step change that needed a response at every level.
3/
Read 21 tweets
This year has changed so much
- & changed so many of us.

#Russia's War & #Ukraine's heroic resistance have had a clarifying effect:
- what's right & what's wrong
- what matters & what doesn't
- what we have to do & what we shouldn't.

🧵on To Ukraine With Love 1/

wiki image Image
We've been inspired by Ukrainians' courage, ingenuity & humour in adversity
- & galvanised by #Ukraine's fight in our common war.

🇺🇦We've lost friends along the way, but made many new ones.

🇺🇦We've sought new ways to think & act
- & found them. 2/
amazon.com/Ukraine-Love-E…
When #Russia invaded #Ukraine, again, the stakes became higher - & more starkly apparent.

Even for those of us who had followed the situation closely for years, this was a step change that needed a response at every level.
3/
Read 21 tweets
OK, it’s on!

To #Ukraine With Love
Essays on #Russia’s War & #Europe’s Future

- is now out on @amazon Paperback and #Kindle

➡️a short(ish) thread of thanks
- & promotion as 📖 raises awareness &💰for 🇺🇦.

(UK order link below
others follow in🧵).

amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0BPW9…
So what is the book about?

- it collects a lot of my Essays, Interviews, Op-Eds & Analytical Commentaries for media & think tanks from Dec 21 - Dec 22

& adds ➕➕➕

amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0BPQ7…
➡️ a brand new #Longread piece
‘The New Idealism’

- the deepest development of #NeoIdealism so far as an emerging approach to #grandstrategy & #internationalrelations.

- what is Neo-Idealism (& why the name?) & who are the Neo-Idealists.

#Ukraine
amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0BPQ7…
Read 28 tweets
Fragt sich noch jemand, warum Katar LNG über ein US-Unternehmen nach Deutschland liefert? Scheint eine teurere Lösung zu sein, anstatt es direkt zu liefern.

Eine kleine Recherche ergab die Antwort.

🧵1/3👇
#MUTWINTER #Misstrauensvotum #WirSindMehr

n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Deu…
LNG direkt von Katar ist derzeit nicht möglich, da sie derzeit an die Kapazitätsgrenze liefern.

Katar hat ein Joint Venture mit dem US-Unternehmen im Golf von Mexiko. Lieferungen nach Deutschland kommen zu Beginn aus den USA.

🧵2/3 👇

middleeasteye.net/news/qatar-ger…
Was Sie beim Verkauf des Hamburger Hafens an China beachten sollten.

Oder ist mit dem Kauf von US-Gas aus Katar zu rechnen? 🤔

#StandWithUkraine #ArmUkraineNow #SlavaUkraini #MUTWINTER #Misstrauensvotum #TerrorStateRussia #VisaBan #WirSindMehr #RussianRetreat

🧵3/3
Read 3 tweets
Unless you think ppl avoiding their military call-ups are tourists then #Russia's #PartialMobilization doesn't really change much with regard to the #visaban.
There are, however, ongoing issues to consider that the #EU & its member states should address promptly.
A🧵/1
The proposed '#visaban', which has now been implemented de facto by several #EU states (which border #Russia) was intended to stop Russian *tourists* from entering the Schengen zone. There are very good reasons for this - as I outlined here /2
And those reasons for the #visaban for *tourists* still stand:
1. To support #Ukraine & shorten the war
2. To bolster #EU states' security & resilience
3. To use our power to stand up for our democracies
/3
bylinetimes.com/2022/08/30/eu-…
Read 24 tweets
There’s been talk of a ‘new Iron Curtain’ in Europe
- but we shouldn’t use this metaphor as it has divisive potential of its own.

In @foreignpolicy @minna_alander & I explain why we shouldn’t lazily stoke East-West divisions that only help #Putin 1/4
foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/19/eur…
It’s wrong to describe the #visaban as creating a new Iron Curtain &, while history matters, it hasn’t determined which countries want to block to or allow Russian tourists into the Schengen zone (as eg 🇳🇱🇩🇰 show with their support & 🇭🇺 with its opposition). 2/4
Similarly, throwing around outdated East-West distinctions on attitudes to #Russia & war (contradicted by eg🇬🇧) doesn’t help anyone except #Putin- it makes history determinative, falsely divides us & questions CEE’s place in the ‘West’ 3/4
Read 4 tweets
❗️Breaking❗️: Yesterday at about 10:30 pm in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, #France, rue le Cheman blue, the Russians beat up two women from #Izyum, mother and daughter! They were walking, listening to a song in Ukrainian on their phone.
A huge man ran up to them, 1/ #russians
who was in the company of another one, a woman was following them, and started hitting them on the head. The daughter was hit twice on the asphalt with her head, the mother - three times. They have abrasions of hands and knees. 2/ #russiansagainstukrainians #eu #russia #france
According to a charity org, which helped them to flee occupied #Izyum, the women were released from the hospital in the morning.
The #police came to the scene yesterday, but did nothing.
They only asked what this person looked like and left. #EU #RussiaIsATerroristState #Russians
Read 15 tweets
39. Bombardeo de líneas eléctricas
Como el ejército #Ruso es una basura y no puede deter la contraofensiva de #Ucrania, están bombardeando las líneas eléctricas para hacer daño a la población civil.
#WarCrimesofRussia #russiaIsATerrorristState
40. Cuerpos con torturas
Los cuerpos de cuatro civiles con marcas de tortura y disparos en la cabeza fueron encontrados en Zaliznycnhe en Kharkiv.
#WarCrimesofRussia #russiaIsATerrorristState
41. Cuerpos con torturas
Se van encontrando más cuerpos de gente torturada a medida que se van recuperando ciudades.
#WarCrimesofRussia #russiaIsATerrorristState
Read 52 tweets
There’s a saying in Estonian: when you’re drowning, it’s your responsibility to save yourself. Our European allies are not listening to us (again) and a #visaban was not agreed last week. Now it’s time for us on the border to take regional action. 1/7
We have tried making the moral, ethical, and political arguments to get a #visaban. Many, @minna_alander in particular, have explained in detail what the current situation is like on the border: 2/7
The EU has left the implementation of its sanctions policy up to us on the border. While some enter via land routes from Kaliningrad or by plane via Turkey, the vast majority of Russians enter the EU via Finland and Estonia. It is up to our border agents to defend the EU.
Read 7 tweets
Remember Yuliya? Russian shabolda in #Germany. Here she advises all Russians in Europe to waste energy so more money is paid to #Russia. The title “how to support russian army and don’t go to jail in #Europe” 1/3 #visaban #visabanforrussians #OpRussia
The caption: «The German regulator reacted to the shutdown of the Nord Stream with the words that in the face of the need for significant savings, «now everything depends on everyone»
5 million Russians in Germany you know what to do 😌 as well as Russians in 2/3 #visaban
other European countries except Belarus (you still have penny bills)» So she openly supports russian army and russian genocide of people of #Ukraine, is there any article in Germany about “calls for violence and inciting ethnic hatred”? 3/3 #visabanforrussians #visaban #russian
Read 5 tweets
#Russians are welcomed in Europe if they don't make a genocidal war. It is that simple. Leave #Ukraine and travel wherever you want. /1
Many have been writing about "ordinary Russians" and that the #visaban is bad. So far, I have not seen a survey where less than 70% would NOT support the war. For example, a Russian volunteer in AFU states that 90% of his surrounding supports the invasion. /2
If we use a very simplistic calculation, the majority of the people that will come to Europe are those who support the war. A week ago, I saw a Russian man dressed in Soviet and Russian symbolics in Warsaw airport. I am afraid he is one of that 70-90 % that support the war. /3
Read 4 tweets
1-15

A recap of why I am for a #visaban on #Russian nationals.

A: national security
B: it is also an economic sanction
C: political signal towards our own citizens
D: political signal towards Ukrainian refugees
E: political signal to Russian citizens
F: EU / NATO solidarity
2-15
A: national security

The EU has, rightly and openly, taken the side of Ukraine, and strongly opposes Russia. We give weapons to Ukraine. We have sanctions against RUS. Conversely, RUS state is hostile to our nations in many ways...
3-15

... and while we seek to avoid a direct conflict with RUS, we cannot be sure what hostile acts Moscow may further undertake against us. Given this situation of heightened antagonism, unprecedented since 1992, we must aim to increase the security of our states ...
Read 15 tweets
So some of my European friends still hesitate about the #visaban, as they still believe this war is about putin, and not all russians

This 🧵takes the example of Yulia Prokhorova to show how russians abroad are fueling this war with support and that a #visapurge might be needed Image
The russian Yulia Prokhorova came to prominence in August after sharing her video where she stalks and harasses two Ukrainian girls in Vienna yelling ‘F*ck Ukraine’

Previously she also amused herself by crashing the Ukrainian protests with a 🇷🇺flag safely behind the police line ImageImage
She calls herself a “travel blogger”, being the coauthor of a Telegram channel “Germany: first person view” together with her husband, as they both are permanent residents (not citizens) of Germany

So these two live in the heart of the West supporting Russia’s war against it 👏
Read 20 tweets
1-6

Poor reasoning by @CER_Grant on the #visaban

1/ for those who truly need to flee: 60+ non-EU countries are visa-free for RUS. It is wrong to assume Schengen is the only safe zone on Earth.
Plus: our NCEE Allies never ruled out humanitarian cases or proper defectors.
2-6

2/ RUS state is hostile and our relations may worsen further. This is no time to increase security risks.
Short-term visas to Russians were half a million in 2021. Lower now, but still, number of cases too large to be manageable bearing in mind security needs.
3-6

3/ Why this notion of "punishment"? It is not "punishment" to deny short-term visits to foreign nationals. It is not a form of harm or endangerment. Controlling border entries is first and foremost a national security issue.
Read 6 tweets
Don't be confused & don't get get sold short
❌this is not a #visaban on Russian tourists ❌

➡️So what did EU Foreign Ministers agree in Prague?
➡️How does it relate to the #visabanforrussians?
➡️What does it mean for EU, Ukraine & Russia?
(Spoiler - trouble ahead)
Short 🧵
/1
EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Prague stopped short of agreeing to implement a #visaban on Russian tourists.

Instead they cancelled the 'Visa Facilitation Agreement' with #Russia that had been in place since 2006.

So what was this facilitation agreement?
/2
The visa facilitation agreement was a way the EU made it EASIER for Russians, including tourists, to get Schengen short stay Type C Visas. It reduced or eliminated their costs & speeded up processing or reduced requirements for certain kinds of visitors.
No longer ... but ...
/3
Read 18 tweets
No chance. #Ukraine provides the real example of positive change via P2P engagement & exposure. BUT ignoring tourist visas (for now), we should be very open to *emigration* from this cohort. Let the brain drain commence & let them vote with their feet if they really oppose Putin.
No one should get to live parasitically from our democracy going back & forth while merely claiming to oppose. Gotta commit. What happens in #Russia is Secondary to support for #Ukraine & what happens in #EU states when considering the #visaban.
#visaban is not about change in #Russia- that’s not happening anytime soon & only a crushing defeat has a chance of spurring it on. Change through exposure has failed in this case & should be put on hold until circumstances change.
Read 4 tweets
OK since anytime I say anything about the #visaban, many people get excited, let me side with the following idea. I think a general tourist visa ban is counterproductive. On the other hand, I think that greater scrutiny of applications is *certainly* in order.
As is targeting specific individuals connected to the regime (consider, for instance, Navalny's list of 6000).
Including a statement in the application along the lines of "Have you ever been directly involved in, or endorsed the conduct of, Russia's invasion of Ukraine" with a "Yes" or "No" answer might be the right approach. Such statements are often included to vet for terrorism.
Read 5 tweets
This week (30-31/08) EU Foreign Ministers meet in #Prague where they'll discussion the #visaban.

I've worked on issues relating to visas, borders & EU foreign & security policy for 2 decades.

Here's what you need to know
- & why you should SUPPORT the #visabanforrussians
🧵/1
You can lobby your government to support this - including on Twitter.
No one (sensible) is talking about banning all Russians from EU states. For which visas would be affected see here

/2
So, what is the point of the #visaban?

1. To support #Ukraine & shorten the war
2. To bolster #EU states' security & resilience
3. To use our power to stand up for our democracies

So how does that work?

/3
Read 25 tweets

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