It’s a remarkable day when the (last) elected president of Georgia says the ruling party stole the election in a Russian special operation — and the Secretary of State says the govt that rigged the vote will just have to respect the will of the voters and move toward Europe… /1
The US embassy in Tbilisi has been notably silent about the harassment of disinformation researchers from US think tanks and the attempt by Georgian Dream to create a narrative that the US was “interfering” in the election. Which is disappointing /2
But now some independent analysis has been done calling into question the validity of the vote (first part here) /3
The graphics wouldn’t be so funny to you if people were arguing you have less rights as a citizen —because you are a woman
And every dude — especially every dude with daughters — needs to think about whether they want them growing up with less opportunity than their mothers
It’s absolutely creating parallel worlds of power and opportunity for men and women — and ensuring men have inordinate power to dictate the lives of women
F*ck that
And f*ck everyone who minimizes this to the narrow lens of abortion when that is not at all the most f*cked issue
I have spent 18 long & increasingly bloody years listening to Russia dudebros explain how anything you do to expose/punish Putin “only makes him stronger”
It was the basis of our do-nothing-about-revanchism policy
It was flat wrong /1
All that time playing nice-nice can now be tallied in dead Ukrainians, African countries with Wagner-backed coups, the number of far-right parties still feeding off the teat of the migration crisis Russia sparked with its annihilation of Syria almost a decade ago /2
Closing the closet door and putting up fairy lights isn’t going to make any *actual* monsters disappear
Yes, they are creatures of rage and hate and they will *try* to turn any action against them into more blind rage to keep their converts numb
The real story of the “young” far-right M*G* “manhood”-heads is that none of them finished college — actually many never even went — because they were hand picked & cultivated via a right wing radicalization pipeline that has been deliberately built over the past 3 decades /1
The whole point of grabbing enthusiastic high school kids is that by giving them a vague position with pay and connection to authority, they are totally dependent on you and more likely to become unquestioning zealots of whatever ideology — also they can never leave /2
They have no education, no real experience, they can’t alienate whoever chose them or elevated them to edgelord because they have no skills and can easily be blacklisted from the gravy train /3
“Russia is bogged down in Ukraine & can’t do anything else” 🙄
Russia has used the Wagner turnkey resource theft model in Africa to help fund its war against 🇺🇦
This isn’t the first coup/attempted coup they have backed or benefitted from in Sudan /1
Russia has stolen (likely billions of dollars of gold) from Sudan. This CNN report from last year documents a flight that attempted to smuggle a ton of gold — as cookies — a few days after the war started /2
Astonishingly malicious BS against Estonia in this, sourced as west dip complaints
Estonia:
-sent huge amounts of its own new defensive equipment rapidly to help 🇺🇦
-sent functional needed equip
-has given more (as % def budget) than any other ally /1
The facts in the linked piece are simply incorrect.
Additionally, they do not include the absolute outpouring of civilian Estonian support, including crowdfunded/donated body armor, uniforms, ambulances, fire trucks, vehicles, medical supplies, other gear /2
Estonians — individuals, organizations, businesses — have donated hundreds and hundreds of vehicles to Ukraine.
Their military & civilian reserves are fully activated in support of the war in Ukraine.
They have expanded their defense budget and trained more reserves /3