Just got exploring the vast @BylineFest site - where @pussyrrriot will be performing and hundreds of speakers from @thatginamiller to @carolecadwalla. Here’s the lovely glamping and Walk a Mile in my shoes immersive experience
🎄A festive 🧵 from my end of year editiorial on what we've learned on @BylineTimes in the last year, and the threat that broligarchy and media capture pose to liberal democracy
Though often mistaken for one because it doesn’t toe any single ideological line, we've never been a ‘centrist’ paper. If your principles are an average of the political sentiment of the day, then you’re always going to be prey to normalisation – making extremes seem central 2/
We're committed to the opposite of centrism - pluralism, which highlights the non-average, explores issues and amplifies voices that others ignore. Pluralism permits us to remain sceptical but not cynical; to change our minds when events demand change... 3/
Since Nigel Farage has just sided with Russia again, and said “the idea Ukraine is going to win, frankly, is for the birds,” it’s time to re-ask those five questions he’s never asked about his support for Vladimir Putin 1/5
We now know that the former Russian Ambassador to London, Alexander Yakovenko, was part of a strategic plan to disrupt Western Alliances in the run-up to the invasion of eastern Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Why did Farage lie about meeting him? 2/6
How Could Farage Not Have Known About Arron Banks’ Multiple Visits to the Russian Embassy During the Brexit Campaign?
Banks donated £8m to Farage’s Leave EU campaign, funded a £4.4 million rented home, luxury car, bodyguard, private office and trips to the United States.
🧵This is what, according to the FBI indictment, Kiryenko, the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Office” and reportedly “Putin’s domestic policy curator” aimed to achieve with paid for US disinformation
The group planned in 2022 “first and foremost, we need to discredit the USA, Great Britain and NATO, and secondly, we need to convey the truth about the war in Ukraine”
‘Zakharova instructed the creation of “websites to tell the Germans the truth!” Another participant suggested using “real facts to complement fake facts.” One suggestion included trying to “make a fake on an American soldier that raped a German woman. That would be great!”’
So Farage (and his funder Arron Banks) are dismissing their multiple Kremlin connections as a hoax. However, looking at the Russian-backed Facebook accounts i the Reform Party, Xenophobia and GB News are exactly what they boost.
Two of the Facebook accounts identified as part of this pro-Kremlin network were called Common Sense Britain and UK Patriots. The first bigs up Farage and Lee Anderson and demonises Muslims 2/9
Though, beyond creating division and boosting Farage, these Russian backed networks can't help going direct from time to time 3/9
Since Nigel Farage is seeking high office as a leader of Reform, and the media is happy to give him a platform but rarely challenges his track record, let me put in a 🧵
The Five Questions Nigel Farage is Never Asked About Brexit, Trump and Russia 1/6 ⤵️
1. Why Did Farage Lie About Meeting the Russian Ambassador?
UKIP was targeted by a spy, Alexander Udod, who set up meetings with Farage's campaign and Ambassador Yakovenko,
So why did Farage protest in June 2018 that “I’ve never met the Russian Ambassador”? 2/6
2. How Could Farage Not Have Known About Arron Banks’ Multiple Visits to the Russian Embassy During the Brexit Campaign?
Banks donated £8m to Leave EU and provide Farage with a £4.4 million rented home, luxury car, bodyguard, private office, and trips to the United States 3/6