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Casey Michel Profile picture
@cjcmichel
Sep 22, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
The problem with takes like these is that it sets a precedent without end (why stop at California? why not eight Dakotas? why not 15 Alaskan states?) and that, to that end, there’s a far lower threshold to break Texas up (smithsonianmag.com/history/more-1…).
This might be the most idiotic/revealing take of these entire genre of tweets.
'"It’s really tough to argue that we would be a blue state,” said Mayra Vélez Serrano, a political science professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras. “The [2020] primary tells you that."' politico.com/news/magazine/…
The other side of this is that there’s a *far* higher climb to granting American Samoa, Guam, etc. statehood (even if residents want it). All remaining territories are multiple magnitudes smaller than even Wyoming.

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More from @cjcmichel

Casey Michel Profile picture
Sep 26
The Eric Adams indictment has now been unsealed - the first time in American history a sitting mayor has ever been formally accused of being an effective foreign agent. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2517…
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Adams allegedly liaised directly with a "senior" Turkish official, who organized "many straw donations" to Adams - as well as provided "free or discounted" travel on Turkish Airlines, taking Adams and his friends around the world, with free stays at "opulent hotels." Image
And here's what Turkey received in return: fast-track approval for the biggest Turkish consulate anywhere in the world, in New York City.

"In exchange for free travel and other travel-related bribes in 2021 and 2022 arranged by the Turkish Official, ADAMS did as instructed." Image
Read 18 tweets
Casey Michel Profile picture
Oct 27, 2023
What do you know about Russia's colonization of Alaska? What do you know of what Russian colonizers did to Alaska Natives?

And why is it still so ignored by so many Americans?

My essay in @POLITICOMag on this ongoing blank spot, and Russian colonialism: politico.com/news/magazine/…
Spending decades ignoring Russian brutality against Alaska Natives is bad enough.

But overlooking the topic meant Americans missed an opportunity to understand more about Russian colonialism—and the outright imperialism still driving Russia.
politico.com/news/magazine/…
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Enslavement. Massacres. Hostage-taking and sexual violence—and clear signs of genocide. All in the name of stripping Alaska Natives of their wealth.

Russia’s conquest of Alaska was as colonial as it comes. And it was no better, or worse, than other European colonialism.

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Read 4 tweets
Casey Michel Profile picture
Apr 2, 2023
I'd forgotten that Jim Mattis was a military advisor to the UAE *before* he was appointed Defense Secretary—and never publicly disclosed that relationship.

Wild that that wasn't a bigger scandal.

cnn.com/2017/08/02/pol…
'The most prominent American cheerleader of the Emirati armed forces is former defense secretary Jim Mattis... [Mattis] again extolled Sheikh Mohamed and downplayed concerns about human rights in the UAE' washingtonpost.com/investigations…
The UAE's operations in DC is one of the—maybe *the*—most successful foreign influence and infiltration operation of the past decade.

An adviser as defense secretary, and another Trump insider as an agent. Millions saturating think tanks and universities. An army of lobbyists.
Read 4 tweets
Casey Michel Profile picture
Feb 24, 2023
We're starting to see the contours of how the Russian elite is going to pin this (ongoing, eventual) loss in Ukraine on Putin. (See: ft.com/content/800025…)

It is, to pick a term, bullshit. They were all fully on board with Russia's initial invasion, and moves to carve Ukraine.
The only reason gullible Westerners may buy this line—"It was Putin, it wasn't us!"—is because there's still a failure to recognize this invasion began not a year ago, but in 2014.

Russia's invasion began when troops rolled into southern Ukraine, and first stole Ukrainian land.
And guess what? The Kremlin's invasion was **insanely popular in Russia**. Putin's new social contract laid its cornerstone on this invasion (the "Crimean Consensus").

Beginning to carve up Ukraine was arguably the single most popular thing Putin ever did.
Read 7 tweets
Casey Michel Profile picture
Feb 22, 2023
A year into this war, Western policymakers are finally realizing one thing: for Ukraine—and Europe—to be at peace, Kyiv must regain control of Crimea.

My latest for @POLITICOMag on how things have shifted, and why Crimea is now in play.

politico.com/news/magazine/…
There are three major reasons Western views have shifted on Ukraine retaking Crimea:

1) Military necessity. So long as Russia retains Crimea, it will be a forward operating base for Russian troops to rest and resupply—a dagger aimed directly at the rest of Ukraine.
2) Economic reconstruction. So long as Russia retains Crimea, it can effectively suffocate a rebuilding Ukrainian economy—all while destabilizing Black Sea maritime security.

As @general_ben told me, “Crimea is decisive for this war.”
Read 7 tweets
Casey Michel Profile picture
Feb 20, 2023
This sure reads like Navalny has, for the first time, come out and said Crimea must be returned to Ukraine.
For more context on how Navalny’s views on Crimea have evolved: newrepublic.com/article/167944…
Between Navalny calling to respect Ukraine’s 1991 borders (Crimea!) and Khodorkovsky gesturing at potential independence for the North Caucasus, been one of the most interesting few days for Russian opposition in… some time.

Read 4 tweets

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