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Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
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20 Oct, 10 tweets, 3 min read
What a deeply, deeply stupid piece. Doesn't even bother to mention Aliyev once. Honestly surprised anyone would write "America must have Azerbaijan's back" in public in 2020.
Aliyev's regime is hardly "unabashedly pro-Western," but it's certainly "unabashedly pro-kleptocracy." Image
Anyway, don't be surprised if/when more American officials begin pushing for Global Magnitsky sanctions on Aliyev's cronies.
The author of that god-awful pro-Baku op-ed responds:
If for some reason you want to read more about Azerbaijan's history of using American op-eds, sketchy lobbyists, and undisclosed hacks to whitewash Aliyev's dictatorship: caseymichel.com/masters-thesis
Also a chance to revisit how Azeri lobbyists launched one of the most egregious ethics violations in Washington since the days of Jack Abramoff: occrp.org/en/corruptista…
Is this the first time a member of Congress has formally called for the U.S. to recognize Karabakh independence?
.@AdamSchiff has also recently hinted at potentially recognizing Karabakh independence ("if Turkey and Azerbaijan are not interested in negotiating the issues") en.armradio.am/2020/10/13/it-…
(The answer appears to be yes—this is the first time a member of Congress has made a formal push to get the U.S. to recognize Karabakh independence.)
Lobbying fallout from the violence in Karabakh: Both DLA Piper and Livingston Group have dropped Azerbaijan as a client since last week.

(BGR and Stellar Jay Communications still do PR for Baku.) Image

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More from @cjcmichel

Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
1 Oct
NEW: Ivanka Trump likes to pose as a successful businesswoman.

But in looking through her major projects—in Azerbaijan, Panama, and New York—one thing is clear: She's just as steeped in corruption, fraud, and money laundering concerns as her father.

newrepublic.com/article/159546…
First, look at what we learned from Trump's tax returns: that Ivanka was apparently in on a con to help Trump scam the IRS (and American taxpayers) by portraying her as a "consultant." Image
Second, there's the Trump hotel project in Panama, which Trump called Ivanka's "baby."

The signs of trans-national money laundering around Ivanka's "baby" were as obvious as anything associated with any building in the entire Western Hemisphere. Image
Read 9 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
27 Sep
For more on how @IvankaTrump’s signature real estate deals were disasters linked to drug cartels and money laundering: thinkprogress.org/ivankas-real-e…
.@IvankaTrump ’appears to have received some of these consulting fees, despite having been a top Trump Organization executive.’ nytimes.com/2020/09/27/us/…
'Ivanka reported almost $4 million in revenue from the Trump Hotel in DC in 2019, slightly less than in her disclosure from last year. This appears to contradict Eric Trump’s claim that 2019 was one of the Trump Organization’s most profitable years.' citizensforethics.org/jared-kushner-…
Read 4 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
27 Sep
‘[Trump’s] properties have become bazaars for collecting money directly from lobbyists, foreign officials and others seeking face time, access or favor; the records for the first time put precise dollar figures on those transactions.‘ nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Trump made $73 million from foreign sources in his first two years in the White House, including millions in licensing deals in the Philippines, India, and Turkey:
‘In Azerbaijan, Mr. Trump collected $5 million on a hotel deal and reported $1.1 million in consulting fees’
Read 8 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
26 Sep
“Is the [pre-1970s] South really better viewed as a set of enclaves of authoritarian rule somehow allowed to exist within a federal democracy? I think so.”
“The United States was not a fully democratic polity until preparations were well under way for the celebration of the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence. Instead, it was a federal polity of representative democracy... with durable enclaves of authoritarian rule.”
(These are from: press.princeton.edu/books/hardcove…)
Read 4 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
23 Sep
NEW: For @POLITICOMag, I dove into what Portland portends—or doesn’t—for the future of political violence in the U.S. politico.com/news/magazine/…
Want to highlight a couple quotes from extremism researchers about Portland:

—"It’s hard to be optimistic in the near- or medium-term for Portland.”
—"People may have traveled to Portland to get some battle experience, so to speak." Image
On the killing of the far-right Patriot Prayer member last month: "Just like a foreign fighter would go to Syria or Ukraine—it’s the same experience. You’re on the ground, seeing the deterioration of civil order, and it reinforces your little wet dream of an apocalyptic outcome." Image
Read 8 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
22 Sep
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/…
Read 4 tweets

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