"A Russian politician can only be a Russian politician in Russia," says Vladimir Kara-Murza of Navalny's decision to return to Russia after recovering from the Kremlin's attempt to poison him.
@tvrain now streaming the arrest of a young female Navalny supporter at Vnukova Airport. Police dragging her away by her limbs, reporting that arrests are happening "periodically" every few minutes as Navalny supporters chant "Russia will be free"
A Navalny supporter tells @tvrain: "If the old man [Putin] can't even allow a little plane filled with budget air customers to land, this shows what he has achieved in 20 years. It's time for him to go."
Navalny spox, on plane with him: "We've landed in Sheremetyevo. Until recently it was hard to believe they were so scared. But here's the confirmation :)"
I have received more scrutiny and been treated less politely entering the Capitol building on official business than these men who planned executions and the overthrow of our democracy.
It bears repeating over and over and over again: how many POC would have died in this circumstance?
I've also said this over and over, but it's what I keep coming back to:
Congress is a remarkably open institution. You can watch proceedings. You can literally walk into your Rep's office on any given day. It enrages me that has been jeopardized because these individuals...
I see a lot of "Putin is happy tonight" tweets and they're misleading at best. I fear that to people without all the context, they support the narrative of Russian collusion, or tacitly insinuate that Putin had a hand in today's events.
Nope. Today was uniquely American. But...
Putin is pleased to see a divided America, to see images that can fuel his whataboutist propaganda and policies, that he can use to undermine the US on the international stage for years to come. He did not engineer it, but he and other adversaries will cheer it.
Please don't @ me with your conspiracy theories. I've had enough of them for a day if not a lifetime.
Here you have it, ladies and gents, last year’s hit single, the Failed Autocrat Flex.
Kudos to Raffensperger for telling Trump, “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.” washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
This is a more forthright version of the Zelensky phone call, and further confirmation that this sort of bullying is how Trump has behaved his entire time in office. The question is...
...Americans, GOP elected officials, do you care now that what is at stake is our own democracy and not some faraway country’s?
Amid last night's storm of Bad Things you might have missed this Bad Thing:
Trump appointee Michael Pack has eliminated the US Agency for Global Media's editorial firewall, which protected networks like @VOANews, @RFERL, etc from political influence.
The calling card of these networks -- I know, I've lived and worked in the places they serve -- is that they provide independent, fact-based news where little to none exists.
Putin has long critiqued VOA and RFERL as propaganda mouthpieces, and has claimed that their very existence neutralizes any Western critiques on Russia's state-run media and lack of free speech.
Well, Michael Pack is adding fuel to that whataboutism fire now.
Look, if you're going to use scare quotes around my title and doubt my committment to nonpartisanship when discussing the threat of disinformation, that's an (unfair) editorial choice, but at least don't inaccurately define disinformation:
Disinformation = the use of false OR MISLEADING information with MALIGN INTENT
Misinformation = false or misleading information spread without malign intent
Hacked materials can absolutely be part of an online influence campaign.
PS The most successful disinformation often includes a kernel of truth. From HOW TO LOSE THE INFORMATION WAR:
Ratcliffe also says "Russia has access to voter information" (as it is public and easy to obtain), but after spending minutes describing the disturbing Iranian operation, doesn't really explain anything else we're seeing related to Russian influence campaigns.
This paints a confusing picture to the non-expert, IMO; it looks like "Iran did this horrible thing, Russia has some files."
Meanwhile, we know Russia has been interfering in political processes around the world for over a decade. Its US operations never stopped after 2016.