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Anders Åslund Profile picture
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27 Feb, 4 tweets, 2 min read
A few words about my long-time late friend Boris Nemtsov on the 6th anniversary of the Kremlin murder of him. More than any Russian before him, he was a truly Western politician. He listened to all & always ready to discuss. He spoke so that people understood.
Boris was a true liberal & democrat. His great aspiration was that Russia should become a member of the European Union & he often mentioned a Russian opinion poll in the 1990s in which one-third of Russians expressed their desire that Russia would become a member of the EU.
Few were as charming as humoristic as Boris Nemtsov. He could charm and entertain any audience & he loved life & being among people. His courage was unlimited, but not foolish. He acted courageously to achieve political effect, and he did.
Nemtsov was also the first great revealer of Putin & his cronies' enormous wealth in his many booklets starting with Putin & Gazprom in 2008, co-authored with @v_milov, on the Sochi olympics, etc. Navalny is continuing his eminent work.
larussophobe.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/the…

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More from @anders_aslund

Anders Åslund Profile picture
24 Feb
Putin talking to FSB (the murder agency):
"I would like to thank all of you for doing your jobs professionally and precisely, and for your readiness to achieve all your goals in non-standard conditions without reference to current circumstances." Really?
en.kremlin.ru/events/preside…
Putin gives air to his paranoia:
"we also have to deal with the so-called containment policy towards Russia. Actually, this is something we have been well aware of for a long time."
"This is not competition as a natural part of international relations, but a consistent and highly aggressive policy aimed at disrupting our development, at slowing it down and creating problems along our external perimeter and contour, provoking internal instability..."
Read 6 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
11 Feb
Few things are more obvious than the issue of the current impeachment trial:
1. It was all instigated by Trump.
2. Trump's problem is that he does not (still) recognize democratic election outcomes (standard for budding authoritarians).
3. Trump was supported by antidemocratic media (FoxNews, Newsmax, AON & RT).
4. Most elected republicans are dead frightened by Trump, so they succumb to authoritarianism.
5. The next question is how many republican congressmen have more morals than fear of Trump.
6. Does the highly politicized US law enforcement possess sufficient integrity to prosecute the many crimes of the Trump family?
Read 4 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
7 Feb
The EU needs to take urgent actions to compensate for @JosepBorrellF's debacle in Moscow. Here are a few ideas:
1. Swiftly sanction the 8 top Kremlin men Navalny has singled out!
2. Prohibit the completion of Nord Stream 2 once & for all!
3. Prohibit golden passports to Kremlin insiders (Cyprus, Malta & Bulgaria in particular)!
4. Sanction Putin's cronies Gennady Timchenko & Boris Rotenberg (naturalized Finnish citizens) & deprive them of Finnish citizenship.
5. Tighten the implementation of the 5th EU Anti-Money-Laundering directive of June 2018 requiring public registries in all EU countries of ultimate beneficiary owners & go after Putin's cronies!
6. Deprive Arkady Rotenberg of his 1 bn euro of prime real estate in Germany.
Read 5 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
31 Jan
Plausible assessment of the new Russia by Leonid Gozman:
1. Navalny became the only oppositional alternative to Putin.
2. as long as Russia is ruled by Putin, he will not be released from prison. His release would be perceived as a victory for the protest
idu.org/a-new-era-in-r…
3. Authorities have ultimately decided on a course to intensify repression.
4. Authorities realize that, even with an extremely high level of manipulation of elections and falsification of their results, they can no longer provide themselves the necessary level of control
5. In international politics, an increase in isolation and hostility towards the West is inevitable.
6. There is no confrontation and split within civilians in the country; opposition-minded citizens do not oppose other citizens & Putin’s voters are passive
Read 4 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
20 Jan
Why Trump should rank as the worst US president ever:
1. He caused an insurrection at the US Capitol.
2. He greatly aggravated white supremacism.
3. He boosted homicide rates sharply.
4. He failed to handle a major pandemic by dismissing all preparations.
5. He brought about an unknown degree of corruption in the White House.
6. He did whatever he could to make billionaires even more privileged through lower taxes and less regulation.
7. He worked against the underprivileged on incomes, welfare, health care & education
8. He did whatever he could to aggravate the climate crisis.
9. He alienated the US from a real democracies, while defending corrupt autocracies.
10. He greatly strengthened major autocracies - China, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
11. He greatly weakened all western alliances, NATO.
Read 4 tweets
Anders Åslund Profile picture
27 Dec 20
Contradictory reflections on Brexit:
1. Good that the process is completed but that free trade remains.
2. Sad to see the UK leave the EU.
3. Brexit is a reflection of obsolete British upper class imperialism.
4. Sad to see that UK liberalism disappears from the EU.
5. London is likely to lose out as a financial center, but none of Frankfurt, Paris, Dublin or Amsterdam is likely to be able to take over, so Europe as a whole will probably lose.
6. The excellent UK universities are likely to lose out, losing EU money, students & researchers.
7. The UK will become ever more parochial without Erasmus students, EU researchers & EU funding.
8. I see that the children of my Swedish friends who used to go to Britain, now go to Berlin or Brussels. Boris Johnson has made Britain unfashionable in Europe. Why go backwards?
Read 9 tweets

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