In May 2014, in the first year of Georgian Dream’s government, an angry mob of thousands tried to rip several dozen anti-homophobia protesters to shreds in Tbilisi. No one was convicted for any of the violence.

Seven years on, the environment of impunity continues, worsens. /1
Still gathering details on today’s far-right attacks on TbilisiPride organizers, but this time, the ruling part isn’t even pretending to make the right noises against violence.

Dozens of journalists are reported injured for trying to cover today’s attacks. /2
Dugin was promoting the counter-Pride actions in Georgia, and in general the Kremlin has a huge lever to use in Georgia, exploiting anti-gay hate
+1 on everything from Ani here 👇 about Georgian Orthodox Church and “traditional values” as a pipeline for Kremlin influence and $$$ in Georgia
GD has been doing since this their original campaign in 2012 and mostly gotten a pass because of what it means for internationals to acknowledge what they are doing. Georgia’s friends have been too quiet — to help Georgia in the long term, they thought. The opposite is true.

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More from @MollyMcKew

29 Jun
Earlier, online Russian chatter was that USS Ross would attempt to repeat passage of HMS Defender thru Ukraine territorial waters that Russia claims. Last wk, someone also falsified positioning data to show Defender at Sevastopol

Repeat spoof of Ross points to Russia as perp /1
Ross can be seen on webcams in Odesa, as Defender was during spoof

looks like another effort to set narrative— lone British political statement or will other allies repeat, Americans “running away” etc.

Catch up on narrative warfare games, more soon /2

greatpower.us/p/hms-defender…
Read 10 tweets
25 Jun
Happy Friday! A whiskey sour-ish summer slushee which we have named the “innocent passage” 🇬🇧 🇺🇦
Make your own sour mix, this is 3 tangerines, 4 juicy 🍋, 4 sad limes, plus about 1/3-1/2 the juice volume in raw sugar. Heat gently, add aromatics — I added 2 fresh lavender sprigs, handful fresh golden oregano (like lemony mint), pinch coriander pods, small wodge peeled ginger
Do what you like.

Boil a bit to dissolve/thicken. Cool. Strain out chunky bits. Store in fridge.

Fill blender halfway with ice, squeeze a lime over ice, add 2/3 cup @jameson_us, same volume sour mix, 5 maraschino cherries, blend. Add ice as needed for right consistency.
Read 5 tweets
23 Jun
The voyage of @HMSDefender past Crimea made Russia rattle the spears. “Warning shots fired” they claimed.

This was not a display of Russian military might.

It was a demonstration of the primacy of narrative warfare for Russia. /1

On @RenewGreatPower

greatpower.us/p/hms-defender…
The voyage of Defender was a pre-planned display of support for Ukraine — and a chance remind that Russia’s annexation of Crimea was illegal

Russia wanted to alter the ship’s course. It did not.

So instead, they sold a story about an act of aggression /2
RUSSIA FIRES WARNING SHOTS AT NATO VESSEL IN BLACK SEA the Russian MoD claims. This is immediately the headline everywhere.

But it didn’t. It made noise near and around Defender, tho, to make the story seem plausible.

Defender sailed on through. /3
Read 14 tweets
23 Jun
Good detail from reporter conveniently on board HMS Defender:
“This was a deliberate move by the Royal Navy warship, which is on its way to Georgia. Overhead, there are still Russian jets buzzing - there have been more than 20 aircraft above the warship”/1
bbc.com/news/world-eur…
“There have been warnings from Russian coast guard vessels, and indeed we have heard shots fired - we believe they were out of range.”

Tracks with US overflight: NATO did this to see what would happen, and Russia is shaking the cage to show they are the bravest monkey /2
“The Russian coast guard tried to do a manoeuvre to make sure that HMS Defender altered course, but the warship continued on down that recognised shipping lane, and we could see the coast as it was within 12 m of Crimea.” /3
Read 7 tweets
23 Jun
Whole Black Sea incident reminds me of what @dpatrikarakos & @IlvesToomas have said more eloquently before: for Russia, the war is the information operation and they conduct kinetic actions in support of the narrative objectives.
This was posted by Russian Embassy in Washington *before* the Defender incident

Russia wants NATO out of Black Sea, ignores that “littoral powers” other than Russia are NATO and NATO aspirants, raises perceptions of costs for NATO operations in Black Sea
The LARPing continues: here is the red folder of shame, British defense attaché, presented from Russia’s MoD 🙄
Read 4 tweets
19 Jun
A non-reset reset, a cyber Cold War, a big yawn

Post-spectacle, how do we make sense of the Biden-Putin meeting?

@Mpolymer @john_sipher and others weigh in via @RenewGreatPower /1

greatpower.us/p/reset-contai…
“Ultimately, I believe that Biden did well and America comes out stronger post-summit. He raised issues that matter, that represent core American values. But to think that this will change Putin’s behavior in any discernible measure is pure fantasy,” says @Mpolymer /2
“Why give Putin the gift of being treated as an equal on the world stage? Why risk ‘re-setting’ relations that could lock-in Putin’s ill-gotten gains? … the Kremlin itself that could change the tone any time it wanted to?” says @john_sipher /3
Read 9 tweets

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