The Confederate conquest of “Arizona Territory” was “the first successful invasion of Union territory in the Civil War.”
More on Confederate designs to conquer the entirety of New Mexico and Confederate “Manifest Destiny”:
The “first multiracial army to fight in the American Civil War” fought on behalf of the US to specifically retain New Mexico:
“When they raised the Confederate flag above the Union Army’s headquarters in New Mexico, they became the first and only Confederate Army to occupy a capital city in Union territory during the American Civil War.”
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This is nuts: Here’s former US VP Mike Pence shaking hands with Milorad Dodik, a figure directly sanctioned by the US for his ongoing efforts to break up Bosnia. ht @UrbanAchievr
This is either a monumental blunder by @VP45’s team—or a sign (or confirmation) that the GOP has completely given up on US policy in the Balkans. Either way, an awful, awful look.
NEW: For @TheAtlantic, I looked at how the US art and auction worlds have exploded into havens for dirty money—and why Hunter Biden is the worst thing to happen to the art world in years. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
The U.S. art and auction industries have become key vectors in trans-national money laundering networks—and dodged (most) money laundering regulations.
Instead, we're supposed to just take them at their word that they're on the lookout for dirty money.
(One of the most depressing bits of writing this piece: Remembering just how shady Jimmy Carter's family was, and how much they helped despotic regimes during Carter's presidency.)
Trump was the first leader to emerge from a "pro-kleptocracy" industry (luxury real estate)—which shows just how much corruption has changed in the past century.
And now, US presidential corruption is something for all kleptocrats of the world to enjoy.
NEW: I wrote about one of the greatest traitors the US has ever produced, a man who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Benedict Arnold: Robert E. Lee.
—Disavowed his oath of loyalty to the US
—Led a movement that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of US troops
—All so that he could no longer be American
—All so that he and other insurrections could continue/expand enslavement of Black Americans
Robert E. Lee's treason is there for all of us to see.
As Ulysses S. Grant wrote, Lee chose to lead a movement that was “one of the worst [causes] for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.”
'Ideally, she says, the world would not see the Soviet Union first and foremost as an ideological project that “fell apart” due to economic woe, but also as a colonial empire that many peoples fought to topple' calvertjournal.com/features/show/…
Wanted: Survey of how the Soviet collapse has (slowly, fitfully) been increasingly understood in the West as an outcome of colonization out of Moscow, rather than just economic failures.
There's still a strange/giant gap in Western discourse on legacies of European colonization, which shunts Central Asia or the Caucasus to the side. Or, hell, places like Chechnya or Tuva.
NEW: America’s sanctions policies are long overdue for a reevaluation. But while some elements should be scrapped, programs targeting kleptocrats and their networks should remain—and be strengthened across the board.
(One fantastic place for the US and allies to start expanding targeted sanctions against specific kleptocrats? Central Asia—including a certain former dictator of Kazakhstan.)
One lesson from the War on Terror that’s been overlooked (or forgotten) is just how effective financial measures were at disabling terror networks—and how those (unsurprisingly) follow similar pathways to the kleptocratic networks now operating.