Share this page!

Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
Twitter logo
25 Sep, 7 tweets, 4 min read
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.
Some background on how much Dodik has been trying to grow close to pro-Trump figures in recent years:
Another photo of Mike Pence sharing a stage with genocide denier Milorad Dodik:

Here are the details on the US sanctioning Dodik in 2017: treasury.gov/press-center/p…
The Facebook page for Dodik's party says "Pence congratulated Dodik on his speech at the gathering and wished him success and happiness in his further work. 👏👏"

This is a guy who has been directly sanctioned by the U.S. for *years*.

facebook.com/snsd.milorad.d…
Additional context for how absolutely insane it is that Pence spent this week schmoozing with Dodik:
.@Mike_Pence joining Milorad Dodik, a genocide denier sanctioned directly by the US, wasn't subtle—it's all over the Budapest summit website:

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Casey Michel 🇰🇿

Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @cjcmichel

Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
25 Sep
Mapping out Confederate imperialism in the American West, with “Confederate Arizona Territory”:
(This is from: simonandschuster.com/books/The-Thre…)
The Confederate conquest of “Arizona Territory” was “the first successful invasion of Union territory in the Civil War.”
Read 6 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
22 Sep
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.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
(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.)

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Read 6 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
13 Sep
NEW: For a century, Teapot Dome stood as the greatest presidential corruption scandal in American history. No more.

In my first(!) piece with @BulwarkOnline, here’s how the Trump years set a new bar for presidential corruption—and replaced Teapot Dome: thebulwark.com/trump-era-corr…
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.

thebulwark.com/trump-era-corr…
What’s remarkable is that Teapot Dome is *way* worse than you probably remember.

Jailed cabinet members. Senate offices ransacked. Physical threats against families. High-level bribery linked directly to the White House.
Read 5 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
6 Sep
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.

newrepublic.com/article/163557…
Robert E. Lee was a quisling who:

—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.”

And all of it fought to shatter the U.S.
Read 7 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
25 Aug
'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.

(And how this colonial model continues.)
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.
Read 4 tweets
Casey Michel 🇰🇿 Profile picture
24 Aug
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.

Alongside @apmassaro3: foreignpolicy.com/2021/08/24/bid…
(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.)

foreignpolicy.com/2021/08/24/bid…
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.

foreignpolicy.com/2021/08/24/bid…
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @cjcmichel has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @cjcmichel!

Read all threads by @cjcmichel

:(