Important context: Ukraine is repressing Russian speakers, arresting opposition figures and launching a cultural purge, with tacit US support. It chose the path of repression because it thought Russia was weak and the US would bail it out. It bet wrong. ti.me/32QLp4o
“The Ukrainian government started by taking his TV channels off the air, depriving Russia of its propaganda outlets in the country. The U.S. embassy in Kyiv applauded the move.”
Sure sounds like America stands for democracy! If they’d shut down LGBT, then US would’ve been mad.
The Ukrainian government with US support prevents pro-Russian figures from owning TV stations or running for office and then we’re told democratic and sovereign Ukraine is making a free choice to join the West.
The opposition that’s been arrested and repressed is not a small bloc. They were the party that finished second in the last election! All those articles about the decline of democracy worldwide, especially in Eastern Europe, somehow skip Ukraine.
The pro-Russia opposition engaged in evil nefarious plots like getting Ukraine free vaccines, which the government and the State Department, the real rulers of the country, rejected.
“When he decided to take those channels off the air last February, it was not only a defensive move, says Danyliuk, his former security adviser. It was also conceived as a welcome gift to the Biden Administration.”
Yet another sign of a healthy “democracy.”
“Rather than working through the justice system, Zelensky has imposed sanctions against Ukrainian tycoons and politicians, freezing their assets by decree…The U.S. has avoided criticizing the crackdown, not wanting to ‘micromanage.’”
Reads like a parody of self-delusion.
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I talked to @hsu_steve about tensions in Eastern Europe, Russian and Chinese military technology, the rise of China, and his work on IVF. A fascinating guy, and an important conversation on a wide range of topics. richardhanania.substack.com/p/the-future-o…
On the importance of Russian hypersonic missiles. The US has even less leverage than it believes in the Ukraine crisis. We both share the concern that American leaders are once again sleepwalking into disaster, this time with even graver consequences than before.
On how a potential Chinese assault on Taiwan might go.
A very early 2000s Halftime show. Heteronormative. Wokeness losing power, we’re back to west coast gangsta rap.
The first thing I thought when I saw 50 was black Alex Jones.
They let him dance with girls like they did in rap videos 20 years ago. But to compromise with the current year, one had short hair and a few men were off to the side. But mostly the same light skinned black girls of the genre.
"Putin and much of the Russian population that supports him are pretty much like white folks in the South who are still pissed that the Confederacy lost ...like Black folks in America, Ukrainians...have no interest in going back to Massa’s house." thegrio.com/2022/02/05/why…
"Like America, Russia is a settler-colonial state and we as Black folks need to understand how leaders of such states operate because we aren’t that far behind when it comes to being on the lower end of the totem pole of racial oppression."
"A friend of mine, a Black Ukrainian, worries about a Russian invasion and shared with me that, while she is proud to be Black, she feels the trauma of the Kremlin’s aggression as much as any white Ukrainian."
“the Pentagon said it would temporarily pull 160 American military trainers out of the country, where they had been working with Ukrainian troops near the Polish border.” Sign Biden isn’t that reckless, even if politics prevents him from making a deal. nytimes.com/live/2022/02/1…
Russia pulling embassy staff it says because the other side is panning aggression. So everyone agrees war may be coming, they just disagree on who will start it.
“The United States has picked up intelligence that Russia is discussing next Wednesday as the target date for the start of military action, officials said, acknowledging the possibility that mentioning a particular date could be part of a Russian disinformation effort.”
The path to avoid a war is quite simple. The US can guarantee no NATO expansion into Ukraine. The American response has been countries "can choose their own alliances." Maybe it's worth looking back to see what has happened when other countries have tried to do that?
Lindsey O'Rourke finds 64 cases of covert US attempts at regime change during the Cold War, in addition to 6 overt ones. "these missions targeted all types of states: adversaries and allies, powerful and weak, democratic and authoritarian, communist and capitalist."
"the United States covertly supported regime change efforts that directly or indirectly replaced democratically elected leaders with authoritarian regimes in six cases and covertly tried to influence the outcome of democratic elections in a dozen additional cases."
I mean maybe calling yourself they/them and leading men around on leashes in your free time has no correlation with your ability to do an important government job well. But I have no idea why on earth you would think that.