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Tom Nichols

@RadioFreeTom

Feb 28

https://twitter.com/RHFontaine/status/1498101445547208704

Putin is following in the same footsteps as the Soviet predecessors he reveres so much. In the mid-70s, America was defeated, economically hurting, and NATO was a mess. Stupid Soviet policies reinvigorated NATO and helped lead to the final decade of Soviet rule. /1

https://twitter.com/RHFontaine/status/1498101445547208704

Not only did Soviet aggression turn Jimmy Carter into a new Cold Warrior, but as Politburo advisor Georgii Arbatov later admitted. the Soviets themselves helped to bring people like Reagan to power. (Interestingly, this is only in the *Russian* version of his memoirs.) /2

Putin, now as delusional and paranoid as the old men of the Kremlin 40 years ago, is doing the same thing, creating a firm Western coalition against him at a time when American and NATO would prefer, mostly, to ignore Russia and just do business. /3

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Tom Nichols

@RadioFreeTom

Feb 24

It's time for a confession.

Well over 20 years ago, I was in Poland, and we were talking with our Polish colleagues about NATO expansion. I was pretty dismissive of the idea that Russia would make war on their brothers in Ukraine.

I was wrong. /1

Maybe I was just optimistic, after living through the Cold War. Maybe I believed in the basic humanity of the Russian people.

I still believe in that.

But the idea that Russians, freed from communism, would make war on their neighbors seemed utterly fantastic to me.
/2

I want to believe that there are people -even in the Kremlin - who will stop Putin before this becomes a global cataclysm. But I cannot deny that I was too optimistic, too heady with the end of the Cold War, to believe that anyone had the stomach for another European war. /3

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Tom Nichols

@RadioFreeTom

Feb 14

Unrelated to the specific kerfuffle in my TL, here's a thought.

If you are inclined to believe that snotty blue checks don't engage people, do not complain when said blue check engages everyone as best he can.

There's one of me, many of you responding. /1

If you're telling me what to answer, what subjects to cover, or that you think I'm just here to "stir the pot" or other accusations of bad faith, I'll just block you to clear out the TL. I've had enough of that, thankyouverymuch.

I do my best to respond as much as I can. /2

My life would be a lot easier and more fun to just respond to the attaboys or just ignore all comments entirely, but that's never been my approach.

If you don't like the subject, then mute the thread, stop following, or turn off Twitter. You are grownups and have that power.
/3

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Tom Nichols

@RadioFreeTom

Jan 24

This was a group of very senior guys, GO/FO level some of them, and I snapped off a few shots of them. My man General Crackdown in the middle was not happy, as you can see.
I pulled the fill roll and made my mom stick it in her bra while was approached by an officer. /1

He, uh, told me to hand it over and come with him. I told him I didn't speak Russian. He switched to German. I told him I didn't speak German, either, but probably shouldn't have admitted I knew it was German. /2

My mother had no idea where she was in Moscow but I told her: "Film in bra, head away from me, I'll catch up."
The officer gave up and I started speaking English *loudly* and waving like Gomer Pyle and walked away. Mom and I made it to the Metro. /3

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Tom Nichols

@RadioFreeTom

Jan 17

@MelissaJPeltier

@MelissaJPeltier @ericowensdc @ScottDguy @RachelBitecofer @tonyserrata @djosephdixon @harrisonjaime @DavidPepper What too many people on the left (in my not humble opinion) is that being *right* about a lot of Trump voters is not a platform. Republicans for years have branded themselves as "the party of everyone not specially favored by the Dems" and this was genius.
Trump blew that up. /1

@MelissaJPeltier

@MelissaJPeltier @ericowensdc @ScottDguy @RachelBitecofer @tonyserrata @djosephdixon @harrisonjaime @DavidPepper And for a time after 2017, the *Dems* were making a great play for "being the party of everyone except this weird rightist coalition." This was the right play: to make the Dems the party of "we'll make everyone's life better."
But it's so hard for them to just keep doing that. /2

@MelissaJPeltier

@MelissaJPeltier @ericowensdc @ScottDguy @RachelBitecofer @tonyserrata @djosephdixon @harrisonjaime @DavidPepper For those asking "What's the REPUBLICAN platform, huh?!" you're missing the point. They've gone back to being "not identity-driven and boutique issue Democrats who will hector you like self-righteous college students."
They don't need a platform to do that. /3

Read 4 tweets

Tom Nichols

@RadioFreeTom

Jan 13

@Jbarro

In this piece, @Jbarro notes my frustration with people who will not vote to save democracy because they're worried about inflation. I take the point, but I have *always* felt this way about voters reacting to stuff that presidents don't control. /1

joshbarro.com/p/obsessing-ov…

In fact, one of the reasons I became a Republican in the late 70s was that I grew up in a blue collar area where people thought it was the responsibility of the President to find a job for every wage-earner, which isn't the way it works. (And I heard that a lot.) /2

I pleaded with people: You have mayors, state reps, governors. State government. You have to vote at the national level for things of national importance and solve local stuff at the local level. But nope. /3

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