While 🇷🇺Russia is busy destroying 🇺🇦Ukraine, 🇬🇪Georgia should seize the moment and take and Russia-backed Abkhazia and South Ossetia back by force, ask Twitter couch hawks.
Why is this not going to happen? A short 🧵
The Georgian government is trying to avoid *any* escalation with Russia - they are not even implementing Russia sanctions, and have not been put on the Russian 'hostile nations' list
Where Georgian government fails or refuses to act, civil society and business step in - there have been mass protests in support of Ukraine all across Georgia, Georgian businesses refused to renew exports to Russia
President @Zourabichvili_S has also been increasingly vocal about Ukraine but stopped short of calling for sanctions let alone any moves on Abkhazia or South Ossetia
Georgian society is overwhelmingly opposed to military solutions - in a recent @crrcgeorgia poll of Georgian youth, nearly all respondents (95%) said that they supported negotiations rather than the use of force with breakaway territories
The majority of young people in Georgia are in favour of reconciliation and forgetting about past hostilities. Almost two-thirds (62%) agreed that it was necessary to forget the past and think about the future together to have peace with Abkhazians and Ossetians.
There is also no 'party of war' in Georgia, and pro-Russian movements are becoming more and more bold in public space - it is extremely unlikely the government will make any anti-Russia moves under those circumstances
A former student of mine, Maxim, was killed by Russian tank fire in Bucha today while helping to evacuate civilians from the town. His civilian car was shot at killing all passengers.
He was a kind soul, always willing to help others. Here's the last photo I got from him. RIP
As Bucha is under heavy fire, Maxim's family cannot evacuate his body. They are desperate for help if anyone has any idea where they can turn for help that would be great. Burn in hell, Putin & co
Maxim's friends have organised a fundraiser to help his family
Account holder name: Olena Manko
BIC code TRWIBEB1XXX
IBAN BE61 9672 3761 6317
Transfer title/purpose: for Max
Wise address
Avenue Louise 54, Room S52
Brussels
1050 Belgium
Regardless of the military outcomes, Russia is losing the intelligence and information war in Ukraine.
The RU/UA equipment loss tabulation by @oryxspioenkop keeps moving up for Russian forces - from 250 now to 420, and stuck at around 150 for UA forces. Why does this matter? 🧵
Social media are full of videos and photos of Russian military losses, including many taken by citizens and journalists across Ukraine - basically a massive live webcam of updates, see:
There is very little evidence of Ukrainian military losses - this is not to say they are not there, but so far UA military and society managed to keep a tight lid on them, testimony to good discipline and limited RU intel capability
- Go to Google / Apple Maps or yandex.com/maps/
- Find a restaurant, school, train station, shop, ATM (they are in demand now!) in Russia
- Leave a 'review' on what is happening in Ukraine, especially with civilians
More links below
Live feed of Russian invasion of Ukraine - in Russian - by @meduza_en
Today's Komsomolskaya Pravda listed Poland as "Hitler's European Union" and "Gòralski SS Volunteer Legion" as invaders of the Soviet Union.
The "Góralski" SS legion, planned as 10000-men force, actually had *five* men -and its story would make a good Tarantino scrip. Thread. /1
Nazis tried to recruit Poles to join the SS without much success since 1939. Poland's Nazi occupiers came up with the story of 'Goralenvolk' suggesting that Tatra highlanders are actually Aryans and have nothing in common with Slav Poles. The first recruitment drive, offering /2
well-paid positions in Hans Frank's 'honorary guard' at Wawel Castle resulted in *six* men signing up. They were deemed so useless that they have been transferred to the "Pod Baranami" hotel to work as porters. /3