The world loves just causes... and quick wins.

One of #Ukraine's biggest threats?

Empathy decay & media cycles. 1/
2/ Perhaps #Putin just plans to wait out the US attention span.

He did it with #Syria, and it worked.
3/ Why wait passively for the US attention span to move on?

#Putin is giving the willing... something that helps them back out sooner.

Their ranks will surely grow.
4/ Google Trends is an very imperfect judge of the contents of the American mind...

I wish I could see platforms' analytics on #Ukraine.

Does war perform as well as the Kardashians?

Or is serving more Kim & less #Kiyv a better way to keep users engaged?
5/ Something else #Putin knows?

If he can make #Ukraine dangerous for media, many outlets will be forced to pull out.

Fewer facts & stories from the ground = more room for his lies & less evidence of his crimes.

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More from @jsrailton

Mar 14
Massive container ship #EVERFORWARD has run aground in the Chesapeake Bay.

Yes, same operator as #EVERGIVEN.

Yes, almost exactly a year later. 1/ ImageImageImageImage
2/ Looking at charts, #EVERFORWARD may have slightly deviated from dredged navigation channel into shallower waters after departing Baltimore.

And got stuck.

She's apparently not blocking the navigation channel, but is quite close to it. ImageImageImageImage
3/ The #EverForward's AIS track is... interesting.

People may read it as: she missed a waypoint (didn't make a turn) heading from Craighill Angle into Craighill Channel.

Caveat: accidents = complicated & AIS tracks can be *imprecise* so take all guesses w/big grain of salt! ImageImage
Read 8 tweets
Mar 14
#Kremlin propagandists, after struggling early in the invasion, have found some traction.

Example? U.S. 🇺🇸 Google searches for "war crime" vs biolab" in the past 30 days. 1/
2/ As Kate, who has this excellent "participatory disinformation" concept points out, a big driver is the "just asking questions" mode of key influencers.👇👇

3/ Tulsi Gabbard is a great example of an influential account helping to carry water for #Kremlin disinformation.

Her pro-#Russia stance has also given her a big bump in attention since the invasion began.

Read 7 tweets
Mar 14
VIDEO: French activist says he's seized Biarritz villa belonging to #Putin's son in law.

Flies a #Ukrainian flag.

Pierre Haffner says it's now ready to welcome refugees.

Report: theins.ru/korrupciya/249…
Footage clipped from:
2/ Now that we see it's possible...why stop with one villa?

Mini-castles built of stolen wealth dot the French coast. 👇👇
Read 4 tweets
Mar 13
The reported capture of a Borisoglebsk-2 is interesting.

Russia claims:

- Jamming across radio spectrum.
- Ability to locate transmissions

Read: can interfere & locate military *and* civilian comms.

Would include GPS jamming, which can have knock-on effects all over 1/
2/ GPS jamming keeps coming up.

You might not know that some key systems rely on GPS, like cellular networks.

Each base station has a GPS receiver. They are used to collect a time signal that keeps the whole network synchronized.
3/ Many satphones & terminals (e.g. BGAN, STARLINK etc) *depend* on GPS.

Different models, different reasons: from reporting a devices' location, to figuring out where to look for satellites (e.g. Starlink )

GPS jamming can degrade networks & prevent devices from connecting.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 13
Bothered that some prominent progressives have become #Putin apologists?

Sadly, dictator apologism isn't new.

Remember: Noam Chomsky denied Pol Pot's Cambodian Genocide.

He wasn't alone.

1/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian…
2/ Progressive apologists for Pol Pot pointed to reasonable critiques of US wars in Southeast Asia.

And skepticism about the US Gov.

Problem?

The actual plight of the Cambodian people was an inconvenient truth for apologists' grand theories. So it was ignored.

Sound familiar?
3/ Now, some progressive voices are minimizing #Putin's atrocities.

I get it. He's inconvenient for certain cartoon version of anti-imperialism.

Thing is, this dismisses the actual wishes, humanity & suffering of the people of #Ukraine.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 13
Missile attack in #Erbil, capital of Kurdish Iraq tonight.

May have targeted the US 🇺🇸 Consulate, or adjacent airport.

Meanwhile top "Erbil" tweet?

A blue check account with a false tweet.
2/ Count of # of missile impacts varies... but plenty of actual footage is emerging from Erbil.

Jerusalem Post has a developing story by
@TzviJoffre: jpost.com/breaking-news/…

Footage of damage to Kurdistan 24 Channel via an employee
3/ Broken glass & twisted metal...but multiple outlets are reporting: no known casualties at this point, citing Iraq state news / Kurdistan health minister.

Meanwhile, multiple US reporters are tweeting that Pentagon says no known 🇺🇸 military casualties.
english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-ea…
Read 4 tweets

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