OK, before we begin our #PutinsUsefulIdiot competition, let me introduce our 16 competitors, in random order...
1. Olaf Scholz ๐ฉ๐ช
No surprise here, 'Feige Sau' that he is, he's been against sending weapons to ๐บ๐ฆ until he was for it, and then was against it, and then was for it, and then... #PutinsUsefulIdiot
2. Angela Merkel ๐ฉ๐ช
The invasion of ๐บ๐ฆ was pretty much guaranteed once she vetoed Ukraine's NATO bid in a pathetic attempt to appease putin. #PutinsUsefulIdiot
3. Emanuel Macron ๐ซ๐ท
Desperately trying to make ๐ซ๐ท the leader of ๐ช๐บ but in fact doing the exact opposite. Constantly "talking with putin" and wondering why he is not getting his respect, Macron epitomizes the weak Frenchman who still thinks ๐ซ๐ท is relevant #PutinsUsefulIdiot
4. Nicolas Sarkozy ๐ซ๐ท
Remember this Napoleon-sized appeaser? He backed Merkel in her NATO veto of ๐บ๐ฆ. Within just a few years, orc tanks rolled across the border of ๐บ๐ฆ #PutinsUsefulIdiot
5. Marine LePen ๐ซ๐ท
Race-baiter LePen might actually be a paid agent of putin, we don't know. We do know that she wants to fatally weaken NATO, giving putin the chance to tapdance all over eastern Europe. #PutinsUsefulIdiot
6. Hillary Clinton ๐บ๐ธ
Naively believed she could 'reset relations with ๐ท๐บ. Blithely ignoring putin's recent invasion of Georgia, she may have confused it with the US state of Georgia? (Look at Lavrov in the pic btw. His demeanor says it all.) #PutinsUsefulIdiot
7. Donald Trump ๐บ๐ธ
Hard to make a list of putin tools w/o mentioning this ๐คก who is so desperate to be like putin, he'll do anything for him. One can only imagine how hard putin laughed when he read the FSB's psychoanalysis of Trump ๐คฎ #PutinsUsefulIdiot
8. Tucker Carlson ๐บ๐ธ
Yet another 'real American' who loves freedom more than all Europeans combined. Some suspect he may actually be a paid ๐ท๐บ agent, others suspect he may actually be human. Either way, he's def one of Kremlin's favorite western media tools #PutinsUsefulIdiot
9. John Mearsheimer ๐บ๐ธ
The Neville Chamberlain of our time, this useful ๐บ๐ธ idiot keeps blaming NATO without asking why all eastern European countries rush to join as soon as they can. Someone lean over and ask him what happened to ๐บ๐ฆ when it couldn't join ๐คท๐ผโโ๏ธ #PutinsUsefulIdiot
10. Noam Chomsky ๐บ๐ธ
Honestly, wtf is it with Yanks? ๐คฆโโ๏ธ #PutinsUsefulIdiot
11. Alice Schwarzer ๐ฉ๐ช
Feminist and pacifist who wrote the infamous 'Open Letter' telling ๐บ๐ฆ to stop fighting back and accept getting raped so that it will be over sooner. Yet anther typically arrogant ๐ฉ๐ช Besserwisser. #PutinsUsefulIdiot
12. Michael Tracey ๐คฎ
Yet another ๐บ๐ธ journalist who blames everyone but the rapist for the raping. They say Americans know nothing about the world around them and Tracey is a proud example of American ignorance. The rest of the world just wants him to go away. #PutinsUsefulIdiot
13. Antonio Guterres ๐ต๐น
UN ๐บ๐ณ Sec General who naively goes to ๐ท๐บ to negotiate with putin bc he thinks UN is relevant. In return, putin lobs missiles into Kyiv the moment Guterres arrives in Ukraine๐คฆโโ๏ธ #PutinsUsefulIdiot
14. Edward Snowden ๐ท๐บ
Proudly defending freedom of the press from that bastion of democratic media freedom of ๐ท๐บ. FOH you hypocrite. #PutinsUsefulIdiot
15. Narendra Modi ๐ฎ๐ณ
Indians rightfully hate imperialism (so long as that imperialism isn't done to them.) Modi is the poster child of this perverse ๐ฎ๐ณ nationalism. Still calling putin his "friend", Modi has yet to criticize russia's colonialism in ๐บ๐ฆ #PutinsUsefulIdiot
16. Henry Kissinger ๐บ๐ธ
No one ever liked him, and even fewer even knew he was still alive. This enigma is simultaneously notorious for being both a warmonger and appeaser ๐คท๐ผโโ๏ธ. Why the media still gives voice to this ๐คก is beyond all of us. Go away, Henry. #PutinsUsefulIdiot
That's your crew of pathetic contestants. The competition starts soon. Who do you think will be the biggest loser? Make your predictions below ๐
Episode 6 summary of "Understanding the Ukraine War" by @alexstubb
Episode 6 covers the Chinese view ๐จ๐ณ
China is the next big superpower based on its economy, military and demography. It is becoming more influential all around the world in all three aspects.
Xi Jinping is not exactly pleased about the timing of this war because he must focus on important internal political matters such as Zero Covid policy and the upcoming Chinese congress where he will likely be 'crowned' president for his third term.
Barack Obama (2014) said: "russia doesnโt make anything. Immigrants arenโt rushing to moscow in search of opportunity. The life expectancy of the russian male is around 60 years old. The population is shrinking." (interview in The Economist). Thread on why this matters / 1
Little discussed aspect of this war - russian demographics are going to be negatively impacted for decades because of this debacle /2
Prior to this war, demographics for russia were already looking pretty gloomy. The population is projected to shrink to 121 million by 2050, down a staggering 27 million (18.2%) from its 1995 high of 141 million people. (Source: UN report) /3
By popular request, I'm going to start a thread to break down the NATO Charter. The charter is composed of just 14 articles and every day, I'll post a new TL;DR on a new article. #NATOcharter
ARTICLE 1
TL;DR = NATO members will act in accordance with the UN Charter to keep the peace and encourage security in the North Atlantic region. #NATOcharter
Profound 1987 article by former Chancellor of West Germany. A ruthless assessment of russia's political and imperial mindset. He gave 6 reasons why russia can never get along with the rest of the world. Might as well have been written today. Here's the TL;DR...
1. russian messianic mindset
russia has an inherently messianic view of its own role in the world. russia believes it is the center of Christianity and its true standard-bearer ever since the collapse of the Byzantine Empire (continued)
This messianic thinking manifests itself in a variety of ways, such as seeing themselves as the leaders of pan-Slavism and, in the 20th century, as leaders of the global world communist movement. Various movements but all with the same core view of themselves as better.
Thread on how russia has exploited democracy and pushed its expansionist agenda for the past 2 decades with the help of many collaborators, allies and partisans. My thoughts on some of the different categories of people it uses to advance its imperial growth:
1. OVERT ALLIES
example = Xi Jinping, who recently promised "unending friendship" and in return got russia to delay its invasion until after the Chinese Winter/Propaganda Olympics.
quick sidenote - same thing happened in 2008 when russia invaded Georgia. China asked them to wait until the day after the Beijing Summer/Propaganda Olympics. (worth a separate thread)