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Jul 9 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Mikhail Khodorkovsky shared several important insights about Putin (who jailed him for years) at #ConvTocqueville2022. First: “When his popularity [at home] wanes, he wages war. Four instances: 1999, 2008, 2014, 2022.” 1/x Image
Khodorkovsky argues (rightly) that Kissinger & Macron can’t negotiate successfully from a position of weakness. “Putin’s personal experience is radically different than that of those two men.” i.e. he’s a criminal. 2/x
Khodorkovsky warned against those cheerleading for the breakup of Russia into smaller states. “Five new states with nukes and unstable borders? The preferable solution would be to federate the country.” Concur. 3/x
Khodorkovsky’s final counsel at #ConvTocqueville2022 was essentially this: fight Putinism & not the Russian people. Yes. Same logic for distinguishing the barbarous CCP from the excellent Chinese people. Fight the totalitarian system, not the innocent victims of it. 4/4

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More from @marykissel

Mary Kissel Profile picture
Jul 7
The other big news from the U.K. yesterday was buried under the Boris circus: MI5 & FBI’s joint press conference about Communist China influence ops. Can’t emphasize enough how important this event was. 1/x
The MI5 director’s remarks are worth reading in full. Not a lot of “new” news here, but the public nature of these comments shows the deep concern about CCP malign activity. 2/x mi5.gov.uk/news/speech-by…
One @MI5official quote in particular stood out to me: “…many of those considered by the CCP to be helpful agents of influence in the West, are Westerners who may have no idea that that is how they are viewed.” YES. I see this all the time in the business world. 3/x
Read 5 tweets
Mary Kissel Profile picture
Jul 5
Two British cabinet ministers (@RishiSunak & @sajidjavid) just resigned, throwing the Tory-led government into chaos. The only surprise is that it didn’t happen sooner. 1/x
Boris Johnson admires Churchill (and wrote a wonderful book on him), but his prime ministership has proved largely devoid of principle and sound management. His greatest asset? His weak political opponents. 2/x
Boris could of course hang on. Never underestimate his political skills. And the U.K. is probably far better with him than @RishiSunak, who would move the Tories further left & sink the economy even further. 3/x
Read 4 tweets
Mary Kissel Profile picture
Dec 6, 2021
China has built a potential military presence on the Horn of Africa, in the Arabian Sea, in the South China Sea, is working on Antarctica, etc. So this news about a base in West Africa is no surprise. 1/x
The question is what, if anything, did the U.S. & our partners do to deter this seemingly insatiable appetite of Communist China to expand its military power, now into Equatorial Guinea? What consequence, if any, will be exacted? 2/x
One of the U.S.’s Achilles heels is the inability of our diplomats to think aggressively & strategically about how to counter CCP threats in Africa. @StateDept’s Africa team focused on cultural, social affairs, not hard power or creative diplomacy. Big problem. 3/x
Read 4 tweets
Mary Kissel Profile picture
Nov 16, 2021
On the Biden-Xi call: CCP strategy clear. Steer U.S. back to dialogue for dialogue's sake. When you hear "economic & trade issues...should not be politicized," that ="ignore our influence ops in your country, trade transgressions, & military aggression and just make $." 1/x
CCP propagandists are not "journalists." They are subject to Party diktats. They do not = a reporter from the Western free press. Any deal that allows CCP propagandists more access to the U.S. is not in our national interest. 2/x
Clear example of China influence ops within our borders here: reuters.com/business/exclu…. Fits with the strategy to encourage U.S. CEOs and policymakers to focus on making $, and ignore Beijing's actual behavior. 3/x
Read 6 tweets

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