🧵 Hill sees Putin trying to get the West to accede to his aims by using messengers like billionaire Elon Musk to propose arrangements that would end the conflict on his terms. ‘Putin plays the egos of big men, gives them a sense that they can play a role. …
https://twitter.com/brookingsfp/status/1582010293915242504
“‘But in reality, they’re just direct transmitters of messages from Vladimir Putin,’ Hill says.” politico.com/news/magazine/…
Putin, using Musk, “is basically short-circuiting the diplomatic process. He wants to lay out his terms & see how many people are going to pick them up. All of this is an effort to get Americans to take themselves out of the war” politico.com/news/magazine/… 
Though Putin has called it a partial mobilization, “it’s really a stealth full mobilization.” Putin’s responding to the cohort around him that have pushed for the invasion of Ukraine for some considerable amount of time, & “they are not satisfied. They want Ukraine dismembered.”
“What he’s making sure of is that there’s no one who could lead these protests & make them coalesce.
If you think back to when Navalny was poisoned in 2020, he was out in the Urals region & Siberia, pulling together opposition groups at a time when there were many protests going
If you think back to when Navalny was poisoned in 2020, he was out in the Urals region & Siberia, pulling together opposition groups at a time when there were many protests going
“on in Russia. He was poisoned because he was getting some traction.
Nonetheless, the mobilization chips away at Putin’s popularity because people feel that they’ve got no hope. They’re no longer able to watch the war on their TV screens & switch it off and forget it’s happening”
Nonetheless, the mobilization chips away at Putin’s popularity because people feel that they’ve got no hope. They’re no longer able to watch the war on their TV screens & switch it off and forget it’s happening”
“Support for the war was already fairly passive, but active support for the war is declining and support for Putin himself will decline as well. And he’s got to keep placating the hardliners. So, he’s got to take extreme actions.” politico.com/news/magazine/…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
