Tweet

https://twitter.com/briebriejoy/status/1587528915861483523

More from @neil_abrams

Neil Abrams

@neil_abrams

Oct 27

@caitoz

A couple weeks ago I caught some flak from Caitlin Johnstone since I didn’t offer any evidence when I pointed out the nonsense in her Ukraine essay.

You wanted receipts, @caitoz? Well, here are your receipts.

On the “moronic cynicism” of Caitlin Johnstone: A thread:

This thread doubles as a short course on the Russo-Ukrainian war of 2014-21. It covers Russia’s 2014 occupation of Crimea and subsequent invasion of the east, namely the Donbas (the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk). It also examines the leadup to the 2022 invasion.

@caitoz

The sheer number of delusions and falsehoods in this one paragraph by @caitoz is such that they can’t be untangled in a single thread. So this will have to be a two-parter. Part I examines the onset of war in 2014. Part II will address NATO, Zelensky, and the 2022 invasion.

Read 57 tweets

Neil Abrams

@neil_abrams

Oct 21

A common Twitter exchange:

Tankie: Stop arming Ukraine!

Reasonable person: What exactly do you suggest instead?

Tankie: Pressure Ukraine to implement the Minsk accords!

So what are the Minsk accords, and why is the tankie line on Minsk ridiculous?

A thread.

Tankie propaganda on Minsk is an attempt to shift blame from Russia, where it properly belongs, to Ukraine, where it doesn’t: “If only Ukraine implemented Minsk, we wouldn’t be in this situation!” It’s straight gaslighting. To simplify things, I’ll call it “gasminsking.”

I’m gonna keep this as short as possible, since explaining the intricacies of the Minsk process is only slightly more alluring than the thought of blowing my brains out. But it’s important because tankies, when pressed for details on a “peace deal,” use Minsk as their trump card.

Read 53 tweets

Neil Abrams

@neil_abrams

Oct 5

I hesitate to call it a “mask-off moment” since, to have a mask-off moment, you need to actually wear one in the first place. But the tweet below is revealing of a fundamental truth about the man: @MaxBlumehthal—I shit you not—is an imperialist shill. A thread.

@MaxBlumenthal

It’s despicable, albeit predictable, for @MaxBlumenthal to pretend that last Friday’s staged annexation “referendums” in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk & Luhansk were somehow free and fair. But the “Novorossiya” line takes Blumenthal’s nihilistic depravity to another level.

Let’s start with the preposterous notion that 87% or more of these regions would ever vote to join Russia. Do you know what % of their respective populations is actually made up of ethnic Russians?

Read 18 tweets

Neil Abrams

@neil_abrams

Sep 23

According to tankies, the 2014 Euromaidan revolution, in which Ukrainians rose up and ousted kleptocratic dictator Viktor Yanukovych, was a “coup” by the U.S. acting in cahoots with Ukrainian Nazis. Was it?

Short answer: No

Long answer: Also, no.

Let’s dig in.

This thread, on the Euromaidan, is the first of three debunking tankie claims about Ukraine. The next two, respectively, will address the Donbas “rebellion” of 2014-21, which was actually a covert Russian invasion, and the far-right’s influence in post-Maidan Ukraine.

The tankie narrative about the Euromaidan actually consists of three separate assertions: (1) that it was a “coup, (2) that it was engineered by the U.S., and (3) that it was carried out by the Ukrainian far-right. We will consider each in due course.

Read 81 tweets

Neil Abrams

@neil_abrams

Sep 16

I think this guy is arguing in good faith. But to believe that depriving Ukraine of weapons constitutes an “anti-imperialist” stance requires also believing Russia’s invasion *isn’t* imperialist. That, in turn, requires believing a number of things that are untenable IMO.

The notion that opposing arms transfers to Ukraine is anti-imperialist hinges on the view that Russia only invaded because it was provoked by a (supposedly) imperialist NATO alliance. But consider the things you’d have to accept in order to think that:

It requires believing there are legitimate reasons why Putin barely raised a fuss over Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO yet viewed the prospect of *Ukraine* joining NATO as so real and so dire that it necessitated a full-scale invasion.

Read 16 tweets

Neil Abrams

@neil_abrams

May 23

⬇️ Summary of Germany’s new finding that entire detachments of Russian Nazis are fighting in Ukraine, as they were during the earlier Donbas rebellion.

Turns out the tankies clutching their pearls over Azov Nazis are—stunningly—acting in bad faith.

themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/23/rus…

For those interested, here’s more on the various Nazis Putin’s regime literally shipped to Ukraine in 2014 to lead the rebellion in Donetsk and Luhansk.

interpretermag.com/russia-this-we…

Note: The reason Russia had to send these guys in the first place in 2014 was that local support was not remotely adequate to initiate or sustain an insurgency. Without Russia’s backing and day-to-day management, there would have been no separatist rebellion from 2014-22.

Read 10 tweets

Share this page!

Neil Abrams

People who liked this thread also liked...

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @neil_abrams

Neil Abrams

Neil Abrams

Neil Abrams

Neil Abrams

Neil Abrams

Neil Abrams

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Send Email!