Thread by @dogemperor

@_giacomo_volpe_ Then perhaps "Uncommitted" can explain to some of their fan club why literally putting *maggots* in a breakfast buffet for DNC delegates *might* impact the ability of "Uncommitted" to get a speaker (something the DNC is *not* obligated to do for uncommitted delegates)

1/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ For that matter, perhaps you can explain to "Uncommitted" why it is in general considered Bad Form to literally haze and harass a candidate to the point they can't be heard less than THREE HOURS after that candidate AGREED to a meeting with them to discuss policy

2/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ AND you can explain to everyone involved the basic difference between *actual* civic disobedience and effective protest versus performative wankerie on main, and the actual roles of the POTUS for funding vs that of Congress in regards to international aid.

3/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Re the latter:
a) Actual historic civil disobedience involved being DELIBERATELY arrested to bring attention to a social issue or to fight an unjust law (including, eventually, in court).

This is actually a fine point a LOT of modern protesters miss in general.

4/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ The sit-ins at Woolworth's were to *get arrested* for violating Jim Crow laws to bring attention to mob violence and police brutality *AND* to set up legal challenges to aforementioned Jim Crow laws.

Nobody was putting maggots in a breakfast buffet to protest Jim Crow

5/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And even post-Jim-Crow, environmentalists who chained themselves to trees, and nuns who chained themselves to fences of nuclear facilities, followed in the "deliberately violate a law to get arrested and bring attention to a social cause".

6/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ b) Protest movements where the goal is NOT to be arrested en masse are much, much more effective if the goal is to target a KNOWN bad actor--like BLM (whose WHOLE POINT was actually a mix of this AND a) to show racist policing is actually killing African-Americans)

7/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And FWIW: No, VPOTUS (and, as I'll note, POTUS) are a less appropriate target than, say, an Israeli embassy, or Congress. But that's going to be another point in a short bit.)

And I'm explaining this history of protest movements to make a point here.

8/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ There is a difference between this (protest for a specific goal, or civil disobedience to change an unjust law) and what I'd term Performative Wankery--the Maggot Breakfast being an example, some of Just Stop Oil's stunts *not* directly targeting the oil/gas industry, etc.

9/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Performative Wankery risks alienating potential allies to your movement; Performative Wankery is more likely to have people asking "why the FUCK are you doing this when it's not even related to your issue or just likely to piss people off & is likely to be counterproductive

10/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ The Maggot Breakfast is *not* gonna make a single Dem candidate or delegate think "Wow, Bibi Netanyahu really is a genocidal maniac!" They're going to go "WTF would you DO this?"

It's going to cause them to *not* want to give a pro-Palestine protester the time of day

11/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And honestly most people (yes, even people *who are in fact sympathetic with the Palestinian cause*) are going to go WTF, just like folks go "WTF" with Just Stop Oil trying to splash paint on the Mona Lisa (versus chaining themselves to a petroleum company's gates)

12/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And I point that out because I do think a lot of y'all fundamentally misunderstood the point of street marches for BLM, and at least *some* of the actions of "Uncommitted" HAVE strayed into Performative Wankery at this point and are likely to be Counterproductive

13/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (For instance: Heckling a candidate (to the point she cannot even be heard at her own political rally) not three hours after they *agreed* to discuss grievances with you is an example of Performative Wankery and can be EASILY seen by the DNC as evidence of Bad Faith.)

14/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (Demanding--as a non-negotiable discussion point--a promise by VPOTUS to call for something it is *not even legally possible for them to do* (and I'll get into THAT in a moment) *without* pledging to commit in return is ALSO generally seen as Performative Wankery.)

15/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ c) It may surprise you, but there is really very little that a POTUS--much less VPOTUS (whose primary job is 1) Be There if POTUS dies or is incapacitated in office and 2) Cast a tiebreaker vote in the Senate)--can in fact realistically do to influence funding to Israel.

16/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ The whole issue of signing treaties (including defense treaties), government funding on main, etc. *is not the President's job*. That's the job of 535 people sitting a few blocks down in the Capitol building.

The President gets *very* little say in this process.

17/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ At *most* the President can issue a veto (which can be overturned by Congress w/ 2/3rds majority), or the President can act on executive order (which requires declaring a reason, can be challenged in court, AND is only valid for 90 days w/o Congressional approval.

18/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Which means, in practice, *there is literally no way* a POTUS can in fact unilaterally do an arms embargo of Israel, even if they VERY MUCH would like to do so (and anyone who claims a President can *does not in fact know how the Constitution or Congress works*).

19/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ So let's assume your miracle happens, Kamala Harris SEES THE LIGHT...gets elected, and as her very first act in office pushes an executive order to enact BDS and an arms embargo

Congress is going to pass a resolution almost IMMEDIATELY to overturn this EO.

20/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ There is a reasonably good chance you'll actually get a bloc of Congresspersons actually proposing *impeachment* over this. You'll have Christian Nationalist legal groups (who VERY MUCH want Netanyahu to Ethnically Cleanse The Levant) submitting lawsuits in the 5th Circuit

21/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And the ultimate goal would be to take it all the way to the Supreme Court (which, I will remind you, is presently held by a majority of overt Christian Nationalists) who would be happy to overturn their own precedent JUST to limit ability of a POTUS to issue EOs at all

22/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And even if they didn't have the Supreme Court in their pockets, you'd have ALEC and AIPAC literally ghost-writing a law for Congress to pass restricting the ability of a POTUS to issue executive orders without Congressional approval, or enforcing the law on the books

23/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ "OK", you ask, "Can't she just veto any funding?"

Well...yes and no. For one, we don't have a line-item veto; that was actually ruled unconstitutional back in the Clinton administration, so a President has to vote for everything in a bill or veto the whole damn thing

24/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And because we neither have a line-item veto nor a Constitutional Amendment allowing that, and because we also lack a Constitutional Amendment requiring all bills to only have a single purpose, you have a LOT of riders on the average Congressional funding bill.

25/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ You have Congresspersons who are MORE than willing to put arms shipments to Israel as riders in essential funding bills for things like Social Security and the DoD itself and in omnibus government funding packages (and in fact this WAS done in the most recent funding)

26/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Which leaves a potential President Harris with two choices--veto a spending bill (and risk government shutdown for extended period OR--more likely--have Congress override that veto) or try to do an EO to block that aspect of funding and sign approval of the bill

27/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ In other words, it's CONGRESS that's fucking this up, and primarily it's the Senate (which would require a two-thirds majority to abrogate any existing defense treaties with Israel) AND the House (for adding these riders on)

Just FOUR MONTHS AGO:

28/xapnews.com/article/ukrain…

@_giacomo_volpe_ And let's assume President Harris signed an omnibus bill with an Israel rider and then immediately signed an EO declaring an embargo

Congress would pass laws (and override vetos) restricting ability of POTUS to issue an executive order to begin with to route around damage

29/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (Don't believe me? This is LITERALLY what GOP supermajority General Assemblies in multiple states, including Kentucky, did in reaction to Democratic governors trying to route around damage via executive order. They functionally were stripped of much ability to do an EO)

30/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Oh, and literally the ONLY way to actually *block* military aid to Israel and have it *stick* would be to have such an overwhelming Dem Blue Tsunami that it turned fully two-thirds of House and Senate Blue AND non-AIPAC (in which case Congress can get a LOT of shit done)

31/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Note: I would actually argue that if you REALLY want to get shit done, it is *much* more effective for "Uncommitted" to *lobby Congresspersons* as WELL as POTUS candidates, and it is *FAR* more effective to turn the House and Senate blue. But that's my $0.02

32/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ d) I'd also note, as an aside: The opposition has already stated their intent to turn the genocide up to 11, and to actively denationalize and deport anyone involved in pro-Palestine protest to Gaza (yes, including native-born US citizens with no other nationality)

33/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ If the GOP wins, there is a *certainty* of the genocide in Gaza continuing and worsening and expanding to the whole of the Levant; there is also an extremely serious risk of genocide, here, *in the US* at the hands of the Christian Nationalists behind Project 2025.

34/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (And no, I'm not just talking Project 2025, or Agenda 47 which is just Cliff's Notes for Project 2025, or the GOP party platform, or the *Texas* GOP party platform, or the statements recorded by Project 2025 leaders "off the record", or Trump's own speeches.)

35/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (I'm talking "They said the quiet part out loud re concentration camps in 2007":
And have documented histories of genocide and "disappearances" from the 80s on:



And statements leading up to #J6.)

36/xdailykos.com/stories/2007/8…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_D…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala…

@_giacomo_volpe_ And, as I noted, we have a minor issue with the Supreme Court being captured by Christian Nationalists, and the House also having a GOP majority, and the Senate having a *very* slim Dem majority

You need to fix those last two and keep POTUS at this point

37/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Because otherwise, there is not a hope in hell you can actually prevent funding of arms to Israel, and pretty much any attempt by Harris to route around damage gets blocked

(It's in your best interest to turn Congress blue, and expand the Supreme Court, just sayin'.)

38/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ f) I will note, as an aside, I have *not even touched* the actual geopolitics of the whole situation in Gaza and why *even a complete block of arms trade* would honestly do Sweet Fuck All to stop the war in Gaza and people being caught in the middle.

39/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ In essence, both Netanyahu and Sinwar have *extremely powerful* personal motivations to keep the war going even if their respective countries are burnt to the ground in the process and *both* are being encouraged by the same foreign hostile actors to keep the war going.

40/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Sinwar's motivation is relatively simple. Gaza has not had free or fair elections since the Palestinian Authority took over (and in fact does not recognise the government of the West Bank as legitimate govt. of PA, nor does the West Bank recognize Hamas's government)

41/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And yes, Hamas has in its history occasionally poked the bear *to keep themselves in power* (rather than allowing free and fair elections in Gaza which might go for PLO vs Hamas) AND in part to destabilize the PA opposition in the West Bank.

42/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (Yes, a lot of people don't realize that technically the Palestinian Authority *itself* has been in a bit of a civil cold war since 2006, and to *some* extent ever since the Palestinian Authority became a recognized entity in the Oslo Accords. So there's THAT aspect)

43/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And in regards to Israel...well, Bibi Netanyahu is pretty much in the mold of Trump and Putin and Orban, and what is going on with HIM is more complex and simpler in that (similarly to Trump) he's willing to set the Levant on fire to keep out of prison.

44/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Bibi Netanyahu was in fact charged with several acts of official corruption in office, including embezzlement and abuse of office; in response, he did a judicial overhaul that basically stripped the Israeli court system of much authority to stop official criming

45/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ and at the same time fundamentally changed how judges are appointed (in that Netanyahu could now "pack the courts") AND also stripped authority broadly from the Israeli Supreme Court re parliamentary decisions

This context is important here.

46/xapnews.com/article/netany…

@_giacomo_volpe_ Israel itself was the center of MASSIVE public protests against Netanyahu through most of 2023, actively asking for him to step down or for the Knesset to declare a no-confidence vote (the only two ways to remove Netanyahu from office)

Even the IDF was participating

47/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And earlier this year, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that part of the new law was unconstitutional (restricting the ability of Israeli courts to declare laws unconstitutional)

Unfortunately, Netanyahu can't be convicted while in office & Israel doesn't have impeachment

48/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ So Netanyahu has a LOT of motivation to burn the country down because a forever war pretty much keeps him in office as a War PM, he can use some specific emergency powers to squelch protests, he can hide the constitutional crisis he created in a literal bloodbath

49/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ AND there's the little matter of a hostile foreign power goading *both* sides, via their specific proxies and directly.

And this is where things actually pretty directly lead to Putin and Trump (and why NOT voting for Harris makes things Much, Much Worse for Gaza).

50/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ So for context, Russia under Putin has pretty much adopted Aleksandr Dugin's "Foundations of Geopolitics" as a guidebook. Dugin is ex-KGB turned Russian Orthodox religio-fascist, like many many people in Putin's inner circle, and all were influenced by Ivan Ilyin

51/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (Ilyin, likewise, was former KGB turned Russian Orthodox religio-fascist--literally to the point he was functionally Hitler's equivalent of Lord Haw-Haw to the Russian community. I don't use the term "religio-fascist" lightly. )

52/xen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Ilyin

@_giacomo_volpe_ Back to Dugin (one of many Ilyin acolytes in Putin's circle, and Putin by all reports is also strongly influenced by Ilyin's writings) and "Foundations of Geopolitics", though.



Effectively this is "Make the Russian Empire Great Again", the book

53/xen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundatio…

@_giacomo_volpe_ (It's also a remarkable example of "They said they was gonna"; effectively the entire plan to invade Ukraine and ethnically cleanse Ukranians is laid out, including the explicit "religious holy war against heresy" angle Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church have used.)

54/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ At least part of the policies laid out in "Foundations of Geopolitics" explicitly even foretell the whole BRICS arrangement, particularly with the PRC and India (India becomes VERY important shortly in this discussion), and calls for using Iran as a client state.

55/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Even the present schism between the Russian Orthodox Church and mainline Orthodox Christianity in communion with Constantinople is explicitly laid out in this book (yes, technically Russian Orthodox Church is in schism w/ Constantinople, and promotes itself as "Third Rome")

56/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And at least part of the "We said we was gonna" in this book involves inflaming extremes in the Levant (and, interestingly, also in Turkiye--this book was written pre-Erdogan) including effectively throwing napalm on the Israel/Palestine conflict.

57/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Basically, Hamas (in Gaza) and Hezbollah (in Lebanon) are supported via Iran as a proxy of Russia, and Russia also works on Israel itself through two different groups--Russian Jewish emigres in Israel...and Christian Nationalists in the US.

58/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Of note: "Foundations of Geopolitics" in regards to the US explicitly promotes using and amplifying the Horseshoe Diagram in promoting extremists in the far-left AND the far-right, with even an explicit note on exploiting African-American separatists to spark a race war

59/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Which is to say, very bluntly: Russia is, via various proxies, explicitly fueling both Tankies AND MAGAts and has been for longer than a lot of younger pro-Palestine protesters. (I'd argue it probably started as far back as Occupy Wall Street.)

60/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ As for Christian Nationalists in the US--particularly New Apostolic Reformation sorts who *very much* believe that Israel's existence, and its expansion to maximum historical extent of territory, is Very Important to Make Jesus Return Again...

61/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ ...THOSE sorts who were behind #J6, and who are Trump's primary voter base? The ones for whom their conspiracy theology is the basis for QAnonsense?

Groomed by Duginists since the mid-90s and they were Putin's Fifth Column by 2012.

62/xthreadreaderapp.com/thread/1463907…

@_giacomo_volpe_ Russia recruited, btw, via anti-LGBTQIA hate.

It is also *these* sorts that give a SHITLOAD of money to AIPAC as well as to Christian Nationalist groups and lobbying orgs, which are a *not* insignificant reason any meaningful efforts re Israel are *extremely* difficult

63/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And yes, at least SOME of the actual connections between the NAR Christian Nationalists linked with J6 *AND* Putinists in Russia AND Netanyahu's ruling party Likud *do* involve people like Oleg Deripaska and Maria Butina directly tied to the Trump admin...in 2006.

64/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (Interestingly: Christian Nationalists thought THEY were recruiting *Putinists*, in what is probably closer to a mutual reach-around.)

And this is why "active measures" almost IMMEDIATELY targeted progressive spaces in the wake of October 7th

65/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Another thing that Russia has done more recently is use client states. The PRC (which Russia is fairly linked to now, thanks to the ruble being pegged to the renminbi) is one frequently used in "active measures" targeting leftists specifically.

And also...India.

66/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Since 2016, Russia has been increasingly using hostile actors and *encouraging* independent "active measures" by India and Pakistan, which are *both* countries that Russia has had historical connections to (pre- and post-USSR)

India in particular has been a MAJOR player.

67/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ This includes on social media AND in meatspace--recently India has been implicated (along with the PRC and Pakistan) in actual electoral interference in favor of the Conservative Party (and especially Pierre Poilievre) in Canada

India "officially" claims to be nonaligned

68/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ In reality, under the BJP and Narendra Modi, India has become *de facto* a religio-fascist state (run by Hindu nationalists) that acts as a client state for Russia, especially in "active measures" campaigns where the intent is to cause dissent and chaos in opposition.

69/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ I myself have seen social media campaigns run by the *same* Indian sockfarm, early in the Gaza conflict, where socks actively tried to get both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel trends and did a friendly contest to see which could get trending faster and with higher numbers.

70/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And considering that India has the largest numbers of both social media users AND persons with Internet access worldwide (and is now the most populous country in the world at over 1.4 billion people, having surpassed PRC in 2022) it can HEAVILY influence campaigns

71/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Which is a reason a lot of spam sockfarms have moved to India--it's one of the few BRICS countries that still has substantial international trade (along with PRC), and unlike PRC doesn't have the Great Firewall and has more plausible deniability for state-actor campaigns

72/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Notably--India is also one of the few countries that does substantial international banking trade with *Russia*--including being effectively the sole international partner offering credit/debit card services to the Russian Federation via Mir and RuPay

73/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ There's also a ludicrous amount of Dunning-Krugerrand/cr*pt*curr*ncy grifting targeting India in particular

And sometimes you catch the same bad actor amplifying both sides (in this case, an inorganically boosted trend w/ same poster targeted pro-Biden and pro-Trump accts)

74/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ It's also notable that almost *every* country linked with inorganically pushing trends on the Gaza conflict (on both sides) are either BRICS countries (Brazil also pops up on occasion as does South Africa) or are countries w/ close economic links to Russia (Turkiye)

75/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And of note: Turkiye is just about the only country left that isn't in BRICS (yet; they've expressed a LOT of BRICS curiosity) which does *not* have Russia under sanctions (and is in fact one of Russia's main trading partners at this point).

76/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And yes I know this portion is hellaciously long, but basically the tl;dr is "Russia, through a lot of client states that *claim* to be Nonpartisan, are goading both sides in both the US *and* in the Levant to generate chaos (and expand their empire in the meantime)"

77/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And basically what results is that Hamas leadership and Netanyahu (and Likud leadership) are Extremely Motivated To Kill The Everloving Fuck Out Of Each Other Despite World Opinion Or Even The Opinions Of The Citizenry Of Their Respective Countries.

78/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And yes, that also means that *even if all military aid to Israel stopped tomorrow*, Israel would just start nationalizing its own industries and taxing its own industries (including a *whole lot* of IT security firms) to fund the war effort and its HOMEGROWN arms industry

79/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ Israel not only was quite well known for semiautomatic weapons in the 80s (the Uzi was the AR-15 of its day in being a Tacti-Kewl weapon in 80s action films along with Kalashnikov kit) but has an arsenal of something like 400 nuclear warheads it's never officially declared

80/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And yes, Israel does in fact have a policy of "we will not confirm or deny we have all these nuclear warheads", and reportedly does have a policy (Samson Option) of "If Israel is under mortal threat, we literally glass the entire Middle East and southern Europe".

81/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (This is also another aspect of the "cutting off military aid" issue that a lot of folks don't consider; at least *some* of that is *explicitly* to discourage Netanyahu from Pressing The Shiny Button That Turns Beirut And Amman And Riyadh And Teheran Into Bikini Atoll.)

82/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ And unfortunately I can in fact see Bibi proceeding to make his *own* homegrown planes and Iron Dome missiles and *other* missiles if NATO countries say "no more weapons until you quit trying to kill literally everyone in Gaza"; it's like convincing Putin to NOT bomb Kyiv.

83/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ So basically at this point our choices are:

a) Don our own oxygen mask, vote for Harris, vote blue all the way in Congress to get more of a zeptopercent of a chance that we CAN use leverage to make the killing stop (it probably won't, but we can *try*)

84/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ OR

b) Vote for The Former Guy whose base literally is telling Netanyahu to take over not just Gaza and the West Bank but Lebanon, much of Syria, Jordan, and even part of Egypt, who will denationalize US citizens who protest this and send them to Gaza to be killed

85/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ and who actively is telling Bibi NOT to agree to ANY peace deals SPECIFICALLY to fuck over the DNC:

And whose base wants to start genocide HERE in the US:

And who will turn the US into Viktor Orban's Hungary

86/xnewrepublic.com/post/185076/do…
dailykos.com/stories/2007/8…

@_giacomo_volpe_ OR
c) you vote third party for Jill Stein (who is HERSELF closely linked to Putin and Orban) and b) happens

OR

d) you stay home and don't vote or write in "uncommitted", and b) happens

Because you also don't understand how the Electoral College works

87/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ (Note: When you "vote for President", you are in fact voting for a specific slate of electors, and unless you live in Nebraska or Maine, whomever wins your state wins ALL electors, meaning literally ANY option other than voting Harris/Walz IS a functional vote for Trump.)

88/x

@_giacomo_volpe_ So in short:
a) Learn to effectively protest
b) Performative stunts drive away potential allies
c) Learn what is actually an achievable goal and work to that
d) Keep in mind that we do have *limited* options without a LOT more power especially in Congress

89/end

@_giacomo_volpe_ @threadreaderapp unroll