Seeing how the USA now hellbent on emulating their newfound ally of Russia, both at home and abroad, I find myself obliged to repost my dive into Russia's posh cities, just to give your average MAGA a glimpse into the greatness Trump is sure to bring about! Do enjoy!🧵
While a romantic sunset, sunrise or the sun in general is not something you're likely to experience in Norilsk - a city that fields a beautiful bi-annual Biblical plague when the local river runs red with pollution, is one for sure bound to go straight to your heart. And lungs.
Having "Leave" as the most common answer to the "Things to do in..." question, Magnitogorsk's mix of local dishes is widely recommended as an excellent way to encourage hair loss, while a dip in the local river is equally advised to those looking to possibly acquire superpowers.
Famous world-wide for having its acclaimed post-apocalyptic urban scenery depicted in various TV shows, and more recently for having God attempt to whack it with an asteroid, Chelyabinsk is guaranteed to give you the zombie apocalypse experience you always dreamt of.
Sporting several new strains of yet undiscovered hepatitis , Chita's public sanitation system and the city's vast array of culinary delights are guaranteed to take dysentery to a whole new level and make for a truly incurable experience you will not easily forget.
Magadan, sometimes affectionately refereed to by its residents as "the place I dream of leaving", managed to reinvent the concept of urban infrastructure and, not being one to let the lack of cars or residents stand in the way, fields internationally acclaimed traffic jams.
Appetizingly known as "the cold corner of hell" and having a very deep hole in ground as it's main attraction, Murmansk is beloved to all for it's very sober and mild-mannered residents, which are bound to rob of sympathy any traveler that comes their way.
With "My town and destiny" as its motto and often described as a "breath of fresh air" by its 70k proud inhabitants, the city of Asbest, possibly named after the absolutely gigantic open-air asbestos mine sitting right in the middle of it, is guaranteed to take your breath away.
With its 200k inhabitants enjoying a life expectancy of 42 and having "life may be bad but at least it's short" as the unofficial motto, Dzerzhinsk is a must among worldwide chemical weapons enthusiasts, with popular tourist hotspots such as "The White Sea" and the "Black hole".
Sporting an exquisite smog bound to satisfy even the most pretentious of the coal enthusiasts out there, Vorkuta prides itself in a rich history of forced labor, crimes against humanity and a perfectly conserved 1930s vintage sewage system.
With over a million potholes, about as many people trying to get out and enough mud to cover everyone's needs, Omsk operates a one-station metro system which, while allowing for instantaneous arrivals and departures, will rather symbolically take you absolutely nowhere.
With a high GDP by Russian standards and poor by everyone else's, the perpetually flooded city of Syktyvkar is the place where Putin's party once won by campaigning on the - yet undelivered - "a pallet for every puddle" promise, having identified that as the only solution.
Fielding a remarkable number of Buddhist temples and a devoutly homicidal population that make the former rather pointless, the enticingly friendly Kyzyl prides itself in being occasionally safer than your average warzone while having a roughly similar standard of living.
Somewhat unenthusiastically called "home.." by about half a million resigned inhabitants and having survived several petitions to be renamed "Hell", Lipetsk prides itself in being the place where one comes for the mud and stays for the asthma.
Boasting the finest urban aesthetics forced labor can buy and quite possibly the spot where all of Russia's eleven time zones of misery and suffering converge, the city of Kayerkan took it upon itself to be that one place where hell did actually freeze over.
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There’s a series of polls conducted by Russian pollster Levada last year which, when linked together, I think offer a fairly clear insight into the mysterious Russian soul and why MAGA and lunatics across the world find a kindred spirit in it. 🧵
While apparently a lot of people in Africa still hold somewhat of a positive view of Russia, Russians do not reciprocate that feeling.
Less then 1 in 10 Russians can even conceive having someone from Africa as a family member, neighbor, friend or coworker.
When prompted to judge on the benefits of war they started that left over a million of their own maimed or killed and an endless trail of war crimes in Ukraine, Russians seem rather equally split on it, with a third still yet to make up their minds about the whole affair.
Since its been quite a while since my last one, I figured it is time to do another one of my "News from Romania" threads.
Prepare for some absolutely nonsensical but really funny and very real local news from my country. Enjoy!🧵
Romanian man fell 12 meters into the well he was digging after tying a rope to his leg but securing the other end to absolutely nothing.
Two Romanian men, each having requested and obtained a restraining order against the other, were caught by police while trying to steal a radiator together.
With MAGA rediscovering American exceptionalism and thinking Europe to be the underdeveloped backwater, I've decided to do a short thread tackling the most common misconceptions Americans seem to have about Europe.🧵
While "dying out" is one of those things MAGA tends to associate most with Europe, the US currently ranks slightly below Albania in terms of life expectancy, and it must be mentioned Albania ranks rather bad at it among us Europeans.
While the likes of Fox News and Elon Musk tell you daily how unsafe Europe is, the reality is the European continent at large is pretty much the safest place on earth by any measurable metric. The US ranks so low in the list, I couldn't make the snip big enough to fit it in.
I've really been struggling to make sense of what the Russians hope to get by flying drones over our airports, as well as various other acts of sabotage.
So, I figured I'd cover what Russia expects to get from it and why I think they're achieving the very opposite of that.🧵
->Deter European countries from providing aid to Ukraine.
The logic is simple enough and should make for some coercive deterrence. Fly drones over whatever European target happens to be most disrupted by simply having drones flying over to it. Make attempts at acts of sabotage reasonably expected to be discovered yet incredibly costly in terms of investigating and preventing. Repeat until something gives and formally or informally target country "corrects course" when it comes to Ukraine.
Except in practice, thanks to nobody taking Russia's word that they won't be next on the menu and that Russians won't be repeating this process whenever they happen to be mildly annoyed at something you do, it very much tends to achieve the opposite. It terms of solutions, it really makes sure that the only way forward is suffocating Russia economically and helping Ukraine deliver Russia a military defeat.
->Destabilize Western societies and hurt social cohesion.
Very much a sound theory on paper, politicize and scare that segment of Western society that has so far largely either not paid attention to the war or did pay attention but has some ideological affinity towards Russia. Have them get as active and entrenched in their positions as possible in hopes of, at the very least, pretty much war with the majority that supports and calls for more aid to Ukraine.
However, since the dawn of time really, virtually every society tends to unite to some degree when faced with a very visible external threat. Those that are already pro-Ukraine? Will largely turn even more so. Those that didn't care or kept away? They'll have to look and they'll have to care now, and likely won't do so for the enemy. That pro-Russian minority? If anything, even some of them will turn disillusioned by Russia's acts against their country.
Because I feel it is important that everyone knows this man's name, here is Mihail Neamtu, member of the Romanian Parliament representing the far-right, pro-Russian AUR party, rhetorically asking himself why Russia doesn't just use nuclear weapons on Ukrainian cities already.
Despite the innumerable horrific statements he makes on a regular basis, this man continues to be invited all over Europe and the US at all sorts of conventions and meetings and gatherings, and I think it is time for that to stop and for this man to get the "fame" he deserves.
Romanian journalist @CostinAndriess has written extensively about Neamtu's connections to Russia and the impossible to count anti-Ukrainian speeches he's made at this point:
In about four hours, after more than 300 consecutive days of protests and just as many consecutive days of regime brutality, people from all across Georgia are heading en masse towards the capital city for a demonstration intended to be a peaceful revolution.
Russia can and must be defeated in Georgia! Good luck brave people!
The scale and mobilization is incredible to witness: