NYU, formerly Princeton Politics Dept, Institute for Advanced Study, King's College Cambridge. Words in NYRB, NYT etc
@professorshaw.bsky.social
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May 6, 2024 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Certain institutions are keystones of liberal democracy: i.e. they couldn't exist without it; it couldn't exist without them. A free press is one of them. The idea that "independence" means being neutral between democracy and the alternatives is pure nonsense. 1/n
We used to laugh about the idea that liberals are people who can't defend themselves in an argument. But now we're actually seeing it. If the free press won't actively sustain the conditions of their existence or their purpose for existing, what do they think they're doing? 2/n
Jan 16, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Apart from being biased and simplistic ("the specter of “Russian bots” wreaking havoc across the web has become a byword of liberal anxiety and a go-to explanation for Democrats flummoxed by Trump’s unlikely victory"), this piece is very misleading. 1/5
theintercept.com/2023/01/10/rus…
Twitter is indirectly conflated with "social media," with the exception of a mild qualification at the end. And there's no mention of tweets from the Russians' avatars being quoted and amplified by the mainstream media, reaching audiences of millions. But in any case
Dec 16, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
"Also present were Bezos; Musk; Brin; Salar Kamangar, then CEO of YouTube; Mayer, who the following year left Google to become CEO of Yahoo; and Anne Wojcicki, Brin’s then-wife and CEO of genetic testing startup 23andMe." Huh. Didn't know that about 23andMe...
But I'm sure all of our genetic data is entirely safe
Oct 5, 2022 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
Thread (please RT)
Kushner arranged the sale of US nuclear company Westinghouse to Brookfield Business Partners. Another Brookfield subsidiary, Brookfield Property Partners, bailed him out of his 666 5th Ave deal. Both are registered in Bermuda and their ownership is opaque.
But we do know George Myhal, Ukrainian-Canadian executive and central figure in the rise of Brookfield, established a subsidiary called Partners Value Investments LP that has investments in both BBU and BPY. reuters.com/markets/compan…
May 18, 2022 • 15 tweets • 4 min read
You all remember the 2016 Trump-Alfa server mystery, right? Durham (Trump's special counsel who's looking into whether the Dems hoodwinked the FBI with it) just began his first court case.
So a little reminder. The whole matter is way more weird than many people realize. 1/14
Several computer scientists thought the DNS data looked unusual and possibly indicative of data transfers, without specifying by whom, to whom, or what the data was - but it seemed worth investigating. None have retracted their views. Anyway the FBI didn't investigate... 2/14
Mar 24, 2022 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
I did try telling people that Russia was deeply interested in nuclear energy reactors - not just in the US either. We don't even know who owns Westinghouse, the biggest US nuclear company, after Kushner arranged the sale to a shell company without proper CFIUS review? 1/3
I was wrong that Kestenbaum was the registered owner but we do now have documentary proof that he did business through Brookfield Business Partners. That's not a reassuring link. 2/3 justsecurity.org/73422/trumps-i…
Feb 24, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Are there still people out there who think the alarm over GOP-Russia ties in 2016 was cooked up by HRC? It was always about Ukraine. Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik (Russian intelligence agent) took Trump a plan for Ru taking Eastern Ukraine 1/6
Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych played a central role in it and apparently wanted to be elected head of an independent republic in eastern Donbas.
Felix Sater and Michael Cohen took their own plan to Trump for Russia controlling Ukraine. 2/6
Feb 22, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
A nuclear disaster caused by the war in Ukraine would be catastrophic for millions of people. But Russian elites have prepared for it. Cleveland Biolabs (spun off from the Cleveland Clinic) worked with Russia after 9/11 on a cure for radiation sickness 1/3 project-syndicate.org/commentary/ukr…
The US federal government invested more than $100 million ($60 million from the DoD alone) in the development of Entolimod, an effective drug. In 2015 a billionaire called David Davidovich invested $25 million and acquired almost 61% ownership. 2/3
Feb 15, 2022 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
Short thread🧵
If you're reading the stories about Durham's investigation today (Fox News, the Daily Mail, etc) claiming there was an elaborate hoax by team Clinton to associate Trump with Russia, bear in mind that they're confusing 3 separate stories to obfuscate the facts
1. A journalist has FOIAed some docs about the GRU's hack of the DNC's computer systems. This is entirely distinct from 2. The story about DNS lookups on a server connecting Trump and Alfa bank (no claims of hacking). An obscure story with little electoral significance.
Dec 22, 2021 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
Thread🧵
One of the most important things about this piece is the focus on what was happening at the Pentagon. The insurrection at the capitol might seem relatively insignificant it were not for this much stronger display of Trump's intentions 1/ justsecurity.org/79623/crisis-o…
In his canonical book on coups, updated in 2016, Edward Luttwak pointed out the following (which as we shall see is somewhat ironic with regards to his own involvement):
Jul 16, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
OK, assuming Putin gets serious about the Trump plan on January 22nd, 2016, (as per the Guardian documents), around those dates it has started to seem ridiculously easy to lure Trump in.
14 January 2016
Michael Cohen emails Dmitry Peskov, gov press secretary re Tower project.
16 January 2016
Cohen emails Peskov request to speak to Sergei Ivanov, Putin’s chief of staff.
20 January 2016
Cohen speaks to Peskov’s assistant, Elena Poliakova, asks for assistance with Tower project. She says she’ll follow up with others in Russia.
Jun 29, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Thread on the path from Occupy to the Trump years in the infiltration of the left. Also recommend rewatching movies like The Hacker Wars to see some of those guys in their Occupy mode, on the road to becoming neo-Nazis (e.g. Weev Aurenheimer).
