Rand al’Thor

[Philip Obaji Jr. @PhilipObaji]

Russian fighters in Africa have used farmlands as rape sites, killed villagers to seize gold & tortured those who tried to speak. I’ve documented these crimes. They had me arrested & beaten. I won’t stop. Help me continue this investigation. Please donate
https://t.co/xpf0nNpWpF

[Fermat's Library @fermatslibrary]

121 years ago today, on September 27, 1905, Annalen der Physik received a 3-page paper from Einstein:

"Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?"

In it, Einstein derived the relationship that would become the most famous equation in physics:

E = mc²

3 pages that changed our understanding of mass and energy.

A paper worth reading. Here's the annotated version: https://t.co/ySnSRpTJn8

[L'Avvocato dell'Atomo/The Atomic Advocate @AvvocatoAtomico]

Traduzione in italiano degli argomenti contro il nucleare, prontuario.

“Il nucleare impiega troppo tempo”: sono un boomer con speranza di vita residua <15 anni, odio i giovani, non mi fotte un cazzo del futuro tanto sarò morto, i soldi vanno spesi qui ed ora in pensioni. 1/n

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

This will give them a quasi direct access to the Russian market, circumventing sanctions

[UAVoyager🇺🇦 @CrimeanVoyager]

Kyiv yesterday.

The capital of a country in the heart of Europe has been turned into a shooting range for russian terrorists.

7 civilians killed. 59 injured.

WHERE IS THE WORLD’S OUTRAGE?

[giancarlo loquenzi @gloquenzi]

Come è possibile che il mondo non veda tutto questo? Che una città europea abitata da milioni di persone, lontana dalla linea del fronte, venga continuamente bombardata da un paese che siede nel consiglio di sicurezza dell'Onu, dove predica la pace e dice di difendere il diritto internazionale.
Come è possibile credere che Putin voglia la pace, quando il suo ordine esplicito è: colpite i civili ucraini fino a quando non ne potranno più della guerra e si arrenderanno?
Lasciate perdere la Nato, la Nuland, Minsk, il Donbass: questo è quello che sta accadendo ora, oggi, ogni giorno, questo è quello che conta e questo è quello che bisogna fermare.

[Andrea Opachi @OpachiAndrea]

I russi inventano la notizia di 140 milioni di dollari rubati da funzionari ucraini. Dmitriev ci fa un post su X. Ria Novosti lo riporta. E poi, a seguire, le varie marionette della disinformazione russa riportano la notizia falsa sui loro canali Telegram.
Capito come funziona?

[Tatsiana Ashurkevich @tashurkevich]

1. How easy is it to create Russian AI propaganda? We put it to the test. A fake showing @christogrozev and me with a NATO general cost $80 to make. Six Russian websites published it as fact. In our new video, we show how Russia’s AI disinformation machine works.

https://t.co/Gg776s2dnD

[Valerio Valentini @valentinivaler]

Sul "Corriere della Sera" stamattina c'è Arianna Meloni - massima qualifica nel curriculum: "sorella di presidente del Consiglio" - che spiega a Mario Draghi come vanno gestiti i conti pubblici e all'ISTAT (il cui presidente è stato nominato peraltro dalla di lei sorella) come fare rilevazioni economiche.

Poi, per ribadire le sue competenze in materia, ripropone la panzana per cui "l'aumento della pressione fiscale dipende dal fatto che c'è più gente che paga le tasse: oggi ci sono 1.300.000 nuovi posti di lavoro". Bene, ci hai convinto, Arianna.

[Giuseppe Zollino @GiZollino]

Un grande @CarloCalenda.

Nel 1986, quando la folle manovra nella centrale di Chernobyl produsse una nube di Iodio e Cesio in tutta Europa, a causa della quale, nei 20 anni successivi i cittadini Italiani assorbirono una dose efficace pari a quella che assorbono (da raggi cosmici naturali) in 7 ore durante un volo da Roma a New York (quindi niente di allarmante), erano in esercizio in Europa oltre 170 reattori nucleari.
"Il primo grande atto di populismo" che tutti i partiti italiani (tranne i Repubblicani) attuarono, cavalvando la paura invece di mobilitare la ragione, fece chiudere solo i 4 reattori italiani. Tutti gli altri andarono regolarmente avanti; e ne vennero costruiti molti altri.
Serve altro come prova di populismo? O pensate davvero che gli Italiani siano immensamente più cagionevoli?

Da noi anche il Piano Energetico che prevedeva a regime 20 GW nucleari venne abbandonato in favore prima dell'olio pesante (uno scarto di raffineria) e poi del carbone e del gas. Se lo avessimo portato avanti, oggi il nostro mix di generazione elettrica sarebbe simile a quello francese: i prezzi in bolletta meno della metà di oggi e le emissioni elettriche almeno 8 volte inferiori.
Ignoranza e populismo si pagano SEMPRE cari.

Ora rimbocchiamoci le maniche e ripariamo in fretta il danno immenso che producemmo allora.
@Azione_it

[Massimiliano Coccia @maxcoccia]

«Sfrutto l’occasione di essere qui, su Russia Today, per dirlo con nettezza: il rapimento di oltre 20.000 bambini ucraini da parte dell’esercito occupante di Putin è un crimine contro l’umanità, così come lo sono l’invasione del Donbas e della Crimea e quella su larga scala del 2022. Il diritto internazionale va difeso ovunque».

Questa sarebbe stata la dichiarazione che Francesca Albanese avrebbe dovuto rendere davanti a un media sanzionato del Cremlino. Ma questa dichiarazione non la ascolterete mai.

Perché mentre da una parte la Special Rapporteur chiede espulsioni dai partiti, lancia anatemi e conferisce patenti di liceità politica con le sue argomentazioni che alimentano una lettura che finisce per legittimare un antisemitismo sistemico e arriva a irridere perfino la senatrice Liliana Segre, dall’altra, davanti ai boia di Mosca, fa l’agnellino.

E non serve la scusa che lei si occupa di quello che sa. La Russia non è un dettaglio laterale dello scacchiere mediorientale, né un frame di secondo livello: Mosca è un attore centrale nella regione e le sue responsabilità sono parte integrante del quadro geopolitico.

La solita doppia morale buona per farsi eleggere in un listino bloccato ma non per cambiare le sorti del popolo palestinese.

[Marco Setaccioli @marsetac]

Circa 49.000 bambini provenienti dai territori ucraini temporaneamente occupati sono stati arruolati nell'"Esercito Giovanile" russo, di cui 36.000 in Crimea.

Il numero di partecipanti al "Movimento dei Primi", il programma attraverso il quale vengono anche russificati e militarizzati i minori ucraini, è passato da 12.000 nel 2023 a 185.000 oggi.

Continuate pure ad applaudire chi parla di compromessi territoriali con la Russia, anziché pretendere il rispetto del diritto internazionale. Poi però ricordatevi che una volta stabilito quel principio, quello vale per tutti. Se un giorno doveste trovare la vostra casa occupata con i vostri figli dentro, non pretendete che qualcuno si senta obbligato a salvarli. Quel qualcuno potrebbe anche decidere che quei figli siano un prezzo adeguato per ottenere la loro “pace”, così come ora voi pensate di costruire vostra sacrificando terre e figli che non vi appartengono.

[KIU ✪ Russian Officers killed in Ukraine 🇨🇿🇺🇦 @KilledInUkraine]

Another long-standing Russian propagandist, Dmitry Steshin, admits that the regular Russian army was deployed in Ukraine after 2014, for example near Debaltseve and in the battle for Donetsk airport.

Lies are a constant tool of Russian propaganda.

[Adam Steinbaugh @adamsteinbaugh]

started / going

[EuroMaximalist 🇪🇺 @euromaximal]

"Why would Russia attack Europe?"

I've this question being asked many times recently as the scenario becomes increasingly likelier. Some genuinely don't understand why Russia would do something seemingly so stupid. But others ask it as a propaganda technique. A way to diminish the threat. To either shrug it off as irrelevant or, even worse, to discredit the idea of a European counterattack.

So I think it's time to properly answer this question, in as raw and plain terms as possible so that those who don't understand the issue come to understand it, and those who are knowingly or unknowingly helping Russia have no more room to lie. The following read may cause you some anxiety, but it's also a necessary read.

When we talk about a Russian attack on Europe, we're not talking about a large scale invasion like WW2 or Ukraine. Not yet. We are talking about smaller scale attacks and limited incursions against Europe. These could be anything ranging from drone or missile strikes on infrastructure to small groups of undercover troops trying to occupy small settlements.

Russia has already conducted such attacks to some degree. All across Europe there have been drone incursions, missile threats, bombs planted and critical infrastructure mysteriously blowing up. But because these have largely been ineffective, Putin may feel like he has no choice but to up the ante.

The first myth we need to clarify is that Putin and Russia are irrational. That they would attack Europe simply because they are crazy. But while there is madness, there is also logic behind it. And the logic is simple.

Russia attacks when it thinks the cost is manageable and the reward is achievable. That's what happened in Ukraine. They thought they could take it and face only limited consequences. But Ukraine proved far stronger than predicted, European support was bigger than expected, global sanctions were heavier than manageable, and the Russian army was worse than imagined.

The calculus with Europe is similar. Russia predicts that such an attack against Europe would carry a manageable cost and an achievable reward. But what could that possibly be?

If Russia attacks Europe and Europe does not respond, or does not respond in equal measure, NATO will be dead. Europe will be discredited. Support for Ukraine will crash, allowing Russia to win the war. Or at least not lose it.

The worst part is that this rationale is logical, even if it is mad. It's possible European governments are bluffing and won't seriously respond. It's possible public outrage at a European response is so big it makes it political untenable.

And because it's possible, it might happen.

It is no doubt a risky move. Perhaps suicidal. But Russia does not share your risk model. And Russia is in a desperate position: a collapsing economy, catastrophic war losses, dwindling public support. This only makes an attack more likely. The wave of sabotage across Europe has not reduced European support for Ukraine. Political division has not stopped it. The threat of war has not broken European will.

In Putin's mind, there might not be another way to prevent defeat. To save himself.

Despite surprisingly high support for Ukraine, Putin has also spent years watching the opposite across Europe: slow military expansion, delayed weapons, arguments over every investment, fear of “escalation,” and politicians who treat defence as a budget line instead of a matter of survival.

If you tell an adversary for a decade that you are too rich, too comfortable, and too morally complicated to fight, do not be shocked when he treats that as an invitation.

Any attack will exploit these problems. The point is not immediate occupation of the continent. The point is to prove that Europe will not act as one, that Article 5 is a slogan, and that Washington may conclude that a limited European war is not worth the cost.

This is why the question “Why would Russia attack Europe?” is such a powerful propaganda tool. It is a way to keep Europe from building the only thing that actually deters the attack: military capability and the political will to use it without waiting for permission.

If the threat is declared irrational, then preparation looks hysterical. If preparation looks hysterical, Europe stays weak. Weakness is then what Russia exploits.

Deterrence can not come from just a speech. It must come as the visible capacity to make the next Russian gamble more expensive and painful than the last one.

So the simple answer is this: Russia would attack Europe because it thinks it can get away with a version of an attack that Europe is psychologically and materially unprepared to face. Because it wants a veto over the continent’s future. Because a maximal Europe is the one way to make Russia stop mattering.

Those who pretend not to understand this are not confused. They are making the attack more likely.

[Kareem Rifai 🌐 @KareemRifai]

In case anyone forgot who Julian Assange works for:

In 2016, Assange refused to publish a Russian military and intelligence dump on the Russian invasion of Crimea and Donbas.

In 2012, Assange refused to publish a leak on a 2 billion euro transaction between the Syrian dictatorship and a Russian government bank.

[Kareem Rifai 🌐 @KareemRifai]

Rape of girls as young as 4 and women as old as 82. Routine genital electrocution of male Ukrainian prisoners.

This is just a fragment of the absolutely nightmarish stuff from the just-released UN report on sexual violence in Russia's invasion of Ukraine:

• Violations detailed in the report include rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks, and genital beating
• Russian forces are responsible for the vast majority of sexual violence in Ukraine
• The majority of victims are Ukrainian men. In a common form of torture against Ukrainian POWs detailed in the report, Russian forces electrocuted men's genitals using tasers or a Soviet-era military field telephone known as a 'tapik.'
• Women and children, primarily in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces, also fell victim to rapes and sexual assault. The youngest documented rape survivor was a four-year-old girl, and the oldest was an 82-year-old woman, with both cases perpetrated by Russian forces.
https://t.co/UHn1k8MLBX

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

The US has had bases in Greenland since WWII, including a dozen during the Cold War, and an active one still today that has been in operation since 1951.

Our enemies have never had bases there and never would have. Denmark is our ally.

There is little new in this so-called historic agreement.

What is genuinely amazing to me, though, is the disciplined unity among Trump supporters regarding messaging about the deal. It's really impressive. Others should learn from it.

[ABC News @ABC]

The Trump administration continues to downplay the U.S. war with Iran, as new images obtained appear to show the damage and destruction to U.S. military assets.

[Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 @sikorskiradek]

#OTD 87 years ago the Soviet Union, by prior secret treaty with Nazi Germany, invaded Poland.