Tonykelly

[Brown Eyed Susan @smc429]

Do you have any idea how many things are unsafe to eat, now because of the Kennedy Trump team?

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Russia has been consistently pushing a narrative for several months that NATO is preparing to attack Russia first - to blockade ports, strike military bases, and carry out sabotage against Russian underwater infrastructure.

Initially, this claim appeared mainly in propaganda materials. On June 8, RIA reported on the BALTOPS exercises in an almost openly conspiratorial manner, claiming that around 20 NATO ships were allegedly “preparing to strike Russia and carry out sabotage against underwater infrastructure.” No evidence was provided, of course.

A week later, virtually the same narrative was voiced by Patrushev, Putin’s aide and chairman of the Maritime Board. He said that “the West is preparing not simply for a blockade” and that, according to Moscow, scenarios “up to and including preemptive strikes against our bases” were being considered. Moreover, Patrushev claimed that merchant ships carrying magnetic mines attached to their hulls were already “regularly” entering Russian ports, and suggested that the mines were being installed in European ports. Again, he provided no evidence for this claim.

But the most interesting part is what Patrushev proposes doing in response. He is no longer talking simply about defending Russia’s coastline. According to him, the Russian Navy must act “actively and assertively,” seize the initiative, and impose its will on the adversary near its own shores: “There is no need to wait until NATO ships, aircraft, or drones appear near our maritime borders… On the contrary, we should be the ones appearing right under the likely adversary’s nose.”

This is a classic Russian pattern of preemptive justification: Moscow invents the claim that NATO is allegedly preparing an attack → waiting for the attack is dangerous → Russia must seize the initiative → Russia’s first move is presented not as an attack, but as “preemptive defense.”

This is precisely how the Kremlin explains its invasion of Ukraine. To reinforce this narrative, Russia uses real statements from Western officials and gives them the “right” interpretation.

A recent example is Kaliningrad. On August 27, former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis said that in the event of a direct conflict between Russia and NATO, the military capabilities of the Kaliningrad region would be destroyed preemptively. The Russian headline already sounded different: “Lithuania threatens preemptive NATO strikes on the Kaliningrad region.” Russian Telegram channels went further: “Lithuania is preparing a preemptive strike on Kaliningrad.”

The same thing is happening with underwater cables. The real problem exists: NATO is protecting critical underwater infrastructure, monitoring Russia’s undersea capabilities, and preparing for possible acts of sabotage. The Russian version reverses the causality: if NATO is preparing to protect cables and has underwater units, then NATO itself must be preparing to cut Russian cables.

At the same time, Russia is pushing two seemingly contradictory narratives. When European cables are damaged, Moscow says: you cannot prove that Russia did it. But at the same time, the Russian information space constantly reminds audiences that Russia is capable of destroying these cables.

The two claims coexist perfectly: “We are not doing this.” and “But if we wanted to, we could.” The first creates plausible deniability. The second serves as a threat.

That is why the current information campaign should be taken more seriously than ordinary conspiracy theories. It may be a way of changing the starting point for a future conflict in advance.

Imagine that tomorrow a cable is damaged, a port is attacked, a ship is mined, or a serious incident involving a NATO vessel occurs. The question of “who started it?” becomes critical. But Russia’s answer will already be prepared: the West started it. We warned about preparations for sabotage. We knew about plans for a blockade. We knew about preemptive strikes. What Russia did was merely a response.

And it does not even require an actual Western attack. It is enough to claim that Russia prevented one. That is why Patrushev’s statement is particularly revealing: NATO should not be waited for near Russia’s borders; instead, Russia should “appear right under the likely adversary’s nose.” This is no longer simply a description of a threat. It is an explanation of the logic under which Russia claims the right to act preemptively.

We do not know when the Kremlin will decide to cut a particular cable or carry out a particular act of sabotage. But the information preparation is already evident. Russia is creating a narrative in which NATO is already the aggressor before anything has even happened. And this is dangerous precisely because, after that, Russia’s actions can be portrayed as a Russian response.

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

The way to deal with a measles outbreak is to do your best to push up vaccine rates and get it under control.

What does RFK Jr do?

Push fake scare stories about fetal tissue in vaccines and dispute measles deaths

And he's the UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HEALTH

[Make it Stop! @mcarr2021]

@DrNeilStone @drterrysimpson RFK Jr is a danger to our health. I mean, come on! This man said he’s not afraid of germs because he’s snorted cocaine off toilet seats… WTF!? 😳 😲😬

[S.V. Dáte @svdate]

So there’s no confusion:

Trump kidnapped the dictator he doesn’t like, installed a dictator who does as she is told, and stole the country’s oil.

Yes, America is doing naked imperialism again.

We have become the bad guys.

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

RFK Jr actually said it would be better if we went back to “natural measles.”

By which he meant no vaccines

No measles vaccines means :

Hundreds of deaths

Thousands of cases of deafness

Tens of thousands of hospitalisations

Every year

In America

For no reason

SICK

[Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @NotHoodlum]

How appropriate that the “freedom fuel” gas stations were selling stolen fuel.
https://t.co/QTqV7y4al4

[George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway3d]

He’s working hard at it.

[Institute for the Study of War @TheStudyofWar]

NEW: Russian forces launched a prolonged combined drone and missile strike series against Ukraine, primarily targeting Kyiv City and Oblast, that lasted for more than 28 hours in an effort to maximize civilian damage and disrupt daily civilian functions on August 28 and 29. (1/2)

Other Key Takeaways:

Russian forces struck an ammunition warehouse on the western outskirts of Kyiv City on August 29, triggering secondary detonations and killing at least 37 people.

The Russian government extended the fuel export ban for direct producers despite continued efforts to posture stable domestic fuel supplies.

Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Dobropillya direction.

Ukrainian forces struck the warehouses of major Russian online retailers in Rostov Oblast on August 27 to 28.

[David Sirota @davidsirota]

I often wonder how many of America’s unique, not-seen-in-any-other-society social problems trace their roots to everyone in the country knowing that even if they have insurance, they still may be only one or two family medical emergencies away from actual bankruptcy.

Everyone living under that kind of threat at all times sows a simmering anxiety and rage boiling underneath everything — which almost certainly has some very negative side effects.

[Ben Mullin @BenMullin]

scoop: Reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg have been barred from next week's G20 meeting in Asheville, N.C.
https://t.co/wx4dip1Rgf

[Yasmina @yasminalombaert]

A warning for Marine Le Pen’s voters.

Before you buy into the empty populist illusion of 'taking back control' and going it alone, look at the brutal economic and geopolitical reality of Brexit, because a vote for Le Pen is a fast-track ticket to French isolation and decline.

Sir John Major argues that "taking back control" and rejecting alliances is an empty slogan rooted in xenophobia, noting that the only completely sovereign country fitting that absolute mold is North Korea.

Interviewer: “What has been the impact? Can you can you tell us, has it been as damaging as you thought it would be?”

Sir John Major: “Well, it's been very damaging, no doubt about that. I mean, most people think of the economic damage. But I think that's only part of the argument. Perhaps the remainers should have argued this other case rather more forcefully during the campaign. But it has as a country made us weaker and more isolated. If you consider before Brexit, we were the principal ally to the United States—that's debatable now—and we were also a leading member of the European Union that had 500 million people. Both of those have gone. We're now 70 million people in a world of 9.5 billion, and we have considerably less clout and considerably less friendship in times of difficulty than we had before. So that's a fundamental underlying point about leaving the European Union.”

Interviewer: “So the promise was to take back control. Did that happen? What did that mean?”

Sir John Major: “Well, it was an empty slogan. If we were going to take back control, to do what? To stop the boats coming? Well, that worked well. To improve the economy? That hasn't happened yet. It was just an empty slogan. It was an empty slogan to say, "We don't like foreigners, let's do it all ourselves." But there's only one country in the world that is completely sovereign, and that is North Korea. And I don't think we want a society like that. We depend on allies. We're part of the Five Eyes, we're part of the United Nations, we're part of NATO. In all of those cases, we share sovereignty with other people. But apparently, on European matters, we're not to share sovereignty in the eyes of leavers with our nearest neighbors. And that makes no sense to me at all. But there's also the economic impact. And that is profound. It was forecast, and for a long time proved to be the case, that we would lose between 4% and 6% of our GDP. And that has been the established figure by a whole range of authorities throughout the last 10 years of Brexit. A recent survey has just said that that has underpriced what was lost, and it's probably between 6% and 8%. But even if you take the lower figure, take just one statistic: we have lost about £100 billion worth of trade each year. That £100 billion worth of trade would have yielded about £40 billion worth of tax to the exchequer. If we'd had that £40 billion annually over the last few years, many of the difficult and unpopular decisions that have been taken would not simply have been necessary.”

( Interview by The Independent's editor-in-chief with Sir John Major)

[Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600]

Money doesn’t just buy comfort in America. It buys time. Expected age at death rises steadily with household income, with the richest living roughly a decade longer than the poorest. Women outlive men across the income spectrum, but the class gap is enormous for both genders. Source: https://t.co/M8K3ZUwsHb

[George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway3d]

The president of the United States is doing his level best today to promote my Substack article from yesterday about his being psychotic.

Thank you, Sir!!

https://t.co/vyR4byiWcX

[#Anonymous @TheStripesGirl]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Yasmina @yasminalombaert]

Surprise, surprise…. Moscow’s favorite online trolls amplified the migration crisis in Ceuta with far-right messages and conspiracy theories.

When the migration crisis hit Ceuta, Kremlin-linked mouthpieces like Rybar and the Pravda network jumped straight into the gutter, turbo-charging far-right hysteria, Islamophobic garbage, and wild conspiracy theories just to watch Europe tear itself apart.

putin’s digital grifters happily weaponised the crisis to sow maximum chaos and panic in Brussels.

Same old playbook: amplify the hate, destabilise the West, and let the Kremlin’s useful idiots do the rest.

https://t.co/eQ0AnogYjq

[Maj. (Ret.) Richard Ojeda @Ojeda4America]

When I was deployed, my Afghan interpreter saved my life and the lives of my troops during an operation in a remote location outside the wire.

My interpreter was able to let me know that the Taliban had gotten intelligence that we were in the village and would arrive any minute to kill or capture us.

Exactly 8 minutes after we left the village, the Taliban showed up to kill us. Had it not been for my Afghan interpreter, I would not be here today.

For years I wrote letters to get all of my interpreters here to the United States. We made a promise to our Afghan allies, people who risked their lives and their families lives everyday to help us, that if they worked with us we would protect them and get them to safety.

It is the most unpatriotic and dishonorable thing we could ever do to go back on that promise. Not only is it dishonorable, it is dangerous to our current military operation, as soldiers are actively deployed overseas right now with no ability or capability to offer safety to those who agree to work with the United States.

[Molly Ploofkins @Mollyploofkins]

A small sample of the deranged nonsense Natalie Harp has been serving up for Trump’s approval and posting on his social media this term…

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Trump just posted this AI video of himself replacing the Lake Ontario sign with a “Lake America” sign.

I’ll never understand how 77 million people voted for this buffoon.

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

If we elect a Democrat in 2028, I will do everything in my power, whether inside or outside of the government, to unravel Trump’s illegitimate oil deal with the illegitimate dictatorship in Venezuela. I hope CEOs of American companies tempted to get involved in this Trump deal instead think about the long term financial interests of their shareholders and the reputations of their companies. Exploiting resources of the Venezuelan people without their permission is both immoral and not a sustainable economic play.