Erik Husemoen

The ideas the arts and the music of eidsville.

[Dumber than a Bowl full of Mice #Fella 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @BowlOfMice]

Musk attacking the governments of Germany, UK, and France and supporting far right parties to take over.

Trump threatening to invade everyone.

To all appearances, we are seeing the rise of a global cabal set about to turn "the West" into a giant Fascist Oligarchy

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[Giorgi Kandelaki @kandelakigiorgi]

In 2018, then-EU Ambassador to Georgia, Janos Herman, met with a delegation of visiting Members of the European Parliament. The MEPs expressed worry about Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party who, now everyone agrees, is pushing Georgia into the Kremlin’s clutches. The MEPs were startled to discover that Ambassador Herman defended Ivanishvili, asking the MEPs not to refer to him as an oligarch. “Oligarchy means there ought to be many,” Herman argued. Instead, he suggested Ivanishvili be described as an “enlightened patriotic tycoon.”

This defense extended beyond mere semantics. Ambassador Herman helped legitimate Georgian Dream’s rushed controversial legislative amendments aimed at subjugating the Constitutional Court of Georgia—which, at the time, was truly independent, enjoyed international respect and frequently delivered rulings critical of the government. Despite mounting evidence of intimidation and pressure on judges, including reports of surveillance and threats against judges and their families by individuals linked to Georgian Dream, Herman chose not to stand up in defense of this vital institution.

This had profound consequences. Had the Constitutional Court retained its independence, it could have played a pivotal role in defending the integrity of elections in Georgia today.

Mr Herman met me once over lunch and admitted he was aware of dangerous developments in the Georgian judiciary but the EU could not do much because of the significant resourcs it had invested in “reform,” There was no way Mr Herman and his colleagues at the EEAS would not know that the entire judiciary and criminal justice was already being captured by Ivanishvi—numerous credible reports produced enough evidence which they chose to dismiss. There is no way that they would not know that Otar Partskhaladze— now sanctioned by the U.S. government for his alleged ties to Russia’s FSB and his role in advancing Russian interests in Georgia—was in charge of the entire venture.

While Georgia’s judiciary was gradually being captured, the EU continued to channel millions of euros into technical assistance programs aimed at reforming the very institutions being co-opted. This misallocation of resources not only failed to prevent state capture but also lent a veneer of legitimacy to a process that undermined Georgia’s democratic foundations.

How could this happen? As Georgian Dream de-prioritized NATO membership and removed Georgia from the top-level western political agenda, the significance of the “Georgian file” in Brussels diminished. Decision-making fell to bureaucrats who, in the absence of meaningful political guidance, developed a pro-status quo entrenched bureaucratic agenda. This resulted in prolonged participation imitation of “reforms”, in reality a kabuki theatre, creating a false sense of progress, confusing a public overwhelmingly supportive of European integration.

While reflecting on this tragedy, the new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaia Kallas, must take personal charge of the Georgian file. Political decisions cannot be delegated to bureaucrats with entrenched interests in maintaining the status quo. Clear, decisive instructions are needed to make reversing Russian takeover of Georgia an actual EU policy.

[Terje Helland @terjehelland]

🇬🇪Occupied Georgia. Let’s talk about Abkhazia, an occupied part of Georgia. This small, Black Sea coastal territory has been at the center of historical conflicts, ethnic tensions, and geopolitical struggles.
🧵Here is the background and why this week’s unrest matters so much
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[Maksym Borodin @adnashmyash]

I don't want to scare Americans. I'm just telling our story in Ukraine, when we elected a pro-Russian president Yanukovych.
He won by promising people Eldorado in Ukraine. Then he started appointing people to the government and the main criterion was LOYALTY.
He controlled the courts, police and Secret Service that were loyal to him. The heads of the Ukrainian Secret Service and the Ministry of Defense, whom he appointed, were completely controlled by people from Russia.
Then he started destroying all independent media.
And yes - he had a majority to control the Ukrainian parliament.

Now you understand why we ended his career with the Ukrainian revolution - Maidan.

I hope that in the US everything will be different. But you better be prepared for a bad scenario.

P.s. This funny man on the video gave order to shoot unnarmed citizens in Kyiv...

[ChrisO_wiki @ChrisO_wiki]

1/ Russian military authorities are reported to have rescued 17 soldiers from their own commander, who was holding them prisoner, torturing them and stealing their salaries. Other soldiers are said to have been murdered, with their deaths covered up by compliant medics. ⬇️

[NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 @NOELreports]

The Kremlin denies that Putin spoke with Trump. Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov called The Washington Post's report of a phone call between Putin and President-elect Trump "pure fiction."

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

1/9 The Definition of a Hypocrite: Elon Musk has become the far-right version of what he previously warned us about regarding George Soros

[Natalka @NatalkaKyiv]

“Ceasefire first and then we will see.
Who is WE? Are your children dying? Do they die there? Are your houses getting destroyed?”
- President Zelensky slams ‘couch experts’.

[Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸 @NickKnudsenUS]

Hey Trump voters.

Hate to break it to you - but here’s what actually happened on Tuesday.

Watch. Bernie explained it 20 years ago.

[Vlad Vexler @VladVexler]

Trump’s Authoritarian Revolution - for the USA, world & Ukraine:

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

1/8 The Kiel Institute, a well-known German think tank, has calculated that the cost of not supporting Ukraine is 10 to 20 times greater than the cost of offering that support

[Volodymyr Tretyak 🇺🇦 @VolodyaTretyak]

THREAD: In September 2024, Mariupol defender Valery Horishniy, known as "Yarylo," was exchanged among 15 Azov soldiers who were returned home.
He had endured torture in the Donetsk torture chamber known as "Isolation," experiencing horrors difficult to imagine.
PLEASE AMPLIFY

[Sophie Pedder @PedderSophie]

Macron to European leaders just now
"Our interest is that Russia does not win this war..If it wins, that means that on our borders is an imperial power which we are telling: you can be expansionist.. I don't see who around this table can have peace of mind if we let that happen"

[Anna Gvarishvili @AnnaGvarishvili]

🚨 Breaking: After 22 hours of non-stop proceedings, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals has reversed Judge Khuchua’s landmark decision.

I’ll post updates under this tweet.

[Vlad Vexler @VladVexler]

The shock of a second Trump term - it's more shocking than the first -

[Jo @JoJoFromJerz]

Sums things up pretty well.

[Nathan Ruser @Nrg8000]

I think the rest of the world just has to realise the US we thought we all knew probably just doesn't exist and hasn't for a while. We need to shift our assumptions and look at the US in the same way we look at India.

[Mike Carlton @MikeCarlton01]

America…it’s like watching the Fall of Rome. There is no other democracy, from Norway to New Zealand, which would elect as its leader a rapist, felon, liar, ignoramus, misogynist, vindictive bully and charlatan.

[Brett Meiselas @BMeiselas]

Stock markets at record highs, low unemployment, wage growth exceeds inflation, the best handling of inflation of any G7 nation, energy independence, and I can go on and on and on...But no matter how this result lands, whether VP Harris ekes this out or not, it is amazing how unappreciated successful governance was in this election and how Americans are so willing to bring back into office the guy who caused all the destruction.

[Terje Helland @terjehelland]

🇬🇪In Georgia's captured judiciary, where US sanctioned clan judges reign, true justice is rarely served.
But today, we see a rare exception: Tetritskaro District Judge Vladimer Khuchua.
🧵His courage may signal a crack in the Georgian Dream's grip on power. More here:
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