"Nazis," "nukes," and "NATO" have been Putin's three "N"s from the beginning of the war. His three propaganda slogans emerge as excuses for the war because they summon Russian fears that can be usefully directed outward, against the rest of the world.
https://t.co/mEyysTi8o3
"The Kremlin has built a cult of personality around Mr Putin and a cult of the dead around the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. Mr Putin’s regime yearns to restore a lost golden age and for Russia to be purged by healing violence."
from @TheEconomist
https://t.co/5Gyt1CEEEJ
The old communist joke went "we pretend to work and you pretend to pay us." In Russia today the reality is something more like "you pretend to win a war and we pretend to show enthusiasm." 20/
This is spot on!
"Inflation comes in waves. The first wave is shrinkflation or skimpflation."
We are absolutely at the Sneakflation phase.
INFLATION = STICKY
This new report from @RUSI_org on #Ukraine is worth a read. Authors @Jack_Watling & Nick Reynolds note “Russian advantages & Ukrainian weaknesses are leading to an attritional conflict that risks a protracted war, eventually favouring Russia.” https://t.co/kBFGsVOD0C
15/ This strategically bankrupt, selfish and impatient French approach will only encourage future aggression. The Ukrainians have fought for the right to determine how this war ends.
Even though a large group of heavily armed cops wearing body armor are too scared to engage an active shooter with an assault weapon, Republicans like Texas AG Ken Paxton are counting on ordinary teachers to do so. Madness!
A quick rule of thumb to understand who might have their priorities in order on the right. If they spend more time attacking the ‘woke’ or BLM than they do condemning Putin and the invasion of Ukraine, they don’t.
In 1965 Rayner Banham wrote an extraordinary essay on the gadget or gizmo and its role in American ideology. It is eerily prescient of the ideological charge attached to weapons such as Javelin in war in Ukraine.
Chartbook #123 on the ideology of ATGM.
https://t.co/RrVtlKQGyd
The main reason gas prices are sky high is that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are deliberately helping Russia, and undercutting our sanctions, by refusing to increase oil production.
As this piece argues, the time has come to tell them to choose sides.
https://t.co/xExSqhrGTG
Long thread.
Having read many articles in Western media and observed twitterati-led debates both during the run-up to the invasion and from February 24 onwards, I would like to make some critical points about blind spots that frequently prevent us from correctly assessing (1/30)
@SOURCESIGNALINT@apmassaro3 On domestic policy? Will never stop.
On Russia policy? Not happening. Pro-Russia policy is impossible now. Russia's attempted conquest of Ukraine and the heroism of the defenders resonates very deeply with the American electorate.
Per usual @ConStelz Right on
���But Germany’s self-serving Russia policy and its self-inflicted energy dependence — part wilfully naive, part deeply corrupt — found eager supporters across the political party spectrum.”
https://t.co/Y5r7zAmbJ9
11)German officials shouldn’t ever talk about return to status quo ante with Russia, not even in theoretical terms. As one colleague said: “Which status quo ante do you want to return to? Russia lying to us or we lying to ourselves?”