Hand of the King!
@Kasparov63
's aide-de-camp and co-author since 1999. Writer, ex-coder, ex-teacher. Youth baseball coach.
@Renew_Democracy
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@HRF
. Tweets=mine.
Biden: Putin is a killer.
Putin: I know you are but what am I? Debate me!
Biden: Nah, you should debate a Russian opposition leader. Oh, that's right, they're dead or in jail. Because you're a killer.
To help keep the Klitschko brothers straight, Kyiv mayor Vitaly is the former heavyweight boxing champ who has a PhD and plays chess. Wladimir is the former heavyweight boxing champ with a PhD and plays chess and is younger and taller.
Russia claims its only hitting military targets. What does the Kyiv Mayor say to that? "BULLSHIT!" he spits. A former boxing champion, Vitale Klitschko delivers knockout sound bites that get straight to the point. Feel free to share
#Ukraine
#Kyiv
Don't legislate this for next year. For it to matter to Ukrainians, it has to be now. Work down the list of oligarchs. Give them 48 hours to leave US/EU/UK. Make them feel it, some of the panic and vulnerability the dictator they support is inflicting on innocents.
I'm all for discussing Navaly's personal politics, and disagree with him on much, but saying the free world shouldn't stand up for someone jailed and nearly murdered because he's not Bernie Gandhi Mandela is bullshit. He's risking his life fighting a mafia dictatorship.
We aren't doing it. We are, but there's nothing wrong with it. Obama did it first. There's nothing I can do. It's the Democrats' fault. If you give me what I want, I'll stop it. I stopped it, aren't I great?
"Listen, you can’t just tell these folks to get vaccinated. They don’t like to be ordered around. Nor do they like to be begged or reasoned with. They want to be telepathically mind-controlled by aliens. Is that too much to ask?"
We’re at a higher nuclear risk not because Putin is losing in Ukraine now, but because we failed to punish him over Georgia in 2008 or stop him in Ukraine in 2014. Fake peace now for much higher risk later is the blunder we already made. Maybe learn this time?
"Since Ukraine is helpless / losing / stalemated / defending / counterattacking / winning, now is the time to negotiate with Putin and make concessions." Funny how it’s always that time with these people.
In case you were wondering, "partial mobilization" means people with money and connections don't have to become cannon fodder. (That's also what full mobilization means in Russia.)
Putin spokesman's son refused to be mobilized and to report to the military enlistment office
"You must understand how wrong it’s for me to be there. I’ll deal with it on another level,"he said, thinking he was speaking with a military enlistment officer
It was always going to end at "Why didn't you make me get vaccinated?" It will always be someone else's fault. They will always be victims. They will always blame the same people.
Experts whose ideas have been peer reviewed and subjected to years and decades of research are not afraid of going on a paste-eating podcast because they're afraid they will be proved wrong. They're afraid of helping bad people spread bad ideas.
Seeing some "give Putin a face-saving off-ramp before he goes nuts and nukes us all" crap. 1) We're a long ways from needing to save anything other than Ukraine. 2) Putin can fabricate a pretext to leave just as easily as he fabricated a dozen ridiculous pretexts to attack.
Such a pathetic, misleading headline, based at best on the antithetical that ceding land to Russia would end the war. Ukraine ceded land to Putin’s invaders for 8 years and it resulted in this full-scale invasion and slaughter.
@RadioFreeTom
After 20 years of the world's great powers treating him as an equal and then rolling over for him when he got tough, he's finally been punched in the nose and has no idea how to deal with it. If only it had happened 8 or 14 years ago.
It's always been strange to treat otherwise ignorant and previously disinterested prominent figures like Giuliani and Musk as if they stumbled on bags of Kremlin talking points in a field somewhere. They are aggressively cultivated.
Is James Comer using Russian intel assets to smear Hunter Biden? Rudy Giuliani is Comer’s source. Problem: There’s an FBI whistleblower stating while Rudy was in Ukraine looking for dirt on Hunter, Rudy was working as a Russian intelligence service asset.
Many have pointed out the irony of Putin's silly challenge, since he hasn't debated once in 21 yrs through 4 presidential "elections." It would be a joke, of course, but even putting a puppet or clown on the stage as an equal is way too risky a look. Mafia bosses don't debate.
"Today we know that a dictatorship that conquers territory does not stop on its own; it only stops when it is stopped. Today we know that murderous ideology does not fade away once it has acquired a taste for blood. And knowing, we must act."--
@Kasparov63
, Berlin, 15 Oct 2015
There's going to be an outpouring of world leaders expressing sympathy and concern over the Moscow attack when the same people haven't mentioned the hourly Russian terrorist attacks on Ukraine in months, if ever. That this feels obvious, even natural, is a problem.
@nytimes
No. Putin’s viewed NATO as a useful boogeyman to bitch about to distract world leaders and media when he’s only ever really cared about power and money. He doesn’t like NATO because it protects potential targets, but it was obviously never a threat.
For those wondering why I was calling the scenes of abduction by plainclothes agents in Portland “a Minsk Taxi.” Nearly anyone who lives in a police state recognizes these events. The randomness is the point. It instills fear.
When you read about 70,000 people kissing a holy relic in St. Petersburg this week, you realize that while many of the faithful don't believe in natural selection, natural selection still believes in them.
You don’t have to guess at what Putin will do if you look at what Putin has already done. If the occupied population isn’t compliant, deport them and murder them. Destroy communities. Bring in new mayors from afar if necessary. He’s been doing it for many years.
Never to late to do the right thing, eh? Unless you’re one of the many Ukrainian civilians killed by Russia while Germany and other nations that helped Putin build his war machine found excuses not to offend Mr Putin.
In June, a report said that 70% of Russian missiles hit "peaceful targets" in Ukraine. Amnesty saying that Ukrainian forces were endangering civilians with their presence is idiotic. They'd probably be safer near a military base than a shopping mall.
Putin doing this in an attempt to get his swagger back shows that the "killer" remark stung. It's no "Vladimir, Poisoner of Underpants," but it's earthy. Putin craves legitimacy and respect. "Killer" is a common criminal. (Also why "Putin Vor! (thief)" is the best chant.)
I don’t doubt the reports that Putin isn’t getting good intel or bad news from terrified sycophants, etc. But the policy of bombing civilians is his and he’s done it before. Start the war crimes trial now. Permanent pariah status. Will stoke the replacement fires.
Lol. Sure, hackers "Rad Barscale" and "Derrick Strump". It was always about pocketing cash and everyone is looting the Trump train from the inside before it goes off the cliff.
I love the way the Kremlin doubles down on the open threats and blackmail when the western appeasement crew is yakking about how Putin is misunderstood. No, he's a thug and wants everyone to know it.
It would have been cheaper to stand up to Putin in 2014, or Assad by proxy earlier. Cheaper even in 2021 to arm Ukraine and send NATO observers to deter the full-scale invasion. Now you hear the same arguments for the same dumb mistakes. Appeasement fails and is expensive.
-Body armor for every kindergartner. Check
-Flamethrower for every teacher. Check
-Razor wire, bulletproof glass, and titanium doors in each school. Check
-Reducing access to military-grade weapons. Whoa, that’s crazy talk.
The President has Covid and is on enough drugs to win the Kentucky Derby, Pence's eye is melting, and Chris Christie has probably been dead for two days. Just another day in Trumpville.
Once again, from country to country, the so-called nationalists turn out to be grifters and thieves. Just because they have followers who believe what they sell doesn't mean it's not a scam from top to bottom.
Without elections to legitimize his grip on power, dictators like Putin need other things, like wars and spectacles like today's stadium rally. And summits and UN speeches to show them in the company of legitimate leaders. Depriving dictators of these things is important.
Great news, but horrific that it came this close. Russia should not be in Interpol, nor should any dictatorship without an independent judiciary. They only follow the rules when it suits them and otherwise abuse the system.
That Putin has been actively invading a European country for 7 long years and Europe's leaders still do business with him still blows my mind. Every time you're sure this is it, he's gone too far, his bluff works and they fold again. And again.
Weakening Putin's grip in Russia depends on isolating him internationally. Send the message to his gang that they & their families won't be accepted in the civilized world as long as Putin is in charge. Make him untouchable. No more dialogue or engagement that props him up.
I know what NATO is, what treaties are. But if Putin starts carpet-bombing Kharkiv & Kyiv in the next days and you still say you’d intervene in Lithuania but not Ukraine, I’m going to doubt your character. So, how many dead Ukrainians would do it? Asking for some friends in Kyiv.
No really, how hard would it be for Apple, Google, et al to push the same 15 sec video w voiceover showing Russia bombing Kyiv to >50% of the Russian population? Email, SMS, iPhone & Android?
I bet Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, et al could show Russians exactly what their maniac dictator is doing to Ukraine now. But they'll keep colluding with the regime, say it's to protect their employees/hostages. Leave.
This is Russian occupation. The only reason we know about it is liberation. Those calling for "peace" deals that leave Putin with one centimeter of Ukrainian territory are okay with this, just not hearing about it.
How ignorant and nihilist do you have to be to think a return to the Feb 23 status quo is a peace plan? It’s a genocide plan. It gives the Kremlin time to rearm and Putin won’t respect any treaties, as demonstrated countless times.
As Kasparov said back when he was trying to help create an anti-Putin coalition in 2005 from tiny and scattered liberal and illiberal groups (Bolsheviks!), we'll be on opposite sides of the parliament in a democracy, but at least we'll have a parliament and a democracy.
Navalny and his org fight Putin and corruption. They advocate for free and fair elections, for a democratic Russia that is part of the civilized world. As for his being xenophobic and pro-annexation of Crimea, congratulations, you discovered that he's Russian.
We’re teetering on the brink of a constitutional crisis, another government shutdown, multiple foreign policy threats, and the President’s big idea is to have a parade.
People we call US allies always seem to be harboring the world's worst terrorists. When it suits them, they can kick them out or share their whereabouts. They're just bargaining chips, like everything else to such regimes.
"When I say Trump will attack institutions, it doesn't mean destroying them. Controlling them, weaponizing [them]. The media, Congress, the judiciary. That was Putin's model. You always win the game if you can rewrite the rules as you go." —
@Kasparov63
, March 2017.
Whenever Trump pops up with a foreign affairs opinion or factoid you'd expect him to be clueless about, it's a Kremlin talking point. This started in the campaign and continues now with Montenegro.
"The problem for the US won't be about what Trump does under the table, although there will be plenty of that. History tells us that the crisis arrives when the demagogue boasts about corrupt acts and his supporters cheer."—
@Kasparov63
, March 2017 interview
Don't call things that the Russian military was doing already "retaliation" after every setback. Makes it sound like quid pro quo. They were already bombing the hell out of Zaporizhzhia. And Putin's way of war has always been total destruction of everything he couldn't control.
After the Crimea bridge attack, Putin retaliates with a huge missile barrage on residential areas in Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 17 people. Coming days after a similar deadly attack on civilians, it seems to signal a new aim in the southeast: destroying the city. 📸
@SESU_UA
"Kicking Russia's ass will only make this drag on forever" is not how war works. Putin will invent whatever face-saving story he wants whenever he wants. But the only way to get there is by meeting force with force, not by rewarding aggression and war crimes.
The resolution to nearly every crisis involving Putin's Russia is for Putin to stop doing whatever horrible thing he's doing. Invading neighbors. Bombing hospitals. Poisoning people. Shooting down airliners. Interfering in elections. These aren't "meet him halfway" items.
Kremlin trolls aside, if Ukraine seems expensive now, wait until the bills roll in if Putin wins. America can’t hide from massive trade disruptions in Europe and Asia, NATO commitments to Baltics and Poland, nuke proliferation in ME and Asia, etc. The price always goes up.
"It's Putin's model, copying Stalin and other dictators. Attack, break every agreement and treaty and law, then call for ceasefires and negotiations to consolidate the gains before doing it again."—
@Kasparov63
, March 2014
Some days I want to go up to one of these "Russia and Ukraine should negotiate!" guys, hit them with a chair, take their wallet, and then stand with my foot on their head and offer to negotiate over the contents of their wallet.
@ByMikeBaker
This makes me furious. My sister and her son in Olympia have been in lockdown for a month and she had to close her store and let go 30 employees. (New Traditions Fair Trade) There have been very few cases in Thurston County, but now it will blow up. Damn them to hell.
Putin told Trump Ukraine was out to get him and Trump believes everything Putin says. Manafort & Giuliani did it too, on Putin's oligarch payroll. It's always been about Russia's war on Ukraine.
Trump "just hated Ukraine." “They are horrible, corrupt people,” he said.
Trump’s animosity to Ukraine ran deep and was resistant to the typical foreign policy entreaties about the need to stand by allies.
Trump's term has been like Flowers for Algernon for Republicans. They're on the last page now, "The elekshun wuz stolun. PleeZ put flowrz on consurvuhtizms grav sumtimez."
As someone who has seen Carter Page and many other grifters like him in the wannabe Kremlin-for-cash orbit, if you stake anything on trying to defend him or make him look like a victim, you're in deep, deep (state) doo-doo.
Did refusing to support Ukraine in 2014 with the full might of sanctions and military aid, at least at the level of today, did that save lives? Did it end the war? Or did it just lead to more war while Putin committed war crimes in Crimea and Donbas for 8 years? We know.