30 Matching Annotations
  1. Sep 2024
  2. Aug 2024
  3. May 2024
  4. Apr 2024
    1. Worth, Robert F. “Clash of the Patriarchs.” The Atlantic, April 10, 2024. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/russia-ukraine-orthodox-christian-church-bartholomew-kirill/677837/.

      A fantastic overview of the history, recent changes and a potential schism in the Orthodox Church with respect to the Russia/Ukraine conflict.

    2. Orthodox priests are more vulnerable to bribery than their Roman Catholic peers, Gregorios explained, because they are allowed to marry, and many have large families to provide for.
    3. Putin’s decision to restore Orthodoxy to its old public role was a shrewd one, whatever his personal religious feelings. The Russian empire had collapsed, but its outlines could still be seen in the Russian Orthodox religious sphere, which extended beyond Russia’s borders and as far afield as Mount Athos and even Jerusalem. For a ruler seeking to revive his country’s lost status, the Church was a superb way to spread propaganda and influence.
  5. Nov 2023
  6. Mar 2023
    1. Stora delar av den rasideologiska miljön uppfattar Vladimir Putins politiska projekt som en motvikt till EU, liberalism eller ”globalism”. Därför har nyhetssajter och organisationer i miljön knutit band till Ryssland och spridit den ryska regimens narrativ.
  7. Sep 2022
    1. The US then began integrating Ukraine into NATO, such that by June of 2020 it was recognised as an “Enhanced Opportunities Partner”. A year later, the two countries signed a “Charter on Strategic Partnership”, which declared that the US supports Ukraine’s “aspirations to join NATO”.

      After the Maidan revolution the US started to integrate Ukraine into NATO through unofficial means.

      By June 2020 they were recognised as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner (https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_176327.htm)

      A year later in 2021 the US and Ukraine signed a "Charter on Strategic Partnership" which declared that the US supports Ukrain's aspirations to join NATO (https://www.state.gov/u-s-ukraine-charter-on-strategic-partnership/).

  8. Mar 2022
    1. And this needs to be made explicit. EU leaders and Biden need to announce clearly and repeatedly that if Russian troops pull back from Ukraine, the sanctions will all be quickly dropped. The part about removing Putin from power shouldn’t be stated; it will be implicit, since Putin is unlikely to ever personally forge an enduring peace with Ukraine.

      It's important for the West to stop demonizing Putin - it's just an elaborate form of saber rattling. And here it is a method to go ahead.

    2. They need to not just pull their soldiers back from Ukraine, but implement some kind of guarantee of lasting peace — and to allow Ukraine to join the EU and NATO if it wishes.

      Impossible to have a truce agreement as proposed here (have just one country in NATO).

    1. How Vladimir Putin’s childhood is affecting us all

      Putin is merely at the extreme end of the spectrum of people with ACE. Indeed we could take the title of this article and substitute with many other people, in public as well as our own private lives: How X's childhood is affecting us all. We all know at least one person we could substitute for X!

    1. i 00:05:49 will tell you i mean you've got eighty percent german approval right now for spending two percent of gdp on defense that's astonishing i mean the anger of the german people at what the russians 00:06:01 have done is so far beyond the imagination of where you could have been a couple weeks ago five months ago two years ago and i do think there's a greater willingness to take hardship

      This could be a key moment in time to launch a global Bottom-up, rapid whole system change initiative.

    1. PUTIN DOES HAVE THE CAPACITY TO DRIVE THAT NARRATIVE EVEN IN THE CASE OF WHAT'S GOING TO BE A MUCH WORSE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE THAN WHEN ANYONE IN THE UNITED STATES HAS BEEN EXPERIENCING FOR A CENTURY.

      Information warfare against Russian propaganda against its own people will not work.

    1. This shows just how much propaganda infuses all of this ‘history’; nowhere in his writings on the subject does Putin allow for Ukrainian subjectivity – for the possibility that Ukrainians might have their own opinion about who they are.

      That's the core of the matter, and a short-circuit which invalidates Putin's entire reasoning.

    2. Putin ignores what happened when Ukrainians and Russians lived in separate states – actually for a longer period than when they lived together.

      Putin is bending historical facts to fit his idealistic claims. Which means his goal is implementing that static ideal of a strong Russia, not adapting it to allow for progress.

      That takes us back to before the scientific revolution.

    1. We could see Kyiv in the same situation as Homs, as the same situation as Aleppo, which would be catastrophic, and, again, would plant terrible seeds of hatred for years and decades. So far, we've seen hundreds of people being killed, Ukrainian citizens being killed. 00:47:04 It could reach tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. So in this sense, it's extremely painful to contemplate. And this is why we need again and again to urge the leaders to stop this war, and especially, again and again, tell Putin, "You will not be able to absorb Ukraine into Russia. 00:47:30 They don't want it, they don't want you. If you continue, the only thing you will achieve is to create terrible hatred between Ukrainians and Russians for generations. It doesn't have to be like that."

      Will this reality overcome the pride threshold of him losing this epic war?

    2. this derails the whole rationale of Putin’s war. Because you can conquer the country, maybe, 00:09:54 but you won't be able to absorb Ukraine back into Russia. The only thing he's accomplishing, he is planting seeds of hatred in the hearts of every Ukrainian. Every Ukrainian being killed, every day this war continues is more seeds of hatred that may last for generations. 00:10:17 Ukrainians and Russians didn't hate each other before Putin. They’re siblings. Now he's making them enemies. And if he continues, this will be his legacy.

      Putin wanted this violence. He planned it for years but as they say "careful what you wish for, it just may come true". Putin will win the battle but will lose the war.

    1. This is a moment that we should seize, in all seriousness, in order to take on the two huge existential plagues that face us this morning: the climate crisis, outlined in this new IPCC report, and the fact that we have a madman with nuclear weapons who’s used the revenues from oil and gas to intimidate and terrify the entire world.

      This is the critical observation - everything is interconnected. It is a nexus of problems that requires that we deal with all dimensions of the problem simultaneously.

      Putin is the nexus of so much that is wrong with the world. He is like an octopus that has its arms in multiple crisis of the planet.

      The political polarization of the US, the ascendancy of the puppet government of Trump and the blatant cognitive dissonance of the extreme right who are impervious to facts is reminiscent of the propaganda imposed upon the Russian people themselves for one reason - it was part of Putin's master plan: https://youtu.be/FxgBuhMBXSA The US population has been split by Putin's information warfare system, the same one he uses on the Russian population.

      The fake news programmed by Russian propaganda about the Ukraine war has worked effectively to mislead the Russian populus: https://youtu.be/kELta9MLOzg The same pattern of psychological manipulation has also had the same impact in the belief system of the typical hardcore Trumpist.

    1. Each highlighted statement expresses political talking points aligned to induce trump-like support.

      Trump introduced new marketing and strategy, formulated using concepts and metrics mastered by Reality TV and Hollywood and then paired with advertising propaganda and "selling" techniques to create a "Brand". This is after-all Donald Trump, this is what he does, has done and is the only way he has found to make money. Trump built the "brand" (just barely) while teetering on self destruction.

      His charismatic persona became "the glue" that allowed creative narratives to stick to certain types of people in-spite of risk. Trump learned OTJ how to capture a specific type of audience.

      The mistake people make about Trump is assuming his audience to be "Joe Six-Pack", redneck's with limited education! This assumption does not have merit on its own.<br /> * There is a common "follower" theme among his audience that is exploited by those who: * Bought the "licensing rights" to the master-class Trump "how-to" course.

    1. Putin does not need to turn the taps completely off to punish the West. Oil markets are so tight that just a modest decrease in supplies from Russia could have a large impact on prices."Even if Russia cut supplies by 10% to 20%, the price response would compensate Russia for the loss of supply," said Rabobank's Fitzmaurice.

      ...Hence, even cutting a small amount to the West would “hurt” it, but not Putin.

  9. Feb 2022
    1. But if you look at [the demands Putin made of the west before invading], it’s not just Ukraine.

      Putin's stated goal isn't even about Ukraine directly, just about preventing its shift to the west politically. https://youtu.be/1qS6J-WbTD8?t=1364

  10. Mar 2021
  11. Oct 2020
    1. “every courageous and incisive measure to solve internal problems of our own society, to improve self-confidence, discipline, morale and community spirit of our own people, is a diplomatic victory over Moscow worth a thousand diplomatic notes and joint communiqués. If we cannot abandon fatalism and indifference in the face of deficiencies of our own society, Moscow will profit.”

      Perhaps the best defense against active measures is a little bit of activism of our own

  12. Nov 2017
    1. The US Justice Dept. "has identified more than six members of the Russian government" involved in hacking the DNC. Arrests and prosecutions are unlikely, but they have made a habit of filing charges as a way of discouraging foreign hackers.

  13. Oct 2017
    1. ... "Frontline" will give consumers not just a story via a two-part documentary on Vladimir Putin, "Putin's Revenge," which begins tonight and looks at the evolution of his thinking about, and animus toward, the United States.

      At 10 p.m., it will post online virtually every bit of all its interviews, or 70 hours of 56 interviews. They're with figures big and small, ranging from former big-time U.S. intelligence officials such as James Clapper and John Brennan to Putin confidantes, journalists, policy experts and others whom you don't know but have a lot to say on this important and ambiguous topic.

      Both the video and transcripts will be easily searchable and annotated right here.

      http://go.pardot.com/e/273262/frontline-film-putins-revenge-/23b4b/70048029

    1. In 2012, the U.S. Congress passed the Magnitsky Act, which targets Russian human-rights abusers: It freezes their assets and deprives them of visas.

      . . .

      The Magnitsky Act drives Putin nuts. It means that his men can’t act as they always have, i.e., with impunity. Now there are consequences, which is a problem for Putin. Four countries have Magnitsky acts: the U.S., Britain, Estonia, and now Canada. (They passed theirs last week.)

      Browder is a driver behind these Magnitsky acts, and Putin hates him for it, understandably. Twice in 2013, he tried to add Browder to Interpol’s wanted list, and twice he failed, because Interpol knew that Putin was politically motivated. Browder is not a criminal. He is an anti-criminal, which is why Putin targets him.

      . . .

      In the wake of Canada’s new Magnitsky act, Putin has tried again. Tried for a fifth time. Interpol has accepted his request. Worse, the U.S. government seems in partnership with the Kremlin: Our government has revoked Browder’s visa. (American-born, Browder is a British citizen.)