Ruth's article is a stern warning. With all the authoritarian aggression in the world, I wonder how Biden will find time to offer clemency to Leonard Peltier and to drop charges against Julian Assange? Those singular actions would offer hope for better things ahead for native Americans and journalists going into 2023.
Genocide is real but it is also fake in a sense. It's fake because it is encouraged by those who are only using xenophobia as a tool to distract others so as to gain power and get money. It creates a fake "enemy" (such as Jews or homosexuals) and riles people up to see this group as "undermining" society. Simple divide and conquer. What power-seekers don't understand or will deny is that the killing is sooner or later going to turn on them.
Thank you for the concise summary of the global chess match, and the global similarities that can serve red flags to citizenry -- or should. So much going on its almost like a Bingo board to keep track of the network & flow of bubbling activity. Or the room with a global map and push pins. Grateful for the Biden administration and their expertise. Vivid descriptors of the autocratic personalities and personal transactional pattern help paradoxically & rightfully minimize them, almost as children relationally in the sandbox - and at the same be alarmed / disturbed by their sauve intercontinental/ cosmopolitan yet transparent and hollowed personality disorder styles that dangerously attract others.
Putin wants to negotiate?? Say what? He started the attacks with genocide in Ukraine as his goal! Negotiate? Just stop bombing innocent people! Obvious that your army is a farce!
Negotiate your surrender and which tribunal tries you as a war criminal! I’d even allow him to serve life without parole in one of those huts in Siberia!
I used to share a quote from these posts on Twitter, but I've left Twitter as it's now a tool of authoritarians. Will there be an option to share on Mastodon? The only way I can see to do so is to copy the link but then I can't also copy a quote, so it's a no-context link.
We must question the effective use of limited war, in scope and weaponry. Appeasement and Nuclear exchange, are the extremes. Limited war never works. While the democracies of the world get to feel good about their contribution, Ukraine is being decimated. We must give Ukraine all tools needed to shut down Putins successes. All land, including Crimea, must be returned. Russian land must feel pain in order for Putin to stop. I totally agree with Ruth: The dictators of the world are watching, our limited scope has them salivating. Also, Anders Aslund as well as Fiona Hill are absolutely brilliant in this area of engagement. We did not go to war, it came to us. No one knows better than Putin which country he is fighting. It's time to step up the pace or, we will be in much deeper than we are.
Ruth, this is an excellent and comprehensive essay on material absolutely needed for our understanding of the ramifications of Putin’s continued aggression in Ukraine. It’s very complicated with so many long histories that you have sketched out for us. And these histories are also independent of the Putin invasion of Ukraine and are now inserting more instability into the mix of the regions’ functioning and surviving.
You included the Republic of Kosovo which I had not necessarily included in the region which currently is dealing with rising tensions with the Serbian military. Wow!! The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia back in 2008 and has gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by a majority of the United Nations. Kosovo is a democratic republic with multi party parliamentary representation and a constitution that specifies a secular state and (neutral in religious beliefs). Putin’s continued aggression in Ukraine and possibly the region and Kosovo being affected by the matters they are currently dealing with involving corruption, international crime, and smuggling of contraband goods, firearms, illegal drugs will be a major obstacle for the Republic of Kosovo’s economic development and international recognition. This is not good!
EU, U.S. Express Concern Over Situation in North Kosovo
MITROVICA, Kosovo, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The United States, NATO and European Union have closed a third border crossing today. Since Kosovo’s 2008 independence there has been tension between the West, which backed Kosovo’s independence, and Russia, which supports Serbia.
[……]
The Kremlin, denied Kosovan claims that Russia was influencing Serbia to destabilize Kosovo, saying that Serbia was defending the rights of ethnic Serbs.
[....…]
Around 50,000 Serbs living in northern Kosovo refuse to recognize the government in Pristina or the status of Kosovo as a separate country. They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and its government.
Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence with the backing of the West, following a 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanian citizens.
Biden has done an admirable job so far, keeping together the Western coalition and getting Ukraine the assistance it has needed to defend itself. I’d like to see the US deliver some jets and other heavy weaponry Zelensky has asked for to clear Russian occupation of Ukraine. It is a moral and strategic imperative we maximally help Ukraine to defend itself from this brutal tyranny. The whole world needs to see it.
A huge piece of this war is that these goons abroad attempt to corrupt us at home. Enforcing the law here and taking down crime networks wherever we can is strangely an effective strategy in countering their hybrid warfare against us. Crime is deeply tied to the terrorist and insurrectionist extremist groups being fomented here and throughout the West and corruption to their attacks on our politics and institutions.
Sober positivity, decency, empathy, dedication and service to our friends, families community and country is what will lift us up and help us to defeat fascism at home. Fostering a spirit of cooperation rather than domination to solve our domestic problems is absolutely key to the psychological warfare piece of this struggle.
2023 can be a good year against tyranny but we have to make it one. Cheers! 🍻
Ruth's article is a stern warning. With all the authoritarian aggression in the world, I wonder how Biden will find time to offer clemency to Leonard Peltier and to drop charges against Julian Assange? Those singular actions would offer hope for better things ahead for native Americans and journalists going into 2023.
Genocide is real but it is also fake in a sense. It's fake because it is encouraged by those who are only using xenophobia as a tool to distract others so as to gain power and get money. It creates a fake "enemy" (such as Jews or homosexuals) and riles people up to see this group as "undermining" society. Simple divide and conquer. What power-seekers don't understand or will deny is that the killing is sooner or later going to turn on them.
Thank you for the concise summary of the global chess match, and the global similarities that can serve red flags to citizenry -- or should. So much going on its almost like a Bingo board to keep track of the network & flow of bubbling activity. Or the room with a global map and push pins. Grateful for the Biden administration and their expertise. Vivid descriptors of the autocratic personalities and personal transactional pattern help paradoxically & rightfully minimize them, almost as children relationally in the sandbox - and at the same be alarmed / disturbed by their sauve intercontinental/ cosmopolitan yet transparent and hollowed personality disorder styles that dangerously attract others.
Putin wants to negotiate?? Say what? He started the attacks with genocide in Ukraine as his goal! Negotiate? Just stop bombing innocent people! Obvious that your army is a farce!
Negotiate your surrender and which tribunal tries you as a war criminal! I’d even allow him to serve life without parole in one of those huts in Siberia!
scary
I used to share a quote from these posts on Twitter, but I've left Twitter as it's now a tool of authoritarians. Will there be an option to share on Mastodon? The only way I can see to do so is to copy the link but then I can't also copy a quote, so it's a no-context link.
I have a Mastodon account but no time to be active right now
I understand that, but:
1. I'm asking for the option to share your very valuable info on Mastodon, and
2. Isn't continuing to support Twitter also supporting authoritarianism?
We must question the effective use of limited war, in scope and weaponry. Appeasement and Nuclear exchange, are the extremes. Limited war never works. While the democracies of the world get to feel good about their contribution, Ukraine is being decimated. We must give Ukraine all tools needed to shut down Putins successes. All land, including Crimea, must be returned. Russian land must feel pain in order for Putin to stop. I totally agree with Ruth: The dictators of the world are watching, our limited scope has them salivating. Also, Anders Aslund as well as Fiona Hill are absolutely brilliant in this area of engagement. We did not go to war, it came to us. No one knows better than Putin which country he is fighting. It's time to step up the pace or, we will be in much deeper than we are.
Putin’s Continued Aggression in Ukraine
Ruth, this is an excellent and comprehensive essay on material absolutely needed for our understanding of the ramifications of Putin’s continued aggression in Ukraine. It’s very complicated with so many long histories that you have sketched out for us. And these histories are also independent of the Putin invasion of Ukraine and are now inserting more instability into the mix of the regions’ functioning and surviving.
You included the Republic of Kosovo which I had not necessarily included in the region which currently is dealing with rising tensions with the Serbian military. Wow!! The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia back in 2008 and has gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by a majority of the United Nations. Kosovo is a democratic republic with multi party parliamentary representation and a constitution that specifies a secular state and (neutral in religious beliefs). Putin’s continued aggression in Ukraine and possibly the region and Kosovo being affected by the matters they are currently dealing with involving corruption, international crime, and smuggling of contraband goods, firearms, illegal drugs will be a major obstacle for the Republic of Kosovo’s economic development and international recognition. This is not good!
EU, U.S. Express Concern Over Situation in North Kosovo
MITROVICA, Kosovo, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The United States, NATO and European Union have closed a third border crossing today. Since Kosovo’s 2008 independence there has been tension between the West, which backed Kosovo’s independence, and Russia, which supports Serbia.
[……]
The Kremlin, denied Kosovan claims that Russia was influencing Serbia to destabilize Kosovo, saying that Serbia was defending the rights of ethnic Serbs.
[....…]
Around 50,000 Serbs living in northern Kosovo refuse to recognize the government in Pristina or the status of Kosovo as a separate country. They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and its government.
Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence with the backing of the West, following a 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanian citizens.
Excellent piece as usual. Thank you!
Biden has done an admirable job so far, keeping together the Western coalition and getting Ukraine the assistance it has needed to defend itself. I’d like to see the US deliver some jets and other heavy weaponry Zelensky has asked for to clear Russian occupation of Ukraine. It is a moral and strategic imperative we maximally help Ukraine to defend itself from this brutal tyranny. The whole world needs to see it.
A huge piece of this war is that these goons abroad attempt to corrupt us at home. Enforcing the law here and taking down crime networks wherever we can is strangely an effective strategy in countering their hybrid warfare against us. Crime is deeply tied to the terrorist and insurrectionist extremist groups being fomented here and throughout the West and corruption to their attacks on our politics and institutions.
Sober positivity, decency, empathy, dedication and service to our friends, families community and country is what will lift us up and help us to defeat fascism at home. Fostering a spirit of cooperation rather than domination to solve our domestic problems is absolutely key to the psychological warfare piece of this struggle.
2023 can be a good year against tyranny but we have to make it one. Cheers! 🍻