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Emrys
Emrys's Journal
Emrys's Journal
December 13, 2022
This evening, I used Twitter to learn about events happening in my home country, Scotland, that aren't covered by other media, found a link to an overview of Talking Points Memo's article "A Plot To Overturn An American Election" that I posted in Latest Breaking News, tried to keep pace with events in Ukraine that I can't find coverage of elsewhere, and found an interesting article, "Russian propaganda media and ex-President guilty of direct incitement to genocide in Ukraine, report finds", which I posted in Editorials & Other Articles, that links into the excellent video coverage of Russian MSM propaganda provided by Julia Davis's Russian Media Monitor: https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews.
In between all that, I did check up on some of the more ridiculous goings on around Musk and Tesla and a few other loons, then slapped myself upside the head and reminded myself of the main reasons I visit Twitter, which are not to pay more attention to Musk and the other RW trolls that I can't change and don't want to interact with than is absolutely necessary.
Oh, and I also found this Twitter thread by Tom Nichols and posted it here.
Author Tom Nichols on how liberals can survive on Twitter and make the most of it
Hi, Twitter liberals, it’s time for us to have a talk. About Twitter. And about you not being insufferable about Twitter. Which many of you have become. /1
There is no doubt at all that Elon Musk buying this platform was a bad thing, and his ownership makes it worse. Creepy freaks and bargain basement ads. Musk himself has become a giant adolescent troll. So stipulated. /2
But many of you seem absolutely determined to find every one of these creepy freaks, and to engage Musk, and to wallow in the mud with every terrible account. This is childish. Ignore those accounts. /3
Set your notifications to Latest, not Home. Block a lot. Set notifications so that you don’t see tweets from people who don’t follow you. Refuse to engage with five-follower accounts that went active last week. /4
But if you really hate it here that much, leave. Stop posting constantly about how much hatred you see and how terrible it is. If it’s that painful to you, go. But stop posting what amounts to “I wanna leave, but come with me.” Be a grownup. Stay or go. /5
I have all of those settings in place, I block with the flick of a finger, and my Twitter experience really hasn’t changed that much since Musk arrived. Yours needn’t either, but many of you seem almost eager for it. /6
If you really want to piss off Musk, stay here and ignore him and the trolls. Make some popcorn and get comfortable as he burns down billions of dollars in value and drives off advertisers. The rest of the time, just talk to the people you always talked to. /7
But if your Twitter existence is going to be nothing but arguing with teenage dumbasees and Musk fanboys, and then bitching about how terrible Twitter is, better for you and for all of us that you just leave. /8
Because right now, the only people that are really polluting my timeline are clueless people who keep dragging trolls into my timeline so they can argue with them. This is inane. Musk is going to do many more terrible things before this is over. But it will end. /9
Until then, in the name of creating a more copacetic Twitter environment for myself, I really am going to start blocking people who do nothing but argue with trolls or bitch about Twitter. Be adults. Stay or go. But stop whining to me and yelling at every mook you find./10x
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1602492422688309249.html
There is no doubt at all that Elon Musk buying this platform was a bad thing, and his ownership makes it worse. Creepy freaks and bargain basement ads. Musk himself has become a giant adolescent troll. So stipulated. /2
But many of you seem absolutely determined to find every one of these creepy freaks, and to engage Musk, and to wallow in the mud with every terrible account. This is childish. Ignore those accounts. /3
Set your notifications to Latest, not Home. Block a lot. Set notifications so that you don’t see tweets from people who don’t follow you. Refuse to engage with five-follower accounts that went active last week. /4
But if you really hate it here that much, leave. Stop posting constantly about how much hatred you see and how terrible it is. If it’s that painful to you, go. But stop posting what amounts to “I wanna leave, but come with me.” Be a grownup. Stay or go. /5
I have all of those settings in place, I block with the flick of a finger, and my Twitter experience really hasn’t changed that much since Musk arrived. Yours needn’t either, but many of you seem almost eager for it. /6
If you really want to piss off Musk, stay here and ignore him and the trolls. Make some popcorn and get comfortable as he burns down billions of dollars in value and drives off advertisers. The rest of the time, just talk to the people you always talked to. /7
But if your Twitter existence is going to be nothing but arguing with teenage dumbasees and Musk fanboys, and then bitching about how terrible Twitter is, better for you and for all of us that you just leave. /8
Because right now, the only people that are really polluting my timeline are clueless people who keep dragging trolls into my timeline so they can argue with them. This is inane. Musk is going to do many more terrible things before this is over. But it will end. /9
Until then, in the name of creating a more copacetic Twitter environment for myself, I really am going to start blocking people who do nothing but argue with trolls or bitch about Twitter. Be adults. Stay or go. But stop whining to me and yelling at every mook you find./10x
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1602492422688309249.html
This evening, I used Twitter to learn about events happening in my home country, Scotland, that aren't covered by other media, found a link to an overview of Talking Points Memo's article "A Plot To Overturn An American Election" that I posted in Latest Breaking News, tried to keep pace with events in Ukraine that I can't find coverage of elsewhere, and found an interesting article, "Russian propaganda media and ex-President guilty of direct incitement to genocide in Ukraine, report finds", which I posted in Editorials & Other Articles, that links into the excellent video coverage of Russian MSM propaganda provided by Julia Davis's Russian Media Monitor: https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews.
In between all that, I did check up on some of the more ridiculous goings on around Musk and Tesla and a few other loons, then slapped myself upside the head and reminded myself of the main reasons I visit Twitter, which are not to pay more attention to Musk and the other RW trolls that I can't change and don't want to interact with than is absolutely necessary.
Oh, and I also found this Twitter thread by Tom Nichols and posted it here.
December 13, 2022
Russian propaganda media and ex-President guilty of direct incitement to genocide in Ukraine
Article from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group about a report by the Russian independent journalism outlet Verstka Media
An important study carried out for Verstka Media set out to determine whether Russian state media are guilty of direct and public incitement to genocide in their coverage of events linked with Russia’s war against Ukraine. The resounding ‘yes’ provided by media researcher Nikolai Chikishev is not new, but this is the first such Russian investigation and provides detailed and compelling evidence of attempts to dehumanize Ukrainians and deny Ukraine’s very existence as a sovereign state. In a Facebook post about the study, Chikishev wrote that “the direct link between Russian propaganda and war crimes should be obvious and become the subject of legal analysis. This study helps to understand where the specific guilt of propagandists lies.”
The study has concentrated on the first six months after Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022 when, Chikishev notes, the propaganda discourse changed noticeably. It is, however, worth pointing out that the essential features of this discourse and the same dehumanizing hate speech were also evident in 2014, after Russia’s invasion of Crimea and military aggression in Donbas. This is important to remember as former employees of those state media have disclosed the degree to which the very terms used, the arguments, etc. were agreed between Kremlin officials and the channels’ management. Then too it was evident that the same lies and manipulation, for example, about Donbas, about the tragic fire in Odesa on 2 May 2014, and the MH17 disaster, were being pedalled by top Russian officials and by the state media. The latter also modified their presentation, for example, by removing words like ‘junta’ and ‘fascists’ or avoiding certain subjects if Moscow was attempting a more conciliatory approach before an important meeting, or decision on sanctions. It is quite possible that the Kremlin is coordinating such virulent hate propaganda now. In fact, even without direct instructions, the chief propagandists in the state media hear the messages pushed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the deputy head of the Council of the Federation (and one-time nominal ‘President’) Dmitry Medvedev and others and doubtless understand that this reflects the narrative expected from them.
The scale of aggression and the clear genocidal elements in Russia’s war against Ukraine did become much more evident after 24 February 2022. It is specifically the role that propaganda media have played in this, and whether this constitutes incitement to genocide that Nikolai Chikishev and Verstka Media decided to investigate,
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide [the Convention] punishes not only for direct genocide but for “direct and public incitement to commit genocide” (Article III). Such incitement shall be punishable, whether or not genocide follows.
https://khpg.org/en/1608811523
The study has concentrated on the first six months after Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022 when, Chikishev notes, the propaganda discourse changed noticeably. It is, however, worth pointing out that the essential features of this discourse and the same dehumanizing hate speech were also evident in 2014, after Russia’s invasion of Crimea and military aggression in Donbas. This is important to remember as former employees of those state media have disclosed the degree to which the very terms used, the arguments, etc. were agreed between Kremlin officials and the channels’ management. Then too it was evident that the same lies and manipulation, for example, about Donbas, about the tragic fire in Odesa on 2 May 2014, and the MH17 disaster, were being pedalled by top Russian officials and by the state media. The latter also modified their presentation, for example, by removing words like ‘junta’ and ‘fascists’ or avoiding certain subjects if Moscow was attempting a more conciliatory approach before an important meeting, or decision on sanctions. It is quite possible that the Kremlin is coordinating such virulent hate propaganda now. In fact, even without direct instructions, the chief propagandists in the state media hear the messages pushed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the deputy head of the Council of the Federation (and one-time nominal ‘President’) Dmitry Medvedev and others and doubtless understand that this reflects the narrative expected from them.
The scale of aggression and the clear genocidal elements in Russia’s war against Ukraine did become much more evident after 24 February 2022. It is specifically the role that propaganda media have played in this, and whether this constitutes incitement to genocide that Nikolai Chikishev and Verstka Media decided to investigate,
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide [the Convention] punishes not only for direct genocide but for “direct and public incitement to commit genocide” (Article III). Such incitement shall be punishable, whether or not genocide follows.
https://khpg.org/en/1608811523
December 13, 2022
ETA: More details in this earlier General Discussion post by kpete: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217457983
A Plot To Overturn An American Election
Source: Talking Points Memo
The messages you are about to read are the definitive, real-time record of a plot to overturn an American election.
TPM has obtained the 2,319 text messages that Mark Meadows, who was President Trump’s last White House chief of staff, turned over to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Today, we are publishing The Meadows Texts, a series based on an in-depth analysis of these extraordinary — and disturbing — communications.
The vast majority of Meadows’ texts described in this series are being made public for the very first time. They show the senior-most official in the Trump White House communicating with members of Congress, state-level politicians, and far-right activists as they work feverishly to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. The Meadows texts illustrate in moment-to-moment detail an authoritarian effort to undermine the will of the people and upend the American democratic system as we know it.
The text messages, obtained from multiple sources, offer new insights into how the assault on the election was rooted in deranged internet paranoia and undemocratic ideology. They show Meadows and other high-level Trump allies reveling in wild conspiracy theories, violent rhetoric, and crackpot legal strategies for refusing to certify Joe Biden’s victory. They expose the previously unknown roles of some members of Congress, local politicians, activists and others in the plot to overturn the election. Now, for the first time, many of those figures will be named and their roles will be described — in their own words.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/a-plot-to-overturn-an-american-election
ETA: More details in this earlier General Discussion post by kpete: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217457983
December 12, 2022
I've seen little change in my Twitter use since Musk took over.
I've always been very selective and quite trigger-happy in muting timewasters and trolls, and I have my own lists and bookmarks that mean I'm not reliant on Twitter timeline features. I'm a strictly read-only user who's never tweeted. I was quite surprised to read recently that a lot of people use it more or less as I do.
I see a lot more about Musk, Trump and various other reprobates on DU than I do on Twitter because I don't seek them out there. There are more interesting and pressing things going on in the world, and I get more than my fill of them in a half-hour here and there on General Discussion.
Your comments in the OP about "such posts act as an echo-chamber amplifier" could apply to any number of posts on DU that focus on rightwingers and whose sources have nothing at all to do with Twitter. Day after day of MTG's antics, for example, get a bit tired after a while, but each to their own and nobody forces me to read them.
You also said "IMHO twitter was always entirely about impulsive mob behavior". That's a gross misrepresentation and has not been my experience of the platform, otherwise I wouldn't make so much use of it. Many very erudite and conscientious people and organizations have Twitter feeds. It's a hell of a resource, literally life-changing if not life-saving for some people, and I'm extremely pissed off that Musk has no fucking idea about what its importance is and what might need to be done to sustain it.
I don't feel like I'm being driven off Twitter yet. If that time comes, I'll re-evaluate. What I don't enjoy is some of the scolds on DU who pop up from time to time to criticize those of us who still choose to use Twitter, often from a position of unfamiliarity with the platform. If you think it's a cesspit, then you're not using it to its optimum for your needs, and maybe it's not for you. Peer pressure is not going to make me change how I choose to spend my time.
December 11, 2022
The long-running saga of efforts to unravel who was responsible for the Lockerbie bombing continues.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who'd served as head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines and was suspected of working for the Libyan intelligence services, was convicted of planting the bomb in 2001 and was imprisoned in Scotland, then after a series of appeals had run their course and he abandoned his final appeal, he was released to Tripoli in 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was suffering with terminal cancer. He finally died in 2012.
There's a strong feeling among some of those familiar with the case, along with some of the bereaved families, that Megrahi was wrongly convicted and the true perpetrators have never been brought to justice. Those suspicions have included the theory that Libya was not responsible. Efforts to clear his name have continued even after his death.
Much of the evidence on which Megrahi was convicted was unreliable, and some of it was fabricated:
We'll have to wait and see whether Al-Marimi's trial, due to be held in Washington, DC, sheds any more light on these issues or adds even more confusion.
Officials: Lockerbie bomb suspect is in US custody
LONDON (AP) — U.S. and Scottish authorities said Sunday that the Libyan man suspected of making the bomb that destroyed a passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 is in U.S. custody.
Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said in a statement that “the families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been told that the suspect Abu Agela Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is in U.S. custody.”
...
A breakthrough in the investigation came when U.S. officials in 2017 received a copy of an interview that Mas’ud, a longtime explosives expert for Libya’s intelligence service, had given to Libyan law enforcement in 2012 after being taken into custody following the collapse of the regime of the country’s leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
In that interview, U.S. officials said, Mas’ud admitted building the bomb in the Pan Am attack and working with two other conspirators to carry it out. He also said the operation was ordered by Libyan intelligence and that Gadhafi thanked him and other members of the team after the attack, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.
https://apnews.com/article/london-scotland-united-kingdom-government-states-libya-e195e6bf1c18be0ff102a54219ac9d1f
Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said in a statement that “the families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been told that the suspect Abu Agela Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is in U.S. custody.”
...
A breakthrough in the investigation came when U.S. officials in 2017 received a copy of an interview that Mas’ud, a longtime explosives expert for Libya’s intelligence service, had given to Libyan law enforcement in 2012 after being taken into custody following the collapse of the regime of the country’s leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
In that interview, U.S. officials said, Mas’ud admitted building the bomb in the Pan Am attack and working with two other conspirators to carry it out. He also said the operation was ordered by Libyan intelligence and that Gadhafi thanked him and other members of the team after the attack, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.
https://apnews.com/article/london-scotland-united-kingdom-government-states-libya-e195e6bf1c18be0ff102a54219ac9d1f
The long-running saga of efforts to unravel who was responsible for the Lockerbie bombing continues.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who'd served as head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines and was suspected of working for the Libyan intelligence services, was convicted of planting the bomb in 2001 and was imprisoned in Scotland, then after a series of appeals had run their course and he abandoned his final appeal, he was released to Tripoli in 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was suffering with terminal cancer. He finally died in 2012.
There's a strong feeling among some of those familiar with the case, along with some of the bereaved families, that Megrahi was wrongly convicted and the true perpetrators have never been brought to justice. Those suspicions have included the theory that Libya was not responsible. Efforts to clear his name have continued even after his death.
Much of the evidence on which Megrahi was convicted was unreliable, and some of it was fabricated:
Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing and who has been a spokesman for UK Families Flight 103, which represented British relatives, has said that he believes Megrahi is innocent. Swire is also concerned by comments attributed to the former lord advocate Lord Fraser, which appeared to doubt the credibility of the key prosecution witness, Tony Gauci. Swire said "the scandal around Megrahi is not that a sick man was released, but that he was ever convicted in the first place. All I have ever wanted is to see the people who murdered my daughter are brought to justice."
Professor Robert Black, an expert in Scots law who devised the non-jury trial that saw the Lockerbie case heard in 2000, has called Megrahi's murder conviction "the most disgraceful miscarriage of justice in Scotland for 100 years". Prof Black said he felt "a measure of personal responsibility" for persuading Libya to allow Megrahi and his co-accused, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhima, who was acquitted, to stand trial under Scots law.
The non-profit religious think tank Ekklesia noted that "all of the Crown's witnesses in the 36-week trial, which took place at a specially convened Scottish Court in the Netherlands, have subsequently been discredited. In the latest revelation, a prosecution expert misled judges about key evidence, according to a classified police memo published by the Sunday Herald on 17 July [2011]", cautioning that
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdelbaset_al-Megrahi
Professor Robert Black, an expert in Scots law who devised the non-jury trial that saw the Lockerbie case heard in 2000, has called Megrahi's murder conviction "the most disgraceful miscarriage of justice in Scotland for 100 years". Prof Black said he felt "a measure of personal responsibility" for persuading Libya to allow Megrahi and his co-accused, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhima, who was acquitted, to stand trial under Scots law.
I have written about this and nobody is interested. Every lawyer who has ... read the judgment says "this is nonsense". It is nonsense. It really distresses me; I won't let it go.
The non-profit religious think tank Ekklesia noted that "all of the Crown's witnesses in the 36-week trial, which took place at a specially convened Scottish Court in the Netherlands, have subsequently been discredited. In the latest revelation, a prosecution expert misled judges about key evidence, according to a classified police memo published by the Sunday Herald on 17 July [2011]", cautioning that
Dr Swire, other UK relatives of the victims, and a range of legal campaigners, including Professor Black, say that the May 2000 trial of two Libyan suspects, the other of whom was not convicted, amounts to a cover up and a serious miscarriage of justice. Their concern is that the truth has not come out, and that the guilty have not been brought to justice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdelbaset_al-Megrahi
We'll have to wait and see whether Al-Marimi's trial, due to be held in Washington, DC, sheds any more light on these issues or adds even more confusion.
December 8, 2022
Worst. Christmas. Party. Ever. [Twitter video]
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1600847388242894848Dmitri
@wartranslated
Drunk putin explains why strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure will continue because "they started first by attacking the Crimean bridge"
[Twitter video with subtitles]
@wartranslated
Drunk putin explains why strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure will continue because "they started first by attacking the Crimean bridge"
[Twitter video with subtitles]
December 6, 2022
Mone's absence from the Lords won't be much of a loss (as if it ever was) since she's only attended about twice this year.
Revealed: Second firm pushed by Michelle Mone was secret entity of husband's office
[This is a follow-up to the earlier post a couple of weeks ago here: Revealed: Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly received 29m from 'VIP lane' PPE firm ]
Revelation that LFI Diagnostics was entity of office that manages wealth of Douglas Barrowman deepens controversy over Tory peer
...
Lady Mone’s lobbying on behalf of the company, LFI Diagnostics, which she tried to help secure government contracts for Covid lateral flow tests, prompted a formal rebuke from a health minister who reminded her of “the need for propriety”.
A departmental source told the Guardian that Mone was “in a class of her own in terms of the sheer aggression of her advocacy” on behalf of LFI Diagnostics.
However, it is the revelation that the company was a secret entity of the office that manages the wealth of her husband, Douglas Barrowman, that will deepen the controversy over the Tory peer and her access to ministers.
On Tuesday, Mone’s spokesperson said that she was taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords with immediate effect, adding she was doing so “in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her”.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/06/revealed-second-firm-pushed-by-michelle-mone-was-secret-entity-of-husbands-office
...
Lady Mone’s lobbying on behalf of the company, LFI Diagnostics, which she tried to help secure government contracts for Covid lateral flow tests, prompted a formal rebuke from a health minister who reminded her of “the need for propriety”.
A departmental source told the Guardian that Mone was “in a class of her own in terms of the sheer aggression of her advocacy” on behalf of LFI Diagnostics.
However, it is the revelation that the company was a secret entity of the office that manages the wealth of her husband, Douglas Barrowman, that will deepen the controversy over the Tory peer and her access to ministers.
On Tuesday, Mone’s spokesperson said that she was taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords with immediate effect, adding she was doing so “in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her”.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/06/revealed-second-firm-pushed-by-michelle-mone-was-secret-entity-of-husbands-office
Mone's absence from the Lords won't be much of a loss (as if it ever was) since she's only attended about twice this year.
December 1, 2022
A long-running nightmarish scandal that ruined the lives of a number of subpostmasters and drove some of them to suicide.
Subpostmaster federation deliberately kept public in dark over computer problems
The federation representing subpostmasters deliberately suppressed information about computer errors that could have saved its members from devastating life-changing events
The National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) deliberately kept stories of Horizon errors quiet because it “did not want to kill the project”.
The NFSP, a membership organisation representing subpostmasters, even proposed to propagate positive news about the accounting system to hide the problems experienced during its roll-out.
During a Horizon scandal statutory public inquiry hearing, Colin Baker, former NFSP general secretary, said project sponsors didn’t want the public to know about the problems with the software. “The public... didn’t know, and we didn’t want them to know it was perilous and threatened. We wanted them to think it was fine,” he told the hearing.
The Horizon accounting system was rolled out in 1999-2000 to replace manual accounting practices at about 19,000 Post Office branches. However, errors in the system caused unexplained losses for subpostmasters, for which they were blamed and punished, with many forced to pay back shortfalls and 736 prosecuted for financial crimes.
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252527837/Subpostmaster-federation-deliberately-kept-public-in-dark-over-computer-problems-secret
The National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) deliberately kept stories of Horizon errors quiet because it “did not want to kill the project”.
The NFSP, a membership organisation representing subpostmasters, even proposed to propagate positive news about the accounting system to hide the problems experienced during its roll-out.
During a Horizon scandal statutory public inquiry hearing, Colin Baker, former NFSP general secretary, said project sponsors didn’t want the public to know about the problems with the software. “The public... didn’t know, and we didn’t want them to know it was perilous and threatened. We wanted them to think it was fine,” he told the hearing.
The Horizon accounting system was rolled out in 1999-2000 to replace manual accounting practices at about 19,000 Post Office branches. However, errors in the system caused unexplained losses for subpostmasters, for which they were blamed and punished, with many forced to pay back shortfalls and 736 prosecuted for financial crimes.
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252527837/Subpostmaster-federation-deliberately-kept-public-in-dark-over-computer-problems-secret
A long-running nightmarish scandal that ruined the lives of a number of subpostmasters and drove some of them to suicide.
December 1, 2022
The importance of Ukraine's deft use of online propaganda during this war shouldn't be underestimated. It can humanize reactions without trivializing them, and humour and satire are more relatable and more likely to go viral than polemic.
Making sense of Ukrainian war memes: From watermelons to Saint Javelin
“Breaking: This lettuce outlasts Russian annexation of Kherson,” reads a meme posted a few hours after Russia announced its retreat from the city of Kherson.
This is a remake of a joke about the former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose short term in power was compared to "the shelf life of a lettuce."
https://twitter.com/saintjavelin/status/1590384183452794880
Ukrainians have created a trove of war-related memes since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24. They have become a part of modern folklore – like songs and poetry, memes help Ukrainians express what they feel in simple metaphorical language.
There are other benefits to memes: They can offer some relief from the traumatic experiences of the war. They can also keep people engaged and informed, according to Christian Borys, creator of the popular Saint Javelin meme. The image depicts Virgin Mary cradling a U.S.-made FGM-148 anti-tank weapon used in Ukraine.
Most people don't read long articles about the war, Borys said, but they scroll through Instagram or Twitter every day, and the memes they see there give them an idea of what's happening in Ukraine.
https://kyivindependent.com/national/making-sense-of-ukrainian-memes-from-watermelons-to-saint-javelin
This is a remake of a joke about the former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose short term in power was compared to "the shelf life of a lettuce."
https://twitter.com/saintjavelin/status/1590384183452794880
Saint Javelin
@saintjavelin
Ukrainians have created a trove of war-related memes since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24. They have become a part of modern folklore – like songs and poetry, memes help Ukrainians express what they feel in simple metaphorical language.
There are other benefits to memes: They can offer some relief from the traumatic experiences of the war. They can also keep people engaged and informed, according to Christian Borys, creator of the popular Saint Javelin meme. The image depicts Virgin Mary cradling a U.S.-made FGM-148 anti-tank weapon used in Ukraine.
Most people don't read long articles about the war, Borys said, but they scroll through Instagram or Twitter every day, and the memes they see there give them an idea of what's happening in Ukraine.
https://kyivindependent.com/national/making-sense-of-ukrainian-memes-from-watermelons-to-saint-javelin
The importance of Ukraine's deft use of online propaganda during this war shouldn't be underestimated. It can humanize reactions without trivializing them, and humour and satire are more relatable and more likely to go viral than polemic.
November 30, 2022
I disturbed myself last night by reading around the prevalence of prison culture in more mainstream Russian society. I knew Putin was a jumped-up gangster, but I hadn't joined the dots laid out for me.
In brief, there are two broad factions in the Russian criminal fraternity - those who are opposed to the state (like Grisha), and others (like Prigozhin and Kadyrov) who have thrown their lot in with it as allies and profited, but nevertheless could pose threats to the current regime.
What follows is not pleasant, and if you're prone to triggering or in a work environment, you've been warned.
The Russian criminal hierarchy ranges from "thieves-in-law" at the top to "cocks" at the bottom. Rape is endemic in Russian prisons, and is not equated with homosexuality if you're a "top". It's seen as a method of enforcement and punishment. At the bottom of the hierarchy are "cocks", who once they've been raped are regarded as untouchable except for sexual purposes.
The turf war inside Russia is developing as ex-inmate Sasha Kurara posted the two videos posted below, in which he claims that he was in prison with Prigozhin many years ago, and that Prigozhin was a "cock" and served him sexually.
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1597578177798627328
Dmitri
@wartranslated
A Russian man who introduces himself as an ex-convict who served sentence with Wagner's Prigozhyn claims the latter was providing sexual services to other prisoners.
[Twitter video]
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1597648181734825984
Making these inflammatory claims that, if accepted, are terminal to Prigozhin's reputation among the criminal fraternity, is obviously a very dangerous business, but Kurara doesn't seem concerned and offers to meet anyone angered by his claims (by implication, henchmen of Prigozhin) at a location of their choosing. Undercutting Prigozhin in this way could serve the purposes of many, including Putin, who may foresee a threat to his power from the influence of the Wagner Group.
I'd foreseen the possibility of ethnic civil war in the Russian Federation as a result of the war in Ukraine's failure. These turf wars add another dimension.
Criminal rivalries and Russian power politics [Twitter videos] (some arguably NSFW)
(This was originally posted as a reply to an OP in Latest Breaking News, but I figured it would probably sink without trace there.)
https://twitter.com/vidtranslator/status/1590485260407406592
VidTranslator - targum.video AI bot
@vidtranslator
Hey @SergAibertich, here's your video [ai] translated from Russian as requested by @57thOverlanders.
Follow @altryne to get more free transcriptions.
[Twitter video]
@vidtranslator
Hey @SergAibertich, here's your video [ai] translated from Russian as requested by @57thOverlanders.
Follow @altryne to get more free transcriptions.
[Twitter video]
I disturbed myself last night by reading around the prevalence of prison culture in more mainstream Russian society. I knew Putin was a jumped-up gangster, but I hadn't joined the dots laid out for me.
In brief, there are two broad factions in the Russian criminal fraternity - those who are opposed to the state (like Grisha), and others (like Prigozhin and Kadyrov) who have thrown their lot in with it as allies and profited, but nevertheless could pose threats to the current regime.
What follows is not pleasant, and if you're prone to triggering or in a work environment, you've been warned.
The Russian criminal hierarchy ranges from "thieves-in-law" at the top to "cocks" at the bottom. Rape is endemic in Russian prisons, and is not equated with homosexuality if you're a "top". It's seen as a method of enforcement and punishment. At the bottom of the hierarchy are "cocks", who once they've been raped are regarded as untouchable except for sexual purposes.
The turf war inside Russia is developing as ex-inmate Sasha Kurara posted the two videos posted below, in which he claims that he was in prison with Prigozhin many years ago, and that Prigozhin was a "cock" and served him sexually.
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1597578177798627328
Dmitri
@wartranslated
A Russian man who introduces himself as an ex-convict who served sentence with Wagner's Prigozhyn claims the latter was providing sexual services to other prisoners.
[Twitter video]
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1597648181734825984
Dmitri
@wartranslated
So there's more to the story with the ex-convict who claims Prigozhyn was adventurous in prison. There's a second video where the man confidently confirms his statements.
[Twitter video]
@wartranslated
So there's more to the story with the ex-convict who claims Prigozhyn was adventurous in prison. There's a second video where the man confidently confirms his statements.
[Twitter video]
Making these inflammatory claims that, if accepted, are terminal to Prigozhin's reputation among the criminal fraternity, is obviously a very dangerous business, but Kurara doesn't seem concerned and offers to meet anyone angered by his claims (by implication, henchmen of Prigozhin) at a location of their choosing. Undercutting Prigozhin in this way could serve the purposes of many, including Putin, who may foresee a threat to his power from the influence of the Wagner Group.
I'd foreseen the possibility of ethnic civil war in the Russian Federation as a result of the war in Ukraine's failure. These turf wars add another dimension.
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