Well put. Our American neighbour was utterly traumatised (but not surprised) by Trump's election. When I blithely said "four years will soon pass" she warned me that four years might never end, never mind the damage he would do. Zelensky needs to keep his cool. Europe has been caught napping but perhaps we will rise to the occasion..
"Tellingly the first demands of the new US administration have not been from the world's aggressors, but from their victims."...That one sentence sums up the magnitude of America's fall. It would not surprise me if some US citizens start putting "X" tactical markers on their vehicles to show their allegiance to the regimes in Washington and Moscow.
"When it transpired that Moscow had meddled in the vote with a sophisticated social media campaign the Romanian courts declared that election rules had been broken and ordered that it should be rerun." Well, it hasn't. Not even the Romanian internal security services could provide any decent evidence towards Russian meddling. In fact, one of the ruling party's (National Liberal Party, don't be fooled, it's liberal only in name, they are more a bunch of chauvinist, nationalist mötley crew, proud members of the EPP...) leaders have payed decent money to an advertising agency, in order to push this C. Georgescu dude's reach on Tik-Tok, with the clear intention of splitting the nationalists' votes so that their and the Socialists candidate reach the final. As it turned out, it had backfired.
Thanks for another excellent article Julius. I too am interested in any suggestions you have regarding what to do now that we are aware of these dangers .....
Special Estonian knowledge- check. Brave Kaja - check (of course she knows “Russians”, her father became member of Communist Party in the year she was born and was high level functionary in Ministry of Finance). Ghosts of original Munich - check. Dictatorial Russia - check. Autocratic China rising - check.
Julius, your talents would be much appreciated in Völkischer Beobachter or New York Times, you know all off the right incantations and repeat them in the correct order.
Yes, what to do? I agree that lamenting things as they are doesn't get us very far. Top of the list: strip ourselves of illusions about Trump and Putin and stop excusing them. Next come up with a plan. But before we even have time for that we have Lavrov-Rubio meeting and German elections. It seems things are speeding up... As for a plan, that's for another post (or maybe whole series of posts....)
Well put. Our American neighbour was utterly traumatised (but not surprised) by Trump's election. When I blithely said "four years will soon pass" she warned me that four years might never end, never mind the damage he would do. Zelensky needs to keep his cool. Europe has been caught napping but perhaps we will rise to the occasion..
writing from a 60s hippy for his,her commune after a dubie cigar.
"Tellingly the first demands of the new US administration have not been from the world's aggressors, but from their victims."...That one sentence sums up the magnitude of America's fall. It would not surprise me if some US citizens start putting "X" tactical markers on their vehicles to show their allegiance to the regimes in Washington and Moscow.
"When it transpired that Moscow had meddled in the vote with a sophisticated social media campaign the Romanian courts declared that election rules had been broken and ordered that it should be rerun." Well, it hasn't. Not even the Romanian internal security services could provide any decent evidence towards Russian meddling. In fact, one of the ruling party's (National Liberal Party, don't be fooled, it's liberal only in name, they are more a bunch of chauvinist, nationalist mötley crew, proud members of the EPP...) leaders have payed decent money to an advertising agency, in order to push this C. Georgescu dude's reach on Tik-Tok, with the clear intention of splitting the nationalists' votes so that their and the Socialists candidate reach the final. As it turned out, it had backfired.
Thanks for another excellent article Julius. I too am interested in any suggestions you have regarding what to do now that we are aware of these dangers .....
Thanks for keeping on Julius. ~ Rik in Argenta
So well covered and so clearly expressed ... J.
Special Estonian knowledge- check. Brave Kaja - check (of course she knows “Russians”, her father became member of Communist Party in the year she was born and was high level functionary in Ministry of Finance). Ghosts of original Munich - check. Dictatorial Russia - check. Autocratic China rising - check.
Julius, your talents would be much appreciated in Völkischer Beobachter or New York Times, you know all off the right incantations and repeat them in the correct order.
I think most people who think about these things would totally agree with you. The question is: what to do?
Yes, what to do? I agree that lamenting things as they are doesn't get us very far. Top of the list: strip ourselves of illusions about Trump and Putin and stop excusing them. Next come up with a plan. But before we even have time for that we have Lavrov-Rubio meeting and German elections. It seems things are speeding up... As for a plan, that's for another post (or maybe whole series of posts....)
Thank you. I look forward to your forthcoming posts!
Sadly, I think you are absolutely right.
Scary but sadly this is the world we now live in ... JAS
Excellent post, thank you.