Emrys
Emrys's JournalIt depends how you use it.
I'm entirely read-only, so I'm basically a fee rider who costs Musk money. The only traces of my use I leave are blocking the ads that interperse some threads and muting or blocking those whose tweets I choose not to see for various reasons.
I do selectively post tweets if I think they're significant enough to outweigh any considerations of sending traffic Musk's way, but I always include transcripts and standalone versions of any images I can isolate, so it's individual DUers' choice whether they click through.
I also sometimes post roundups of memes found on Twitter on specific momentous occasions, which people seem to enjoy a lot. I directly link the Twitter images, so they're basically a drain on Twitter without adding any traffic that can be used as a selling point to Musk's advertisers (I'm sure Musk would love to ban this sort of hotlinking, but so far it doesn't seem to have crossed the threshold of his ketamine-addled consciousness, and it might be tricky to do without unintended consequences anyway).
The information I find on Twitter after a few years of building up trusted sources can be used to counter Musk's various agendas. The tweets I see are generally overwhelmingly hostile to Musk in ways that exceed anything you'll find on DU.
Well, coming from you, I gained the impression you wanted Ukraine to surrender ages ago.
Your glib framing of a complex situation in an ongoing war as "Neither side is winning" says it all.
What do you suggest they negotiate?
Immunity for Putin and his henchmen for the massive war crimes they've committed and are still committing daily?
If so, you'd reward criminality on a grand scale.
Ceding of Ukrainian territory to Russia?
Look at what it's done in the territory it's already temporarily holding and populations it's subjugated. Repression, torture, rape, mutilation, murder, crushing of dissidence, use of people as human shields, kidnapping of children, basically genocide.
Any prospect that Russia could stage a "peaceful" occupation of Ukraine was snuffed out by its conduct in Bucha and other conurbations.
So ceding would again reward wanton criminality and give no guarantees of a better life for anyone in the region, and would just postpone further hostilities against a better-prepared Russia.
And how would you enforce any settlement that might be negotiated?
Putin never saw a treaty he wasn't happy to flout. Tune in to the Russian airwaves on a daily basis, translated by the likes of Julia Davis, and you'll see that the Putin regime's agenda is bloodthirsty imperialism on a far grander scale than it's attempting currently.
More crucially, repeated opinion polls have shown no appetite for capitulation among Ukrainians themselves. How would you intend to impose any settlement that the population doesn't want, indeed fears?
On Trump and the attitudes of January 6 invaders to his squealing and squirming
We heard a while back that some of those who were being prosecuted, some jailed, for their parts in the events of January 6 weren't feeling too happy with Trump having marooned them in legal quagmires.
I wonder how his latest bouts of "poor me" whining are going down with them? I'm talking mainly about those who've been charged and/or sentenced, not the rump of his uninvolved cheerleaders who have little skin if any in the game.
I don't recall him discussing publicly any of those who've faced legal consequences, let alone offering any defence of them - if I'm wrong in that, please correct me.
It's all about him, him, him, and how unfair it is that he's also being held to account and facing consequences for his own actions and what he provoked others to do.
Some participants have expressed betrayal that he'd led them to war from the rear, then not followed through on the day itself and the days following.
As his self-serving protests grow in volume, is it too much to hope that the fact he's a pathetic cowardly specimen who cares about nothing and nobody but his own interests and himself will become so blatantly obvious that he sheds support, or even provokes open contempt and hostility?
This has already happened to an extent among the politicians ensnared with him, and if rumours are to believed, possibly among his more influential family members.
Could it spread to what has been his wider base?
Twitter memes of the day
Note: These were all collected from the hashtag #TrumpArraignment - I have a LOT of RW trolls and MAGA types blocked on Twitter, but even so, I didn't see a single pro-Trump tweet on that hashtag.
Ukraine: Russia may be cracking down on its deranged war crime cheerleaders. [Threadreader]
The fog of war is ever-present, and not least in the area of propaganda, but this report comes from a reliable source and has been backed by people I consider trustworthy, such as journalist Julia Davis (https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews), who has been translating videos of Russian TV propaganda for some years.
Threadreader version of a Twitter thread:
@ChrisO_wiki
1/ The arrest yesterday of Igor "Strelkov" Girkin may be the start of a crackdown on jingoistic "hurrah-patriots", according to an apparently leaked report which is said to have led to his detention. It also denounces many others including broadcaster Vladimir Solovyov.
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel has published large sections of the lengthy report, which according to State Duma deputy Mikhail Delyagin, was written by his fellow deputy from Kuzbass, the political strategist Oleg Matveychev.
3/ According to VChK-OGPU, the report was received by the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation before the Wagner Group's mutiny. After the mutiny, the go-ahead was given to arrest Girkin.
4/ The report calls for the Kremlin to "take repressive measures against those who are insane and with whom it is impossible to negotiate." It warns that "a militia of people who know how to hold a gun is being formed around Girkin-Strelkov."
5/ The crackdown may go further than Girkin, who is likely to have been seen as a more serious security threat after the Wagner mutiny. Several other people are mentioned in the report, which says they "need to be persuaded to stop whipping up critical hysteria". They include:
6/ 🔺 Andrei Kartapolov and Andrei Gurulev, United Russia State Duma deputies;
🔺 Oleg Tsaryov, the former "speaker of the Novorossiya parliament"
🔺 Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT
7/🔺 Mikhail Delyagin, 'A Just Russia – For Truth' State Duma deputy, who is accused of saying that the ruble might devalue
🔺 Vladimir Solovyov, who is said to host a nightly "gang rape of the authorities" on his show on the Russia-1 channel
8/ The report on "the danger of jingoism in the information space of the Russian Federation" declares that currently "there is an extremely undesirable situation ... with trends that favour the plans of our geopolitical opponent."
9/ It claims that Russia's enemies have placed the "main bet on destabilisation in Russia ... on the so-called hurrah-patriots." ("Hurrah", or Ура́, is a traditional Russian battle cry; "hurrah-patriots" are equivalent to jingoists.)
10/ "The enemies can no longer count on other classes of the population. Liberals and hipsters are demoralised and have also largely left the territory of the Russian Federation and cannot play a significant role.
11/ "The fight against against them is being waged now by inertia, and by inertia the people's anger is directed against them, even though liberals do not pose any threat now. They are incapable of bringing a couple of hundred people onto the streets."
12/ The report calls on the Kremlin to "stop harassing them and fuelling social discord in the country" and to "leave the liberals and those who have left alone".
13/ Although the Communists and other leftists are "ready to warm up their hands on any difficulties of power", for now "they are not particularly dangerous, in view of their low ratings."
14/ A much greater danger comes from the right – "the patriotic public [figures], who, it would seem, stand for the protection of the state and public order, but in fact broadcast so-called military special propaganda."
15/ The report calls for the government to "stop pumping up the patriotic wave and inciting hatred, because this hatred and this wave represent a much greater danger."
16/ This includes activities by 'official patriots' in state-run media, who the report says "work against the state for free as 'useful idiots'."
17/ "For example, in the programme 'Evening with Vladimir Solovyov' there is every time essentially a gang rape of the authorities. The speakers are constantly kicking the authorities for various shortcomings in their activities."
18/ The report notes that many of the 'ultra-patriots' have criticised difficulties in military operations, the lack of uniforms and medical supplies, the shelling of Russian border regions and issues with mobilisation, taking a 'benevolent' position of sincere concern.
19/ It complains that "a large number of war correspondents who are sent from our official media and who, supposedly, should be subordinated to the management and editors-in-chief of these media outlets [should not] spout all sorts of rubbish in their Telegram feeds."
20/ The report claims that Western "curators" are "pump[ing] traffic to these figures [and] think that at this stage it is necessary to drum into the heads of the population the existence of a huge number of problems and the traitors who create these problems."
21/ It warns that 'ultra-patriots' have created "an image of a so-called "fifth column" around Putin, which creates problems and which does not let the right information and true patriots reach Putin upstairs." The report forecasts an erosion of confidence in the government.
22/ At some point, the report says, "when confidence in the institutions of power in the institutions of power is lost, [they will] strike a final blow to the president and declare that "the fish rots from the head," preparing the way for Putin's overthrow.
23/ The next Russian presidential election in March 2024 is highlighted as the moment when the blow will come from "the information troops of NATO and Ukraine." Ukrainian propaganda is said to have become much more sophisticated and aimed specifically at Russians.
24/ "At this point, "the public, tired of the flow of negative news and failures, will be convinced that the "fifth column" and enemies of the state are in charge of our president.
25/ Then it will be possible to tell the public directly that Putin is an undesirable figure in the leadership of the country, that he is incapable of securing victories, or to effectively manage the army, has brought the country to a dead end, has quarrelled with the…
26/ …international community, and so on."
It advises that the Kremlin should "talk to those of the major information players and stakeholders who are able to hear."
27/ "Kartapolov, Gurulev, Prigozhin, Tsarev, Simonyan, a number of political analysts - they all need to be persuaded to stop whipping up critical hysteria and talking about the shortcomings and so on.
28/ "All their talk about "the truth must be told", they should save it for after the victory.
29/ "We must explain to them firmly that now you are clearly working for our enemies, as evidenced by the documents we have intercepted ... [We must] give them clear instructions that they should curtail this hysterical activity and do not engage in populism.
30/ "We should also have a conversation with Malofeev, with the editorial staff of the Den TV channel (Alexander Alexandrovich), "Den TV" (Alexander Prokhanov) and with Yevgeny Fedorov, the leader of the NOD movement, Zakhar Prilepin.
31/ "We need to hold a big high-level meeting with them and demand to lower the temperature, to turn down the thermostat, so to speak."
32/ The report draws a distinction between media ultra-patriots and "those who are insane and with whom it is impossible to reach an agreement". It calls for "repressive measures" against them. Girkin and other retired military figures are named as specific threats.
33/ "They see themselves as a militia for a future patriotic Maidan. They've already moved beyond criticising Putin, who they see as an enemy of the state and the main obstacle to the victory, they see Putin as a protégé of the oligarchs, a thief and so on, ...
34/ ...and therefore the main evil in the state. They do not believe that there is a good tsar and bad boyars, because for them all tsars and boyars are bad. So they are ready to overthrow him to overthrow him, and they must have weapons."
35/ As well as Girkin, the retired Army officers Vladimir Kvachkov and Leonid Ivashov – who have been outspoken critics of the war – are targeted as well as "similar retired men with epaulettes."
36/ The report calls for them to be "put in serious trouble, like being put under house arrest for a few months, based on suspicion ...
37/ We need to give them some kind of warning, brand them as foreign agents, so that their audience understands that there are questions about them, and that these people are not to be trusted. Then they'll get scared and they'll start to behave."
38/ The report includes a list of objectionable statements made on social media by the people it denounces. It also calls for Russian social media to crack down on the ultra-patriots and cease to be a "thoroughfare for ... Americans, who feel at ease, playing on our territory."
39/ "Firstly, Rutube should be tasked with simply becoming a copy of YouTube, to throw away for the time being all their dreams of becoming something original, remove Gazprom's demand for monetisation, self-sufficiency, and also to capture those users who will leave YouTube if…
40/ …it closes down [sic] ... Secondly, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki should suppress the traffic of Strelkov, Montyan, Kashevarova, Delyagin and others, make it difficult to find them in searches, or better yet, blacklist them or delete their accounts altogether." /end
Sources:
🔹
🔹 https://t.co/85PaWWvKnf
🔹 https://t.co/xqD4nJYL66
🔹 https://t.co/1noe8UmaZa
🔹 https://t.co/KkaMkEQ9skt.me/vchkogpu/40086
t.me/vchkogpu/40106
t.me/vchkogpu/40111
t.me/Tayganews/43736
Full Threadreader version (which provides a link to the original Twitter thread) here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1682683244884500482.html
[X-posted in General Discussion: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218117050 ]
Ukraine: Russia may be cracking down on its deranged war crime cheerleaders. [Threadreader]
The fog of war is ever-present, and not least in the area of propaganda, but this report comes from a reliable source and has been backed by people I consider trustworthy, such as journalist Julia Davis (https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews), who has been translating videos of Russian TV propaganda for some years.
Threadreader version of a Twitter thread:
@ChrisO_wiki
1/ The arrest yesterday of Igor "Strelkov" Girkin may be the start of a crackdown on jingoistic "hurrah-patriots", according to an apparently leaked report which is said to have led to his detention. It also denounces many others including broadcaster Vladimir Solovyov.
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel has published large sections of the lengthy report, which according to State Duma deputy Mikhail Delyagin, was written by his fellow deputy from Kuzbass, the political strategist Oleg Matveychev.
3/ According to VChK-OGPU, the report was received by the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation before the Wagner Group's mutiny. After the mutiny, the go-ahead was given to arrest Girkin.
4/ The report calls for the Kremlin to "take repressive measures against those who are insane and with whom it is impossible to negotiate." It warns that "a militia of people who know how to hold a gun is being formed around Girkin-Strelkov."
5/ The crackdown may go further than Girkin, who is likely to have been seen as a more serious security threat after the Wagner mutiny. Several other people are mentioned in the report, which says they "need to be persuaded to stop whipping up critical hysteria". They include:
6/ 🔺 Andrei Kartapolov and Andrei Gurulev, United Russia State Duma deputies;
🔺 Oleg Tsaryov, the former "speaker of the Novorossiya parliament"
🔺 Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT
7/🔺 Mikhail Delyagin, 'A Just Russia – For Truth' State Duma deputy, who is accused of saying that the ruble might devalue
🔺 Vladimir Solovyov, who is said to host a nightly "gang rape of the authorities" on his show on the Russia-1 channel
8/ The report on "the danger of jingoism in the information space of the Russian Federation" declares that currently "there is an extremely undesirable situation ... with trends that favour the plans of our geopolitical opponent."
9/ It claims that Russia's enemies have placed the "main bet on destabilisation in Russia ... on the so-called hurrah-patriots." ("Hurrah", or Ура́, is a traditional Russian battle cry; "hurrah-patriots" are equivalent to jingoists.)
10/ "The enemies can no longer count on other classes of the population. Liberals and hipsters are demoralised and have also largely left the territory of the Russian Federation and cannot play a significant role.
11/ "The fight against against them is being waged now by inertia, and by inertia the people's anger is directed against them, even though liberals do not pose any threat now. They are incapable of bringing a couple of hundred people onto the streets."
12/ The report calls on the Kremlin to "stop harassing them and fuelling social discord in the country" and to "leave the liberals and those who have left alone".
13/ Although the Communists and other leftists are "ready to warm up their hands on any difficulties of power", for now "they are not particularly dangerous, in view of their low ratings."
14/ A much greater danger comes from the right – "the patriotic public [figures], who, it would seem, stand for the protection of the state and public order, but in fact broadcast so-called military special propaganda."
15/ The report calls for the government to "stop pumping up the patriotic wave and inciting hatred, because this hatred and this wave represent a much greater danger."
16/ This includes activities by 'official patriots' in state-run media, who the report says "work against the state for free as 'useful idiots'."
17/ "For example, in the programme 'Evening with Vladimir Solovyov' there is every time essentially a gang rape of the authorities. The speakers are constantly kicking the authorities for various shortcomings in their activities."
18/ The report notes that many of the 'ultra-patriots' have criticised difficulties in military operations, the lack of uniforms and medical supplies, the shelling of Russian border regions and issues with mobilisation, taking a 'benevolent' position of sincere concern.
19/ It complains that "a large number of war correspondents who are sent from our official media and who, supposedly, should be subordinated to the management and editors-in-chief of these media outlets [should not] spout all sorts of rubbish in their Telegram feeds."
20/ The report claims that Western "curators" are "pump[ing] traffic to these figures [and] think that at this stage it is necessary to drum into the heads of the population the existence of a huge number of problems and the traitors who create these problems."
21/ It warns that 'ultra-patriots' have created "an image of a so-called "fifth column" around Putin, which creates problems and which does not let the right information and true patriots reach Putin upstairs." The report forecasts an erosion of confidence in the government.
22/ At some point, the report says, "when confidence in the institutions of power in the institutions of power is lost, [they will] strike a final blow to the president and declare that "the fish rots from the head," preparing the way for Putin's overthrow.
23/ The next Russian presidential election in March 2024 is highlighted as the moment when the blow will come from "the information troops of NATO and Ukraine." Ukrainian propaganda is said to have become much more sophisticated and aimed specifically at Russians.
24/ "At this point, "the public, tired of the flow of negative news and failures, will be convinced that the "fifth column" and enemies of the state are in charge of our president.
25/ Then it will be possible to tell the public directly that Putin is an undesirable figure in the leadership of the country, that he is incapable of securing victories, or to effectively manage the army, has brought the country to a dead end, has quarrelled with the…
26/ …international community, and so on."
It advises that the Kremlin should "talk to those of the major information players and stakeholders who are able to hear."
27/ "Kartapolov, Gurulev, Prigozhin, Tsarev, Simonyan, a number of political analysts - they all need to be persuaded to stop whipping up critical hysteria and talking about the shortcomings and so on.
28/ "All their talk about "the truth must be told", they should save it for after the victory.
29/ "We must explain to them firmly that now you are clearly working for our enemies, as evidenced by the documents we have intercepted ... [We must] give them clear instructions that they should curtail this hysterical activity and do not engage in populism.
30/ "We should also have a conversation with Malofeev, with the editorial staff of the Den TV channel (Alexander Alexandrovich), "Den TV" (Alexander Prokhanov) and with Yevgeny Fedorov, the leader of the NOD movement, Zakhar Prilepin.
31/ "We need to hold a big high-level meeting with them and demand to lower the temperature, to turn down the thermostat, so to speak."
32/ The report draws a distinction between media ultra-patriots and "those who are insane and with whom it is impossible to reach an agreement". It calls for "repressive measures" against them. Girkin and other retired military figures are named as specific threats.
33/ "They see themselves as a militia for a future patriotic Maidan. They've already moved beyond criticising Putin, who they see as an enemy of the state and the main obstacle to the victory, they see Putin as a protégé of the oligarchs, a thief and so on, ...
34/ ...and therefore the main evil in the state. They do not believe that there is a good tsar and bad boyars, because for them all tsars and boyars are bad. So they are ready to overthrow him to overthrow him, and they must have weapons."
35/ As well as Girkin, the retired Army officers Vladimir Kvachkov and Leonid Ivashov – who have been outspoken critics of the war – are targeted as well as "similar retired men with epaulettes."
36/ The report calls for them to be "put in serious trouble, like being put under house arrest for a few months, based on suspicion ...
37/ We need to give them some kind of warning, brand them as foreign agents, so that their audience understands that there are questions about them, and that these people are not to be trusted. Then they'll get scared and they'll start to behave."
38/ The report includes a list of objectionable statements made on social media by the people it denounces. It also calls for Russian social media to crack down on the ultra-patriots and cease to be a "thoroughfare for ... Americans, who feel at ease, playing on our territory."
39/ "Firstly, Rutube should be tasked with simply becoming a copy of YouTube, to throw away for the time being all their dreams of becoming something original, remove Gazprom's demand for monetisation, self-sufficiency, and also to capture those users who will leave YouTube if…
40/ …it closes down [sic] ... Secondly, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki should suppress the traffic of Strelkov, Montyan, Kashevarova, Delyagin and others, make it difficult to find them in searches, or better yet, blacklist them or delete their accounts altogether." /end
Sources:
🔹
🔹 https://t.co/85PaWWvKnf
🔹 https://t.co/xqD4nJYL66
🔹 https://t.co/1noe8UmaZa
🔹 https://t.co/KkaMkEQ9skt.me/vchkogpu/40086
t.me/vchkogpu/40106
t.me/vchkogpu/40111
t.me/Tayganews/43736
Full Threadreader version (which provides a link to the original Twitter thread) here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1682683244884500482.html
[X-posted in Foreign Affairs: https://www.democraticunderground.com/113337432]
As a Brit, my recollection of DU in the run-up and aftermath of the Brexit vote seems different
to that of many of those who've replied above with no sympathy and claiming the whole rest of the world knew Brexit was a damn fool idea.
I remember days of fevered posting on General Discussion where many of we UK DUers were pitched in long exchanges with US members who cheered the result as one in the eye for the Big Bad EU and neoliberal corporatism and various other buzzwords. Some even tried to interpret the result as a win in class terms.
It got so heated and exhausting that a number of us hunkered down in the UK Group to commiserate and share solidarity.
If anyone doubts what I'm saying, just search DU before and especially after 23 June 2016. The posts and replies are still there, both in GD and the UK group.
Sure, the Brexit we ended up with after all the debates in parliament was just about the worst possible in terms of how "hard" it ended up being, but almost all of us from the UK knew there was going to be a catastrophic outcome from the start.
Starmer needs to reflect on the importance of offering the electorate something other than
"Tory-lite" fronted by a charismaless stuffed shirt with no principles or backbone.
The London ULEZ was introduced by Boris Johnson when he was London mayor in 2015:
...
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “The world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone is an essential measure to help improve air quality in our city, protect the health of Londoners, and lengthen our lead as the greatest city on earth. With additional funds announced today, more help is on the way for taxi drivers to support their transition to the latest technology in greener cabs. Together we can ensure everyone who lives, works in, or visits our city has the cleanest possible air to breathe.”
https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/ultra-low-emission-zone
Now, for some reason, he's changed his tune:
Boris Johnson slams expansion of Ulez that he created while mayor
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/ulez-expansion-london-boris-johnson-daily-mirror-column-b1093044.html
Everybody knows that Johnson doesn't feel bound by the same rules as everyone else, including regarding consistency from day to day. Matching him at his game isn't a winning look for Labour:
...
It comes after Labour candidate Danny Beales in Uxbridge and South Ruislip - Mr Johnson’s former constituency - called for a delay to the zone’s extension due to the rising cost of living, despite previously defending the policy.
... Starmer said it was “right” for the Uxbridge candidate to “stand up” for his potential constituents but argued Mr Khan had been left with no “wriggle room” on the issue.
The Opposition leader told LBC he recognised that the move would cause “pain” and it would be “a lot of money” for motorists to have to pay during the current cost-of-living crisis.
But he said it was “important to make clear” that there was a “legal obligation on the mayor to take measures” in relation to air pollution.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/ulez-expansion-london-boris-johnson-daily-mirror-column-b1093044.html
That legal obligation is because Tory Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps twisted Sadiq Khan's arm to reintroduce and expand ULEZ as a condition of extra funding for Transport for London in the recovery period during the aftermath of COVID:
If Labour chickens out so easily even when faced with wide open goals like these against blatant Tory humbug, who can trust them to govern or believe any campaign promises they make?
Maybe Labour would have won the byelection if they hadn't parachuted in a raw Starmer fanboy as candidate and actually demonstrated some principles and vision beyond "there isn't any money" for a change.
Election ad: Ohio Republicans in Your Bedroom
I copy-edit almost solely non-fiction and academic titles.
Even the best and most authoritative authors need assistance in ensuring their ideas are expressed clearly and that they haven't had inadvertent mental glitches, even before you get anywhere near fact-checking.
Those who aren't the best sometimes need a great deal of help with English issues, especially if it's not their first language, which isn't uncommon as English is the lingua franca for most subjects.
If anything's unclear in what a human author's written, we can raise queries with them and clear issues up, or if they're incompetent, we can apply common sense or our own real-world knowledge and research as best we can to get the job done. I'm not sure how that would work with an AI author. I'm not sure at all how it would work with AI copy-editors working on AI-generated text!
But the technology's been creeping in to copy-editing work for years in the form of automated "assistants" using AI (which are not infrequently more of a hindrance than a help), though so far they still need humans as the final arbiters, and maybe always will unless standards slip even more than they have already over the last few decades.
The pressures are likely to be higher in non-fiction because academics have to publish to survive nowadays, even if they sometimes have nothing new to say ("sometimes" may be a bit generous there). Plagiarism is already a major issue, and efforts to detect it have been automated to a certain extent - often using AI. Detecting AI-generated copy will pose its own challenges, and so the arms race will continue - and no doubt involve pitting AI against AI!
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Member since: Mon Sep 7, 2009, 12:57 AM
Number of posts: 7,286