Branislav Slantchev @slantchev Twitter profile

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Branislav Slantchev

5 months

Friends: Hein Goemans and I have a piece in Foreign Affairs explaining why negotiated peace is very unlikely because of Russia.

The Obstacles to Diplomacy in Ukraine

Russia’s extreme demands—and Ukraine’s desire to survive—make negotiations unlikely.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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@RimmKing86

Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

27 days

One interesting aspect of the Ukrainian Kursk incursion is that Russian civilians did not clamor to get arms to fight the invaders, did not organize spontaneously into territorial defense units, and did not try to resist. 1/3

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

27 days

Another somewhat infuriating thing is listening to Russian complaining how they supported the SVO, did their patriotic duty, and now are left defenseless -- and then asking why the Ukrainians are attacking them. The disconnect from reality is nearly total. 3/3

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

Lots of doom & gloom about Ukraine, so let me remind you: 1) RU gains are steady but small, extremely costly, and at a time when UA is at weakest (exhausted from last year offensive and without significant Western support since start of year) 1/3

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

27 days

They fled -- often without any help from authorities, leaving their belongings to looters, complained in videos to Putin -- where they blamed the bad bureaucrats & begged for help, or just stayed put to wait it out. 2/3

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Europeans: Americans don’t know any history! Brits:

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

The movie Oppenheimer seems to have revived the debate about the role of the nukes in ending the Pacific War. They did, but not in the way people seem to imagine. A thread. 1/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

While I agree with the conclusion of this article, the analysis is flawed in several aspects. It suggests that Russian society is unified in mobilization for war and things are going great for Putin. The evidence & logic, however, are… meh. 1/11

Why Russia Is Happy at War

A centuries-long tradition of authoritarian rule and disregard for individual rights underpins Vladimir Putin’s imperial project.

www.theatlantic.com

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

“Never forget that England imposed this war on us” Says the banner above Goebbels’s head as he delivers a speech in 1942. The original from which the Kremlin cribbed “the Anglo-Saxons made us do it”. If it worked for the Nazis then, why wouldn’t it work for the fascists now?

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

2) Putin knows this — ask yourself why RU is so desperate for victories at any cost of time was on their side — it isn’t, and the Kremlin knows it. Have faith in Ukrainians, call your rep in Congress to demand aid, demand Biden to get rid of escalation managers and lead instead

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

The “NATO made Russia invade Ukraine” crowd wants you to believe that verbal “assurances” (mostly about DDR) were some iron-clad guarantees but actual documents (Charter of Paris, 1990), Belavezha Accords (1991), CIS Treaty (1991), Budapest Memorandum (1994) were meaningless.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

After careful analysis & much thought, I have narrowed down the possible lines of attack for the coming Ukrainian offensive to the most likely ones given OSINT. Follow me for more hot takes on the war.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

The collapse of the Russian labor market. 🧵 According to official statistics (), the number of workers between the ages of 19 and 35 has decreased by 1.34 million in 2022, the largest such decline since the fall of the USSR. 1/7

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

I’m genuinely puzzled how many times the Kremlin has to say that this is an imperial war of conquest before some people begin to accept it. It wasn’t NATO, it wasn’t Nazis, it wasn’t security, it wasn’t preservation of Russia. It was always, always, about conquest and control.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

CZ-organized shells will reach frontline soon, UA is going to mobilize more / rotate troops, UA facilities are coming online & US will eventually get its act together (pressure here is mounting) 2/3

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

There was a time when Hungarians knew what Russian rule meant. Not today.

Daractenus

@Daractenus

3 months

Quite a large number of Hungarians took to the streets in Budapest (布达佩斯) in a “Peace March” against the "escalation of the conflict in Ukraine". They also demanded all military aid for Ukraine (of which Hungary gave absolutely none) be stopped immediately.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

@_leszek_ Russia isn’t a superpower. What superpower goes begging for weapons to Iran and North Korean? Most of the Russian war effort is sustained by the large but finite Soviet-era stocks. Also, “chose to antagonize” is equivalent to “she chose to wear a short skirt” for a rape victim.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

4 months

The Cyrillic alphabet isn’t Russian but Bulgarian.

Kyle D.

@kynakwado

4 months

@kamilkazani I'm surprised I haven't seen more Ukrainians call for Latinization.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Your periodic reminder that this is the authority that Mearsheimer cites for insights on the war in Ukraine.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Given all the propaganda about how Russia’s vast manpower resources mean that it can feed its people into the Ukrainian meatgrinder forever, the skyrocketing price of new recruits might come as a surprise. 1/2

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

Agent Mearsheimov got activated to throw himself in the defense of the Russian second line at Verbove.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Chomsky is deranged:

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

I should also note that there really was not much of a debate about whether the nukes should be used. It is difficult to imagine a US Pres not using them if they could save hundreds of thousands of US lives. Both sides were racing to make them & both would have used them. 14/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

26 days

I have the feeling one of the goals of the Kursk operation is to demonstrate to the Biden escalation managers that there’s nothing to manage. It’s incredible that Washington is STILL restricting Ukraine.

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧

@ColbyBadhwar

26 days

🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇦 I will remind everyone that even if the UK authorizes Ukraine to use their weapons on Russian territory, in the case of long range munitions like Storm Shadow, they still cannot. Zelensky said that the Biden Admin is threatening to terminate military aid if they strike

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

2 months

Russia’s central banker Nabiullina said that “the Russian economy has deviated significantly from forecasts” and that “risks of inflation have not just increased but were realized.” The Bank is likely to increase the interest rate to 18% this month.

В Центробанке РФ допустили повышение ключевой ставки

Глава Банка России Эльвира Набиуллина заявила, что российская экономика существенно отклонилась от базового сценария, поэтому Центробанк в июле обсудит повышение ставки. Об этом пишет ТАСС .

www.gazeta.ru

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Russia simply cannot win a war of attrition given its isolation, demographics, and unjust nature of war it is waging. I don’t care how many references to some mythical special “Rusianness” of the population one conjures up. 11/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

Sachs is plumbing depths I didn’t know existed. The longer this war goes on, the more obvious the complete moral rot of some Western academics, not to mention the revelation of how stupid they really are.

Vladimir Soloviev

@VRSoloviev

5 months

Jeffrey Sachs joins us on Russian television and radio to talk about the terror attack in Moscow, war in Ukraine & much more.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

16 days

If the Russians really believed the state propaganda about the Ukrainians, they would have rushed to defend Kursk oblast, civilians and all. It looks like a repeat of communism: private truths, public lies. Everyone knows it but says the opposite. 1/2

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

4 months

Repeat after me: country U using weapons made in some country A to strike country R does not mean A and R are at war. Otherwise Switzerland and Sweden would be at war with half the world. Also repeat after me: people who peddle this nonsense are Kremlin shills.

Tuomas Malinen

@mtmalinen

4 months

Repeat after time. Geopolitics is not about fairness. Never has and never will be. You arguing for Ukraine's right to strike to Russia, with weapons provided by NATO, are urging for NATO-Russia war.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

Medvedev: Russia must destroy Ukraine as a state so that not even ashes would remain. Western Tankies: It was NATO expansion, wasn’t it?

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Russia is very isolated internationally—Hungary is only relevant as a Trojan Horse in Europe, India is gorging itself on Russian oil at basement prices, and China is robbing Russia blind because the Kremlin has no choice but accept the hard bargains. These aren’t friends. 8/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

2 months

Sanctions Don’t Work, Right? Right? The Deputy Head of the Russian Central Bank Chistyukhin warned that the new wave of Western sanctions that blocked payments in dollars and Euros threatens the Russian economy with “death.” 1/6

В ЦБ заявили об угрозе смерти российской экономики из-за санкций

www.moscowtimes.ru

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

It is worth noting that Stalin's decision to invade on August 9th was prompted by Hiroshima -- it had originally been scheduled for mid August -- as he was afraid the Japanese might surrender before USSR could enter and deny him participation in the division of the spoils. 12/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

The Russian army spent half a year advancing 5km in a few sectors — this at a time of max advantage with fresh forces while Ukraine was exhausted by last year’s offensive & without critical help from West. The window for gains is rapidly closing now. 10/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

The author seems unaware that there’s no “second” mobilization because the “first” never ended. The estimated 30k mobilized per month are barely enough to replace the losses, which are staggering. 6/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

Still, since he was obliged to enter by agreement with US, the Japanese strategy had been doomed already. They just did not know it. The dual shocks of the USSR breaking the non-aggression pact and the USA apparently having more than one nuke caused the surrender. 13/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

At the time of surrender, Japan had over 2 million men ready to fight. The incendiary raids on major cities (firebombing of Tokyo killed as many as a nuke) had not undermined morale. The dogged defense of Okinawa showed that invasion could be exceedingly costly. 2/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

The losses now are actually higher than for most of the war because of continued attempts to advance, which is the opposite of the author’s assertion that life expectancy on the front has improved, bringing in more volunteers. 7/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

The GDP growth comes entirely from the military sector at the expense of squeezing consumption. Everything is getting more expensive in Russia as government cuts subsidies domestically: medical care, utilities, and eventually food. 3/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

This dashed the hope for Stalin mediating, but -- more to the point -- the Soviet invasion of Manchuria shattered the Kwantung Army. This meant Japan no longer had its most capable force on which it had built its defense strategy and hopes for negotiating better terms. 9/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

The mass mobilization of society is unsustainable without war on Russian soil. The Soviet stocks, while enormous, are being depleted without replacement at rates to make up for the losses in Ukraine. Bakeries into drone factories only works of you are invaded. 9/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

What the author takes as country being flooded with cash — high wages for soldiers and defense workers — is indicative of shortages of volunteers and labor. Businesses can’t find enough workers & labor shortfall is projected to rise to 2.5 million by 2030. 5/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Import substitution works for replacing McDonald’s burgers but not high precision machinery that is all Western-sourced. It can’t make the Western planes fly. The Chinese can step in for some things but not all, and not without problems (see below). 4/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

The debate continued for two meetings after Nagasaki, but the combined impact of the nukes and Soviet entry on the US side led even War Minister Anami to say that "there is no chance of winning based on mathematical calculation." Emperor's intervention had support now. 11/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

@matthewstoller Should we revisit your original question?

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

4 months

Russians: We have murdered hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, and now need to keep slaughtering Ukrainians so we can make sure we brainwash their kids. Idiot Westerners: Putin wants peace, and NATO stands in the way.

Natalka

@NatalkaKyiv

4 months

“This is why we need to finish what we’ve started. We’ll have to work with these people, with these children for many years. Work with propaganda. Offer them some benefits. “ - Mariana Naumova, Russian political talk show host, and war correspondent speaking about the need to

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

4 months

It can’t be just Sullivan. This is on Biden. The ridiculousness of this policy and the administration’s utter refusal to explain itself continue to baffle me.

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧

@ColbyBadhwar

4 months

❗🇺🇲🇺🇦 House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman McCaul takes Secretary of State Blinken to task over the Biden Admin's refusal to allow Ukraine to use US weapons to strike Russian targets. He notes that Jake Sullivan seems to be the primary actor behind this policy and demands

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

This is no mystery. The Russians ALWAYS intended to de-Ukrainize any conquered territories, they merely underestimated the numbers they would have to murder. Genocide was always part of the plan, not a by-product of failure.

ChrisO_wiki

@ChrisO_wiki

2 years

1/ One of the biggest mysteries of this war, at least to me, is why the Russians don't seem to have undertaken any kind of hearts and minds efforts. They undermined their own occupation with relentless looting and brutality.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

I’ll just go ahead and say that the 75% support for the regime cited from polls is utter nonsense. Too many people have discussed this so I won’t belabor it. We just don’t know & can’t really know. So let’s look at other indicators. 2/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

2 months

@Daractenus This is what happens when you accidentally neglect to steal pages 344 through 412.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

2 years

@igorsushko Volya sounded the tocsin about an invasion from Belarus weeks ago -- complete with "our Russian sources are no longer responding to our calls" to indicate it's started. I think their Russian sources are conducting disinfo campaigns through Volya to distract ZSU.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

On August 6, the US dropped the nuke on Hiroshima. The Supreme Council refused to even convene -- they had suffered similar losses before, and it was unclear how many nukes the US had. But then, on August 9, the USSR declared war on Japan, breaking its non-aggression pact. 8/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

The reality is that Russia has a huge manpower problem that is steadily growing worse. It can’t keep up inflating the wages, which means that it will have to resort to increasingly draconian measures including new open mobilization, something Putin has sought to avoid. 2/2

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

How can anyone take seriously a clown who says that defending Ukraine is “pro-war” and giving the aggressor Russia what it wants is giving “peace a chance”?

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

The Ukrainian counter-offensive hasn’t begun but the Russian counter-retreat has.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

The idea was to "inflict tremendous losses, forcing [the enemy] to realize the strong fighting spirit of the Japanese Army and people [and thus] bring about the termination of hostilities on comparatively favorable terms" (General Miyazaki). 5/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Chomsky’s (and people like him) problem isn’t so much the criticism of US policies, which is often fair, but the adamant refusal to apply the same analysis to America’s adversaries—and ending up an apologist for all sorts of garbage regimes and their policies.

Sergey Mohov 🇺🇦

@krides

3 months

Heads up that I will block anyone who says anything whatsoever positive about Noam “Genocide Denier in Chief” Chomsky. Gramps is beyond any kind of redemption. Goebbels of the tankies, he stayed true to his hateful ideas until, hopefully now, the end. Fuck him and his fanclub.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

4 months

The entire Kremlin has gone to China to beg Xi to help them. I can only imagine the kind of concessions Putin and his lackeys are agreeing to there. It’s like back in the times of the Golden Horde when Russian princess had to travel to the Khan to pledge loyalty & offer tribute.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

4 months

“Moscow is signaling to the West that Zelenskyy needs to be removed” is all you need to know about this analyst who somehow manages to push Kremlin narratives while simultaneously m failing to understand that we neither put Zelenskyy in power nor can/should remove him.

Tatiana Stanovaya

@Stanovaya

4 months

#Putin has claimed for the second time in a week that #Zelensky is illegitimate. In the latest December issue of the R.Politik bulletin (which is free, by the way, so feel free to check it out), I wrote that the Kremlin is signaling to the West that #Zelensky needs to be removed,

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

29 days

Putin gets in touch with Stalin’s spirit. - Josif Vissarionovich, there are German tanks in Kursk once again! What shall I do? - Do what I did during WWII: ask the Americans for Lend-Lease and pack your army with Ukrainian soldiers.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

As PM Suzuki remarked at news, "Is the Kwantung army that weak? Then the game is up." While hardened militarists like Army Chief of Staff Umezu still claimed strategy was doable, the majority now disagreed. The Nagasaki bombed dropped while the Council was still debating. 10/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

The US estimated "tremendous casualties" in invading the home islands indeed. While some fanciful projections had them to nearly a million, credible ones put the invasion of Kyushu alone at 63k-100k US casualties. The Japanese strategy could have worked IF they could do it. 7/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

@matthewstoller Do you think the US should’ve gotten involved in world war 2?

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

@petite_michelle

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

26 days

@DuffMhan I watched a video of a Ukrainian soldier outside of a supermarket in one of the captured towns — he was disappointed with the selection.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

But how could they do that? Japan was in precarious position, but on June 6 the Supreme Council argued that fighting had to continue in the home islands in order to preserve the nation. Not to win -- it would be impossible -- but to provide a better basis for negotiations. 4/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

The Myth of the Lost Peace of 2022 This claim that the warring sides "almost finished an agreement" is entirely unsupported by the evidence. In fact, this article points to precisely the opposite: there was NO agreement to be had in the spring of 2022. Let me explain. 1/9

Sergey Radchenko

@DrRadchenko

5 months

Foreign Affairs published today the results of a most fruitful collaboration between @scharap and yours truly, an article on the failed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine (March-April 2022). .

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

2 months

My God! We can’t have a defensive alliance because one of its members could be attacked! Remind me why NATO was created in the first place.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Another one of those “voters are too dumb to appreciate my genius” losers.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

FM Togo had been trying to get the Soviets to mediate with the US but Stalin had other plans so USSR was silent. Emperor wanted to end the war in mid July but cabinet decided to continue to improve the diplomatic siuation. 3/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

The key to this was the best Japanese army, which was then stationed in Manchuria (the Kwantung Army), which would be withdrawn to the home islands for their defense. 6/14

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

Hein Goemans and I apply war termination theory (that we've both contributed to developing) to argue that Western calls for peace would prolong the war, and for peace to have a chance, Moscow must be convinced that the West will not abandon Ukraine.

Why Ukraine Shouldn’t Talk to Russia—Yet

Until the fighting makes both sides converge over the war’s realistic outcome, the West would undermine its ally by advocating for a peace deal.

www.theatlantic.com

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

18 days

We are not talking enough about Putin's astonishing inability to deal with the Kursk incursion. Can you imagine another country invading the US and the President pretending nothing happened? The debility of the Kremlin is on full display, and nobody can pretend otherwise.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

72% of Austrians believe other EU states should help them militarily if they are attacked, but less than 14% would come to the aid of another EU state if it’s attacked. What is the medical term for this derangement?

Velina Tchakarova

@vtchakarova

5 months

Neutralität in Österreich: 1) Im Fall eines bewaffneten Angriffs auf Österreich, sind nur 14% gewillt, das Land mit der Waffe zu verteidigen. 2) 72% denken, dass andere Mitgliedsstaaten der EU Österreich militärisch unterstützen sollten, wenn Österreich militärisch angegriffen

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

4 months

Purges in Russia's military. Shoigu pushed aside, and then arrests as of today: 1) Ivanov (deputy defmin) 2) Shamarin (deputy army GenStaff) 3) Kuznetsov (head personnel defmin) 4) Popov (ex-cmd 58th army) 5) Talayev (deputy fed prison Moscow) 6) Verteletsky (defmin procurement)

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

2 months

I’m just going to post about Kallas a few more times because she’s great but also because tankies fucking hate her. Like, really really hate her. And it’s a joy to behold.

@BrennpunktUA 🇩🇪🇺🇦

@BrennpunktUA

2 months

Ladies and Gentlemen, The new High Representative of the European Union 🇪🇺 for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy @kajakallas „Ukraine 🇺🇦 has to win the war and Russia 🇷🇺 must understand they lost. — This is our Plan A, B and C“

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

2 months

The massive attack on Kallas by pro-Kremlin bots is so widespread, it even shows up in replies of small accounts like mine. The Russians will use every trick in the propaganda book to discredit her.

Artur Rehi

@ArturRehi

2 months

The appointment of Kaja Kallas ( @kajakallas ) as the EU foreign affairs chief has caused great anger among Russians. This is not only in Russia, but also among many who live in Europe, primarily in Estonia. The number of messages in social networks and the media aimed at 1/11

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Since the zombie narrative of the West tricking the poor Russians with assurances not to expand NATO east have made a comeback, and because the Kremlin trolls are just too numerous to respond to individually, I wrote up my view here:

The False Narrative of “Broken Promises” To Not Enlarge NATO

June 23, 2024 (In this installment, I cover the crucial period from 1989 to the 1999 NATO enlargement. The subsequent developments will be dealt with in a follow-up essay.) In recent days, both Pre…

slantchev.wordpress.com

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

@matthewstoller It’s unclear why you think that Russia revising territorial borders by force would have no significant repercussions for Europe or Asia. Maybe it would be easier if you said why we should have intervened in Europe (with or without Hitler declaring war on us).

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

26 days

@RichardOakes9 I think they are deathly afraid of it. You never know which way the Russians would march if you gave them weapons. Likely, Moscow.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Gazprom announces that the gas production has fallen to its lowest level for the entire history of the company, down 30% from prewar levels. So much for the “freezing of Europe.” 1/3

«Газпром» отчитался о крушении добычи газа до минимума за всю историю компании

www.moscowtimes.ru

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

2 years

@EdKrassen Me, drinking MAGA tears from snowflakes responding to this tweet.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

@osint_69 That's not in Russia. For an OSINT account, not to notice the clothes of people in the background and the fact that the comments aren't speaking Russian is an interesting lapse.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

From the series “Sanctions Don’t Work and Russia’s Finances are Stronger Than Ever” Several weeks ago, the Russian Ministry of Finance stopped issuing government bonds needed to fund the victorious war & booming economy due to “market volatility.” 1/7

Минфин отменил один аукцион ОФЗ, привлек на другом 20,7 млрд р, затем провел допразмещение

Reuters -

www.moscowtimes.ru

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

4 months

He’s insane. This is what Putin is doing to Ukraine. We should have absolutely no part in this territorial conquest.

Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي

@NTarnopolsky

4 months

💥NatSecMin Itamar Ben Gvir, on The Day After: • Only Israel will control Gaza. • Israel will occupy Gaza, completely & fully including Jewish settlement in entire enclave & "encouragement of voluntary migration" of Gazans. • He wants to move to Gaza.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

Musk now has a third “explanation” of why he turned off Starlink: it was because of US sanctions against Russia… but Crimea is internationally recognized as Ukraine. Let’s wait for “explanation” number 4. All of this has the hallmarks of trying to find some, any, excuse.

Yasmina

@yasminalombaert

1 year

Musk voiced another version of his refusal to turn on Starlink during the planned attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Crimea. Musk explained that his refusal to activate the Starlink satellite communication service in Crimea in 2022, as Kyiv requested, was caused by

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

Your daily reminder that this big brain is the main source of battlefield insight for Mearsheimer.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

6 months

This guy here is who Mearsheimer regularly cites as an authority on the war in Ukraine. And no, it’s not part of our playbook in case you were wondering.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Putin’s plan is Stalin’s plan which was the Romanov plan. Which is to deport the “wrong” people and import the “right” people. As I’ve argued repeatedly, if allowed to continue, the policy will work. Look at what happened to native Kazakhs in Kazakhstan.

Russia moves to change the ethnic makeup of occupied Ukraine by deporting Ukrainians and importing...

Russia is openly seeking to eradicate Ukrainian identity on Ukrainian territory, with one of the methods being to bring in its own people, very likely offering them ‘homes’ plundered from their...

khpg.org

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 month

What an idiotic position: the Russians have been enabling Putin’s war for over two years. What “propaganda material” is he on about? The Russians won’t do anything until the fridge defeats the TV. Sanctions must stay and be intensified.

The Anti-Corruption Foundation

@ACF_int

1 month

❗️Vladimir Kara-Murza emphasized that Western sanctions should be targeted at #Putin , not at Russian citizens and the entire country. "This is extremely unfair and counterproductive because it gives Putin's propaganda material that 'we are in the ring of enemies, in a besieged

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

The revelations keep coming. As I’ve been saying, Putin did not go off half-cocked in Ukraine. The Russians had been laying the groundwork for years.

Daractenus

@Daractenus

3 months

The former Chief of Staff of the Moldovan army (until 2021) has been accused of treason and seems to be a GRU informant (Russian Military Intelligence Agency). Some extracts from his discussions with his handler (a GRU Colonel) have been published and are rather interesting:

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

5 months

Shooting down Russian drones and missiles over Ukraine would make us no more active belligerents against Russia than last night’s shooting down of Iranian ones did against Iran.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

This article is a pile of steaming shit, to use scholarly jargon. The Russians have never, NOT ONCE, evinced any reduction of their principal war aims since the start of the war. They have demanded capitulation. There’s NEVER been a chance for peace.

‘Milley had a point’

www.politico.com

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Merkel is going to turn out to be Lubyanka’s most successful agent. Newly declassified documents show that she left Germany’s gas storage practically empty right before leaving office at the end of 2021, exposing the country to gas blackmail from Russia.

Handelsblatt: Меркель молчала про газовый шантаж Путина

Россия оставила Германию осенью 2021 года с полупустыми газохранилищами, но прежнее правительство ФРГ угрозу упорно игнорировало, свидетельствуют рассекреченные документы.

www.dw.com

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

4 months

The Heritage Foundation is now a full Kremlin asset after the changes in leadership over the recent years. This isn’t the foundation you knew. They are to be disregarded like the other idiots like Quincy.

Alex Velez-Green

@Alex_agvg

4 months

If Taiwan falls, it will be in substantial part because the United States spent years pouring weapons, money, political capital & other scarce resources into Ukraine at the expense of our ability to arm Taiwan's military & strengthen our own deterrent in the Pacific. Rather

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

If the UN — that bastion of whitewashing Russia’s genocide — finally admits it, then it must be true. Russia is waging a genocidal war and is committing war crimes in broad daylight. Where is the global response?

Widespread use of torture by Russian military in Ukraine appears deliberate: UN expert

GENEVA (15 June 2023) – The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards today expressed alarm at reports and testimonies which appear to indicate that Russian military forces in Ukraine are...

www.ohchr.org

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

2 months

Before going gaga over Solzhenitsyn, realize that he was a Russian imperialist through and through. Today, he would support Putin & his mystical Orthodox nonsense. People need to understand that anti-communist isn’t automatically someone you should agree with.

Jeremy Wayne Tate

@JeremyTate41

2 months

The most famous commencement speech of the entire 20th century took place at Harvard University in 1978. The speaker, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, was in exile from the Soviet Union. In his speech Solzhenitsyn gave a dire warning to the West. 22 chilling quotes from his speech🧵

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

After initially claiming that the cracks on the Crimean Bridge columns were drawn with permanent markers by Ukrainian-trained battle dolphins, the Kremlin releases a photo showing that they have already been fixed.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

Who could’ve guessed the Grayzone is a foreign influence peddler? Everyone. Literally everyone with half a brain. So, basically only about a third of twitter.

Kareem Rifai 🌐

@KareemRifai

3 months

JUST NOW: Hacked documents reveal that Grayzone Managing Editor Wyatt Reed received thousands of dollars in payments from PressTV, an Iranian state-funded propaganda organization.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

3 months

The crocodile tears cried by Kremlin terrorists over the civilians killed in Crimea when they have been celebrating the murder of Ukrainian civilians for over two years are repulsive. Russians can immediately end any danger to civilians by packing their shit and leaving Ukraine.

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Branislav Slantchev

@slantchev

1 year

Too many people are fleeing the country or being sent to the front, & they are precisely in the age groups that are likely to have modern skills that Russia desperately needs. No replacements are coming b/c of demographic hole either. It's going to get much, much worse. 7/7

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