Tootfinder

Polish man who denied Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was likely killed in Russian pretrial detention, reports say: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/07/polish-man-who-denied-russias.html

Gives the tragedy of the Russian aggression of Ukraine its full depth. :-(

Rright now it is unlikely that Trump gets a "rally around the flag" boost for his seizing of Maduro as
1) it didn’t happen with his invasion of cities or his attack on Iran
2) the country just isn’t on board some kind of extended military campaign in Venezuela
3) it increasingly feels like Trump has no real plan for what comes next in Venezuela, and like Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, thought the government would just fall and he could waltz into the Capital.

Trump Starts Underwater In Initial Venezuela Poll, US Oil Industry Not Rushing To Return, Chaos Reigns This Morning
This week Democrats must remind the world that we are still fighting for freedom, democracy, and rule of law here and everywhere.....

"Russian oligarch, Mikhail Fridman... [may] use the tribunal to challenge the sanctions the UK levied against him after the invasion of Ukraine. He has already started suing Luxembourg for this reason, demanding $16bn (£12.1bn): half that government’s annual revenue. Among the lawyers representing him there? Cherie Blair, wife of the former British prime minister"
#Kleptocrats<…

2/2 Reflection on #citizenship:
I do not treat the concept of “#democracy" lightly. I was born into the aftermath of centuries of totalitarian oppression that ended suddenly, leaving the nascent Ukrainian state of the late 90s and early 2000s floundering in the turbulent whirlpool of hopes and fears felt by millions of people who were finally allowed to ponder: how to build a free democratic state in the place of Soviet and imperial ruins?
I was taught the words "democracy", "citizen", "freedom", "voting", “liberty" (and more) by people who, less than two decades prior, weren't allowed to leave the borders of their country. I was told about self-determination by people whose political choices were ridiculed, punished, and eviscerated form most of their lives. The duty of governing ourselves felt to us ephemeral - a nice fantasy, akin to a fairytale or a utopia from fictional works.
And then I saw those same people fight with their bodies and souls once the previously unfathomable democracy was threatened. Protests in 2004, then again in 2014, then the unthinkable war against foreign invasion in 2022. Democracy no longer felt abstract or silly. It became as tangible as saying "I love you".
I write of Ukraine as I reflect on becoming a citizen of another country because the history and values of my adopted United States feel as real as the skin on my legs, the significance of its legacy lays as heavy as the weight of my waist-long hair, and the desire to uphold the freedoms of its Constitution burns my throat as harshly as dehydration after a long day in the sun.
People have asked me why I even want to join this country, when the present moment is shrouded in impenetrable darkness. And I answer: because I've felt the warmth of a newly lit fire of freedom breaking through shadows that for centuries looked like solid walls. I have seen kindness, and solidarity heal the fear and hate of oppression. I've seen liberty emerge from nothing but the human soul.
I am not a religious person, but I have faith. Faith in the ideals at the foundation of the American project. Faint but powerful recognition that "we the people" now includes me.
I love #America. And I hope to keep loving my home for the rest of my life.

I‘m from West Germany, I never learned Russian or even how to read Cyrillic script. But since Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 I must have had so much much exposure that I can now read this important message on a sign at #39C3. Learning through osmosis in times of crisis.

"Henry Bolton, former politician who was the leader of the UK Independence Party, is utterly aghast at the rumors that Trump is sending emissaries to moscow to rubber-stamp putin’s invasion. If this is true, Bolton argues, Trump isn’t just selling out Ukraine, he’s tearing up every rule that’s kept europe relatively peaceful for the last 50 years and confirming to every tin-pot dictator that borders are just suggestions."
Some People Get It – Digby's Hullabaloo
https://digbysblog.net/2025/11/30/some-people-get-it/

Momentum is building to tap more of Russia’s central bank reserves
— immobilized after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine
— to help fund Kyiv's war effort.
As the U.S. moved to wash its hands of Ukraine’s fate,
the gradual realization Russia’s war would not end any time soon
and that Kyiv would continue to need large amounts of external funding
has spurred European initiative to unlock the cash tied up in Russia’s frozen assets.

The EU's ambitious plan for frozen Russian assets, explained
Momentum is building to tap more of Russia’s central bank reserves — immobilized after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — to help fund Kyiv's war effort. As the U.S. moved to wash its hands of Ukraine’s fate, the gradual realization Russia’s war would not end any time soon and that Kyiv would continue to need large amounts of external funding has spurred European initiative to unlock the cash tied up in Russia’s frozen assets. And Kyiv will need all the money it can get. Recent …

A profile of Ivan Urgant, a popular Russian late-night TV host who became a pariah after his suspension in February 2022 for opposing the invasion of Ukraine (Paul Sonne/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/wo…

Ivan Urgant Was Russia’s Late-Night King Until Putin’s War in Ukraine
Ivan Urgant was an unstoppable Russian megastar. Then he expressed opposition to President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

If the US faces no consequences for the invasion of Venezuela, experts believe it could embolden other countries to carry out operations which may contravene international law.
“The most obvious consequence is that China will take the opportunity to invade Taiwan,” Robertson said. “This is the most appropriate time for it to do so, bolstered by the precedent of Trump’s invasion of Venezuela and of course his appeasement of Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-the-us-attack-on-venezuela-trump-maduro?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Good overview of hybrid warfare by Russia.
#AP

Russia wants to drain Europe's security resources with sabotage campaign, officials say | AP News
The Associated Press has tracked 145 cases of sabotage and disruption that Western officials blame on Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They say Moscow wants to drain Europe’s investigative resources.

Chatbots Are Pushing Sanctioned Russian Propaganda
https://www.wired.com/story/chatbots-are-pushing-sanctioned-russian-propaganda/

Chatbots Are Pushing Sanctioned Russian Propaganda
ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok are serving users propaganda from Russian-backed media when asked about the invasion of Ukraine, new research finds.

Evolution of wartime discourse on Telegram: A comparative study of Ukrainian and Russian policymakers' communication before and after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Mykola Makhortykh, Aytalina Kulichkina, Kateryna Maikovska
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11746

Evolution of wartime discourse on Telegram: A comparative study of Ukrainian and Russian policymakers' communication before and after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine
This study examines elite-driven political communication on Telegram during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, the first large-scale European war in the social media era. Using a unique dataset of Telegram public posts from Ukrainian and Russian policymakers (2019-2024), we analyze changes in communication volume, thematic content, and actor engagement following Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion. Our findings show a sharp increase in Telegram activity after the invasion, particularly among ruling…

Gee... what a surprise. Trump and Putin have been negotiating secretly to end the invasion of Ukraine. It will be presented to Ukraine as a done deal. No input from Ukraine, no input from Europe. And Russia officials apparently are pleased because they feel their position has been appreciated. How spectacularly bad could this be?
https://www.politico.com/playbook

So far in Russia's hybrid war in Europe, most known acts of sabotage have resulted in minimal damage
— nothing compared to the tens of thousands of lives lost and cities decimated across Ukraine.
But officials say each act
— from vandalism of monuments to cyberattacks to warehouse fires
— sucks up valuable security resources.
The head of one large European intelligence service said investigations into Russian interference now swallow up as much of the agency’…

Russia wants to drain Europe's security resources with sabotage campaign, officials say | AP News
The Associated Press has tracked 145 cases of sabotage and disruption that Western officials blame on Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They say Moscow wants to drain Europe’s investigative resources.

Dealroom: 230 European defense tech startups have launched since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with VC funding reaching $1.5B this year, mostly for drone tech (Sylvia Pfeifer/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/6c247bbe-0181-472f-8369-581e2fd4f19b

Hysteria over "Tomahawks." Russian Invasion of Europe Is Possible? | Front Line with  @StarskyUA: https://benborges.xyz/2025/10/13/170039.html

apologists gotta apolgist :-) Mr. Mearsheimer you are wrong!
https://universeodon.com/@KFuentesGeorge/115633495500461068