Dr S Maitra
@MrMaitra
Historian and realist. FRHistS. “The Sources Of Russian Aggression” (2024, Rowman & Littlefield). Solum Astutus Potest Vivere.
As the Soviet Union was collapsing, Metallica and Pantera held a free concert in Moscow. Over 500,000 Russians attended. They were welcomed as Gods, symbolizing their newfound freedom. Metal is extremely American. Shut the fuck up.
My parents didn’t let us listen to Metal. Was devil worshipping music. Hard to see how they were wrong. Pantera used pentagrams. Even if “ironic,” or “art,” it’s demonic symbolism. Later in life I tried. Couldn’t stomach it. Made me physically ill. It’s the sound of demons.
This is actually the only logically sound reason in support of Ukraine. Normative. The counter arguments are however - Russian intention and capability mismatch and - Europe and NATO can be a closed club without Ukraine.
The West is supporting Ukraine for strategic reasons: to deny Russia an imperial sphere; to frustrate its re-emerging imperialism. If Russia would win, its appetite for more military adventures would grow, with devastating consequences for the peace in large parts of Europe.
I'm beginning to realize I'm sympathetic to both sides in Russia Ukraine conflict and pretty much neither in Israel versus Gaza.
Surely AI can produce this kind of thing at least as well and more cheaply.
🧵How much damage was done to Iran's nuclear program? An analysis of Friday's reporting of the U.S. government assessment. I'll focus on the @nytimes, which was clearer than the earlier but confused @NBCNews story. (1/n)
Bears fans gave Pope Leo XIV a shirt saying “Da Pope” on their visit to Rome
I think the final straw for me was seeing people on here the last few days arguing that it's ok to bomb a church because they can't be real Christians if they live in Gaza. No -- just no. It doesn't matter if they're real Christians, Catholics or Protestant, Muslims, Jews,…
Zelensky finally speaks. And he digs in, claiming his move today to consolidate power and destroy independent investigative bodies was about purging Russian spies. “The anti-corruption infrastructure will operate. But only without Russian influences – everything must be cleansed…
Like clockwork
With Khamenei severely weakened, Erdogan may becoming the most dangerous man in the Middle East.
And so it begins... The Syrian Ministry of Defense has officially received the first batch of Turkish-made Ejder 6x6 armored personnel carriers (APCs). This delivery marks a significant milestone in evolving Syrian-Turkish defense relations, signaling a new era of regional…
To be clear: it was not the Rada, this was not good tsar, bad boyars – it was Zelensky and Yermak who organized this and pushed it through. Orders came from the office of the president last night and the law enforcement committee passed it early morning in such great haste that…
The Rada has made a huge mistake. President @ZelenskyyUa still has the chance to fix it now and must do so urgently.
‚Heavy losses have reduced the quality of soldiers on both sides. “The men now are not capable of the same feats. Now it’s a war of drones.”‘ wsj.com/world/ukraine-…
This is an interesting development.
Ukrainians protesting against corruption. “Zelensky fucked everyone up” (c) Do support the people or Zelensky?
Amputations Revealing Over 1 Million Dead In the face of a data blackout regarding war casualties, there is a tragic indicator capable of providing real estimates: the number of amputees. On the Russian side, based on data from the Ministry of Labor, between February 2022 and…
My estimate about casualties in Ukraine doesn't stray far from what is already known. It's not the casualties that have diminished Ukraine's capabilities, but rather the more than 300,000 desertions, today nearly equivalent to the total number of troops deployed in the current…
Thoughts on Zelensky's move against the anti-corruption agencies. To date, the anti-corruption elites, which function like a fundamentalist avantguard in 🇺🇦 civil society, have decried any criticism of Zelensky's authoritarian drift as pro-Russian disinformation. 1/7
Zelensky has signed the bill into law — despite pressure from ongoing protest and the EU. A very dangerous moment for Ukraine.
Today’s shocking bill, which tried to overturn an important anticorruption reform, had the stench of something done in a panic. I understand the immediate trigger may have been activation of investigations into the dealings of presidential-office insiders. economist.com/europe/2025/07…
Zelensky ignored the protests and signed the law. Fateful decision.
Protesters in Kyiv today chant “veto the law,” urging Zelensky not to sign the abruptly passed legislation that dismantles Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption bodies.