Scientist, Engineer, Ex Senior Civil Servant. Academic, Government Adviser, Consultant
Hampshire , UK
Joined April 2011
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brian collins retweeted
So tomorrow, the first tanker carrying 40,000 metric tons of Russian diesel is set to depart for the US. Let’s do the math.
40,000 tons is roughly 300,000 barrels.
The US consumes about 4 million barrels of diesel per day. That means this entire tanker covers less than two hours of American demand.
At the same time, the US exports around 1.5 million barrels of diesel a day—meaning this shipment is equivalent to just 4.5 hours of US exports.
The voyage from Ust-Luga to US terminals takes 2.5 to 3 weeks. By the time the tanker arrives, the US will have exported over 4 million tons of its own diesel—a hundred times more than what this single tanker is delivering.
So, one of the world's largest diesel exporters is buying diesel from an aggressor state just to cover two hours of domestic consumption? - Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy Vladyslav Vlasiuk.
brian collins retweeted
Rybar, the Russian blogger with close ties to the Russian intelligence services and the Russian military, has produced a remarkably detailed map.
It seems the Russians have a very clear idea of where unrest is likely to break out in Europe!
They are watching us. They are analysing us. And they clearly know exactly where they might strike. #russia #EU
brian collins retweeted
The IMF warns that global resilience is reaching its limits. Rebuilding it takes public investment, yet when fiscal targets bind, investment is often the first thing cut and debt can end up higher, not lower.
Discussing the @IMFNews’s latest reports and the first brief from the Global Council on New Economics for the 21st Century, co-chaired with Spain's Deputy Prime Minister @Carlos_Cuerpo, live on @BBCNews World Today.
@BBCWorld | 18:15 BST (international) | 19:00 BST (UK) | Links in replies.
brian collins retweeted
Occupy Democrats
2͏h͏ ·
BREAKING: PANIC! Trump is DESPERATELY trying to stop Jack Smith from testifying in his own $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC.
Donald Trump sued the BBC for defamation, asking for a whopping $10 billion in damages. Now, he’s panicking about the one witness who might actually know something about the behavior that led the British broadcaster to publish what it did.
According to The New Republic, the BBC subpoenaed former special counsel Jack Smith to testify as part of its defense against Trump’s defamation suit. The suit claims the network defamed him with deceptive editing in a 2024 documentary about the January 6 Capitol attack.
Trump’s lawyers filed a motion Friday to block the deposition, arguing that “Smith lacks any personal knowledge regarding the issues in this matter.”
Their reasoning: Smith wasn’t at the January 6 speech, didn’t help prepare it, and can’t know what Trump was thinking. They say anything he gathered was “secondhand knowledge” from materials collected from other sources.
The BBC’s lawyers weren’t impressed. They wrote that “none of [Trump]’s arguments for blocking the deposition of Mr. Smith can withstand scrutiny.” They noted that Smith himself doesn’t object to testifying, and that Trump still has to prove he “did not foment or incite the January 6 Capitol riot,” which he claims the documentary falsely implied.
Then came the line that says it all: “No one forced Plaintiff to file this lawsuit and to dispute that his speech on January 6 incited the violence that followed at the Capitol. But as long as he chooses to maintain the case, he cannot commit the fundamental injustice of preventing the BBC from obtaining the evidence it needs to robustly defend itself.”
This isn’t Trump’s only dodge. His attorneys are also fighting efforts to make Trump himself testify, to subpoena his children, and to look into his finances. Trump sued over what the BBC said about January 6, and now he’s fighting every attempt to examine what actually happened.
There’s another problem for him. The BBC is funded by British taxpayers, so Trump can’t bully it into a hefty settlement or force it to back off its coverage the way he has with some American media companies.
So now he has two choices: drop the case, or actually try to prove his point and live with the consequences.
If Trump really believes he did nothing wrong on January 6, a deposition should be no problem. His lawyers’ desperation suggests otherwise.
Please like and share if you can’t wait to hear what Jack Smith has to say if the BBC successfully gets him to testify!
brian collins retweeted
HE HAS NO CARDS!
Well, Trump's latest tweet has finally explained everything. His sudden, panicked, mysterious, and complete shift toward the Kremlin, along with his hysterical attacks on Ukraine and Zelensky, has nothing to do with hopes of persuading Putin to agree to a ceasefire, lowering diesel prices, or “supporting American farmers and ranchers.” And it doesn't require some elaborate conspiracy theory, either. The explanation, I believe, is much simpler: pure, personal, suffocating FEAR.
Fear that Putin might start “helping Iran” far more than he already does. And I suspect that this is precisely what the former KGB officer made unmistakably clear to our “genius negotiator” during their very long telephone conversation. Cross me, and I'll demonstrate just how much assistance Russia can provide its “Iranian partners,” conveniently timed to coincide with the critical election period. The resulting foreign policy and economic disaster could leave Trump completely screwed.
And the Great Orange Pumpkin knows it. He dragged America into a war that turned out to be nothing like the glorious little adventure imagined by a man whose understanding of geopolitics sometimes resembles that of an eight-year-old with delusions of grandeur. Now he has absolutely no idea how to get out of it. Shouting at reporters, renaming oceans, and posting ridiculous memes are one thing. Escaping a genuine geopolitical catastrophe is something entirely different.
Meanwhile, people around him may already be calculating that the more damage the Pumpkin does, the brighter the halo above his successor's head will appear.
But Trump's fear, at least, follows a certain logic. He understands that Putin has the ability to inflict enormous political and economic damage on him, and he may believe that the Kremlin is threatening to do exactly that. What he apparently fails to understand is that concessions will not buy him Putin's goodwill. He will get NOTHING in return. Absolutely nothing.
TRUMP HAS NO CARDS. NOT A SINGLE ONE.
In my view, he is now in the weakest negotiating position of either of his presidential terms. Xi Jinping must be watching this spectacle in disbelief. The president of the United States, the leader of the world's most powerful democracy, appears increasingly vulnerable to pressure from the Kremlin.
We may be witnessing something extraordinary: a situation in which Moscow is not merely trying to influence American foreign policy but appears capable of shaping Washington's decisions through threats and intimidation.
The Kremlin, which American presidents once confronted from a position of strength, now seems to have discovered how to exploit the fears of the man sitting in the Oval Office.
And the tragedy is that Trump appears willing to sacrifice Ukraine's interests, America's credibility, and the trust of its allies in a desperate attempt to protect himself from the consequences of his own decisions.
So much for peace through strength.
Look how things turned out, Mr. Reagan.
brian collins retweeted
🇺🇦 ZELENSKYY'S MESSAGE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has delivered a direct and deeply serious message to Americans: If the United States officially sides with Russia, Ukraine will not be able to win this war. We will not be able to withstand it.
Zelenskyy expressed hope that Donald Trump would stand with Ukraine or, at the very least, maintain a neutral position rather than support the aggressor.
He also addressed the continuing restrictions on Starlink, stressing that the system's full functionality has still not been restored.
Zelenskyy said he hoped Trump would reconsider his decisions, which he described as mistakes that would benefit neither Ukraine nor the United States.
One of his most alarming statements concerned American intelligence. According to Zelenskyy, only the United States possesses the intelligence capabilities Ukraine needs to detect Russian ballistic missile launches in time. For three days, Ukraine did not receive that information.
These are not abstract diplomatic disagreements. They concern the ability to protect Ukrainian cities, intercept incoming missiles, and save civilian lives.
Ukraine is not asking America to fight its war. Ukraine is asking America not to help Russia win it.
The choice facing Washington is not simply between supporting Ukraine and remaining neutral. It is also about whether the United States will continue standing for the principles of sovereignty, freedom, and resistance to aggression.
Ukraine has been fighting for its survival. It must not be abandoned to the country trying to destroy it.
🇺🇦 STAND WITH UKRAINE.
brian collins retweeted
A rare grove of 200 American chestnut trees, grown from survivors of the early twentieth-century fungal blight and planted in the 1970s at the former Clements State Tree Nursery in Mason County, West Virginia, is set to be relocated in 2027 for a data center, and conservationists are raising the alarm, as moving an established grove of mature American chestnut trees carries severe ecological risks, and many experts believe the operation could prove fatal for the forest.
The mature trees were propagated from rare wild survivors that withstood the blight, and the orchard now functions as a genetic library and a primary seed repository for efforts to restore the species across North America.
When trees of this size and age are uprooted, they suffer from extreme root loss because a massive portion of their critical structural and feeding root systems must be left behind in the soil. This triggers severe transplant shock, leaving the surviving organisms highly vulnerable to dehydration and nutrient starvation as they struggle to adapt to their new environment.
Furthermore, the physical stress of transport creates micro-fractures in the bark and limbs, creating open wounds that invite opportunistic pests and deadly pathogens. For a species already devastated by history, the greatest danger is that this physical trauma will critically weaken the trees' immune systems, causing them to lose their natural resistance and succumb to the very chestnut blight fungus they managed to survive for decades.
The threat comes from the multi-billion-dollar Monarch Compute Campus, a development planned for the area to house high-density data centers for artificial-intelligence processing. The facility requires thousands of acres, and the historic tree nursery sits inside the proposed construction footprint. Forestry advocates are asking the developers and state officials to adjust the building boundaries and permanently protect the grove as the conflict between the infrastructure project and the trees continues.
brian collins retweeted
🚨 请务必仔细阅读。
特朗普刚刚发表了针对美国选举（及其潜在的第二个任期）最危险的言论。
目前的情况如下：
– 特朗普公开拒绝排除在中期选举期间宣布国家紧急状态的可能性，他表示：“我不排除任何可能性，也不预设任何可能性。”
– 这是其司法部首次部署多达 1000 名选举监督员——这一数字几乎是 2024 年大选相关安排的两倍。
– 此番言论是公开做出的——并非通过幕后渠道，也非泄密，而是公开表态。
– 特朗普并未收回这一言论。完全没有收回的意思。
– 特朗普预料，如果民主党获胜，他将面临第三次弹劾——而他拒绝做出任何承诺，明确表示：“我不会做出任何承诺。”
– 我所认识的一位大型智库资深分析师告诉我：“完全可以想象，现任政府可能会声称国家正受到武装敌人的攻击。就是这样。”
– 随着美国与伊朗陷入交战状态，那些主张实施“戒严”的人所掌握的筹码，在一夜之间增加了十倍不止。
– 美国各地的选举办公室目前正在实时重新评估其选举日计划。
中期选举的局势刚刚发生了转变。不是在几个月或几周内，而仅仅是因为这一个回答。
我会持续为您提供最新动态。请开启通知提醒。🚨
brian collins retweeted
Donald Trump has just posted on his own social media platform. He says Zelenskyy does not want peace and never has, because Europe keeps giving him money. He says he made the deal with Russia on diesel fuel because Russia wants to bring global prices down. At the beginning of his post, he justifies his decision. At the end, he says Ukraine has lost land territory, seas, and oceans.
This statement marks the (public) beginning of the United States' shift toward Russia. In other words, it is the public beginning of the US transitioning into an ally of Russia. Until now, all the other statements, political decisions, and scandals have either taken place behind closed doors or been publicly denied as being beneficial to Russia.
From now on, we will see a clear, openly acknowledged move toward closer relations with Russia. Trump needs to win a third term. Putin needs to win the war. Trump needs to achieve his objective to protect himself legally from everything that would follow if he lost power. Putin needs the war to continue, and preferably to win it, to physically protect himself from the death that would await him if he lost or if a just peace were reached.
Trump will not relinquish power democratically. Anyone who believes otherwise is naive. His third term could come through himself, Don Jr., or someone else in his family. Putin cannot allow the war to end because he would meet the same fate as Gaddafi.
Both are desperate, and both are being obstructed by two entities: Ukraine and the European Union. For those who have forgotten, let me remind you that Trump used to lecture us for buying Russian gas. Today, he is asking us to buy Russian gas. Trump used to accuse us of not paying enough for our own war. Today, he criticizes us for giving Ukraine money. Putin is bothered by European assistance because Europe is the last bastion of Western civilization still defending Western values. Europe, Canada, and the rest of the Coalition of the Willing, minus the United States.
The midterm elections are on November 3. Everyone is expecting a Democratic tsunami. I expect the Democrats to win the House of Representatives and the Senate to end up evenly split. But that will not change US foreign policy overnight.
Years from now, history will remind us that, starting in 2024, the United States took its first steps toward supporting the aggressor. And those who read about it, after having read, watched, or digitally experienced the horrors of Bucha, Borodyanka, Mariupol, Chernihiv, Izium, and so on, will wonder how we could all have been such idiots, how we continued to believe in the "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave" when the evidence was right in front of us, screaming in our faces.
At this moment, the United States has provided no financial aid for more than two years. Access to Starlink and StarShield is restricted. Military intelligence is provided intermittently. The ballistic missile early warning system is NOT functioning. The US has postponed the sanctions under the Graham law. The US has signed a diesel fuel deal with Russia. If it walks like betrayal and quacks like betrayal, then it is betrayal.
The European Union has an adversary in the United States, one it will soon recognize as such. Soon, when Russia does something that would have been unimaginable back in 2022 or 2023, something that will shatter confidence in NATO, Article 5, and the entire North Atlantic security architecture. It may already be too late for some Eastern European countries.
Or, in an alternative scenario, this Europe, plagued by internal divisions amplified by hundreds of thousands of Russian bots and coordinated through social media campaigns with the help of American algorithms, will manage to stay united. United for Ukraine and for its own security. In this scenario, Europe will accelerate the development of alternatives to Starlink, the F-35, American space technology, and anti-ballistic missile interceptors, and will punish social media platforms as they deserve. And then things will be much better. Romania must remain alongside the core of the European Union and positively influence this acceleration.
Ukraine is not doing badly on the battlefield. For example, Kostyantynivka was supposed to have fallen into Russian hands back in May. Chances are it will not fall before 2027, which would make the Russian conquest of Donbas impossible, considering the situation up until the summer of 2026, when the US was STILL not openly acting as Russia's partner.
If Ukraine loses the war, it will be because of the United States and because of Europe's slowness and failure to make firm decisions. And Ukraine's surrender would mean hell unleashed upon Eastern Europe and the European Union project as a whole.
Still, let us not overlook the fact that, in Trump's eyes, Ukraine once had one or more oceans. And somehow lost them.
brian collins retweeted
“THE MUSIC DIDN’T PLAY FOR LONG, AND THE FOOL DIDN’T DANCE FOR LONG.”
CNN reportedly says that 75% of Americans believe President Donald Trump should be impeached, convicted, and imprisoned.
“Absolutely stunning!”
A data analyst was reportedly shocked by Trump's catastrophic disapproval rating among voters under 30 — 91%:
“The worst rating I have ever seen in any poll, on any issue, for any president.”
In just two years, he has allegedly lost 53% of the support he enjoyed among those who favored him in October 2024.
The greatest disgrace and disappointment in American history!
Oh, how familiar this all looks. As the old saying goes, “I recognize my brother Vasya.”
Trump's story is not nearly as simple or primitive as it might seem. The Kremlin didn't just suddenly force him to dance to its tune. It made him dance a furious cancan — without his underwear.
Perhaps the old KGB men scraped the bottom of their barrel and brought back the agency's veterans, the virtuosos of grand provocations.
There is something about Trump's story that suggests the experienced hand of old Soviet intelligence officers.
Yes, they are all fossils, but they haven't forgotten their trade.
Dragged out of retirement and dusted off like ancient relics, these old men apparently couldn't resist weaving one more magnificent web of intrigue. And what a web they have woven.
The calculation is correct. So far, everything appears to be proceeding according to plan.
It is difficult not to notice what looks like a ruthless and experienced hand guiding foolish Donnie toward the abyss.
The old man appears stuffed with disinformation of unmistakably Kremlin-style origin. He is pumped full of rage and inspiration.
What has he been promised? Nobody knows.
But here's the thing.
Everything he is doing now threatens to destroy him politically, partially or completely, and strip him of power.
Yet today's Trump is obsessed. He will not surrender his imaginary throne as ruler of the world without a fight.
This time, an attempt to remove him could trigger serious civil unrest in the United States.
And then America would have little time or attention left for Ukraine and that strange war on the outskirts of Europe. Its missiles might suddenly have entirely different targets.
Everything points toward the possibility of a prolonged crisis — perhaps even a bloody nightmare.
Chaos in the United States is precisely what Russia desperately needs to pursue its brutal ambitions without interference. And not only in Ukraine.
The logic of such an operation would be remarkably simple.
Failing to exploit Trump's grandiosity and explosive temperament would be an extraordinary missed opportunity for the Kremlin.
Right now, those very characteristics create an opportunity to destabilize the United States and effectively remove it from the geopolitical game.
Of course, the Kremlin would eventually lose Trump.
But once he has served his purpose, why would they need him anymore?
Having played his role as the detonator, Donnie would complete one magnificent arc through political history before landing exactly where discarded instruments belong.
On the garbage heap.
brian collins retweeted
I have a disturbing theory about Donald Trump’s increasingly bizarre behavior. What if Vladimir Putin has finally lost patience and delivered an ultimatum: “Listen, Donald. Do whatever you want with Ukraine and Zelensky, but they must surrender soon. Otherwise, everything we’ve collected about you over the years becomes public. You’ll lose Congress, face impeachment, and perhaps spend your remaining years behind bars.”
This is speculation, not an established fact. But imagine how much of Trump's behavior it could explain.
He eases pressure on Russia, announces questionable ceasefires, portrays Ukraine as responsible for the war, pressures Zelensky, restricts intelligence cooperation, and interferes with Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Moscow continues its aggression.
And what has all this achieved? Nothing resembling the Ukrainian capitulation Putin wants.
At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if Trump offered Russia Patriot air defense systems to protect its refineries, then threatened Ukraine with American military intervention unless Kyiv accepted Moscow’s demands.
Naturally, he would call it “forcing Ukraine to make peace.”
Imagine the nightmare: Ukraine facing military pressure from two nuclear superpowers simultaneously. And thirty years later, Russian and American textbooks describing how Washington and Moscow supposedly “saved the world from Ukrainian Nazism.”
Absurd? Certainly. But so much that once seemed politically unthinkable has already entered mainstream discussion.
My deeper concern is that Russia learned something from the Soviet Union’s collapse: direct repression and military force alone cannot secure lasting geopolitical dominance. Influence, dependency, corruption, propaganda, and political manipulation can be far more effective.
For decades, Moscow cultivated relationships with influential Western politicians, exploited European dependence on Russian energy, and supported political movements that weakened Western unity.
Gerhard Schröder’s relationship with Russian energy interests is well documented. Russian support for certain European far-right movements has also raised serious concerns. But allegations involving other politicians require evidence, not assumptions.
Migration crises, economic insecurity, and political polarization have created opportunities for Kremlin influence operations. Russia did not invent every European crisis, but it has repeatedly demonstrated an interest in exploiting divisions within democratic societies.
This is the old imperial strategy: divide and rule.
I also wonder whether Russia benefits strategically from Washington becoming increasingly entangled in Middle Eastern conflicts while Ukraine faces growing pressure.
And now comes the most dangerous part: the approaching November 3 congressional elections.
We have less than three weeks. I fear that this period could produce particularly reckless decisions concerning Ukraine, Russia, and American foreign policy.
Perhaps my imagined blackmail scenario is completely wrong. I hope it is. But the central question remains:
How did the democratic world reach a point where Ukraine must worry not only about Russian aggression, but also about pressure from the very country that once promised to defend its sovereignty?
History may eventually reveal the answer. For now, the consequences are already frightening.
brian collins retweeted
Back Off, Trump: Carney Draws the Line on Canadian Sovereignty -
Prime Minister Carney just delivered an UNMISTAKABLE message to Trump and his administration: stay OUT of Canadian politics.
Discussing the upcoming Alberta referendum, Carney drew a hard line in the sand, aggressively asserting our incredible national sovereignty.
Speaking on behalf of ALL citizens who value our independence, Carney declared, “Our expectation is, to be absolutely clear, on foreign governments, United States included, is we DON'T get ourselves involved in their elections, they DON'T get themselves in our elections.”
This is a political statement telling the American administration to back off and stay away from our domestic affairs.
This referendum belongs to Albertans and Canadians ALONE, not to Washington.
Trump has plenty of his own problems to manage at home, and he has absolutely NO business sticking his purple hand into our political landscape.
Top Trump officials have already tried to meddle by criticizing trade talks and calling Alberta a "natural partner" for the U.S., but Canada is absolutely refusing to take the bait.
Carney just told Trump exactly how it's going to be.
Canadians will stand firmly behind this defense of our democratic system.
...We do not need American interference, and we will PROTECT our own elections.
Trump needs to stand back, keep his mouth shut regarding us, and leave Canada's future to Canadians.
Thank you Prime Minister Carney for not only being respected on the world stage, but also for being a TRUE Canadian fighter.
🇨🇦
#canpoli
#cdnpoly
#abpoli
#StayFreeAlberta
#MAGA
#Republicans
#trump
brian collins retweeted
Epigraph:
“If your friends ask you to negotiate with your enemy, the traitors have already made a deal behind your back!” — Al Capone
In the United States, there is a federal law, Public Law 117-109, passed by the 117th Congress and signed into law in 2022.
The law imposed a comprehensive ban on imports of Russian energy products into the United States. These include crude oil, petroleum products (including diesel fuel and fuel oil), liquefied natural gas, and coal.
Under the law, the President of the United States may lift this prohibition only under specific conditions, including congressional oversight and certification that Russia has ceased hostilities, withdrawn its forces from Ukraine, recognized Ukraine's right to choose its own government, and stopped posing a threat to NATO member states.
Public Law 117-109 explicitly prohibits such purchases, and Trump's decision directly contradicts this legislation. Legal experts point out that presidential executive orders or Treasury Department decisions cannot override federal law.
Furthermore, in September 2026, a new tough law championed by Lindsey Graham was signed, providing for 100% tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil.
In response to the Trump-Putin “Diesel Deal,” Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick and his colleagues announced urgent preparations for a new bipartisan bill called the “Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act.”
The objective of this legislation is to completely and unconditionally close every loophole and prevent any attempts to purchase Russian oil or petroleum products.
Canada, seeking to defend international agreements, preserve the sanctions regime, and support Ukraine, took the initiative to approach Trump with a proposal to replace Russian fuel with Canadian supplies.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney personally called Trump.
To deprive Trump of his economic argument that “we are running short of fuel,” Carney formally offered and assured him that Canada would do everything possible to maximize its exports of oil and diesel to the United States, already supplying Americans with more than one million barrels of finished diesel per day.
Trump, however, did not abandon his agreement with Russia in favor of Canadian supplies, nor did he cancel his arrangement with Putin.
Trump's disregard for and violation of American laws and constitutional norms creates a dangerous precedent. It undermines the foundations of the rule of law upon which the American state was built.
Trump's political mistakes and his appeasement of dictatorial regimes have a cumulative, destructive effect. Instead of fulfilling the slogan “Make America Great Again,” this strategy is producing precisely the opposite result: the United States is rapidly losing its most valuable asset — its reputation as a global arbiter and leader of the free world.
Sooner or later, Trump's transactional approach will collide with Putin's ideological fanaticism. At that moment, their “friendship” will come to an end.
But the greatest danger lies in how much damage Trump will manage to inflict on Ukraine through his unilateral concessions before he finally realizes that the Kremlin has simply been using him.
An excerpt from my extensive article, “The Destruction of America's International Authority and Reputation: Or, Shooting Itself in the Foot,” written for the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Montenegro (Filozofski fakultet Univerziteta Crne Gore).
brian collins retweeted
Третий президент Украины Виктор Ющенко написал открытое письмо Дональду Трампу
Господин Президент, посмотрите, что происходит в Украине прямо сейчас, в эту самую минуту. Каждый день и каждую ночь наши города содрогаются от ударов российских баллистических ракет, иранских беспилотников "Шахед" и авиационных бомб. Россия наносит удары по обычным жилым домам древнего Киева, по спящим кварталам Запорожья, Одессы, Днепра, Харькова и других городов по всей нашей стране. Семьи гибнут в собственных домах. Миллионы людей живут в ожидании очередной сирены, очередного взрыва, очередной ночи, когда приходится гадать, останутся ли их дети живы к утру.
И всякий раз, когда заходит речь об "уступках" или сделках с Путиным, Кремль отвечает новыми ракетами, новыми беспилотниками и новым кровопролитием. Расплачиваются за это украинские семьи.
За каждой цифрой статистики стоит человеческая жизнь. Мать хоронит своего ребёнка. Ребёнок стоит у могилы отца. Семья возвращается туда, где когда-то был её дом, и находит лишь обломки бетона и фотографии, разбросанные среди руин.
Это не какой-то далёкий "конфликт". Это повседневная реальность миллионов украинцев.
И на фоне всего этого украинцы слышат призывы остановиться. Прекратить удары по инфраструктуре, которая финансирует и обеспечивает ведение Россией войны. Слышат утверждения, будто торговлю российскими энергоресурсами можно каким-то образом отделить от ракет и беспилотников, которые Россия направляет против украинских семей. Но отделить одно от другого невозможно.
Деньги, уплаченные за российское топливо, — это не некая абстракция под названием "торговля". Они финансируют экономику, поставленную на службу тотальной войне. России нужны ресурсы для ведения этой несправедливой войны, а Украина борется за то, чтобы лишить её этих ресурсов»
Читайте письмо полностью на сайте «Эха» storage.googleapis.com/rdt/e…
brian collins retweeted
Zelenskyy: "When our strikes reached Yandex data centers, it suddenly became little easier to breathe on many social media platforms. Many people noticed it.
There was less hate, less division, fewer provocations because there were fewer bots. It's pretty clear where those bots were coming from.
If they disappeared when Yandex went offline, this proves once again that Europe is not the source of the problems."
The big problem is that Russia figured out how modern society consumes information a decade ago, but the West hasn't.
There are millions of bots commenting and posting Russian propaganda. There are paid influencers spreading it, with Russian bots supporting their content.
There is a gigantic machine operating to radicalize and influence Western societies, and there is not enough defense in place.
It doesn't just influence elections, it sows discord, engulfs societies in culture wars, radicalizes teenagers, and shapes political decisions when elected officials fail to read the room.
That needs to change. And fast.
brian collins retweeted
BREAKING - Is PUTIN selling IRANIAN DIESEL to TRUMP in a huge SCAM!?!?!?
Putin's regime is letting the press know that during Trump's 90 minute "Happy Birthday" phone call with Putin on Friday, Trump gushed over him, praising him over and over.
And so, they say, Putin played right into it, and pulled a massive con-job on Trump, apparently with the intention humiliating Trump in front of the entire world.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Russia does NOT have enough diesel to supply its OWN needs. Especially since Ukraine has been destroying its refining plants. Russia is now getting its fuel needs met by IRAN.
The border of Iran is only a hundred miles from the border of Russia by truck, and only 500 miles by sea - they are connected by the Caspian Sea. And oil and petroleum products have been flowing to Russia steadily from Iran, all the time both the Ukraine War and the Iran War have been going on.
It's the reason Russia has been able to keep going, despite Ukraine's bombardments. It's the reason that Iran has kept going despite Trump's blockade of the Strait.
And THAT is the reason the United States has declared SANCTIONS on BOTH countries' export of oil, during all this time. Including NEW US sanctions and tariffs on nations that import Russian oil and gas, passed almost UNANIMOUSLY by Congress just weeks ago.
Yes. The "Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026". TRUMP himself SIGNED IT INTO LAW on September 18, 2026.
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But Trump walked RIGHT into Putin's scam anyway.
Either he already FORGOT about this, or he figured everyone in the United States is as dumb as his MAGA rally groupies.
He thought he could put a fast one over on all of us. And instead, he owned HIMSELF.
Bad enough if that diesel fuel is actually from Russia
But if it is from IRAN, then it will be used to finance IRAN in Trump's own war.
OUR OWN TAXPAYER money will be used against US. Against the United States of America.
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Commentary by Glee Violette.
brian collins retweeted
- Olena Zelenska 🇺🇦:
"If Ukrainian soldiers, despite fierce resistance against the enemy and the loss of their comrades, haven't got tired of liberating Ukrainian land, and if Ukrainians, despite their grief and tears, haven't got tired of defending their children and their future, how can people somewhere in a safe country get tired of reading the news?"
"Please do not get used to this war, because if everyone gets used to it, this war will never end."
............
Don't stop supporting Ukraine, they need our help 🫂🇺🇦❤️
brian collins retweeted
Esto es traición.
Estados Unidos 🇺🇸 acaba de emitir una licencia general que autoriza las transacciones relacionadas con la venta, entrega, descarga e importación de combustible diésel de origen ruso 🇷🇺 hasta el 7 de abril de 2027.
Ucrania 🇺🇦 debería seguir atacando las refinerías rusas 🇷🇺. Es su mejor herramienta para dañar la economía rusa 🇷🇺.
brian collins retweeted
The Royal Navy switched its sailors from cotton to polyester two years before the Falklands, and the sea put the two fabrics to the test on the afternoon of 4 May 1982.
HMS Sheffield was hit by an Exocet 70 miles off the islands. The warhead did not go off. It did not need to: the rocket fuel did, and the ship filled with fire and black smoke in seconds. Twenty men died. Many more came out of her with burns, and the burns had a feature the surgeons at Ajax Bay and the Uganda had not been trained for.
The shirts had melted. The new working rig was polyester, lighter and cheaper and quicker to dry than the old cotton, and in a flash fire it did what polyester does at 250 degrees, which is turn to liquid and bond to whatever it is touching. Men were brought off with their uniform fused into their skin, and the first job in the burns tent was peeling plastic out of flesh. Nylon socks did the same thing to feet. Anti-flash hoods and gloves, the white cotton gear every sailor still wears at action stations, had saved the faces and hands they covered and left a line where the plastic began.
The lesson was learned at the Sir Galahad too, at Bluff Cove a month later, where the Welsh Guards were caught below decks and the burns ward at Ajax Bay found the same thing.
Afterwards the Navy went back to natural fibres. Cotton action working dress, cotton socks, the wool jumper that had never left. The US Navy took the same lesson from the Falklands and again from the USS Stark in 1987 and banned polyester and Corfam shoes aboard ship. Then, in 2012, it issued a new blue camouflage working uniform, tested it, and had to announce to its own sailors that it would burn robustly and melt into a sticky molten material. The uniform was nylon and cotton. It had been in service for four years.
Every navy that has ever had a fire has arrived at the same answer and then forgotten it as soon as the accountants came back.
Natural fibre does not melt. A sheep's wool will not catch at a temperature a ship fire reaches, and when it chars it stops. Cotton burns, but it burns off, it does not become part of you.
The shirt that went into a man's skin on the Sheffield is the same fabric as the school polo shirt, the fleece, the gym top, the sofa cover and the sheet on the bed.
The Navy had to be shown it once.
You are wearing it now.
