Artist and occasional writer, very interested in science and history.
Auckland, Aotearoa
Joined April 2017
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Michael Harrison retweeted
So it is now in the “US national interest” to side with the dictator in Russia in its brutal war against democratic Ukraine? Imagine the deals Xi is now preparing for Trump…
BREAKING: President Trump puts new Russia sanctions passed by Congress on hold, saying a waiver is in the U.S. national interest. apnews.com/article/russia-sa…
Michael Harrison retweeted
Unbelievable and shameful.
Latest: Zelenskyy tells reporters over WhatsApp that restrictions on Ukraine's Starlink systems remain. Interceptor drones can't function, logistics and operations hobbled. The maximum speed is 161 kph; "exceeding this limit causes the Starlink connection to cut out completely, resulting in the loss of the drone."
He says Ukraine has done tests to determine whether SpaceX is truly facing technical issues, as has been told Kyiv by the US side, or if this is a "deliberate operation... to restrict us, cut us off, and prevent us from defending ourselves and protecting our people, both at the front and among the civilian population."
He says Ukraine "sent a couple of vehicles equipped with Starlink terminals into European Union territory."
"They moved at speeds exceeding 180kph, and the Starlink systems worked perfectly. We have the relevant logs and evidence to prove this."
He adds: "The conclusion is clear: the restrictions are in effect within Ukraine but do not apply within the European Union. In other words, this is a planned operation."
Michael Harrison retweeted
So the story was exactly as people imagined: it was Elon's idea to throttle Starshield, which he then shared with Trump.
Due to the massive backlash and fear of losing business in Europe, the decision was quickly reversed. However, since they didn't want to help Zelenskyy in any way, credit for the reversal was given to former Ukrainian Defence Minister Fedorov, who had previously been dismissed by the Ukrainian president.
The decisions of these two small, greedy men may have cost many Ukrainian soldiers and civilians their lives. An absolute disgrace.
EXCLUSIVE: Elon Musk came to Donald Trump with the plan to throttle Ukraine’s use of SpaceX’s Starshield satellite internet network, sources have told the Telegraph.
The tech billionaire made the proposal during the US President’s row with Volodymyr Zelensky over strikes on Russian oil refineries.
‘The reality is that they were both in it,’ a senior source said of Musk’s and Trump’s involvement.
But after a night of carnage in Kyiv caused by the slowdown, Musk was alarmed about the possibility of adverse consumer reaction in Europe.
The SpaceX boss then proceeded to tweet, blaming the US administration, and ultimately, President Trump for authorising the slowdown.
‘He tweeted out that he was innocent and that it was the US administration that did it,’ the source said.
Michael Harrison retweeted
Trump's russian diesel deal is like President Roosevelt calling Churchill in 1940 and telling him that the US is buying fuel from Hitler and that if the British continue to bomb Nazi Germany's refineries that the US will the end Lend-Lease.
Michael Harrison retweeted
We currently grow our wealth by expanding private & Govt debt, and (effectively) using the $ created to pay off our current account deficit and buy offshore shares. Thankfully the value of those offshore shares has gone up a lot. We're banking on that continuing. It's not a plan.
Michael Harrison retweeted
So a majority of NZ Cabinet supported #NZ voting with the vast majority of countries to support a major declaration on #pandemic prevention, preparedness & response, but the decision was left to the Foreign Minister who draws support from anti-vaxxers?
newsroom.co.nz/2026/10/13/pe…
Michael Harrison retweeted
All the singing and dancing about Treasury forecasting some jobs growth over the next four years. Firstly, Treasury are pretty much forecasting the 1.5% to 2% average growth rate their toy models always spit out. And, how do they compare to what happens? [🧵 1/n]
Michael Harrison retweeted
🎯 Has Trump blamed Zelenskyy for forcing him to attack Iran yet?
The FT with a very helpful graph on understanding why diesel prices are high. Trump's got the wrong war in mind. ft.com/content/445b2856-a276…
Michael Harrison retweeted
When Ukraine destroys Russian data centers, hoards of aggressive right-wing bots disappear, and Twitter becomes much friendlier. Isn’t that interesting? So much of our politics is driven by the internet, and so much of the internet is driven by Russians who want to hurt us. Shouldn’t we do something about that, given that we know it?
Michael Harrison retweeted
It’s really an A+ troll by Zelenskyy to take out half of Russia’s bot farm, weeks before the US midterm elections.
Michael Harrison retweeted
Reminder: '220,000 more jobs' is just Treasury's forecast over the next four years.
In Budget 2025, the forecast was 240,000 more jobs. How did that work out?
The actual record is 35,000 fewer jobs in this term of Parliament - the worst result since the statistics began
Michael Harrison retweeted
We spent $2.3bn more on imported fuel in the three months from May - July comapred to previous three months. Enough to pay salaries of 100,000+ people. We are going to fall back more than reckonomists reckon here... and we've got RBNZ tightening (again) + a misguided government.
Michael Harrison retweeted
Ukrainian attacks on Russian data centers may be even more painful for Russia than attacks on its oil refineries.
Here is why.
Russia has been waging two wars against Ukraine. The first is a physical war, fought with missiles, drones, tanks, and soldiers. The second is an information war, fought through propaganda, disinformation, and millions of social media posts designed to manipulate public opinion.
Attacking Russian oil refineries undermines Russia’s ability to finance and sustain its physical war. But attacking Russian data centers undermines its ability to wage the information war.
And we are already seeing very interesting developments.
Following Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centers, reports indicate that internet traffic originating from Yandex’s network has collapsed. According to reporting based on Cloudflare data, bot traffic from that network fell to just 0.4% of its recent peak.
Meanwhile, online activity supporting Germany’s far-right AfD party has dropped dramatically. The anti-Ukrainian hateful rhetoric from Poland has decreased. Russian-linked MAGA accounts and other pro-Russian networks on social media are bleeding.
The implications are enormous.
For years, Russia has invested heavily in influencing elections, dividing Western societies, and spreading propaganda that undermines support for Ukraine.
And now Ukraine may have found a way to disrupt that machinery.
Think about the implications for elections in Europe and the United States. Political movements that have benefited from Russian disinformation could suddenly find themselves without part of the online infrastructure that helped amplify their propaganda.
And there is another important dimension. Yandex is not just a search engine. It is a major part of Russia’s digital economy, supporting cloud services, artificial intelligence, navigation, businesses, and everyday online activity.
So these attacks hurt Russia on multiple fronts.
They disrupt its economy. They threaten its technological development. And they weaken its propaganda machine.
That is why I believe these attacks may ultimately prove even more effective than strikes on Russian oil refineries.
Oil refineries help Russia finance its war.
Data centers help Russia wage its information war.
And Ukraine is now targeting both.
Michael Harrison retweeted
I'm testing the Russian bots, because traffic from Yandex bots is currently close to zero (check Cloudflare Radar). That's because Ukraine has imposed a ban on them — by firepower.
So I'm going to say the following things, which will most likely generate organic, authentic, human traffic, but without the bot traffic. Let's see:
* russia is a criminal state;
* russia is a terrorist state;
* russia is ruled by a criminal regime;
* Putin and the entire russian leadership, from 2014 and 2022 onwards, should find themselves inside the courtroom of The Hague Tribunal;
* Ukraine is defending itself against all of russia's attacks, pressure from the Trump Administration, and shipments of sophisticated components from around the world, including Europe;
* The Ukrainian people are, first and foremost, the ones whom we in Romania — and the Republic of Moldova as well (or especially) — should thank for keeping the russian Army at bay;
* The European Union is the best thing that has happened to Romania since the Great Union of 1918;
* The United States of America under Donald Trump has become nothing more than an empty shell of the values and principles it championed for decades;
* Donald Trump is a convicted common criminal, now also suspected of pedophilia and other forms of sexual abuse against girls and women in connection with the Epstein files;
* Elon Musk is an individual who has absolutely nothing to do with ethics or morality, not even remotely.
Feel free to add other things that might attract the bots' attention, and let's see whether they're still operating or not.
Michael Harrison retweeted
love "220,000 more jobs expected"
that's just Treasury's default model- if the economy is growing, it adds about 50,000 jobs a year.
The actual record is 35,000 jobs lost in the past three years.
Michael Harrison retweeted
Latest NZ balance sheet data is out. Always a pleasure. We can start with our apparently perilously indebted government. Errrm, see those blue bars? They're higher than the yellow line, right? Yep, the private sector is in net debt to the Govt. Daft. [🧵1/n]
Michael Harrison retweeted
Only Trump can save Putin. Goodbye to US sanctions. Every GOP running for office must be confronted with this egregious act of supporting genocidal war in Ukraine, especially at the moment when Putin shifted all his fire power to killing civilians.
Trump saves the day for Putin. Just as Ukraine was changing the direction of the war by inflicting real economic pain on Putin by hitting his oil refineries, Trump steps in and agrees to buy Russian diesel. Now Trump can say that Ukraine is bombing American interests and they better stop. Up until today, there was a real chance of an unspoken aerial cease fire if Russian could no longer tolerate the pain, but that has now disappeared
Michael Harrison retweeted
This was an impossible forecast to be fair - but the continued hopium from Treasury is starting to grind a bit. When you hear Lux-out talking about the 220,000 jobs on the way and the return to slurplus (whatever), remember that the estimates are built on sand. We have no plan.
