Alex Konig @AlexK____

Arts and letters, Russia/Ukraine/E. Europe, criminal justice, etc. winterings.net Moscow Joined April 2014

Tweets

2K
Followers

53
Following

162
Likes

2K

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@davidfrum Would he repeat this now? After Navalny's poisoning, return, imprisonment; after the street protests and Putin's brutal response?

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

@NGrossman81 In the big picture, he's just that: the Kremlin's useful idiot. Technically, he's highly intelligent and possibly driven by a sense of moral duty - but he's playing Putin's side. "By their fruit you will recognize them."

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@olliecarroll It was widely anticipated that one of the oligarchs would claim ownership but it wasn't clear it would be R. Could have been Deripaska, as a native son.

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@ChristopherJM The key question is the depth and scope of the sanctions. Going after their assets worldwide, for real, or just banning them from visiting the US?

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@amandaknox The cops in Perugia broke the law in more ways than one but were later able to use that "confession" against you. What's needed is a blanket ban on the use of any statements made during legally dubious interrogations, for any purposes.

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@morozhnoye True - if memory serves me right. Not sure if it's still alive and widespread but it was both 30-40 years ago.

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@christogrozev What's missing so far is paramilitary violence in the capitals. Say, Prilepin's blackshirts beating up peaceful protesters. Perhaps LatAm dictatorships could be more useful as a point of comparison than Euro Fascism(s).

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@Nat_Vasilyeva My impression is that Lukashenko owes his survival (so far) to the opposition's and the West's fear of a Russian invasion triggered by his hypothetical removal by the street protesters.

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@edwardlucas Navalny 2021 is a different man and politician than Navalny 2010, and the change is mostly for the better.

1 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@leonidragozin Also, they don't call it "svetofor" although the word had been used in Soviet Russia since the 1920s. VEF must be the predecessor of the Soviet-era VEF factory?

0 0 1 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@KevinRothrock More like a few months off (October 1918), for government publications at least.

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@chessninja @MaxBoot Mandela was once a radical militant with a soft side for Communism but he emerged from prison a conciliator and a prudent statesman. People change.

0 0 2 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@MoscowTimes @KevinRothrock The government writ large is their biggest client in Russia. What did you expect?

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@shaunwalker7 Nobody cares about Russian state news headlines any more.

0 0 1 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@davidfrum The number is 83% for the US but "urban" is often used more narrowly, excluding small towns and suburbs. In the Russian context, I'd guess "urban" refers to places with pop. 200K-300K or greater.

0 0 1 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@KevinRothrock There weren't injured trying to stop looting/looters, were they?

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@KevinRothrock No, just another test, hardly the ultimate one.

0 0 1 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

@Andrew_S_Bowen Interesting but the Putin's approval rating of 60% doesn't look like good/honest sociology (whether polling makes sense at all in Putin's Russia is an open question). Anyway, it's not Navalny that makes Kremlin panic but its own fear of mass discontent.

0 0 0 0 0

View Details

Alex Konig @AlexK____

6 years ago

On his blog, Andrei Illarionov sounded at times idiosyncratic, even cranky, but independent and often original. Then he resorted to groupspeak and cheap Trumpist cliches. #Catoinstitute #Capitolriot winterings.net/2021/01/19/fro…