shekhovtsov.substack.com
PhD UCL SSEES, visiting professor at CEU, director of the Centre for Democratic Integrity, author of books "Russia and the Western Far Right" and "Russian Political Warfare", columnist for EUObserver @euobserver.bsky.social, outdoor research fellow
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euobserver.com/eu-and-the-w...
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What is it with Trump and “two weeks”? Is that his mythical time frame – the enchanted fortnight when every problem is supposed to fix itself without effort? 2/2
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What truly matters today is what lessons Europe chooses to draw from this. From my perspective, the lesson is both clear and long overdue: Europe must urgently develop a pan-European nuclear doctrine to ensure autonomous continental security: buff.ly/Rd3IdPn 3/3
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The rules of the old order are gone, and it is not particularly wise to hope that some Fair and Righteous Power will bring them back. 2/3
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Read the full article: "Weaponising civilians — how 'proxy bombing' is the new front in psychological warfare" buff.ly/eR4GZXc 7/7
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Pro-Ukrainian actors have confined the use of proxy bombing to Russia and Russian-occupied territories, but Russian operatives have increasingly employed such tactics beyond Ukraine, particularly in countries Moscow officially regards as “unfriendly”, which includes nearly all of Europe. 6/7
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Ukraine or pro-Ukrainian forces also use proxy bombers as a means of retribution for aggressive anti-Ukrainian propaganda or war crimes committed during the war. 5/7
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In Russia and Ukraine, proxy bombing is generally used to target military enlistment centres, police stations, banks, railway stations, electrical substations, government offices, and other similar facilities. 4/7
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This tactic, used less for kinetic effect and more for psychological impact, involves recruiting individuals to carry out attacks — either knowingly or unwittingly — by delivering explosives on behalf of a warring party, typically targeting socially significant infrastructure or individuals. 3/7
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While the widespread use of drones by both Ukraine and Russia dominates headlines and defence strategies (especially after Ukraine’s unprecedented Operation Spider’s Web), proxy bombing remains largely overlooked in mainstream European discussions. 2/7
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English version: “Putin’s Genocidal Quest for Symbolic Immortality”: democratic-integrity.eu/anton-shekho...
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Well, it’s in general how intelligence works when they want to have political impact. What makes the Hungarian case special is that Russia is an adversary of the organisations that Hungary is still part of - so it’s not mere mischief, it’s treason.
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My essay is in six parts, but if you find time to read all of them, you will gain a full understanding of how the idea of immortality plays out for Putin in the Russian-Ukrainian war, and why he is so existentially obsessed with the destruction of the Ukrainian nation. 3/3
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“The meaning of today lies in the immortality of the Russian people, of all the peoples of our multi-ethnic country, and of our state – our Motherland, Russia. The path to this immortality lies through the victories that you and your comrades-in-arms are achieving.” 2/3
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I wonder how our interregnum will end - with a war between global powers or with a climate catastrophe. Or shall I put it as *whether* our interregnum will end (with humankind surviving). 2/2
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Is there a way back?… 5/5
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Such actions signal the crossing of an invisible threshold, where the state undermines a foundational element of democratic legitimacy: the trust that citizens will not be treated as enemies of the state. 4/5
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Not that state violence hasn’t existed in the US – it certainly has – but there is a fundamental difference between law enforcement actions, however violent, and the deployment of actual military forces against civilians. 3/5
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Now, this is of course an exaggeration – but what Trump is doing in Los Angeles today will likely have dramatic repercussions for future democratic protests beyond the US. 2/5
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MACO
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What actually matters for Europe – and urgently – is this:
(1) Rearmament on a continental scale, (2) sustained and decisive military support for Ukraine, and (3) the strategic emancipation from dependence on the US for defence and security. 3/3
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These discussions serve little purpose beyond emotional venting and intellectual self-indulgence. 2/3
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The original was here: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...
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It’s a different post though (with the same content), but, well, Trump has chickened out from chickening out!
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Is it though?