Wish that you spent your Friday doing something besides checking if TikTok was banned or not? Try out @skylight.social — a video app built upon the same open network as Bluesky. You can login with your Bluesky account, and all of your followers seamlessly come with you.

Quite a bit of this on here: open.substack.com/pub/musaalgh...

open.substack.com/pub/persuasi.... Definitely worth a watch.

Greetings from Lviv

I have a dream...

One plug to rule them all bsky.app/profile/ec.e...

On the streets of Free Damascus, I asked Syrians if they had a message to send to the people of Ukraine. Here is what they said: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcS1...

Part 4

Three days after Russian air defenses shot down an Azerbaijani passenger plane, Russian propaganda channels release a video of Russian air defenses shooting down Santa Claus because “we don’t want anything foreign in our skies.” Cc: foreign airlines still flying to Russia.

www.euronews.com/my-europe/20... What was Fico thinking?

www.rferl.org/a/russia-syr... #Hmeimim #Tartus

Ukraine is winning the economic war against Russia www.economist.com/finance-and-... From The Economist

A love story from Donbas. May they have a lifetime of peace and happiness together. 📹: dobronosov/Instagram

He was billed $4,000; a lot of money, but this headline is rage baiting @washingtonpost.com

This is silly. Musk does not want America to "collapse." We don't need rhetoric lifted from bad scifi if we want to fight him or Trump. bsky.app/profile/timo...

Be furious be angry but despondency is what they want from us. And be very suspicious of people on the left who say “we are cooked” or whatever. Imagine the civil rights movement, or suffrage, or any movement for change, hitting a roadblock and just “saying well we are well and truly fucked now.”

The art of the deal: 1. Make wild demands 2. Get nothing 3. Declare victory

open.substack.com/pub/yaschamo...

What makes people think that a populist party, hollowed out of ideology and packed with Gasdan Flag worshipers and grifters, will be able to get anything done other than to blow existing institutions up?

❗However, RU does not have enough ballistic missiles to cause a complete blackout of UA’s electrical system. Such attacks might lead to temporary restrictions on electricity use, but the hits are not that massive, and UA is able to restore power supply.

The December 17th Maxar imagery shows that Russia has now removed its Monolit-B coastal sea-surface and air radar from its fixed location at Tartus where it was deployed for years. A major asset for the base and another sign that Tartus will cease to operate in the near future.

Look-alikes are being hired for family portraits and wedding announcements but expectations can be high; ‘You know I’m not the real Jesus, right?’ www.wsj.com/lifestyle/ca...

Opinion: The causal link between economic performance and political outcomes has broken down in both directions – not only can a nation have a thriving economy to no benefit to its politics, it can sustain awful politics without incurring economic damage. on.ft.com/3BDK0zz

Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.

-January 6: Fascism! -Assassination of a CEO: Well, it's bad, but you have to understand people's anger -Oh, like the folks that stormed the Capitol? -No that's completely different...because I disagree with them...

The many deep and serious problems are American health care simply do not benefit from being contaminated by the desperate attempts of "Murder is bad, but..." folks turning to lunatics to be champions of their cause.

Essential piece by @cwarzel.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a... The rush to turn Mangione into a representative folk hero is crashing against the reality that he belongs to an impossibly rich family; received a successful back surgery; and reportedly wasnt even on UHC insurance.

The rule of law is about the sovereignty of law, though, not social outcomes. Inequality can undermine the rule of law but is not proof of its absence

Update. A larger number of Russian transport aircraft can now be seen at Khmeimim. The S-400 battery is packing up for transport. The tactical aviation is still there, but there is a withdrawal under way.

Welcome to the sunk cost trap: Humbled in Syria, Putin Seeks Vindication in Ukraine www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/w...

"it is true that American health care is expensive and often ineffective, that is not clearly linked to America’s lagging life expectancy...one notable contributor to shorter lifespans has nothing to do with doctors. That is, the 20,000 or so murders committed each year with guns." econ.st/49GIzgw

If you think killing people is fine if you disagree with their politics, you don't stand for democracy. No "but, but..." here. Sorry you're mad about health care costs.

When the Syrian war started, supporters of Assad were infamously saying: „Assad or we burn the country.“ The country, even when badly hurt, survived. The tomb of Hafez Assad in Qardaha, however, has been burnt down.

While the rest of Europe is preparing for Christmas, Ukrainian defenders are still holding back 800.000 russian invaders, keeping us all safe. So, please: >contribute & share fundraisers >ask your governments to do more >amplify Ukrainian voices >talk about russian war crimes

So basically, every Russian I sent to die in Syria died for nothing. I remain a master strategist.

This morning an aircraft registered C5-SKY left from the same area where the previous flight disappeared. It flew to Abu Dhabi. The same aircraft flew from Damascus to Abu Dhabi yesterday before the regime fell. Flightradar24 doesn't show it taking off but that is probably down to bad coverage.

As Damascus falls to the rebel forces, it’s Assad day for Putin.

DAMASCUS: Panic and chaos erupt at Damascus International Airport as regime loyalists scramble to flee the country, anticipating the Assad regime's imminent collapse. (Part 1)

The clocktower in Homs liberated! We think of Abdul Basset al-Sarout...

⚡️ Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have fled to Abu Dhabi, according to Turkish outlets citing UAE sources. CNN sources confirm Assad is no longer in Damascus. edition.cnn.com/world/live-n...

Given this week’s events Assad's regime is finished & it’s a race to Damascus. The Russian position in Syria, and MENA region writ large is consequently in deep trouble, because of Syria’s importance as a logistics hub for Russian operations. Short thread. 1/

Fwiw there are two flights in the air en route to the airport. Regime connected planes. One recently landed in the UAE. Are these evac flights? Either way we'll see if they can land.

Areas seem to be falling before the rebels arrive. #Syria One person living in Artouz, not far central Damascus, says the army abandoned the area yesterday actually not today. The rebels reached their area 2 hours ago, and said the regime abandoned its checkpoints.

If Bashar is in Damascus, which I doubt, then his escape routes are rapidly being closed off.

DAMASCUS: Residents of the Midan district of central Damascus have began mobilising in the streets, anticipating the crumble of the Assad regime. Midan was notorious throughout the Syrian uprising as a major gathering point for mass protests calling for Assad to fall.