Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Keir Giles @keirgiles.bsky.social · 3d

"Understanding [Russia's] long-term patterns of strategic deception is essential in order to effectively counter" them. Important long read from @katri.bsky.social and @atolvin.bsky.social breaking down how Russia shapes outcomes through narratives over decades.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Reconstructing Kremlin strategic deception: the logic of disinformation narratives during the first phase of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Official Kremlin rhetoric about the ‘special military operation’ produces clashing, often contrasting interpretations of reality. This article applies perspectives from Soviet ideological language ...

www.tandfonline.com

5 14 41

Amelie Tolvin @atolvin.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks, Keir!!

2

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Katri Pynnöniemi @katri.bsky.social · Jul 21

Our paper with @atolvin.bsky.social at #iccees2025 about Russia's strategic deception, will be published later this year!

1 6

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Mira of Kyiv 🇺🇦 @reshetz.bsky.social · Jul 21

They hit a subway station in Kyiv where people were hiding from explosions

8 94 290

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Tatarigami @tatarigami.bsky.social · Jul 10

The situation with Russians killing a toddler with a drone is especially despicable when you realize this wasn’t a stray artillery shell that landed 50 meters off, or a Shahed drone that hit a tall building, but an FPV drone, guided in real time by an operator watching it live

120 1K 2.5K

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Euan MacDonald @euanmacdonald.bsky.social · Apr 19

Ceasefire shmeasefire.

Air alert in Kyiv - threat of ballistic missile launches from east. Explosions reported in Kharkiv.

3 61 170

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · Apr 19

Ru ceasefires are always lies. Time for a broader audience to learn what Ukrainians have known for 11 yrs.

Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) @archer83able.bsky.social · Apr 19

No signs of a ceasefire announced by Putin today, Ukrainian officials and soldiers say.

Russian drone attack reported in the Ukrainian city of Kherson.

4 54 140

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · Apr 15

Foreign policy asks a fantastic question - why don’t Russian soldiers revolt. After all they all die.

Here is the answer. 1/

2 29 69

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Olga Tokariuk @olgatokariuk.bsky.social · Apr 13

Russia killed at least 21 people in Sumy, northern Ukraine, today, on Palm Sunday. Two ballistic missiles hit the center of the city. More than 80 people are injured. This attack made absolutely no sense other than to terrorise civilians and to showcase Russia's impunity.

1 39 79

Amelie Tolvin @atolvin.bsky.social · Apr 9

Thank you!

1

Amelie Tolvin @atolvin.bsky.social · Apr 9

Thanks for sharing this! Looking forward to giving it a read.

1

Amelie Tolvin @atolvin.bsky.social · Apr 9

Thank you so much!

3

Amelie Tolvin @atolvin.bsky.social · Apr 9

Thank you!!!

1

Amelie Tolvin @atolvin.bsky.social · Apr 9

Many thanks to @katri.bsky.social, @kaihko.bsky.social, and @keirgiles.bsky.social, who read this essay in its various stages, and especially to @seva.bsky.social, who generously read far too many drafts to count.

3 12

Amelie Tolvin @atolvin.bsky.social · Apr 9

My first Foreign Policy essay is out - it examines the role of violence in Russia's military, which both creates docility in the face of meatgrinder tactics, and encourages increased violence towards fellow soldiers and Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians. foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...

Why Don’t Russian Soldiers Revolt?

Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders.

foreignpolicy.com

8 45 99

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Elena Holmgren @lenaholmgren.bsky.social · Apr 9

"Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders." - a brilliant piece by @atolvin.bsky.social at foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...

Why Don’t Russian Soldiers Revolt?

Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders.

foreignpolicy.com

3 8

Amelie Tolvin @atolvin.bsky.social · Apr 9

Thank you!!!

2

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Keir Giles @keirgiles.bsky.social · Apr 9

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome @atolvin.bsky.social's debut piece in Foreign Policy, on how the ingrained violence of Russia's military system helps explain both acquiescence in the meatgrinder and atrocities toward its victims.

Keep writing please.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/r...

Why Don’t Russian Soldiers Revolt?

Astonishing death rates and brutal abuse have not kept troops from following orders.

foreignpolicy.com

10 22 88

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

☠️deadward niedermurder☠️ @niedermeyer.online · Mar 26

I don't care what side of the Israel-Palestine conflict your sympathies lie on, snatching up people with a valid student visa for the crime of writing an OpEd is naked fascism and if you don't oppose this you are a threat to this country's most basic values

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Mar 26

Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.

They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.

From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY

110 2.7K 8.3K

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Micah @rincewind.run · Mar 26

this is just abjectly fucking terrifying

nobody should be disappeared because they wrote an op-ed

nobody should be disappeared at all

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Mar 26

Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.

They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.

From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY

25 260 1.1K

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · Mar 14

None of these crimes will stop if Russia manages to formally keep the occupied territories. On the contrary, they will escalate. Because they are not the product of the war per se but of Russia’s objective of erasing the Ukrainian nation as Ukrainians define it and imposing a ru-defined Ukr identity

Alex Raufoglu @ralexdc.bsky.social · Mar 14

NEW!!! UN investigation concludes that russia has committed the crimes against humanity of enforced disappearances and torture in its war in Ukraine…

4 170 520

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Una Bergmane @unabergmane.bsky.social · Mar 8

On this International Women's Day, please consider donating to VETERANKA - a Ukrainian charity that helps women who serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and female veterans.
uwvm.org.ua/uk/

2 16 33

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Olga Tokariuk @olgatokariuk.bsky.social · Feb 28

Total bully tactics by the US president and VP. This is not diplomacy. This is not neutrality. This is siding with the aggressor and trying to finish off the victim. President Zelensky was the only one in the room to behave with dignity.

16 85 300

Reposted by Amelie Tolvin

Una Bergmane @unabergmane.bsky.social · Feb 24

Helsinki tonight

2 76 330

Amelie Tolvin @atolvin.bsky.social · Feb 24

What does the future of the region look like if Russia succeeds in its war against Ukraine? Ryhor Nizhnikau states that it's bleak, and states will be faced with the choice of becoming vassal states (like Belarus), or to face extermination (like Ukraine).

1 3