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Azamat Junisbai

@azamatistan.bsky.social
2.2K followers 49 following 192 posts

almaty native - california transplant - sociology professor - views are my own - 🇰🇿🇺🇦

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Reposted by Azamat Junisbai
The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 11h
Amid the rubble of a Ukrainian apartment building, locals have one wish for Putin’s birthday A Russian cruise missile hit a five-story apartment building in Pryluky, Chernihiv Oblast, on Oct. 7, killing at least 20 people, including five children — three of them only one year old.
kyivindependent.com
Amid the rubble of a Ukrainian apartment building, locals have one wish for Putin’s birthday
PRYLUKY, Chernihiv Oblast – Families stand outside the ruins of a five-story apartment building, watching rescuers dig through what remains of their homes. Some sit wrapped in blankets, staring at th...
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 24/09/2026
⚡️Australia commits to long-term Ukraine support, rolls out 100-plus new Russia sanctions Ukraine and Australia signed a wide-ranging, 10-year security agreement on Sept. 23 on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, cementing cooperation between the two countries on a range of fronts.
kyivindependent.com
Australia commits to long-term Ukraine support, rolls out 100-plus new Russia sanctions
Canberra also announced a 60 million Australian dollar ($42.2 million) support package for Kyiv.
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Russia says the quiet part out loud at the UN-- they reject a ceasefire because they don't want Ukraine to rearm. Why? Clearly, because they don't want Ukraine to defend itself from their aggression. Their goal remains Ukrainian capitulation. Never forget that…
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Zelensky is always clear and on point. It is a travesty that some are accusing Ukraine of not wanting peace. It's like claiming a cancer patient rejects health and wants illness because they talk too much about the hospital and medications.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 16/09/2026
Read Mikhal Zygar on Umar Kremlev, the oligarch who helped pay for Don Jr's wedding zygaro.substack.com/p/the-oligar...
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.
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Sasha Senderovich 🌻 @returnstosender.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A Russian oligarch named Kremlev—who’s close to the Kremlin—paid for Don Jr.’s wedding? Who needs satire.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Some details: Kremlev, the Russian who sponsored Don Jr's wedding, is a former member of the Night Wolves biker gang, went to China with Putin and is personally sanctioned by Ukraine for his role in abducting children www.propublica.org/article/dona...
propublica.org
Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...
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Erica Marat 🇺🇦 @ericamarat.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
ICYMI: Our short book is available for a free download again for the next 10 days! 🥳 www.cambridge.org/core/element...
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
People who’ve seen the Soviet movie I mention in my latest column will see the parallels. “Ignorance and greed make for hilarious farce in Leningrad. They make for ludicrous American policy in Moscow.” www.policymagazine.ca/unbelievable...
policymagazine.ca
Unbelievable Adventures of Americans in Shuttle Diplomacy - Policy Magazine
On Friday, Trump indicated that Kushner and Witkoff had a fresh proposal for ending the war, without specifying details. This is their first official visit to
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Azamat Junisbai @azamatistan.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
New depths of moral bankruptcy. Blaming the victim for daring to fight back. After trying to block Zelensky's visit to DC in 2025 and inviting the aggressor's finance minister to the US in 2026. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/b...
nytimes.com
Bessent Blames Ukraine for High Energy Prices (Gift Article)
After meeting with Russia’s finance minister, the Treasury secretary said Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure were contributing to a global energy shock driven mainly by the U.S. war with ...
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Angelica Shalagina Official🇺🇦 @angel-shalagina.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Moldovan President Maia Sandu awarded Zelenskyy Moldova’s highest state honor for his contribution to defending peace and freedom on the European continent.
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Business Ukraine magazine @businessukraine.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Ukraine’s fight against Russian imperialism is one of the longest statehood struggles in world history. As far back as 1731, French enlightenment philosopher Voltaire noted that “Ukraine has always aspired to liberty.” nypost.com/2026/08/26/o...
nypost.com
Ukraine fights on for freedom — to shatter centuries of Russian cruelty
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine stunned the world — but it was just the latest chapter in a dark epic of imperial aggression stretching back hundreds of years.
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Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
APPLEBAUM: Corruption investigations in Ukraine are coming from inside Ukrainian government. Try to imagine that right now in United States, and you can't do it. It's as if FBI were investigating Trump family companies, which is unimaginable, right? TARLOV: That's very funny.
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Kaja Kallas @kajakallas.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
On Ukraine’s Independence Day, we honour the extraordinary courage of the Ukrainian people. For more than a third of its time as a sovereign nation, Ukraine has had to fight to prevent Russia from taking away its freedom. (1/3)
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Azamat Junisbai @azamatistan.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Part of a wide ranging conversation (in Russian) with Gulnara Bisari in Astana earlier this summer. youtube.com/shorts/p6Rtb...
youtube.com
Будет ли КАЗАХСТАН второй Украиной? Переходи по ссылке ⬇️ полное видео #ПрофессорСША #AzamatJunisbai
YouTube video by QAZir Erten Podcast
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Andrew Chakhoyan 🇺🇦 @andrewchak.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
putin made a decision to invade 🇺🇦. But the puppeteer is also a puppet, captive to russia's imperial ethos. Enter Schrödinger's putin: the autocrat who could end the war tomorrow, yet remains trapped by the predatory political tradition he embodies. www.realclearworld.com/articles/202...
realclearworld.com
Russia's War and Putin's Choice
This article first appeared in German in Neue Zürcher Zeitung Few medieval figures loom larger in Russia’s origin story than Yuriy Dolgorukiy, the prince credited with founding an outpost o
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Azamat Junisbai @azamatistan.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
thehill.com/opinion/inte...
thehill.com
From Saratoga to Saratov: Every war of independence needs an ally
As Ukraine continues its strategic strikes against Russian infrastructure, author Andrew Chakhoyan draws parallels between the current conflict and the American Revolutionary War to argue that West…
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Azamat Junisbai @azamatistan.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
apnews.com/article/fran...
apnews.com
European troops and warplanes join Paris Bastille Day parade in a show of unity for Ukraine
This year’s Bastille Day celebrations in France focus on European unity and support for Ukraine. Troops and warplanes from across Europe are joining Tuesday's parade in Paris.
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NOELREPORTS @noelreports.com · 27/06/2026
Russian State Duma lawmaker Aleksey Zhuravlyov threatened Finland with military force after Helsinki approved a Lockheed Martin rocket systems maintenance center in Tampere. He said Russia would strengthen its defenses on the Finnish border and claimed Finland was becoming "a second Ukraine" #Russia
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The RUTA Association @associationruta.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
RUTA is devastated by the scale of latest Russian attacks, furthering the transgenerational destruction and appropriation of Ukrainian culture, heritage, identity, and self-determination. We support Ukrainians in their striving for de-occupation, safety, accountability and justice for Russian crimes
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Azamat Junisbai @azamatistan.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
“The Russian Federation remains the world's largest unrepentant colonizer. What makes this voracious, predatory empire invisible to an unquestioning observer is the saltwater fallacy, the refusal of the Western mind to grasp that colonies don't have to be separated from the metropole by high seas.”
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NOELREPORTS @noelreports.com · 07/06/2026
Ukraine struck Russian Navy weapons storage base military unit 55443-li in Bolshaya Izhora, Leningrad region, using around 40 attack drones, Dosye Shpiona said. The hit triggered detonations and destroyed about 5,000 tons of ammunition. #Russia
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Azamat Junisbai @azamatistan.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
“Putin’s Russia is ….an ossified structure that can only break, not bend… The uncomfortable truth is that this war is unlikely to end at a negotiating table in Geneva or Istanbul. It will end when the cost of imperial ambition becomes unbearable for the Russian elite and the broader society.”
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Erica Marat 🇺🇦 @ericamarat.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
I am struck by the clarity and depth of this comment on how Central Asian scholars/studies are going through a decolonial moment. Thank you, @judithbeyer.bsky.social, for articulating something I have long struggled to put into words and was hesitant to say.
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
As the Kremlin loses hope of conquering Ukraine, they signal they might accept a chunk to sell this domestically as victory. This tells you what the war was always about and what russian society thinks of it-- both the regime and russian society seek imperial conquest, not security.
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Why on earth are russian scholars reviewing Kyrgyz textbooks to begin with?! At a meeting in Moscow, no less. The decolonization road is long. Read @ericamarat.bsky.social ‘s timely oped.
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Azamat Junisbai @azamatistan.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
“Russian scholars reviewing Kyrgyz secondary school textbooks reprimanded their Kyrgyz counterparts for describing the periods of Tsarist and Soviet rule as "colonialism." The Kyrgyz historians who authored the textbooks refused to bend to Moscow.” www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/05/26/c...
themoscowtimes.com
Central Asia Is Done With Letting Moscow Write Its History - The Moscow Times
Opinion | At a meeting of the Kyrgyz-Russian Expert Council on History in Moscow, Russian scholars reviewing Kyrgyz secondary school textbooks reprimanded their Kyrgyz counterparts for describing the ...
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
We launch the series w an Element on the disruption to a status quo in Central Asian studies that has lasted decades too long. As @ericamarat.bsky.social and Aizada Arystanbek argue "What started as a slow rejection of the idea that the region benefited from Soviet control has turned into ..."
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
This is silly, backwards framing at best, and deliberate undermining of Ukraine, at worst. The fact that Ukraine's anticorruption bodies are powerful and independent enough to charge none other but the former chief of staff of the president actually bolsters Zelensky's EU push!
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Zelensky making it clear that if the prisoner exchange doesn't take place, it'll show russia and the US both went back on their word. Ukraine's position is honest and strong.
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Some advice for those who secretly continue to admire russia's power, despite all the counter evidence: If you feel the urge to write a paean to russia disguised as concern trolling about the tragedy of Ukraine's impending defeat, resist it. You'll be deservedly mocked for it. Some examples:
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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 07/05/2026
Sen. Mark Kelly: "If you say something that the president or this administration does not like, they're going to come after you. The president is trying to silence us, and I can't think of anything that's more un-American."
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 29/04/2026
⚡️In address to US Congress, King Charles urges 'unyielding resolve' in support of Ukraine, NATO unity.
kyivindependent.com
In address to US Congress, King Charles urges 'unyielding resolve' in support of Ukraine, NATO unity
While serving as a symbolic head of state, British monarchs have regularly exercised so-called "soft power" to espouse foreign policy priorities through measured or coded language during their foreign...
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 18/04/2026
⚡️ Trump letting Putin 'play him for a fool,' US lawmakers say after new Russia sanctions waiver. "This decision is shameful," the statement reads.
kyivindependent.com
Trump letting Putin 'play him for a fool,' US lawmakers say after new Russia sanctions waiver
"This decision is shameful," the statement reads.
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Andrew Chakhoyan 🇺🇦 @andrewchak.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Do you speak #Ruscism, the language of aggression and violence that signals genocidal intent and justifies the unjustifiable? chakhoyan.substack.com/p/the-bloods...
chakhoyan.substack.com
The bloodsoaked lexicon of Russian imperialism
Seven phrases that encapsulate Moscow's violent obsession with conquest
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
You can't simultaneously lament the fall of the USSR and be a minimally credible anti-imperialist. You just can't. The USSR was an empire and it was brought down by anti-imperialist, local liberation movements and mobilization. In addition,...
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Andrew Chakhoyan 🇺🇦 @andrewchak.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Hannah Arendt, who coined “the banality of evil” phrase, warned that systems, not just individuals, produce heinous violence. putin is evil. Blood of 🇺🇦 children on his hands. But he is NOT an exception. russia reproduced rulers like him for centuries. kyivindependent.com/the-banality...
kyivindependent.com
The banality of Putin
Igor Bagnyuk, a lieutenant colonel in the Russian army, is not a household name. His work, at the vapidly named Main Computation Center of the General Staff, does not involve pulling triggers or tort...
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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
While Russia strikes Ukrainian civilians, Ukraine continues decreasing Russia's economic potential to wage a war. This is an oil refinery in Russian Tuapse.
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 16/04/2026
⚡️At least 22 killed, 131 injured in Russian strikes across Ukraine over past day Russian forces launched 18 ballistic missiles, 20 Kh-101 cruise missiles, five Iskander-K cruise missiles, and 659 drones against Ukraine overnight.
kyivindependent.com
At least 22 killed, 131 injured in Russian strikes across Ukraine over past day
A mass Russian missile and drone attack early on April 16 struck major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Odesa, and Dnipro.
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 14/04/2026
⚡️Ukraine, Norway sign defense declaration, expand drone cooperation. Norway & Ukraine signed a defense declaration aimed at deepening military cooperation, including joint drone production, following talks between President Volodymyr Zelensky & Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.
kyivindependent.com
Ukraine, Norway sign defense declaration, expand drone cooperation
Norway and Ukraine signed a defense declaration on April 14 in Oslo aimed at deepening military cooperation, including joint drone production, following talks between President Volodymyr Zelensky and ...
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Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
🇳🇴 🇺🇦 Norway and Ukraine signed a declaration on enhanced defense and security cooperation. Also discussed joint development of drones, industrial cooperation, and energy partnership.
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Andrew Chakhoyan 🇺🇦 @andrewchak.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Pundits keep asking why russia invaded #Ukraine, committed war crimes, and burned bridges with the West. God knows, the largest landmass on our planet, the Ruscist Federation, needed no land. It faced no threat. Colonialism is the engine of russian history The actors change. The violence remains
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Azamat Junisbai @azamatistan.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
“Orbán received visits or verbal support from Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, Benjamin Netanyahu, Marine Le Pen (the leader of the French far right), Alice Weidel (the leader of the German far right), and other illiberal leaders from Argentina, Poland, Slovakia, Brazil, and more.”
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Azamat Junisbai @azamatistan.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
"Russians go home," Magyar supporters chanted, as the next Hungarian prime minister promised better relations with the European Union.” bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Orbán era swept away by Péter Magyar's Hungary election landslide
Viktor Orbán's 16 years in power is over, defeated by a 45-year-old ex-party insider who convinced a majority of Hungarians to oust him.
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Jake Broe @realjakebroe.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Ukrainians living in the occupied territories of Kherson are being targeted and controlled with landmines and drones by the Russian occupation forces. Zarina Zabrisky spoke with civilians who have managed to escape the hell that is living in the occupied territories. @zarinazabrisky.bsky.social
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Olena Halushka @halushka.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The EU is dead if they don't find a way to change decision-making from unanimity to a qualified majority. Even if Orban loses, russia will soon buy a new little helper among the European leaders. The problem is far deeper than Orban.
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 07/04/2026
⚡️ Russian FPV drone hits bus in rush hour attack as strikes kill 8, injure 52 across Ukraine. "This is deliberate Russian terror against peaceful cities and civilians," Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said.
kyivindependent.com
Russian FPV drone hits bus in rush hour attack as strikes kill 8, injure 52 across Ukraine
At around 9 a.m., a Russian FPV drone, guided by a Russian operator, deliberately struck a passenger bus in central Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killing three people and injuring 16 others. Three o...
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
I completely agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene is a sentence I never thought I would ever write.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 06/04/2026
In the Russian army, soldiers pay officers in order to stay alive www.economist.com/europe/2026/...
economist.com
On the front lines, Russian soldiers pay officers to stay alive
Russian soldiers describe a system of extortion on Ukraine's front lines, where officers demand bribes for survival and use troops as sources of enrichment.
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