#ultranationalists

Can we talk about how thick his arms is

The arms

The bulletproof vest

And the SEDUCTIVE RUSSIAN MEAN MUG

following the makarov reveal and how the modern warfare reboot might be expanding more, i decided to age down the Zakhaev twins and save them as sort of Makarov's last hope for a better world, not really wanting the boys to become a part of the mess that is the family business (i mean, cmon. it's inevitable.) but prepping them nonetheless and mentoring them.

Maybe their uncle's inevitable demise will lead to the two becoming the Gemini Snipers in the future, but who knows!! (I cannot wait for this campaign.)

I guess canonically as of 2023, Kita and Kolya are still lil baby teenagers who are going through a bit of rebellious self discovery.

Kolya is still quiet and shy and more responsible, only thought to be smoking because he was "holding" Kita's cigarettes and vape for him.

Nikita is def the more sneaky, rebellious, social butterfly while Kolya just wants to keep his head down and try not to stand out.

If you shoot down a packed Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, you get praised. If you insult Putin, you're sent to prison. That's life in a hegemonic dictatorship which is Russia these days.

The last time I saw Igor Girkin was five years ago in the stairwell of a Moscow news agency. "Would you consider giving me an interview?" I asked. "No," he replied sharply and scurried away. I saw him again today. No stairwell. This time, Girkin was in a caged dock surrounded by police in the Moscow City Court. Along with other media we were allowed in to film him for just one minute before the end of his trial. A police dog kept barking. Girkin found that amusing. The verdict less so. Minutes later he was found guilty on extremism charges and sentenced to four years in a penal colony. This wasn't his first conviction. In The Hague in 2022, in absentia, Girkin was found guilty of the murder of 298 people: the passengers and crew of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. The Boeing jet had been shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014 by Russian-controlled forces in the early stages of Russia's war there. Girkin was one of three men sentenced to life imprisonment. A judgement he ignored. [ ... ] Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, ultranationalist Girkin became a prominent pro-war blogger. He became increasingly critical of the way the Russian authorities were waging the war: not hard enough, in his view. He founded a hard line nationalist movement called The Club of Angry Patriots. His problems began when he started to take that anger out on President Vladimir Putin. Public criticisms of the Russian president turned to insults. In a post last year, Girkin described Putin as "a non-entity" and "a cowardly waste of space". A few days later he was arrested. Now he's been tried and convicted.

Meet the twins. They're kind of a big deal.

Japan’s conservative governing coalition has dramatically strengthened its grip on power after a landslide victory in Sunday’s elections in what will be seen as an early public endorsement of the new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.

Her Liberal Democratic party (LDP) had won 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing the 261 it needed for an absolute majority in the 465-member lower house and the highest number since the party was founded in 1955. With her coalition partner, the Japan Innovation party, which won 36 seats, Takaichi now has a supermajority of two-thirds of seats, easing her legislative agenda as she can override the upper chamber, which she does not control.

A smiling Takaichi placed a red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP’s headquarters as party executives applauded.

The 64-year-old, who called a snap election soon after becoming Japan’s first female prime minister last autumn, had vowed to resign if her coalition failed to secure a simple majority in the vote, which was held on a freezing day when many parts of the country were again hit by heavy snow.

She will not, however, have long to savour her party’s victory. There are concerns over her management of Japan’s public finances and her ability to defuse a bitter row with China over the future of Taiwan.

Takaichi sought to appeal to voters with a 21tn yen (£99bn) stimulus package aimed at easing the cost of living crisis, later promising to suspend the 8% consumption (sales) tax on food for two years – a 5tn-yen hit to annual revenue

Her spending plans have rattled financial markets and caused currency volatility, prompting some commentators to question her approach given that Japan’s debt is more than twice the size of its gross domestic product – the heaviest debt burden of any advanced economy.

Speaking as exit polls showed her party cruising to victory, Takaichi, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, said: “We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy. We will prioritise the sustainability of fiscal policy. We will ensure necessary investments. Public and private sectors must invest. We will build a strong and resilient economy.”

After a whirlwind introduction to diplomacy – including meetings with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping late last year – Takaichi sparked a row with Beijing in November when she suggested Japan could become involved militarily in the event of a Chinese attempt to invade Taiwan.

China urged tourists not to visit Japan – advice they have heeded – and young people not to study there, citing “safety concerns”. The dispute has disrupted cultural exchanges and even brought an end to decades of “panda diplomacy”.

Margarita Estévez-Abe, an associate professor of political science at Syracuse University, said Sunday’s victory could give Takaichi room to repair the damage to Sino-Japanese ties.

“Now she doesn’t have to worry about any elections until 2028, when the next upper house elections will take place,” Estévez-Abe said. “So the best scenario for Japan is that Takaichi kind of takes a deep breath and focuses on amending the relationship with China.”

But if she follows through with the consumption tax cut, the market reaction could be swift and hostile, according to some analysts.

The estimated voter turnout was 55.6%, according to NHK – up from 53.8% in the previous lower house election in 2024. The broadcaster said more than 27 million people had cast their votes early.

Takaichi’s personal popularity – particularly among younger voters – has transformed the LDP’s fortunes since winning the race to succeed Shigeru Ishiba as the party’s president in October.

The LDP, which has governed Japan for most of the past 70 years, was helped, as in previous elections, by a fractured and uninspiring opposition.

Excerpt:

“For years, children in Russia have watched their country massacre Ukrainians and condemn hundreds of thousands of its own citizens to injury and death at the front. As violence has come to surround Russian youth, many seem to have become more violent themselves. Last year, the number of juvenile crimes in the country surged by 18 percent. Authorities also reported an uptick in ‘serious and especially serious’ crime. “There is no positive ideology for children in a country fighting a murderous war,’ Ilya Barabanov, a Russian journalist, told me. Instead, the war has amplified worldviews that encourage brutality.

“The ethnic hatred that inspired Timofey’s attack has spread widely in Russia, thanks in part to President Vladimir Putin’s embrace of a militant strain of nationalism. The president has justified the war in Ukraine by appealing to a doctrine known as Russkiy mir, or “Russian world,” which makes no room for non-Russians. (Some of Putin’s soldiers in Ukraine have worn the kolovrat symbol that Timofey affixed to his vest, a neopagan emblem resembling a swastika.) Last year, the Kremlin even encouraged law enforcement to cooperate with ultranationalist groups. They helped police round up and deport tens of thousands of immigrants, who evidently did not belong in the Russian world.