Casey Michel
@cjcmichel.bsky.social
Dictators are a cowardly and superstitious lot. | Head of Combating Kleptocracy Program at Human Rights Foundation | Author of AMERICAN KLEPTOCRACY and FOREIGN AGENTS | Posts in personal capacity
Why is stuff like this being written? The idea that Putin could possibly be convinced that "he cannot win a long war" in Ukraine is just wish-casting.
That ship has sailed. We're never going to see a day when Putin is convinced he'll lose in Ukraine.
www.economist.com/internationa...
That ship has sailed. We're never going to see a day when Putin is convinced he'll lose in Ukraine.
www.economist.com/internationa...
November 3, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Why is stuff like this being written? The idea that Putin could possibly be convinced that "he cannot win a long war" in Ukraine is just wish-casting.
That ship has sailed. We're never going to see a day when Putin is convinced he'll lose in Ukraine.
www.economist.com/internationa...
That ship has sailed. We're never going to see a day when Putin is convinced he'll lose in Ukraine.
www.economist.com/internationa...
What bizarre framing. *Of course* American efforts to seize Greenland—like Russian efforts to seize Ukraine, Israeli efforts to seize Palestine, etc etc—are imperialism.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
October 28, 2025 at 4:41 PM
What bizarre framing. *Of course* American efforts to seize Greenland—like Russian efforts to seize Ukraine, Israeli efforts to seize Palestine, etc etc—are imperialism.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
Now that my beloved Mariners have been bounced from the baseball playoffs, it's time for some good news: my new book cover!
October 21, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Now that my beloved Mariners have been bounced from the baseball playoffs, it's time for some good news: my new book cover!
What are the best reads on how the promise of thieving Native lands west of the Appalachians motivated American revolutionary leaders/forces?
www.mountvernon.org/library/digi...
www.mountvernon.org/library/digi...
October 15, 2025 at 8:16 PM
What are the best reads on how the promise of thieving Native lands west of the Appalachians motivated American revolutionary leaders/forces?
www.mountvernon.org/library/digi...
www.mountvernon.org/library/digi...
Putin has somehow managed to even begin killing off Russia's oil industry. “It’s essentially a long, slow goodbye for Russian oil.”
Just one strategic nightmare after another for Russia—all thanks to Putin.
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Just one strategic nightmare after another for Russia—all thanks to Putin.
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
September 29, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Putin has somehow managed to even begin killing off Russia's oil industry. “It’s essentially a long, slow goodbye for Russian oil.”
Just one strategic nightmare after another for Russia—all thanks to Putin.
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Just one strategic nightmare after another for Russia—all thanks to Putin.
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Still can't believe this is real.
Completely gutting all the momentum toward clamping down on these citizenship-for-sale schemes.
Completely gutting all the momentum toward clamping down on these citizenship-for-sale schemes.
September 24, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Still can't believe this is real.
Completely gutting all the momentum toward clamping down on these citizenship-for-sale schemes.
Completely gutting all the momentum toward clamping down on these citizenship-for-sale schemes.
This new Trump visa scheme has multiple tiers: "Trump Gold Card," "Trump Platinum Card," etc.
For anyone with at least $1 million, American residency can be now officially be bought.
trumpcard.gov
For anyone with at least $1 million, American residency can be now officially be bought.
trumpcard.gov
September 24, 2025 at 8:50 PM
This new Trump visa scheme has multiple tiers: "Trump Gold Card," "Trump Platinum Card," etc.
For anyone with at least $1 million, American residency can be now officially be bought.
trumpcard.gov
For anyone with at least $1 million, American residency can be now officially be bought.
trumpcard.gov
It was an honor to speak at @foxrothschild.bsky.social's annual White-Collar Symposium this week, focused on everything from foreign lobbying and offshore networks to modern kleptocracy and democratic decline. A conference that couldn't be timelier.
September 18, 2025 at 7:50 PM
It was an honor to speak at @foxrothschild.bsky.social's annual White-Collar Symposium this week, focused on everything from foreign lobbying and offshore networks to modern kleptocracy and democratic decline. A conference that couldn't be timelier.
It's not just random Americans leading this Greenland interference campaign—they all have ties to Trump and the White House.
www.dr.dk/nyheder/indl...
www.dr.dk/nyheder/indl...
August 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM
It's not just random Americans leading this Greenland interference campaign—they all have ties to Trump and the White House.
www.dr.dk/nyheder/indl...
www.dr.dk/nyheder/indl...
Paul Manafort is back, trying to meddle in Ukrainian politics once again.
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
August 25, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Paul Manafort is back, trying to meddle in Ukrainian politics once again.
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Getting a new translation of your book never gets old. Extremely happy folks in Taiwan 🇹🇼 will now be able to read FOREIGN AGENTS.
Can't believe it's been nearly a year since the book came out—what a year for the world of foreign lobbying and foreign influence campaigns!
Can't believe it's been nearly a year since the book came out—what a year for the world of foreign lobbying and foreign influence campaigns!
August 23, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Getting a new translation of your book never gets old. Extremely happy folks in Taiwan 🇹🇼 will now be able to read FOREIGN AGENTS.
Can't believe it's been nearly a year since the book came out—what a year for the world of foreign lobbying and foreign influence campaigns!
Can't believe it's been nearly a year since the book came out—what a year for the world of foreign lobbying and foreign influence campaigns!
This is precisely what @dhnexon.bsky.social and Alex Cooley warned about months ago: a U.S. administration that uses targeted sanctions as a way to go after officials who don't agree with the White House—or who dare to oppose pro-American authoritarians.
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
July 30, 2025 at 6:13 PM
This is precisely what @dhnexon.bsky.social and Alex Cooley warned about months ago: a U.S. administration that uses targeted sanctions as a way to go after officials who don't agree with the White House—or who dare to oppose pro-American authoritarians.
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
The idea that Russia could be a "potential collaborator" against China is fantasy-level stuff from Elbridge Colby. Completely untethered from reality.
www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
July 14, 2025 at 1:55 PM
The idea that Russia could be a "potential collaborator" against China is fantasy-level stuff from Elbridge Colby. Completely untethered from reality.
www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
I won't be at all surprised if Obama's hand-wringing response to a nuclear power carving up its neighbor—one that had already given up nukes—is his most lasting, most destructive legacy.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
July 8, 2025 at 3:44 PM
I won't be at all surprised if Obama's hand-wringing response to a nuclear power carving up its neighbor—one that had already given up nukes—is his most lasting, most destructive legacy.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Remarkable reading through Stevens' dissent in Citizens United, highlighting how the decision would open the floodgates to foreign money drenching American elections.
Talk about prescient.
www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/0...
Talk about prescient.
www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/0...
June 16, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Remarkable reading through Stevens' dissent in Citizens United, highlighting how the decision would open the floodgates to foreign money drenching American elections.
Talk about prescient.
www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/0...
Talk about prescient.
www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/0...
How much money did the Iranian shah loot from Iranians and hide in the U.S.? Hundreds of millions? Billions? More? No idea.
But it turns out hiding dictators' looted wealth is terrible for foreign policy!
www.nytimes.com/1979/01/10/a...
But it turns out hiding dictators' looted wealth is terrible for foreign policy!
www.nytimes.com/1979/01/10/a...
June 16, 2025 at 1:59 PM
How much money did the Iranian shah loot from Iranians and hide in the U.S.? Hundreds of millions? Billions? More? No idea.
But it turns out hiding dictators' looted wealth is terrible for foreign policy!
www.nytimes.com/1979/01/10/a...
But it turns out hiding dictators' looted wealth is terrible for foreign policy!
www.nytimes.com/1979/01/10/a...
There's no such thing as a "benevolent strongman"—it's an oxymoron, and anyone who can't see this is willfully blind (or a warmed-over fascist).
June 3, 2025 at 1:27 PM
There's no such thing as a "benevolent strongman"—it's an oxymoron, and anyone who can't see this is willfully blind (or a warmed-over fascist).
Honestly, JFK doesn't get nearly enough blame for opening the genie of slashing tax rates on the wealthiest Americans, out of an idea it will spur "growth."
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/ad...
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/ad...
May 30, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Honestly, JFK doesn't get nearly enough blame for opening the genie of slashing tax rates on the wealthiest Americans, out of an idea it will spur "growth."
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/ad...
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/ad...
Absolutely wild to see the growth of dark money/shell company expenditures in US elections charted out: www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/11...
May 20, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Absolutely wild to see the growth of dark money/shell company expenditures in US elections charted out: www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/11...
"The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government."
—Teddy Roosevelt, 1906 State of the Union address
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/si...
—Teddy Roosevelt, 1906 State of the Union address
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/si...
May 14, 2025 at 6:30 PM
"The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government."
—Teddy Roosevelt, 1906 State of the Union address
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/si...
—Teddy Roosevelt, 1906 State of the Union address
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/si...
"Of all forms of tyranny, the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy."
—Teddy Roosevelt, 1913
books.google.com/books?id=rzs...
—Teddy Roosevelt, 1913
books.google.com/books?id=rzs...
May 13, 2025 at 8:28 PM
"Of all forms of tyranny, the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy."
—Teddy Roosevelt, 1913
books.google.com/books?id=rzs...
—Teddy Roosevelt, 1913
books.google.com/books?id=rzs...
I mean, my god, this is why you don't want foreign lobbyists for dictatorships anywhere near power.
Pam Bondi made thousands and thousands of dollars shilling for Qatar. Now that she's AG, she says this Qatari jet bribe is perfectly legal.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Pam Bondi made thousands and thousands of dollars shilling for Qatar. Now that she's AG, she says this Qatari jet bribe is perfectly legal.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
May 13, 2025 at 1:29 PM
I mean, my god, this is why you don't want foreign lobbyists for dictatorships anywhere near power.
Pam Bondi made thousands and thousands of dollars shilling for Qatar. Now that she's AG, she says this Qatari jet bribe is perfectly legal.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Pam Bondi made thousands and thousands of dollars shilling for Qatar. Now that she's AG, she says this Qatari jet bribe is perfectly legal.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Trump's proposal to recognize Russia's control of Crimea means the US would join places like Venezuela, North Korea, Nicaragua, and Cuba. What a club.
www.axios.com/2025/04/22/t...
www.axios.com/2025/04/22/t...
April 23, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Trump's proposal to recognize Russia's control of Crimea means the US would join places like Venezuela, North Korea, Nicaragua, and Cuba. What a club.
www.axios.com/2025/04/22/t...
www.axios.com/2025/04/22/t...
Of course Witkoff is pushing the idea that the U.S. should recognize Russia's claims to Crimea.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
April 23, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Of course Witkoff is pushing the idea that the U.S. should recognize Russia's claims to Crimea.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Here's the Ukrainian government directly sanctioning Len Blavatnik, listing him alongside others who pose a “threat to the national security” of Ukraine.
drs.nsdc.gov.ua/subjects?sea...
drs.nsdc.gov.ua/subjects?sea...
April 21, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Here's the Ukrainian government directly sanctioning Len Blavatnik, listing him alongside others who pose a “threat to the national security” of Ukraine.
drs.nsdc.gov.ua/subjects?sea...
drs.nsdc.gov.ua/subjects?sea...