A quick thread on “Colour Revolutions” since a) they’re in the news, both in Belarus and the US and b) I, um, wrote a book about them. (1/12)

Q: Are they a thing? A. Yes. They aren’t an invention of Russian propaganda, though they do happen to fit the favoured narrative in Moscow, Beijing and now (checks notes)… Washington, DC. (2/12)

Q. So, um, what are they? A. They are popular revolutions. Uprisings motivated by genuine anger at autocratic and kleptocratic rule. The CIA didn'tt make the people of Ukraine, Georgia and Serbia angry, they had real reasons for hating Yanukovych, Shevardnadze, Milosevic. (3/12)

Q. But I heard on RT/Fox News that the CIA makes these Colour Revolutions happen? No, shoddy rulers make Colour Revolutions happen. See the long and dreadful reign of Alexander Lukashenko. (4/12)

Q. But, um, does the CIA help? A. This is less about the CIA and more about something called the National Endowment for Democracy, a grant-giving agency funded by the U.S. government. And, yes, the various foundations associated with George Soros. (5/12)

Q. The Deep State! A. Ummm, no. More like a scattered collections of do-gooders who have a bunch of money to give out to organizations that promote ideas like fair elections and independent media around the world. (6/12)

Q. So, nothing to see here? A. Well, not quite. The NGOs fighting for fair elections and freedom of speech in places like Belarus (and Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine before it) tend to have a pro-Western perspective, since they see in the West a model for their own societies. (7/12)

Q. So, it IS a CIA plot! A. Read the above, carefully. (8/12)

Q. Why are we talking about this now? A. Because there are weekly protests in Belarus that have a lot in common with what happened in Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, and Ukraine in 2004 and 2014. (9/12)

Q. A revolution-in-a-box? A. Not so much. These are all different countries, with different reasons for rising up. The NED and Open Society can help a few key groups along along with grant money, but they can’t make 100,000 Belarusians stand in the streets every weekend. (10/12)

Q. But Tucker Carlson said something about a Colour Revolution being prepared against the Trump administration in the United States? A. Fox News today sounds a lot like state television did in Milosevic’s Serbia, or Lukashenko’s Belarus. That’s the real curiosity here. (11/12)

Q. Wow, it sounds like you wrote an interesting book that's suddenly relevant again. A. What a valid point you raise! If enough of you order The New Cold War at https://www.amazon.com/New-Cold-War-Revolutions-Elections/dp/0786720832/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mark+mackinnon+new+cold+war&qid=1600433949&sr=8-1 they might even have to print another edition. Perhaps with a juicy new epilogue!