Poet, writer, translator, professor, and former director of the International Writing Program. My views ≠ The University of Iowa.
Iowa City/Santa Fe
Joined April 2011
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On the Road to Lviv, my book-length poetic meditation on Adam Zagajewski, cultural diplomacy, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is now available @arrowsmithpress.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
Nancy Pelosi made 200 stock trades in her entire 40-year political career.
Donald Trump made 28,700 stock trades in just 1.5 years as president.
MAGA likes to scream about Pelosi's stock trades but not a word about Trump using the presidency to enrich himself.
@grok verify
Christopher Merrill retweeted
21-year-old twin sisters Taraneh & Romina Rahimi are suffering the full force of the Iranian regime: Romina sentenced to 25 years, Taraneh to death, after protesting their govt. The cousin who helped raise them tells me of torture behind bars.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
This is the kind of deal the Democrats need to investigate immediately if they take Congress. An oil deal in Alaska which actually might be a gift to the Russians with Trump involvement. ft.com/content/e9cfbfbb-e65a…
Christopher Merrill retweeted
The @GOP must be thrilled that 11 days before elections, we learn that the Trump family secretly orchestrated a deal to allow Russians to drill Alaska in exchange for a $25 billion "investment" funneled through their proxies.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
US energy company execs have resigned in disgust as the Trump family is caught secretly expediting the funneling of $25 billion from a sanctioned Russian energy giant in exchange for allowing Russians to obtain a natural gas project in Alaska.
According to investigations by The New York Times and Financial Times, Russia's Novatek allegedly concealed its financial involvement in the American project through a UAE-linked intermediary.
Gentry Beach, a longtime Trump ally and close friend of Donald Trump Jr., signed an agreement with Novatek to pursue natural gas development in Alaska. Reuters documented the arrangement in February.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin discussed this cooperation on the Alaska energy project with Trump's representatives, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, during negotiations involving Russia and Ukraine.
The controversy deepened when Polar Train LNG's CEO, Joel Riddle, raised concerns about concealed Russian financing and possible sanctions violations. He departed in September, followed by other senior executives.
The Financial Times also described discussions about a potential arrangement under which Novatek would provide technology for the Alaska project in exchange for sanctions relief benefiting its Arctic LNG 2 development in Siberia.
According to The New York Times, Riddle and two other departing executives warned the Trump administration about the Russian financing and urged officials to investigate.
The White House maintains that the project was mentioned only briefly and that no detailed discussions took place. There is no established evidence that Kushner or Witkoff knew about the allegedly concealed financing. Polar Train LNG denies wrongdoing.
The central question is how a sanctioned Russian energy company became involved in a major American energy venture while Putin was discussing potential economic cooperation with Trump's representatives and a longtime Trump family associate was pursuing a separate agreement with the same Russian company.
Selling Alaska to the Russians or selling Ukraine to the Russians - to the Trump family it's all the same.
ft.com/content/e9cfbfbb-e65a…
Christopher Merrill retweeted
A psychopathic mass murdering dictator is killing innocent people for no good reason and they are just trying to defend themselves and not get tortured raped and murdered. And they need our help. And we ought to help them. That’s what’s actually going on.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
The fact that Trump will remove tariffs to help Republicans win elections, but he won’t remove tariffs to help Americans afford necessities, tells you exactly what his priorities are.
BREAKING:
The United States is expected to remove 50% tariffs on some Canadian products in a bid to help Maine Senator Susan Collins and other Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.
Full Story: on.wsj.com/4i6fCyU
Christopher Merrill retweeted
Rubio says the Russian invasion of Ukraine is "only about Donbas, about one region of Ukraine." Well, the occupied parts of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions would like a word. Crimea also still exists.
Constantly bombed Odesa and Kyiv would like to know why they are being targeted if the war is only about Donbas. Kryvyi Rih asks why Russia is murdering kids in its shopping malls if the war is about Donbas. Lutsk is also confused. Dnipro is targeted constantly. The liberated parts of the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions would like to point out that mass graves of Ukrainians killed by Russian troops didn't appear by magic.
It's called a full-scale invasion for a reason!
And by the way, Donbas isn't even just "one region", it consists of at least two.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
The speed limits on Starlink and Starshield are still there. The speed has not been restored. And the delivery of interceptors to protect us against Russian ballistic missiles is still delayed. We’re waiting for interceptors that were already agreed on. But they are still not coming. This is a real problem, because the Russians attack us almost every single day.
All of this is happening while we continue our quite successful operations on the front. We keep defending positions. Things have become harder – partly because of the Starlink and Starshield policies and speed limits. But our frontline is still holding and I am proud of how strong our people are.
From an address at the Hudson Institute. (2/3)
Christopher Merrill retweeted
Yes, I spoke out about the voting machine I cast my vote on the first day of early voting in Tennessee.
Yes, the button kept flipping up to the wrong candidate three times.
Yes, I called on a very nice poll worker who stood there until it worked on the third try.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
Trump has made more stock trades in his second term than all 535 members of Congress combined.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
What is the Trump administration position? Did it order the restrictions or not? Has it since relaxed the restrictions or not? If it did order the restrictions, is it intended to force Ukraine to the negotiating table? Keep in mind, the restrictions impair interceptor drones intended to take down incoming Russian attack drones.
Starshield/Starlink speed restrictions remain in place. Every day matters for Ukraine, because every Ukrainian life matters. Our people are waiting for positive news, hoping that the restrictions will be lifted and our defenders will have the capabilities they need to protect lives.
Unfortunately, as of today, nothing has changed. We continue to wait.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
The November 3rd elections are now a referendum on Trump’s decision to join the Axis of Evil with Russia, where the United States is the junior partner.
American voters get to decide: vote Republican if they want to take orders from Putin; vote Democrat if they don’t.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
“I didn’t believe there would be a full-scale invasion,” - @Zelenskyy
Other key statements by the Presidentin the interview:
- Biden called me and said that Kyiv was surrounded, but they could evacuate me and my family. I told him: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
- Someone took a wrong turn - I don’t know what Trump is talking about. It doesn’t matter. Look at all the armored vehicles they lost near Kyiv and Hostomel. Hundreds upon hundreds of armored vehicles burned. ruZZian armored vehicles were driving through the streets of Kyiv, and people were burning them all. And it’s not about some general being an idiot.
- Ukraine is the heir to Kyivan Rus’, a great state that was well known in Europe. #ruZZia wasn’t even close to existing back then. ruZZsia emerged only after Ukraine already existed. But putin ignores all of this and starts his version of history with the 1917 Revolution.
- What is ruZZa’s problem? If Ukraine becomes part of Europe, ruZZia will collapse. It will fall apart. There are many different peoples, religions, and entirely different nations within ruZZia.
- When the full-scale invasion began, mobilization was announced. People volunteered, and our army grew from 200,000 to 800,000 troops. Russian forces operating across various parts of Ukraine numbered around 700,000. The ruZZians brought parade uniforms with them, planning to hold a victory parade on Independence Square in Kyiv just three days after capturing the city.
- Bucha was the worst day of my life. I had never seen so many bodies scattered along a street. Everything changed after that. I never wanted to kill anyone, but after Bucha, I wanted to find those people who are not human and kill them. Pure revenge.
- Trump decided to blame me, rather than putin, for this problem (the rise in diesel fuel prices). That is an outright lie.
- putin will only be carried out of the Kremlin feet first.
Christopher Merrill retweeted
“Zelensky said the throttling of Ukrainian use of Starlink is still going on today. And if you listen to Secretary Hegseth, what he said was, ‘Well, that's just Starlink's terms of service.’ And what he seems to be saying is that Starlink has a speed limit on its use of its service and the Ukrainians were exceeding that.”
“But of course they were exceeding it, because people were dying and they're trying to save those lives. It would be like telling an ambulance they have to drive the speed limit even though the patient might die. So that's a terrible situation.”
“if Hegseth was for the Ukrainians having the ability to fight Russian drones, he would have said, ‘Oh my God, turn that back on.’ He didn't say that. He said, ‘Well, nothing I can do about it. I'm only the Secretary of Defense.’ He didn't say, ‘Oh my God, Elon, turn it back on because people are dying.’ That's what he could have said, but he didn't say that. So obviously he's okay with it, even if it wasn't his decision.”
“And going into negotiations, it gives Putin the upper hand, which is terrible for the for the Ukrainians. And if you were the Russians and you were getting all of this support from the Americans, including diplomatic support, a diesel deal, financial support, an invitation to the G20, the only conclusion you could draw is that Trump is on your side. And in that situation, the chance that Putin's going to make any real concessions is slim to none.”
Christopher Merrill retweeted
This response by Trump is as shocking as the sun rising in the East again this morning. But this isn’t 2016 and there’s a growing group of voters who are tired of seeing him lead our culture to these new lows.
Trump: "Vivek Ramaswamy put up a very powerful Ad about a mother saying that her daughter, Amy Acton, who is running for Governor of Ohio, is a liar, and much worse. The Press, in a concerted and well coordinated attack, is trying to get Vivek Ramaswamy to 'take down the Ad.' Frankly, anybody whose mother spoke about a daughter in that way would normally lead to the daughter being precluded from serving in Office"
Christopher Merrill retweeted
Diesel prices have jumped 65% since the Iran War began — to $6.28 a gallon.
That's hitting farmers, truckers, and industry hard in several states that will decide control of the Senate.
Dear God.
President Trump strongly defends Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mom. Trump: “That took a lot of courage to do but, essentially, what she was really doing was saving Ohio from making a truly horrible choice! The Press is trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it’s so good! Who wouldn’t use such an Ad? I would, it’s called, ‘hitting pay dirt.’”
Christopher Merrill retweeted
“In late spring 2020, a source I knew to be reliable called me with a story,” writes Matthew Cole. “The Dutch government had hacked into Jared Kushner’s phone and monitored him as he accessed a Dubai-based bank account. What was odd, the source said, was that the money in the account—hundreds of millions of dollars—had come from a bank in Azerbaijan. Most importantly, Kushner appeared to have transferred significant amounts of money from the Dubai account to other individuals, including a warlord, a mercenary and a one-time hit man. The story sounded preposterous, I told my source. And yet.
Six months later, I found myself speaking with someone else about the UAE government and their use of mercenaries in conflicts around the Middle East and Africa when I asked, on a whim, whether they knew anything about Kushner and bank transfers from a UAE account. My acquaintance grew quiet. Then they replied, ‘Yes.’” Kushner’s lawyer denied the bank account existed.
Read an exclusive excerpt from Cole’s book, ‘Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East’: vanityfair.visitlink.me/Q5_W…
