REGISTER: Bette’s Happy Hour with Joni Askola on Disrupting Oligarch Rule
Bette members: please register for our event with geopolitical analyst from Finland, Joni Askola, who joins our Happy Hour — Tuesday, Nov. 12, 12 pm Pacific
***Bette members will find the registration link below the paywall at the very bottom of this post. All levels of paid membership are invited to attend our Happy Hour and Speakeasy events. Please take out a membership to join us and to support independent investigative reporting during this time of grave deception.***
Bette’s Calendar at a glance:
Tuesday, Nov. 12, Noon PT — Bette’s Happy Hour with Joni Askola, a geopolitical analyst from Finland who will brief us on the right-wing’s shadow government
Sunday, Dec. 1, 11 am PT — Founder’s Day with Keir Giles, author of Russia’s War On Everybody, on his new book, Who Will Defend Europe! To join our Founder’s Day events, please upgrade your membership to the premium level.
Bette’s Happy Hour with Joni Askola, Tues., Nov. 12, Noon Pacific
Part of what we’ve been doing here at Bette is introducing our community to people from all over the world who understand what the US is facing and how we navigate it from here. Finish geopolitical analyst Joni Askola has the framing we need to understand this moment, which I shared with you in my latest Byline Hot Type column excerpt:
He noted that when oligarchs run politicians, it can accelerate the slide of inequality.
“By successfully buying their way into power, the South African oligarchs are now exerting influence in the US through their proxies, Donald Trump and JD Vance,” Askola told Byline Supplement. “The US is gradually shifting toward a situation similar to 1990s Russia, where oligarchs control politicians and pursue their own interests rather than those of the state. This leads to a violent and unequal society where citizens feel powerless to shape their own futures. Although we haven't reached that stage yet, history indicates that oligarchs in such environments often end up waging bloody conflicts at some point.”
Askola is meeting with the Bette community to share his insights, and also examples of how we can effectively resist that slide.
More on Joni here:
Joni Askola is a Finnish PhD candidate specializing in public and social policy. Outside of his academic work, he dedicates his time to writing geopolitical analysis, countering Russian disinformation, and fundraising with the 69th Sniffing Brigade to supply trucks and drones to Ukrainian units.
Socials:
X — joni_askola
Youtube — askolageopolitics
More on Askola’s ongoing fundraiser for Ukraine — Christmas edition — can be found in the link below, where he and his brother will be delivering trucks to Ukraine in December:
They’ve nearly hit their $103,000 goal, raising $92,000 so far.
Look forward to seeing many of you and for those who are not yet a member, you can check RadPod’s recent interview with Joni here:
Those of you who are able to afford to support me at the premium level, please calendar the date Sunday, December 1, with Keir Giles, for our next Founder’s Day event at 11 am Pacific. Giles wrote the books Russia’s War On Everybody and Who Will Defend Europe, which we will be discussing. More on Giles here:
Hope to see many of you Tuesday. Thank you to all new and renewing members. Independent reporters like me need your support now more than ever.
Keep scrolling to register and please remember to water your plants and call a friend.
Love,
Heidi
****
****
Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members.
I expose the corruption of billionaire fascists, while relying on memberships to keep the light on.
Thank you in advance for considering the following:
Share my reporting with allies
Buying my ebooks
A private link to an annual membership discount for older adults, those on fixed incomes or drawing disability, as well as activists and members of the media is available upon request at bettedangerous/gmail. 🥹
More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
🤍
Begin each day with a grateful heart.
🤍
REGISTER HERE…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Bette Dangerous to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.