Geopolitics

One meta-note on the situation, is that in my timeline I have seen exactly zero non-western people defending Durov's arrest, but quite a few western people.

Definitely don't want to say that they don't exist (after all, my timeline is biased just like anyone's), just this is what my sample is so far.

IMO this is another example of the decoupling of liberalism and westernism that https://x.com/MacaesBruno often talks about.

I can say I have seen both. My conclusion is that TG missed the opportunity to get a bit more decentralized, and it is now under governace attack. Tg becomes quite a powerful force in all politically tense situations. It is quite disruptive for propaganda since, in tg, one can find info making propaganda claims laughable. It shares atrocities from all sides of the conflict, making it difficult to demonize the other side.