Giorgio Comai

@giocomai
422 Followers
1.1K Following
368 Posts

Researcher and data analyst at OBCT/CCI, previously at Dublin City University

Research (since early 2000s): Russia and conflict in post-Soviet spaces

Data: #rstats, #ddj, crunching data for EDJNet, the European Data Journalism Network.

Current research project: text as data (and data in the text) in online sources related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other conflicts in post-Soviet spaces. https://tadadit.xyz/

previous fediverse accounthttps://fediverse.giorgiocomai.eu/giocomai
websitehttps://giorgiocomai.eu
current projecthttps://tadadit.xyz
GitHubhttps://github.com/giocomai
Giorgio Comai3h ago
Chisinau is decreasing the number of polling stations for Transnistria's residents at the forthcoming parliamentary vote. This time, Tiraspol had been demanding *more* polling stations, claiming that there are 200.000 residents with Moldovan citizenship willing to vote https://novostipmr.com/ru/news/25-08-24/v-moldove-na-parlamentskih-vyborah-otkroyut-vsego-lish-12
В Молдове на парламентских выборах откроют всего лишь 12 участков для приднестровцев с гражданством РМ

Всего лишь 12 избирательных участков откроют в Молдове для жителей Приднестровья с молдавским гражданством на предстоящих 28 сентября парламентских выборах. Такое решение сегодня принял ЦИК РМ, пишут молдавские СМИ. Напомним: Президиум Верховного Совета ПМР, а также горрайсоветы республики призывали власти Молдовы открыть для приднестровцев столько же участков, сколько было на парламентских выборах в 2021 году, – 41. Это дало бы возможность в полной мере обеспечить избирательные права граждан.

Новости Приднестровья
Giorgio Comai11h ago

BBC Russia just came out with this long-read about Pavel Zarubin, the journalist with most direct and constant access to Vladimir Putin

https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/cg50nz1v79qo

No big surprises, but perhaps even more so the story feels characteristic for how things have been changing in Russia's public space in recent years

"раньше было модно верить в свободу слова, сейчас — вот так" #Russia

Кто такой Павел Зарубин, глазами которого Россия и мир видят Путина - BBC News Русская служба

Корреспондент ВГТРК Павел Зарубин — единственный российский репортер, который регулярно общается с Владимиром Путиным. Именно из его репортажей (крайне комплиментарных) среднестатистический россиянин узнает о жизни и работе президента. Би-би-си рассказывает, как молодой идеалист из Башкортостана стал одним ключевых фигур российской пропаганды.

BBC News Русская служба
Giorgio Comai2d ago
kevinschaul3d ago
This tool looks interesting: runs web search per row in a spreadsheet, and then uses an llm to do something with the results (like categorize, or maybe extract some info) https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/augmenta-new-tool-for-ai-classification-and-research/
Augmenta: A new tool for AI classification and research

We are making the tool behind some of our investigations available for public use

Global Witness
Giorgio Comai2d ago
Nicu CalceaJul 29

I wrote a small Python package for AI-based research and classification tasks. It's now public.

- Post: https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/augmenta-new-tool-for-ai-classification-and-research/
- Code: https://github.com/Global-Witness/augmenta/
- Example story 1: https://globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/fossil-fuel-lobbyists-eclipse-delegations-from-most-climate-vulnerable-nations-at-cop29-climate-talks/
- Example story 2: https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/fossil-fuel-donors-contributed-19-million-to-donald-trumps-inaugural-fund/

Augmenta: A new tool for AI classification and research

We are making the tool behind some of our investigations available for public use

Global Witness
Show threadGiorgio Comai2d ago
@kevinschaul looks like @nicu did a lot of great work both on the tool itself and the documentation!
Giorgio Comai5d ago

The main Italian news agency opens its homepage with: "Putin says yes to a bilateral meeting with Zelensky by August"

However, there's no real hint that this will happen, nor that Putin ever said it will.

I don't see it happening.

#ukraine #russia

Giorgio Comai5d ago

I am somewhat puzzled by the current discourse around "article 5"-level guarantees for Ukraine. Even according to Nato official website, the wording of the article is actively meant to reflect how the US would *not* automatically come to the assistance of its European allies in case of attack.

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_110496.htm

Giorgio Comai6d ago
As usual, good points by Sam Greene on the post-Alaska moment https://open.substack.com/pub/tldrussia/p/tldrussia-special-edition-a96?r=52ul3z&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email #russia #ukraine
TL;DRussia Special Edition

18 August 2025: The morning after the day before and before the day after

TL;DRussia
Giorgio Comai6d ago
Curious to see companies addressing the diaspora, traditionally back to visit in the summer, in #Romania:
"Diaspora, happy to see you again!"
Show threadGiorgio ComaiAug 15
Europeans should consider that they, and a particular version of the story they like to tell themselves about their place in the world, will be very much on the table in Alaska.