Category Russia

Deprogramming 2

Mia Jankowicz writes in Business Insider: Putin’s disinformation is so effective that Ukrainians can’t convince their own families in Russia they are under attack… ..[T]he two nations increasingly live in separate realities, brought about by Russia’s vast state media apparatus…

Deprogramming

It sometimes seems to me that Putinist propaganda has turned millions of Russians into mindless haters with barely a trace of empathy for other human beings. Since 2014, the Kremlin has depicted patriotic Ukrainians as vicious, quasi-Nazi nationalists – in…

Disaster

Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022, more than two years after I posted my “Doomsday thoughts” (also see follow-ups 1 and 2 from 2020). Whether most Russians support the war or not, and whether its supporters are merely ignorant…

On the brink of war

Over the past three years, I’ve written more than once about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine: Will there be war? (December 2018); A test of American resolve (April 2021); Operation Eviction (January 2022). Also, this comment on Tyler Cowen’s…

Operation Eviction?

In a recent NYT column, Fiona Hill gave a convincing summary of the Kremlin’s strategy: This time, Mr. Putin’s aim is bigger than closing NATO’s “open door” to Ukraine and taking more territory — he wants to evict the United…

One more year

It’s been a bad year for all decent Russians. As the country continues its long descent into existential misery, the ugliness of its political regime contrasts remarkably with the charms of the winter season. Unusually for this millennium, December has…

Back in August

In lieu of a post, two photographs for last summer’s trip. The big fish is in both pictures but it may take time to find it behind the leaves and branches on the left.

Fiona Hill and the two presidents

Fiona Hill’s new book, There Is Nothing for You Here, went on sale last week – five and a half years after Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin had been published (co-authored with Clifford Gaddy). Hill served as the national…

Novaya Gazeta’s Nobel Prize

Maria Ressa, an investigative journalist from the Philippines, and Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, have been jointly awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. AP comments: Considering how critical Novaya Gazeta has been toward Putin and his government, Peskov’s [Putin’s…