Tag: russia
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Inside Putin’s Propaganda Machine | The New Yorker
Inside Putin’s Propaganda Machine Current and former employees describe Russian state television as an army, one with a few generals and many foot soldiers who never question their orders. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/inside-putins-propaganda-machine Most recent episodes have been devoted to mocking Ukraine and its allies—especially the United States and President Biden—and debating Russia’s options.…
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Russian Tycoon Criticized Putin’s War. Retribution Was Swift. – The New York Times
Russian Tycoon Criticized Putin’s War. Retribution Was Swift. Oleg Tinkov spoke out against his country’s war in Ukraine. Now he is in hiding. In an exclusive interview he said, “I don’t believe in Russia’s future’’ under Vladimir Putin. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/01/world/europe/oligarch-putin-oleg-tinkov.html “I’ve realized that Russia, as a country, no longer exists,” Mr. Tinkov said, predicting that…
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He Was a Penniless Donor to the Far Right. He Was Also a Russian Spy. – The New York Times
He Was a Penniless Donor to the Far Right. He Was Also a Russian Spy. An investigation in Slovakia has exposed how Russian clandestine operations are trying to sow discord in Europe and create sympathy for Moscow over Ukraine. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/world/europe/russian-spies-europe-ukraine.html “I told Moscow that you are such a good boy,” the Russian spy, Sergei…
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Is the Russian Military a Paper Tiger? | The New Yorker
Is the Russian Military a Paper Tiger? At a critical juncture in the war in Ukraine, logistical miscalculations and poor planning have revealed key weaknesses in Putin’s armed forces. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/is-the-russian-military-a-paper-tiger They were showing the same kind of problems back then: this disunity of command; logistical weaknesses; poorly trained, poorly motivated, poorly…
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Atrocities in Ukraine War Have Deep Roots in Russian Military – The New York Times
Atrocities in Ukraine War Have Deep Roots in Russian Military Like the shelling of cities, the seemingly pointless, close-up killing of individuals recalls wars in Chechnya. Do they reflect intent, or only indifference, propaganda and a military culture of violence? Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/17/world/europe/ukraine-war-russia-atrocities.html The brutality of Moscow’s war on Ukraine takes two distinct forms, familiar to…
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Opinion | How Do We Deal With a Superpower Led by a War Criminal? – The New York Times
Opinion | How Do We Deal With a Superpower Led by a War Criminal? There’s never been a pariah state as consequential as Russia. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/opinion/putin-russia-ukraine.html But with Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, his indiscriminate crushing of its cities and mass killings of Ukrainian civilians, he went from “bad boy” to “war criminal.” And when…
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Will Mercenaries and Foreign Fighters Change the Course of Ukraine’s War? | The New Yorker
Will Mercenaries and Foreign Fighters Change the Course of Ukraine’s War? At a critical strategic juncture, non-state actors threaten to complicate the conflict. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/will-mercenaries-and-foreign-fighters-change-the-course-of-ukraines-war The infusion of outsiders and “irregular forces” could further complicate an already messy conflict, according to a report released on Monday by the Soufan Center, a nonprofit,…
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A Brutal Russian Playbook Reapplied in Ukraine – The New York Times
A Brutal Russian Playbook Reapplied in Ukraine The besieging of cities, the deliberate targeting of civilians — they are the tactics Russia used before, in Grozny. I saw it firsthand. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/world/europe/russia-chechnya-grozny-ukraine.html They were met by highly motivated units of Chechen fighters, armed with anti-tank rockets, who ambushed their columns, trapping and burning hundreds of…
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How Putin’s Oligarchs Bought London | The New Yorker
How Putin’s Oligarchs Bought London From banking to boarding schools, the British establishment has long been at their service, discretion guaranteed. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/03/28/how-putins-oligarchs-bought-london The stark implication of “Putin’s People” is not just that the President of Russia may be a silent partner in one of England’s most storied sports franchises but also that…
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China’s Information Dark Age Could Be Russia’s Future – The New York Times
China’s Information Dark Age Could Be Russia’s Future Russia and China have the tendency to learn the worst from each other: tyrants, famines, purges and, now, internet censorship. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/business/chinas-russia-information.html “When people ask me how info environment within the Great Firewall is like,” Yaqiu Wang, a researcher at the Human Rights Watch in New York,…
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The Russian Military’s Debacle in Ukraine | The New Yorker
The Russian Military’s Debacle in Ukraine A series of strategic missteps has hampered Putin’s campaign. Will desperation make up for a lack of preparation? via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-russian-militarys-debacle-in-ukraine I always tell people that military defense analysts focus on capabilities, but military strategy and the operational concepts really matter. It’s the force employment that really…
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Opinion | In Russia, I Learned, Threats Were Always Real – The New York Times
Opinion | In Russia, I Learned, Threats Were Always Real (Published 2022) A sense of menace floats long enough to make you think you’re paranoid. Sooner or later, what was feared happens. And nobody makes a secret of it. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/opinion/russia-putin-nemtsov.html Life in the compounds was punctuated by ostentatious intrusions: household items conspicuously rearranged, computer…
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Opinion | Did We Miss Biden’s Most Important Remark About Russia? – The New York Times
Opinion | Did We Miss Biden’s Most Important Remark About Russia? Putin has something bigger to worry about at home than anything that happens in Ukraine. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/opinion/president-biden-russia-ukraine.html “An unseasonably rare forest fire has engulfed the Russian tundra as the country faces significant changes from climate change, Interfax reported.” Some 900 acres “are burning despite…
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Russian Court Orders 2nd Ban of a Major Human Rights Group in 2 Days – The New York Times
As the Kremlin Revises History, a Human Rights Champion Becomes a Casualty The shuttering of Memorial, the country’s most prominent human rights organization, has saddened Russians who were personally touched by its work shining a light on the injustices of the Soviet past. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/world/europe/russia-memorial-human-rights-center.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World%20News “The state does not like that the human rights center…
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Trying to Blur Memories of the Gulag, Russia Targets a Rights Group – The New York Times
Trying to Blur Memories of the Gulag, Russia Targets a Rights Group (Published 2021) Prosecutors are trying to shut down Memorial International, Russia’s most prominent human rights group, as the Kremlin moves to control the historical narrative of the Soviet Union. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/22/world/europe/russia-memorial-prosecution.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=World%20News “Here you can see a vivid example of living memory which is…
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Can Russia’s Press Ever Be Free? | The New Yorker
Can Russia’s Press Ever Be Free? The journalists of Novaya Gazeta report on dangerous conflicts—and endure threats of their own. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/22/can-russias-press-ever-be-free There have been threats and attacks: Kostyuchenko has been physically assaulted, detained, and credibly threatened with terrifying regularity. In 2017, the paper twice received envelopes filled with an unidentified white powder…
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The Nobel Peace Prize Acknowledges a Dangerous Era for Journalists | The New Yorker
The Nobel Peace Prize Acknowledges a Dangerous Era for Journalists The co-winner, Dmitry Muratov, is the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, which has lost more journalists to murder than any other Russian news outlet. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-nobel-peace-prize-acknowledges-a-dangerous-era-for-journalists When I asked Muratov what he thought he got the prize for, he told me, instead, who…
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How Investigative Journalism Flourished in Hostile Russia – The New York Times
How Investigative Journalism Flourished in Hostile Russia (Published 2021) A new wave of news outlets has used conventional, and unconventional, methods to pierce the veil of Putin’s power. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/business/media/probiv-investigative-reporting-russia.html But the one that blows my mind is “probiv.” It’s drawn from the word that means “to pierce” — or to enter something into a…
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China Censors the Internet. So Why Doesn’t Russia? – The New York Times
China Censors the Internet. So Why Doesn’t Russia? (Published 2021) The Kremlin has constructed an entire infrastructure of repression but has not displaced Western apps. Instead, it is turning to outright intimidation. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/world/europe/russia-internet-censorship.html More broadly, the question of how to deal with the internet lays bare a dilemma for Mr. Putin’s Russia: whether to…
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The Haunted House of Soviets Gets a New Life – The New York Times
The Haunted House of Soviets Gets a New Life (Published 2021) Residents of Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost region, search for meaning in a building many see as an egregious architectural mistake. “It’s ugly, but it’s ours.” Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/world/europe/kaliningrad-russia-soviet-union-house-of-soviets.html The protruding balconies are eyes, above which looms an oversize braincase of office space intended for Communist Party…