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Tag: russia

  • 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, […]

  • 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 […]

  • Opinion | In Russia, I Learned, Threats Were Always Real – The New York Times

    Opinion | In Russia, I Learned, Threats Were Always Real 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 files left […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 “The state does not like that the human rights center […]

  • 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 “Here you can see a vivid example of living memory which is […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • Navalny’s Long-Running Battle with Putin Enters a New Phase | The New Yorker

    Navalny’s Long-Running Battle with Putin Enters a New Phase The jailed opposition leader is creating a model of guerrilla political warfare for the digital age. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/navalnys-long-running-battle-with-putin-enters-a-new-phase The story line has a both cinematic and ghoulish arc: the charismatic protest leader poisoned by the secret police manages to miraculously survive. As he […]