There's a new must-read newsletter on Russia that promises to reveal what is really going on in the Kremlin. First post looks at the rise of the children of the entrenched elite. By the one and only Mikhail Zygar: zygaro.substack.com/p/tsardom-epis…

Every day is discovering which websites don't work anymore

If they don't restore WhatsApp I'm going to have to start tweeting again and that's not good for anybody

Was glad to fill in on The World Next Week, with Carla Robbins

That Russian officials are among those conspiracy-mongering over this is pretty amazing, considering the US embassy warning came hours after Russia itself said the FSB had thwarted an ISIS attack on a Moscow synagogue reuters.com/world/europe/r…

'In the past decade, Mr. Putin has taught the world a master class on using homophobia as a political weapon. Now he is showing us what homophobia looks like as a weapon of war.' Outstanding reporting by J. Lester Feder here: nytimes.com/2024/03/15/opi…

Can't stop thinking of my grandmother, who survived the Siege of Leningrad by picking weeds, and boiling wallpaper glue and belts for soup. This is unbearable

Navalny urged people to use their power — that begins with denying the Russian state the authority to announce his death. My remembrance of a singular figure, for VANITY FAIR vanityfair.com/news/world-mou…

If you're a Russian speaker, can't recommend Дождь livestream enough — informative, moving, a place for collective mourning and an attempt at sense making youtube.com/live/TsiLJvlic…

It's already a bestseller, but sending up a flare for The Showman by Simon Shuster. An incredible read on Ukraine's fight against Russia, Zelenskyy's transformation, with an ending that sets up so many of the issues we see playing out today. Beautiful writing, great insights.

Basically every day that I read the news — Trump surging, people flocking to some new short-lived social media service — I think 'no one can convince me we aren't gluttons for our doom.' Real poets, these two. A great one from Lydia Polreen: nytimes.com/2023/08/08/opi…

Thought this was a very good interview with Mikhail Zygar touching on the role of Russian culture in its imperialism and the decolonizing/demythologizing work all Russians need to do wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/s…

A new trope has emerged now that feminist movies can be mainstream — I call it the 'not all men' character. Think: the narrator in the film version of Women Talking, or Michael Cera in Barbie. One more and it's a trend.

New Yorkers: 20 Days in Mariupol is playing at Film Forum for the next few days. As @mstyslav9 says in the film, 'This is painful to watch, but it must be painful to watch.' Hope as many people as possible see it youtube.com/watch?v=9H_Fg_…

The smartest thoughts on recent Russia developments come, unsurprisingly, from Stephen Kotkin nytimes.com/2023/06/30/opi…