The people of Russia are paying the price, not Putin — The military effort in Ukraine is said to cost Moscow $20 billion a day. At the same time, Russia lost thousands of soldiers and expensive equipment. Almost 6,000 lives have been lost, those soldiers that have died in the “special operation” so far, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on…

A reckoning of the disappointed and deceived — In an eyewitness account, titled ZOV 56, the Russian soldier Pavel Filatev describes the first weeks of the Ukraine campaign: chaos. Supply problems and just, chaos. In the days leading up to the attack, there was a sense of unease in a Russian military camp in Crimea. Rumors were swirling…

The failed invasion of Ukraine has subverted the perception of Russian power and might — Before the Ukraine war, Russia’s military was for the most part considered a major threat in conventional warfare, especially in view of the disarmament that’s taken place in the West since the end of the Cold War. The failed invasion of Ukraine has subverted that perception of power and might. …

What a career diplomat thinks — Last week, I was lucky enough to listen to Masha Gessen’s talk and wrote about it here — This Is The Final Chapter Of The Russian Empire. Today at uni, in our history lecture, we had a visit from the Ex-German ambassador to Russia. His take on Russia, Putin, and…

A concrete example of how the sanctions are working —

Animal Abuse And Other Disturbing Content: The Videos Tiktok Moderators Have To Watch — Have you ever thought about the moderators on the various social media platforms? What their job looks like? I hadn’t until recently 25-year-old Moroccan Imani (not her real name) works as a moderator for the booming social network Tiktok. Working for the Luxembourg outsourcing specialist Majorel, in her one-room apartment in Casablanca, she sifts through content that has been marked as offensive automatically or by users. And she doesn’t just come across…

But he won’t succeed. Here’s why. — The Russian president isn’t as smart as his admirers think — here’s why. He started a war he won’t win and he cut off his nose to spite the West. Screwing with the gas supplies to Europe was a step too far. …

Concepts Of Wealth Will Have To Change — Prosperity does not only mean income and economic growth, says Ulrich Brand, a political scientist at the University of Vienna. He sees the current crises as an opportunity to redefine what prosperity actually means in our society and how we can continue to live a life worth living in the…

Failing at the small things — it’s okay! — Everybody out there — that’d be everyone on social media, advice newsletters, various blogs, etc — is always telling me what to do, how to do it, why do it, when to do it. Enough already. Tune out because I got the news: It’s okay not to have your life…