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☆ Opinion: Russia can lose this war
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Opinion Timothy Snyder | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And far too many of us, during Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, have believed that. Of its three most consequential foreign wars, the Red Army lost two. And the Russian army of today is not the Red Army. It was disproportionately Ukrainians who fought their war to Berlin in the uniform of the Red Army. Russia can lose this war, and should, for the sake of Russians themselves.

Persons: Timothy Snyder, Richard C, Levin, “, ”, Read, Leonid Brezhnev, Putin, Alexander Nemenov, Brezhnev, Vladimir Putin, Robert Nickelsberg Organizations: Global Affairs, Yale University, CNN, Russia, Getty, Red, Red Army, Soviet, Lease, Russian Empire, Russo, Fascism Locations: Nazi Germany, Russia, Ukraine, AFP, Poland, Afghanistan, USSR, Soviet Ukraine, Berlin, United States, Russian, Crimean, Japanese, Europe, Pacific, Kabul, Soviet Union, Crimea, Japan, Soviet, Ukrainian

Editor’s Note: In this appeal to Congress, more than 35 artists, activists, scholars and others call for funding for Ukraine. On territory that Russia occupies, it tortures Ukrainian citizens, kidnaps Ukrainian children and murders Ukrainian leaders. By fighting Russia alone, they protect Europe. By fighting a conventional war against a nuclear power, they are making nuclear proliferation and nuclear war less likely. Together we call upon Congress to do the right thing – right now.

Persons: Read, Stringer, Abrams, José Andrés, Gabrielle Carteris, Mona Charen, Misha Collins, Rosario Dawson, Felicia Day, Doug Fears, Jonathan Safran Foer, Francis Fukuyama, Mark Hamill, Gale Anne Hurd, Dara Khosrowshahi, William Kristol, Eric Edelman, Scott Kelly, Daniel Lubetzky, Michael McFaul, Kate McKinnon, Alyssa Milano, Viggo Mortensen, Patton Oswalt, Phillips O’Brien, Brad Paisley, Sean Penn, Serhii Plokhii, Ivanna Sakhno, Eric Schmidt, Liev Schreiber, Timothy Snyder, Terrell Jermaine Starr, Barbra Streisand, Hilary Swank, Peter Wehner, Katheryn Winnick Organizations: Ukraine, CNN, Getty Locations: Russia, Russian, Crimean Tatars, Ukrainian, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Aleppo, Grozny, Europe, Donetsk, Ukraine, AFP, China, Beijing, Asia, East, Africa, United States

☆ Kate, Princess of Wales conspiracies peddled by Russian disinformation group, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-30 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The motive of such campaigns, Innes said, is to “destabilize” Russia’s Western antagonists and “undermine trust” in their institutions. The pattern of behavior was one his team recognized from a group of Russian actors his team had studied before. It is a commercial firm contracted to run disinformation campaigns, Innes said. Aaron Chown/Press Association/APMeta said it disrupted the group, but its disinformation campaigns have since grown more sophisticated. The timing of the Kate conspiracies was also propitious for the Kremlin – coming just as Putin secured a fifth term in power in a stage-managed election devoid of credible opposition.

Persons: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Kate, “, ” Martin Innes, ” Innes, Emmanuel Macron, Innes, Princess, Wales, ”, Instagram –, Doppelganger, Aaron Chown, King Charles III, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, ” Anna George, Timothy Snyder, Vladimir Putin’s, Henry Nicholls, Prince William, ’ ”, Putin Organizations: CNN, Cardiff University, –, Soviet, Meta, Facebook, Press Association, AP Meta, US Treasury, British Embassy, Reuters Institute for, Journalism, Oxford University, Oxford Internet Institute, Yale, Russian Foreign, ” Police, London Clinic, Getty, CNN’s Royal, Kremlin Locations: Wales, Ukraine, ”, Russia, Soviet Union, London, Moscow, Cardiff, Russian, United States, Europe, British, Kensington, Britain, AFP, Windsor

☆ Fact Check-Ukrainian coat of arms predates use of trident symbol by far-right nationalists
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Ukrainian coat of arms, a trident, is an official symbol of the country and dates back over a thousand years. The blue shield with a gold trident-like symbol is seen on the Military of Defense of Ukraine site and is currently listed as the country’s official coat of arms (here). FAR-RIGHT NATIONALISTS ADOPTED THE SYMBOLFar-right Ukrainian nationalists during the pre-WW2 era “naturally used symbols that were historically associated with Ukraine,” Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center on Extremism said, including what is now the Ukrainian coat of arms. The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), was founded in 1929 to “liberate Ukraine from Soviet rule and create an independent Ukrainian state,” according to Reuters reporting from 2015 (here). While far-right Ukrainian nationalists have used the trident symbol, the symbol is from a millennium earlier, is on Ukraine’s coat of arms, and is not proof Zelenskiy is connected to extremists.

☆ Opinion | We Forget Nuclear Powers Have Lost Wars
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Timothy Snyder | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

During both conflicts, people in the West worried, understandably, about nuclear war. In the West today, unlike during the Cold War, these are discussed in psychological rather than in strategic terms. In nearly 15 months of war, despite Russian nuclear propaganda and Western anxiety, there has been no use of nuclear weapons. Those who predicted “escalation” if Ukrainians resisted, if the West supplied weapons or if Russia suffered defeat have thus far been wrong. Strategic thinkers point to deterrence, and note that nuclear use would not in fact bring a Russian victory.

☆ Exclusive: The FBI's McGonigal labyrinth
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

She never saw McGonigal pay. "The notion that Mr. Deripaska is some proxy for the Russian state is a blatant lie," Ruben Bunyatyan, a spokesperson for Deripaska, told Insider by email. McGonigal was not charged with espionage, and although there is currently no evidence that McGonigal committed espionage, an FBI source told Insider that the investigation is ongoing. At the FBI, McGonigal racked up a string of big cases and promotions. "He said he needed to make more money," Guerriero told Insider.

☆ Russia condemns German parliament for declaring Ukraine Soviet-era famine a genocide
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 1 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday the German parliament's move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past. In a decision welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, German lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday declaring the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians - the Holodomor - was genocide. Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months from what Yale University historian Timothy Snyder calls "clearly premeditated mass murder". Russia on Thursday rejected the claim that this was a genocide and said millions of people across other parts of the Soviet Union, including in Russia, also suffered. "The Germans are trying to rewrite their history ... downplay their own guilt and muddy the memory of the unprecedented nature of the countless crimes committed by Nazi Germany during World War Two," it added.

☆ Ukraine president’s chief of staff says Russia 'will pay' for Soviet-era famine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Russia will pay for a Soviet-era famine that left millions of Ukrainians dead during the winter of 1932-33 and for its actions in the current war in Ukraine, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration said on Saturday. "The Russians will pay for all of the victims of the Holodomor and answer for today's crimes," Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram, using the Ukrainian name for the disaster. Ukraine's annual memorial day for the victims of Holodomor takes place this year on Saturday. Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months from what Yale University historian Timothy Snyder calls "clearly premeditated mass murder". Reporting by Dan Peleschuk Editing by Mark Heinrich and Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ukraine remembers Stalin-era famine as Russia war rages
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sings the national anthem during his visit in Kherson, Ukraine November 14, 2022. "Once they wanted to destroy us with hunger, now – with darkness and cold," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. Russia has targeted critical infrastructure across Ukraine in recent weeks through waves of air strikes that have sparked widespread power outages and killed civilians. "On the 90th anniversary of the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine, Russia's genocidal war of aggression pursues the same goal as during the 1932-1933 genocide: the elimination of the Ukrainian nation and its statehood," it said. Pope Francis this week compared Russia's war in Ukraine to what he called the "terrible genocide" of the Stalin-era and said Ukrainians were now suffering from the "martyrdom of aggression."

☆ 'The U.S. and the Holocaust' connects a complex history to the present
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Review Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

It's fascinating as history, but sobering as current events. Yet they took a back seat to the more pressing fight against Hitler, first in his quiet support for England, and later with America's entry into the war. Understanding the US's role during the Holocaust requires going back before it, contemplating anti-immigrant sentiment that percolated through the 1920s, auto magnate Henry Ford's virulent anti-Semitism and interest in eugenics and racial superiority. As historian Timothy Snyder notes, Hitler expressed admiration for brutality toward Native-Americans in seizing their lands, seeing it as "The way that racial superiority is supposed to work." Broken into three chapters, the first encompasses the prewar period, the second 1938-42 and the third the conclusion of the war and its aftermath.

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