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☆ China says it respects ex-Soviet nations after envoy’s 'unacceptable' comments on sovereignty
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

China said Monday it respects the independency of former Soviet nations after remarks by its ambassador in France were deemed "unacceptable" in Europe. It comes as the 27 members of the European Union reassess their diplomatic and economic relationship with Beijing. That sentiment was echoed by Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Margus Tsahkna, "We are an independent country, member of the EU, of NATO. Speaking also in Luxembourg, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said the comments of the Chinese ambassador were "totally unacceptable." This is just the latest episode in a series of controversial events between China and the European Union.

☆ The F-35 is becoming the most popular fighter jet among NATO militaries — with one 'baffling' exception
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Romania is the latest NATO member to say it will buy the F-35 stealth fighter jet. To some in the West, Turkey's decision to choose the S-400 over the F-35 just does not compute. As one of the original partners in the US-led F-35 program, Turkey should have been among the first to get the cutting-edge stealth fighter. The F-35/S-400 controversy illustrates Turkey's position as the odd man in NATO since it joined in 1952. Putin and Erdogan inspect a Russian Su-57 fighter jet at the MAKS air show in Russia in August 2019.

☆ The Fed warned of a looming credit crunch. Americans say it’s already arrived.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

We just saw a more extreme distribution play out in the stock market, too. Just 20 names drove 90% of the gains in the S&P 500 over the first three months of the year. The Fed has been warning of tightening credit conditions since last month's handful of bank failures, but policymakers spoke as if it were some future event. Remember, a so-called credit crunch means lenders raise the bar for borrowers, and people have to meet stricter parameters to get a loan. "The credit crunch has started," Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, said in response to the report.

☆ Russia's economy is becoming more 'primitive' and war could push it to the same fate as the Soviet Union, says economist targeted by Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Economist Konstantin Sonin said the Russian economy has become more primitive since the war began, Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta reported. The economist, who Moscow placed on its wanted list, said Russia could follow the Soviet Union's path toward "complete economic implosion." "Everything that is happening makes the Russian economy more primitive, more backwards." "Everything that is happening makes the Russian economy more primitive, more backwards," Konstantin said. And I think we are seriously going to follow the Soviet Union's path from the 1970s to the complete economic implosion of the late 1980s."

☆ Peace, love, and Hitler: How Lex Fridman's podcast became a safe space for the anti-woke tech elite
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +26 min

Seemingly overnight, episodes of Fridman's podcast began racking up millions of views. YouTube/Lex FridmanIn his podcast, Fridman asks world-renowned scientists, historians, artists, and engineers a series of wide-eyed questions ("Who is God? But recently, "The Lex Fridman Podcast" has become a haven for a growing — and powerful — sector looking to dismantle years of "wokeness" and cancel culture. Twitter"The Lex Fridman Podcast" offered a rare opportunity to listen to four-hour conversations with luminaries of tech and science. Bhaskar Sunkara, the founder and publisher of the socialist magazine Jacobin who appeared on Fridman's podcast in December, praised Fridman's interviewing style.

☆ Russia's arrest of Evan Gershkovich is the first time the country has accused an American journalist of spying since the Cold War. The Wall Street Journal calls the targeting of their reporter 'a vici
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on Thursday. He is the first American reporter detained by Russia for spying since the Cold War. Gershkovich, a New York-born journalist based in Moscow, was detained in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural mountains. The Wall Street Journal has not been in contact with Gershkovich since his arrest, but the outlet vehemently denies that he was doing anything other than reporting while in Russia. Emma Tucker, editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday that US State Department officials are working with the outlet to find a way to get Gershkovich released from Russian custody.

☆ Russia arrests WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Russian FSB says it arrested a Wall Street Journal reporter. The reporter, Evan Gershkovich, has been accused of espionage. The Wall Street Journal issued a statement denying the allegations and demanding Gershkovich's immediate release. According to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural mountains. The headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in central Moscow on February 25, 2021.

☆ Ukraine said it was 'watching with pleasure' as footage showed a lethal fire at a building of Russia's FSB security service near border
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A fire broke out at a Russian FSB building on Thursday, causing fuel tanks to explode. At least one person has been killed and two injured, Russian media reported. The FSB is Russia's primary security agency and the main successor to the Soviet Union's notorious KGB. It is responsible for internal security, counterintelligence, border security, and counter-terrorism. The building where the fire broke out belonged to the FSB's regional border patrol section, according to the BBC.

☆ Factbox: Who is Belarusian Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

He denied the charges, which he and other human rights activists called politically motivated. NOBEL PRIZEBialiatski, 60, won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize together with Russian human rights organisation Memorial and Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties. Fellow human rights campaigners portray him as a symbol of resistance to oppression in Belarus and globally. During mass opposition protests in 1996, he co-founded the Viasna human rights organisation with the aim of providing financial and legal assistance to political prisoners and their families. After initially working as a schoolteacher, he went on to become a scholar of Belarusian literature and museum director.

With Russia embroiled in conflict again in Ukraine, in what the Kremlin says is a fresh existential battle for national survival, memories of the Soviet dictator loom large. "Firstly, thank you for the victory (in World War Two)," said 21-year-old Madina in a typically mixed view of Stalin's legacy among people on the streets of Moscow. said Moscow resident Andrei, 31, praising Stalin as a strong unifying personality whose war victory should be lauded. Today, Gori's Stalin museum, located on the town's Stalin Avenue, is the town's most famous tourist attraction, drawing visitors from across the world. In 2010, the Georgian government ordered the town's Stalin statue removed, saying he did not deserve it.

[1/2] A Falcon 9 rocket is readied for another launch attempt for NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission after a technical delay, which will take four crew members to the International Space Station, from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., March 1, 2023. The SpaceX launch vehicle, consisting of a Falcon 9 rocket topped with an autonomously operated Crew Dragon capsule called Endeavour, was set for liftoff at 12:34 a.m. EST (0534 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The four-man crew should reach the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting some 250 miles (420 km) above Earth, about 25 hours after launch, early on Friday morning. Crew 6 also is notable for its inclusion of UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, 41, only the second person from his country to fly to space and the first to launch from U.S. soil as part of a long-duration space station team. The Crew 6 team will be welcomed aboard the space station by seven current ISS occupants - three U.S. NASA crew members, including commander Nicole Aunapu Mann, the first Native American woman to fly to space, along with three Russians and a Japanese astronaut.

☆ Putin casts war as a battle for Russia's survival
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The NATO and the West dismiss such narrative, saying their objective is to help Ukraine defend itself against an unprovoked attack. Russia's official nuclear doctrine allows for the use of nuclear weapons if they - or other types of weapons of mass destruction - are used against it, or if conventional weapons are used, which endanger "the very existence of the state." Putin said Russia would only resume discussion once French and British nuclear weapons were also taken into account. Russia, which inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, has the world's biggest store of nuclear warheads. Putin said the biggest result of the past year was the unity of the Russian people.

☆ Putin's KGB past is key to grasping what he might do next in his failing Ukraine war, ex-spies say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Putin's time in the KGB helps explain his worldview and brutal approach to warfare, ex-spies say. As Western intelligence agencies vie to stay two steps ahead of the Russian leader and get inside his head, peering into Putin's KGB past may offer clues on what he's thinking. "Putin's KGB background tells us a lot about how he thinks and how he sees the war. He is a creation of the KGB, and the KGB was a terrorist organization," John Sipher, a former CIA officer who served in Russia, told Insider. The Ukraine war has seen Putin and his propagandists make a series of assertions — ranging from plausible to preposterous — to justify Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

☆ Factbox: Russia's nuclear arsenal: how big and who controls it?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

What is Russia's nuclear arsenal, how big is it and who commands it? NUCLEAR SUPERPOWERRussia, which inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, has the world's biggest store of nuclear warheads. Around 1,500 of those warheads are retired (but probably still intact), 2889 are in reserve and around 1588 are deployed strategic warheads. The United States has around 1644 deployed strategic nuclear warheads. The Russian president is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to using Russian nuclear weapons, both strategic and non-strategic, according to Russia's nuclear doctrine.

The following are details of Russia's nuclear arsenal, how big it is and who commands it. NUCLEAR SUPERPOWERRussia, which inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, has the world's biggest store of nuclear warheads. Around 1,500 of those warheads are retired (but probably still intact), 2889 are in reserve and around 1588 are deployed strategic warheads. The United States has around 1644 deployed strategic nuclear warheads. The Russian president is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to using Russian nuclear weapons, both strategic and non-strategic, according to Russia's nuclear doctrine.

☆ Soviet-era bike revived by Russian factory as Moscow shuns West
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Not everyone had one, but it was everyone's dream to have one," Forward's commercial director Alexei Boyaryshnikov told Reuters. At 98 roubles - around half the average Soviet monthly wage in 1980 - it was not the most affordable bike on the market but was highly sought after. "Although two generations have probably passed since people first rode the bike ... our bicycle factory decided to start producing the Kama again because we're in Perm and it is the ancestor of the (previous) large bike factory." Dozens of Western products have been replaced with domestic equivalents, as Russian entrepreneurs aim to capitalise on the departure of brands such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's. ($1 = 74.75 roubles)Reporting by Reuters, Writing by Caleb Davis, Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ After nearly 2 decades in service, the F-22 has its first air-to-air kills — neither against the jets it was designed to fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The F-22, the top US air superiority fighter jet, finally has it's first air-to-air kills. In a week, this jet downed a Chinese spy balloon and an unidentified "object" in two separate engagements. Neither kill was a jet that the F-22 was designed to fight. A US Air Force F-22 prepares for aerial refueling over the Nevada Test and Training Range on March 2, 2011. Despite having operational experience in Syria in the 2010s targeting Islamic State assets, the advanced fighter has never recorded a confirmed air-to-air kill, but now it has two.

☆ 3 spy aircraft that were also 'weather balloons'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Blake Stilwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

China has said that it is a weather balloon that has gone off-course. It wouldn't be the first time that a spy balloon has been described as a weather balloon. China is probably just taking a page out of the US government 1960s-era cover-up playbook that we'll call: The ol' "Weather Balloon Dodge." Thomson ReutersThere's a reason the Department of Defense believes China's weather balloon is actually a reconnaissance balloon: The DoD is developing reconnaissance balloons of its own. If any of the massive balloons get forced down, they'd just be another weather balloon, which the National Weather Service still uses.

☆ Afghan women prosecutors once seen as symbols of democracy find asylum in Spain
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] Afghan prosecutor S.M., who left her 4 years old daughter with her grandmother in Afghanistan while escaping to Peshawar, looks down in Islamabad, Pakistan, September 22, 2022. "Most Afghan women and girls that remain in Afghanistan don't have the right to study, to have a social life or even go to a beauty salon," Sharar said. due to fears over her safety and who specialised in gender violence and violence against children said, "I was the only female prosecutor in the province... The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was not in a position to comment on specific cases. "The Government of Pakistan has not agreed to recognise newly arriving Afghans as refugees," UNHCR said in a statement.

☆ Putin says Russia faces German tanks, just like at Stalingrad, but hints that this time Moscow has nukes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Putin made another veiled nuclear threat on Thursday as the Ukraine war rages on. This came as the Russian leader likened the war to the battle of Stalingrad during WWII. But in the case of Stalingrad, Russia (then part of the USSR) was being invaded — not doing the invading. It's incredible but it's a fact: we are again being threatened with German Leopard tanks with crosses on them," Putin added. The Leopard tanks will be operated by Ukrainians, and Germany joined the US and the UK in offering battle tanks to aid Ukraine in regaining territory it has lost since Russia invaded almost a year ago.

☆ Here's how a wildly outgunned US Navy pilot outfoxed one of the Soviet Union's best jets, scoring a string of kills in a legendary dogfight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

An outgunned US Navy pilot downed four Soviet MiG-15 jets in a legendary dogfight over 70 years ago. This swept-wing Soviet aircraft was considered to be superior to the straight-wing American Panther in terms of overall performance. A Grumman F9F Panther fighter jet fires its guns during an attack on the North Korean port of Hungnam. "In the moment I was a fighter pilot doing my job," Williams said in an account of the fight, according to Pacific Fleet. Williams' dogfight isn't the only example of US planes battling enemy aircraft that are superior on paper.

☆ The tragic story of the only 3 cosmonauts who died in space
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

This Soviet crew had spent 23 days in space, setting a new record for human space flight endurance, and were finally coming home. They gathered existing equipment and hastily put together a space station that was launched on April 19, 1971. A treadmill was installed on the Salyut 1 and the cosmonauts forwent their space suits in the space station and Soyuz. But a few missteps on the ship and by the Soviet space program led to the tragic deaths of the cosmonauts. According to Siddiqi, the death of the three cosmonauts had a lasting impact on the Soviet space program afterward.

☆ In a small Russian town, a pensioner's street art denounces Ukraine conflict
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Evgenia NovozheninaSummarySummary Companies This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. But on March 25, just over a month after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, Ovchinnikov created a new work, one that would place him in serious legal jeopardy. The mural fell afoul of new laws passed by the Russian government effectively criminalising opposition to the military campaign in Ukraine. For Ovchinnikov, opposition to the conflict in Ukraine is underpinned by a family history of Soviet-era repression. "This topic of political repression and the closed nature of this topic, the wiping of historical memory, is one and the same thing as what is happening with Ukraine," Ovchinnikov said.

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Thursday's release of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for a convicted Russian arms dealer has resurfaced an old question: Do prisoner swaps do more harm than good? The details of Griner's release highlight the painful trade-offs confronting the Biden administration. In one such case in 2016, North Korea detained American college student Otto Warmbier during a dispute with the international community over that country's missile launches. Many of the families argue that the U.S. should be willing negotiate and discount the argument that prisoner swaps lead more countries to grab Americans. Those hard choices meant Washington could either leave Whelan in Russian custody or else return empty-handed after months of negotiations.

☆ Putin's war in Ukraine looks more and more like a failure. Past Russian leaders haven't survived similar mistakes.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Joy Neumeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Instead, Russia's failing war effort has raised doubts about Putin's hold on power. For now, Putin looks secure, but past Russian leaders have suffered at home for blunders abroad. By the following summer, the Germans had taken huge swathes of Russian-controlled territory and a million Russian soldiers were dead. Captured Russian soldiers after the defeat at Tannenberg, in present-day Poland, on August 30, 1914. After an ineffectual troop surge, Gorbachev gave up on trying to improve the situation, and the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989.

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