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They’ve pressed forward even though a majority of Americans still see the Capitol rioters as responsible for an attack against democracy, according to the most recent polling. The most pressing concerns are for convicted rioters required to report to prison before Trump’s inauguration in January, and for rioters with sentencing hearings coming up, according to a source familiar with the discussions. “They’re thrilled with the election, but there’s a lot of uncertainty from their perspective,” the source told CNN. For convicted rioters already serving prison sentences, there’s even less hope to get them out based on Trump’s campaign rhetoric, the source said. She later told CNN that her strategy guide has already been sent to Trump and the Republican National Committee.

Persons: Trump, Micki Witthoeft, Ashli Babbitt, Donald Trump, They’ve, MAGA, “ We’re, hasn’t, ”, John Pierce, “, “ He’s, Jeffrey Crouch, insurrectionists, ‘, ” Zachary Alam, Joseph McBride, ” McBride, Savannah Huntington, Rachel Powell, Powell, she’s, “ They’re, they’re, Suzzanne Monk, Monk, ” Monk, Charlie Kirk, Glenn Beck, Kirk, It’s, can’t, Crouch, Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden, ” Crouch, Trump’s, Clinton, Bush, Tom Cotton, Markwayne Mullin, ” Marcus Childress, don’t, it’s, Aquilino Gonell, Biden, Kamala Harris, Harry Dunn, Sean R, Clark, Emily R, Condon Organizations: Washington CNN, Air Force, Capitol, GOP, “, Trump, American University, CNN, Trump –, DC, Defense, Justice Department, American Patriot Relief, American, J6, Republican National Committee, Glenn Beck Program, FBI, Trump Republicans, Former US Capitol Police, US Capitol Police Locations: Savannah, West Virginia, DC, pardoning, Vietnam

Those rules were designed to prevent a repeat of the abuses of Richard Nixon, who improperly used the Justice Department to punish his political enemies. A new president appoints roughly 300 senior Justice Department officials, including the U.S. attorneys who run offices across the country. All 300 must be confirmed by the Senate, but multiple former Justice Department officials said they fear Trump would install partisans willing to do his bidding. Justice Department officials have risen to the occasion and defied presidential overreach in the past. You go in and just whack a good portion of the workforce,” the former Justice Department official said.

Persons: Donald Trump, —, Trump, don’t, Richard Nixon, “, ”, Joyce Vance, Barbara McQuade, Sen, JD Vance, Vance, Vance’s, Biden Justice Department’s, Hunter Biden, Robert Menendez, Eric Adams, Jack Smith, Aileen Cannon, Cannon, Jeffrey Clark, Clark, Mike Davis, influencer Benny Johnson’s, Davis, Joe Biden, Jan, gulag ”, ” Trump, ” Vance, “ Trump, Stephen Gillers, Gillers, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, ” Gillers, Ilya Somin, Somin, Nixon, Archibald Cox, wouldn’t Organizations: NBC, Google, National Public Radio, NBC News, Justice Department, FBI, Trump, Department, U.S, Senate, Drug, Administration, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, DOJ, Biden Justice, Robert Menendez of New, New York, U.S . Capitol, ABC News, Republican, Politico, D.C, gulag, Service, NYU School of Law, George Mason University, senior Locations: U.S, Alabama, Ohio, Georgia, Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, New, —, acquittals

☆ As Georgia votes, fears of a return to Moscow’s orbit loom large
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-25 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Ulf Mauder/picture alliance/Getty ImagesMany observers fear the ruling Georgian Dream party will resort to anything to stay in power. This year, Georgian Dream pushed through a Kremlin-style “foreign agent” law, which critics say aims to shut down watchdogs who call the government to account. She described some of the statements made by Georgian Dream officials as a “copy-paste” of those from Stalin’s show trials. ‘Soviet mentality’A question puzzling many is why the formerly center-left Georgian Dream has made a sudden authoritarian pivot. Joining the EU would require cleaning up the country’s judiciary and giving up power if Georgian Dream is voted out on Saturday.

Persons: Joseph Stalin, Stalin “, ”, Stalin, Stalin’s, Ulf Mauder, Ivanishvili –, –, Vladimir Putin’s, “, everybody’s, ” Natalie Sabanadze, Sabanadze, Vano Shlamov, Ivanishvili, Mikheil Saakashvili, ” Younger, Uriel Sinai, Moscow’s, Davit, Georgia’s, Salome Zourabichvili –, Ivanishvili’s, Bera, ” Ivanishvili, Hillary Clinton, Viktor Orban, Irakli Kobakhidze, Orban, Mirian, Levan Khabeishvili –, Khabeishvili, “ Ivanishvili, He’s, Giorgi Arjevanidze, Sergei Naryshkin Organizations: CNN, Joseph, Joseph Stalin Museum, European Union, Party, Chatham House, Georgian, Getty, Kremlin, Stalin, –, Governance, NATO, EU, Hungary’s, Conservative Political, Georgia’s, Police, Western United National Movement, UNM, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Locations: Gori, Soviet, Caucasus, Georgian, Soviet Union, Georgia, Russia, Everybody’s, London, Chatham, Tbilisi, AFP, Moscow, Georgia’s South Ossetia, Gori ., Abkhazia, Gori , Georgia, Ukraine, Europe, Budapest, Anadolu, Nuremberg, Brussels, Moldova, Belarus

☆ North Korea knows its troops could desert in Ukraine. It has chilling ways to keep them in line.
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-24 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The US says North Korean troops are in Russia, possibly bound for the war in Ukraine. AdvertisementAny North Korean troops sent to fight in Ukraine would be subject to harsh measures to ensure they don't desert, observers have told Business Insider. On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said "there is evidence" that North Korean troops were training in Russia. Scattered reports have claimed that smaller numbers of North Korean troops are already in Ukraine. Bennett said that the presence of North Korean troops in Ukraine could offer a rare opportunity to reach high-placed North Korean citizens.

Persons: —, Lloyd Austin, Hromadske, Kim Jong Un, Joseph S, Bermudez Jr, Kim Jong, It's, Mark Collins, Kim, Bermudez, They're, Bruce W, Bennett, they've, Kim's, Kim Yo Jong, we've Organizations: North, Service, US, Business, Center for International, Strategic Studies, National Intelligence Service, South, Workers ' Party of Korea, RAND Locations: Russia, Ukraine, North Korea, South Korea North Korea, North Koreans, Pyongyang, Korea, Nazi, Soviet, South Korea

☆ The plot to topple Putin
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-09 | by ( Paul Starobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +32 min

But it was only when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine , in 2022, that Ammosov began to plot the overthrow of his homeland. As I found in months of wide-ranging interviews, everyone aspiring to a new Russian revolution grasps the seemingly impossible odds of their bid to topple Putin. Ponomarev — who was profiled last year in The Washington Post under the headline "Could this man bring down Putin?" Most applicants live in Russia, Sokolov tells me, but submissions have come from as far away as Uruguay. "I know a lot of good officers" in the CIA, Ponomarev told me, who "sympathize" with the anti-Putin insurgency.

Persons: Vladislav Ammosov, Ukraine —, Ammosov, wondrously, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Simona Supino, Alexey Navalny —, Ilya Ponomarev, Ponomarev —, —, Sean Guillory, Denis Sokolov, Sokolov, Galina Starovoytova, Anastasia Sergeeva, Sergeeva, Valter, Putin —, Tatiana Kosinova, Yelena Bonner, Itil, Boris Nemtsov, Nemtsov, Vladimir Lenin, specter, NurPhoto, Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Boris Akunin, Ponomarev, Trotsky, Mao, Castro, Alexei Sobchenko, Sergei Chuzavkov, Ilya Ponomarev Ponomarev, Michał Kamiński, Kosinova, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, Nikolai Gogol's, . Barnum, Bernie, Madoff, Donald, Leonid Nevzlin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Navalny, King George III, Khodorkovsky, Garry Kasparov, Putin's, Andrey Volna, Brian Fitzpatrick, Charlie Wilson's, Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Fried, William Burns, Fried, Biden, We're, Evgenia, it's Organizations: Putin, Ukrainian, Russian Federation, The Washington Post, University of Pittsburgh, Civic Council, Kennan, Wilson Center, GRU, Russia, BI, International Republican Institute, CIA, Kremlin, Russian, Memorial, Soviet Union, of America, Civic, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, Russian Volunteer Corps, European, Human Rights, Siberian Battalion, Ammosov, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Putin's Defense Ministry, True, Bolsheviks, of Russia Legion, People's Deputies, State Department, Justice Department, Polish Senate, Trump University, Trump, Khodorkovsky, FBI, Intelligence, Senate, Ukrainian Security Services, Bolshevik Locations: Siberia, Russia, Warsaw, Poland, Ukraine, Sakha, India, Putin Russia, Russian, Kyiv, The, restive North Caucasus, Washington, Soviet Union, Moscow, WhatsApp, Ukrainian, Soviet, Crimean, USSR, Europe, Uruguay, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, America, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Belgorod, Kursk, Kremlin, China, Cuba, True Russia, Ponomarev, Northern Virginia, Polish, ., Lviv, Yukos, London, Pennsylvania, Texas, Afghanistan, Putin Russian, Tallinn, Estonia

☆ I've been to North Korea more than 180 times. Here's how tourists can stay out of trouble.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-23 | by ( Hannah Abraham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The first time I went to North Korea, I thought I knew what to expect. AdvertisementIn the two decades since then, I've visited North Korea more than 180 times on various tours and trips — perhaps the most of any Westerner. Pictured with a North Korean tour guide in front of a statue of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang. Steer clear of comparisons to South KoreaA lot of tourists who come to North Korea have experience in South Korea as well (it's not true that visiting South Korea makes it difficult to enter North Korea). Simon's travel documents on his 180th trip to North Korea - boarding pass for Pyongyang, DPRK visa, and a well-used passport.

Persons: —, Simon Cockerell, I've, Kim Il Sung, you've, — it's, Kim Jong, I'm, they're, Simon, Joss Stone, Steer, haven't, it's Organizations: Service, Business, Pyongyang Airport, South Locations: Koryo, North Korea, Beijing, China, Russia, —, Korean, Pyongyang, Korea, South Korea, DPRK

☆ Saudi Arabia is trying to build the largest linear city ever. It's a visionary but flawed concept, urban planners say.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Although recent reports suggest the plans have been scaled back, the 2.4km still due to be built will be the largest linear city in existence if it is completed. The Spanish architect Arturo Soria is widely credited with designing the first linear city, "La Ciudad Lineal," in 1882 on the outskirts of Madrid. "Linear cities are an extreme form of urban dispersal — community development and social cohesion still need centrality," Gold told BI. A linear city may not have this capability," explained Lovgreen. In my opinion, linear city schemes are best left as design exercises for third-year architectural students," Gold said.

Persons: —, Arturo Soria, Le Corbusier, Mikhail Okhitovich, Mona Lovgreen, Lovgreen, Adhya, Bland, I'm, John Gold Organizations: Service, Business, Lawrence Technological University, Ciudad, Oxford Brookes University Locations: Saudi Arabia, Spanish, Madrid, Swiss, French, Magnitogorsk, Neom, Paris, Portland, Saudi, NEOM, Tabuk Province

☆ Opinion | Trump’s ‘Dystopian Deportation Scheme’
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “Trump’s Taste for Tyranny Finds a Target,” by Jamelle Bouie (column, May 26):Thank you, Mr. Bouie, for warning us about Donald Trump’s dystopian deportation scheme. On top of the massive social chaos and moral strife this would cause can be added the economic cost. The impact to the deficit, the economy and inflation would be catastrophic. Voters concerned about today’s prices who are considering voting for Mr. Trump will look back and yearn for the current economy and inflation — as will we all. According to the Center for Migration Studies, about 45 percent of U.S. agricultural workers are undocumented immigrants.

Persons: Jamelle Bouie, Bouie, Donald Trump’s, Trump, Daniel Samakow Venice Organizations: Voters, Mr, Center for Migration Studies Locations: Calif, U.S

☆ Alexey Navalny's death wasn't directly ordered by Putin, WSJ reports
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Putin critic Alexey Navalny's death may not have been planned to happen when it did, WSJ reported. The Journal reported that this opinion is shared by several US intelligence agencies. AdvertisementAlexey Navalny's February death in a remote Arctic prison camp likely wasn't directly ordered by Vladimir Putin, despite Navalny's outspoken criticism of the Russian president, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Despite the suspicious circumstances of the opposition leader's death, the outlet reported Putin may not have intended Navalny to be killed when he was. None of the intelligence agencies cited by the Journal or the Pentagon have responded to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Persons: Alexey Navalny's, Navalny's, —, Vladimir Putin, Putin, — wasn't, Putin wasn't, Leonid Volkov, Navalny Organizations: Kremlin, Service, Street, CIA, National Intelligence, State, Journal, Pentagon, Business Locations: Russian, Poland

☆ Opinion | Three Interpretations of ‘The Three-Body Problem’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Having watched some (though not quite all) of “3 Body Problem,” Netflix’s hit adaptation of “The Three-Body Problem,” the first book in a science-fiction saga by the Chinese author Liu Cixin, I’m struck by the unusual geopolitical weight this particular piece of pop entertainment carries. Even a three-interpretation problem, you might say (sorry! ), with different gazes and different translations yielding very different readings and reactions. Consider, first, the book as seen through Western eyes. The default American reaction to any work of literature produced under authoritarian conditions is to assume that it must be an act of rebellion or at least critique.

Persons: ” Netflix’s, Liu Cixin, I’m, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “, Boris Pasternak’s, Zhivago, ”, Liu

☆ Federal judge condemns ‘normalization’ of January 6 while sentencing defiant rioter
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Marshall Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A federal judge on Wednesday blasted a convicted January 6 rioter for downplaying the US Capitol attack and using the kind of revisionist rhetoric that former President Donald Trump often uses on the campaign trial. “This cannot become normal… We cannot condone the normalization of the January 6 US Capitol riot,” US District Judge Royce Lamberth said while sentencing Taylor James Johnatakis to more than seven years in prison. He did not reference Trump by name while sentencing Johnatakis, but the comparisons were clear. According to evidence presented at trial, Johnatakis attended Trump’s rally on January 6 and then threatened to “break down doors” while marching toward the Capitol. He has been defiant about his actions, saying in a recent interview that “we did nothing” on January 6, and writing about the “injustice” that he and other Capitol riot defendants are facing behind bars.

Persons: Donald Trump, Royce Lamberth, Taylor James Johnatakis, Johnatakis, ” Trump, “, ”, Martin Luther King Jr, Henry David Thoreau, ” Lamberth, Ronald Reagan, ” Johnatakis Organizations: CNN, Capitol, Trump, Sovereign, Prosecutors Locations: Washington ,

☆ Russia is twisting the knife after Navalny's sudden death
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Mikhaila Friel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He appears to be flexing his unrivaled power with performative cruelty and firmly twisting the knife after Navalny's death. AdvertisementNavalnaya had unsuccessfully been trying to retrieve her son's body since Saturday. She was previously sent to the wrong morgue after multiple demands for the authorities to hand over her son's body, according to Yarmysh. Navalny's death — and the way the authorities have handled his body — are displays of his authoritarian power. No one should be fooled," Biden told reporters shortly after Navalny's death was announced.

Persons: —, Alexey Navalny, Navalny, Vladimir Putin's, Joe Biden, Putin, Lyudmila Navalnaya, Alexey, Kira Yarmysh, Navalnaya, Yarmysh, Ivan Zhdanov, Alec Luhn, Simon Miles, Miles, Biden, Sergei Lavrov Organizations: Service, Business, YouTube, Guardian, Luhn, Soviet Union, Duke University's Sanford School of Public, Sky News, Kremlin Locations: Salekhard, Soviet, Moscow, St, Petersburg

☆ Putin is flexing his power with the deaths of his opponents — but he may also be highlighting the weakness of his regime
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"That's an extraordinary power, and Putin did it effectively, making sure it wound up in the news." AdvertisementThe display of power by the Russian state, while jarring, is not out of the norm for Putin's regime, which has been accused of assassinations abroad for decades. Both Navalny's and the pilot's deaths fit Putin's playbook to a T, exemplifying the lengths to which the Russian regime will go to maintain the illusion of total power, Schmidt said. AdvertisementFor years, Navalny represented the most formidable threat to Putin's regime, criticizing corruption in the Russian state and organizing powerful anti-Kremlin protests. AdvertisementNavalny's death shows Putin is easily threatenedThe two experts said Navalny's death, rather than simply displaying Putin's power, actually highlighted his weakness.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, Alexey Navalny, Putin's, Putin, Matthew Schmidt, Schmidt, Navalny, Simon Miles, Miles, Robert English Organizations: Service, Business, The University of New Haven, US Army's School, Advanced Military Studies, Russia's Federal Prison Service, Kremlin, Duke University's Sanford School of Public, Soviet Union, University of Southern Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Spain, Russia, Avdiivka, Russia's, Soviet, Moscow, University of Southern California, Soviet Union, Eastern Europe

☆ Opinion: Alexey Navalny, one man who stood up to a dictatorship
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. “In his courageous and too short life,” wrote Russia scholar Daniel Treisman, “Navalny became a symbol of hope for the younger generations of his compatriots. “He never gave up on the prospect of what he called ‘the beautiful Russia of the future,’” Treisman noted. “For a ‘beautiful Russia of the future’ to emerge in coming years, Putin must lose the war he started. Navalny understood this.”“Navalny’s death represents the extinguishing of all hope for Russia’s turnaround,” wrote Sasha Vasilyuk.

Persons: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Joseph Stalin “, “, ”, you’ve, Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s, Navalny, fearlessly, Putin, Daniel Treisman, “ Navalny, Navalny’s, ’ ” Treisman, Sasha Vasilyuk, Alexey Navalny’s, Peter Bergen, Andrei Sakharov, ” Putin, Bergen, Nick Anderson, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Trump, authoritarians, Bill Bramhall, James Mattis, ” Peter Bergen, Frida Ghitis, Fidel Castro’s playbook, Patrick Mahomes, Andy “, Amy Bass, New York Democrat Tom Suozzi, George Santos, ” Suozzi, CNN Suozzi didn’t, Biden, isn’t, Long, Max Burns, ” “, Alejandro Mayorkas, ” “ Suozzi, Burns, Robert Hur’s, Norm Eisen, Richard Painter, Joshua Kolb, Hur, ” Joel Pett, Lawrence C, Levy, Julian Zelizer, Dean Obeidallah, Mark Dent, Dent, Saw, Clay Jones, David Orentlicher, ” Orentlicher, Will Cooper, Fani, Willis, Nathan, Wade, ” “ Willis, Antony Blinken, Batniji, Blinken, Fatah, Hussein, Don’t, David Horsey, Agency Jill Filipovic, Lynda Gorov, Taylor Swift, Jim Parrott, Mark Zandi, Brigid Schulte, Yuliya, Kara Alaimo, Frankie de la, Jackie Robinson’s, Jon Stewart’s, Jon Stewart, Matt Wilson, Jon Stewart skewered Trump, Bill Carter, Stewart, ” “ Stewart Organizations: CNN, IK, Moscow Times, Kremlin, Twitter, Facebook, Soviet, Tribune, Agency, Republican, Senate, Agency Former US Defense, Trump, , Kansas City Chiefs, Chiefs, nab, New, New York Democrat, Democratic, GOP, Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, Super Bowl, Kansas, West Bank Locations: Soviet, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, New York, Washington, Georgia, ,, York, Glen Cove, Joel Osteen’s, Houston, Kansas City, America, ”, Kansas, Gaza, San Francisco, Israel, Iran

☆ Navalny's Death Leaves Despair and Apathy in Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

"Navalny's death is terrible: hopes have been smashed," Nikitin said. The West, including U.S. President Joe Biden, blamed President Vladimir Putin for the death. "Navalny's death is very beneficial to Putin's opponents," said Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser. WEST 'NOT OUR FRIEND'At "Patriki", or Patriarch's Ponds, the centre of Moscow nightlife, many young Russians revelled away Friday night just hours after news of Navalny's death. "It is sad of course when anybody dies," Olga Kazakova, a Russian, told Reuters in central Moscow on Saturday.

Persons: Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW, Alexei Navalny, Navalny, carnations, Vladimir Nikitin, Nikitin, Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, Putin, Navalny's, Africa's Nelson Mandela, Kira Yarmysh, Yulia, Sergei Markov, revelled, Olga Kazakova, Boris Nemtsov, Guy Faulconbridge, Frances Kerry Organizations: KGB, Reuters, CIA, DEATH, Munich Security Conference, Putin, Kremlin, Ukraine, WEST Locations: Moscow, Russia, Russia's, St Petersburg, Navalny, Avdiivka, West, Ukraine, Kremlin, Basil's

☆ Opinion: The real story behind Russia’s new ‘Stalin Centers’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Opinion Jade Mcglynn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Last month, a new ‘Stalin Center’ was opened in Barnaul, Siberia. According to the independent Levada Center, Stalin has taken first place in their ‘who is the greatest figure of all times and all people’ survey since 2012. Students of a military-sponsored school attend the opening of a series of busts of Russian leaders, including Josef Stalin (center), in Moscow, on September 22, 2017. What the West gets wrong about Stalin and PutinMoreover, these comparisons divert attention from important differences between the Stalin and Putin regimes. That is abundantly not the case in Putin’s Russia, where the government instead encourages a ritualistic patriotism and political apathy.

Persons: Jade McGlynn, “, Read, ’, Jade McGlynn Jade McGlynn, Stalin, Vladimir Putin’s, Josef Stalin, Alexander Zemlianichenko, Memorial, Gorbachev, Yury, Putin, Vladimir Putin, Alexander Nemenov, demonize ’ Stalin, —, weren’t, Mikhail Bulgakov Organizations: Center for Strategic, International Studies, CNN, Communists, Kremlin Russian Communist Party, Levada Center, YouTube, Communist, Reuters, Kremlin, Putin Locations: Putin’s Russia, Barnaul, Siberia, Russian, Penza, Bor, Communist, Russia, Vladimir Putin’s United Russia, Moscow, Perm, Baltic, Laski, Ukraine, today’s Russia, Kyiv, Putin Russia

☆ Opinion | The Genocide Charge Against Israel Is a Moral Obscenity
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In recent decades, as many as three million people perished in a famine in North Korea that was mainly government-induced. But North Korea, Syria and China have never been charged with genocide at the International Court of Justice. It’s obscene because it politicizes our understanding of genocide, fatally eroding the moral power of the term. The war between Israel and Hamas is terrible — as is every war. But if this is genocide, what word do we have for the killing fields in Cambodia, Stalin’s Holodomor in Ukraine, the Holocaust itself?

Persons: Assad, Israel Organizations: International Court of Justice Locations: North Korea, China, gulag, Syria, Israel, Cambodia, Ukraine

How the Russian Government Silences Wartime DissentJust days after invading Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia signed a censorship law that made it illegal to “discredit” the army. The indignities of the crackdown, and the long arm of the Russia law, is being lost in the numbers. Nanna Heitmann for The New York TimesIn dry legalese, the court documents recount the Russian state’s case against these statements and protests. People’s “negative assessment” of the Russian military could adversely affect its performance, the court said, presenting a national security risk. And I very much don’t want this.”Sergei Platonov at district court in Moscow listening to his guilty verdict in November.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, ”, — schoolteachers, —, That’s, Ukraine —, pollsters, Andrei Kolesnikov, Demyan, Aleksandr T, Olga V, ” Maksim L, Omsk Diana I, Denis V, Russia ”, “, Maksim P, Anna S, Maria V, people’s “, Russia’s, Zaynulla Gadzhiyev, Mr, Bespokoyev, Marina Tsurmast, scrawled, Nanna Heitmann, Tsurmast, Gadzhiyev, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Aleksandra Y, Skochilenko, Selimat, Vladimir A, Rustam I, ” Yelena L, Aleksandr K, Olga P, Dmitri D, Sergei V, Eve, Daria Ivanova, Ms, Ivanova, “ you’ll, Anton Redikultsev, Redikultsev, Jan, Marina, Sergei P, ” Yuldash, ” Dmitri S, Peskov, Putin’s, Sergei Platonov, Platonov, Russian Gestapo ”, Polina, Kolesnikov, Anna Sliva, Sliva Organizations: New York Times, Times, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, OVD, Penza Yuriy V, Russia, ”, Ukraine ” “, YouTube, Bucha, Ukraine, Police, The New York Times, Armed Forces, Russian Federation, VK, Russian Gestapo, The New York Locations: Russia, Russian, Ukraine, “, Omsk, Peace, Ukraine ” “ Ukraine, Bucha, Moscow, St, Petersburg, Iglino, ”, Novosibirsk, Siberia, Crimea, Ukrainian, Kalga, Russia’s, OVD, Coast, Primorye, Soviet

☆ Russia's worker shortage is so bad the economy is leaning on the Soviet-era practice of using prison labor, think tank says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia is leaning more on prison labor amid a dearth of available workers. AdvertisementAdvertisementRussia's worker shortage is so bad, the nation is increasingly leaning on prison labor to prop up its ailing industries and make up for a lack of manpower. That exceeded estimates that Russia made the year prior, when budget makers anticipated bringing in just 15.8 billion roubles from forced prison labor. "The Kremlin has sought to integrate prison labor with certain sectors of the domestic economy to solve this issue." "The recent uptick in the use of forced prison labor in Russia is not merely the transient trend of a post-COVID, economically troubled, or war-hurt Russia.

Persons: —, Sergey Sukhankin, Sukhankin, Vladimir Putin Organizations: Service, Moscow Times, Russia's Federal, Jamestown Foundation, Jamestown, Soviet Locations: Russia, Soviet, Ukraine

☆ My Friend, Elizabeth Tsurkov, Has Been Kidnapped in Iraq. Who Will Help Her? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Rachel Sharansky Danziger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

My kids are playing on the grass with their grandparents, a rare treat since we live in Jerusalem. One of my oldest friends, Liza — Elizabeth Tsurkov — is being held by a militia in Iraq, and I’m terrified. Liza, a Russian-Israeli doctoral student at Princeton University, traveled to Iraq this winter to conduct field work for her research into human rights and sectarianism in the Middle East. Liza used her Russian passport to travel to Iraq, but she knew that entering the country as a dual Russian-Israeli citizen could put her in danger. It was an idea that drove her research and human rights work, which had already taken her into war-ravaged Syria and post-ISIS Iraq.

Persons: Liza — Elizabeth Tsurkov —, “ She’s, Liza, Natan Sharansky Organizations: Princeton University, Hezbollah, ISIS Locations: Los Angeles, Jerusalem, Iraq, Russian, Baghdad, Iran, Syria, ISIS Iraq, Soviet Union

MOSCOW, July 12 (Reuters) - Russia is decaying in a potent brew of absurdity and repression that is comparable to the Leonid Brezhnev-era of the Soviet Union, Oleg Orlov, one of the Russia's most respected human rights campaigners, told Reuters. One of the leaders of the Memorial rights group, which won a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 a year after being banned and dissolved in Russia, Orlov stood by his articles and cast Russia as a country gripped by the demons of history. "Russia is going backwards," Orlov told Reuters in his Moscow flat over a glass of the traditional fermented kvas. "For Putin, war is his political technology," Orlov said. Current Russian levels of repression, he said, could be compared to the Brezhnev era of the Soviet Union after the arrest of writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel in 1965.

Persons: Leonid Brezhnev, Oleg Orlov, Orlov, Wagner, Russia, Vladimir Putin's, Putin, Brezhnev, Andrei Sinyavsky, Yuli Daniel, unpatriotic, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's, William Faulkner, Fyodor Dostoevsky's, Tatiana, Guy Faulconbridge, Filipp Lebedev, Nick Macfie Organizations: Reuters, Memorial, Solidarity, West, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, Soviet Union, Moscow, Ukraine, Soviet, Afghanistan, Chechen, Russian, Tbilisi

☆ A new law allows Putin to draft Russians via an online portal — even if they don't have an account. It 'brings the digital Gulag much, much closer,' critics say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A new law allows Russian conscripts to be notified of their military service via government portal. Critics say the move creates "a digital system of social control" akin to a virtual Gulag labor camp. The new conscription law, she wrote, "brings the Digital Gulag much, much closer." What is the Digital Gulag? With the digital registry and harsh punishments for noncompliance, "the government wants to create a digital system of social control by regulating individual access to rights and benefits," Stanovaya wrote.

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.

☆ Russia orders the creation of 24 penal colonies in occupied Ukraine, says report
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia has ordered the creation of 24 penal colonies in annexed parts of Ukraine, per Meduza. Conditions at penal colonies, which trace their roots to Soviet-era gulags, are famously harsh. The published decree outlines plans to create 12 new penal colonies in Donetsk, seven in Luhansk, three in Kherson, and two in Zaporizhzhia, Meduza reported. Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, reported that there were 626 penal colonies in Russia as of November 2022. Ukrainian prisoners have previously been transported to penal colonies on Russian territory, according to research by Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny and Gulagu.net, per Meduza.

☆ 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.

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