The Last Ringbearer needs to be condemned just for being bad.
Caught in the crossfire.
This has basically nothing to do with the current war. Except, it has everything to do with it, of course.
I took a look at his live journal with the help of a machine translation service; while it appears that he doesn’t support the war in ukraine, he appears to take certain conspiracy theories involving COVID-19 and Hunter Biden way too seriously. ugh. Sometimes I wish I had found a readable copy long before I knew that.
(In other depressing news about authors. I recently learned that Dan Simmons was into similar conspiratorial crap. Pity. Kind of takes the sheen off authors to learn about their extracurricular activities).
Simonov confirmed killed, along with about 20 other officers. The primary target, Chief of Gen. Staff of RAF Gen. Valeriy Gerasimov, was only wounded.
Is this where we are supposed to cheer for DMCA and software locks?
Only if John Deere can prove they were planning for this all along.
Or if they already built in self-driving capability and can unlock it remotely. Then use it to steal tanks for Ukraine from inside Russia.
I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed in the first article: the headline mentions a narrative; but the article itself is a rundown of countries whose interests align them more with Russia or against the US and western Europe; but with almost no further mention of narratives and narrative acceptance or rejection except in the relatively weak and indirect sense of drawing some distinction between countries who are more about friendly relations with Russia and ones that are more about being in favor of it because NATO is against it.
Certainly informative; but the headline really had me hoping for an examination of perceptions of legitimacy: who actually buys into the notion that Ukraine is some sort of anti-russian conspiracy that is being rightfully corrected vs. who just sees no reason why a bunch of strangers being killed in a faraway war should get in the way of continued engagement with a valued trade partner and historical ally; that sort of thing.
Does anyone know of any sources along those lines?
I love the oblivious kid watching a video on his phone!
Right? She generally doesn’t make her work about publicity either, and if she does, it’s to raise awareness on the issue of child welfare. In that video she signed autographs and the like, but it was clear she wasn’t there in her capacity as an actor, but as an activist.
(source: NYT) Good morning. Many Ukrainians are in mobilization mode.
Valentina Mutyeva, 72, has been living in a basement shelter under constant shelling in Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
‘A grim existence’
Our colleague Michael Schwirtz has covered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from its beginning. He has reported from the front on military developments, destruction inside villages and cities in the eastern part of the country and more.
We wanted to give you a glimpse of what day-to-day life has been like for Ukrainians since the war upended their country, so we asked Michael to speak with us. He did while he ate dinner after a day of reporting this past week in Zaporizhzhia, an industrial city of about 750,000 people, 20 or so miles from heavy fighting. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Michael, hi. Thanks for talking during dinner.
When I’m eating, I’m good. It’s a Greek salad. And I’m drinking a beer — it’s a small thing, but in the beginning of the war there was an alcohol ban in the entire country. People were really disciplined about it. Everyone thought Russia was going to attack at any moment and they had to be ready to fight, and the ban was part of that. A lot of people had acquired guns.
I’m not sure why they decided they don’t need a ban on alcohol right now. Maybe it’s because the war has slid into a rhythm that people have grown to understand.
What else was the invasion like in the beginning?
It was terrifying and eerie and confusing. There were airstrikes and artillery attacks, and no one knew what was going on. Cities shut down. On the first day, I was in Sloviansk, in the east. I was looking for food around 8 p.m. Immediately, everything went black, possibly to make targeting harder for Russian artillery and aviation.
Michael Schwirtz, center, in Ukraine not long after the war began.Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
What do Ukrainians do with their time now?
Many people aren’t working. There are volunteers everywhere. There’s a huge volunteer operation to make sure troops are comfortable, providing food, sewing flak jackets and clothing and bedding. Some people are donating their cars. They’re raising money for night-vision goggles and drones. It’s a massive operation.
There’s also this whole countrywide effort to help out people who can’t help themselves. I came across these teenagers packing boxes that city officials were delivering to people holed up in basements. It’s really impressive to see.
This is how people spend their days. There’s nothing in this country other than war. If you turn on the TV, it’s about the war around the clock. Occasionally, the news takes a break for patriotic songs performed by Ukrainian singers.
That sounds very patriotic.
Patriotism became more intense after 2014, but now it’s inescapable. For example, I can’t get the Ukrainian national anthem out of my head. You hear it in cars, in shops, in the grocery store. It’s not like people stop and put their hands on their hearts. But I’m going around humming it.
What about electricity, heat, basic needs?
It depends on the place. On the front, in the east, there’s very little — no power, no gas, no water. I was in Avdiivka recently, a town on the front line, where a lot of people were in basements all day long. Everyone’s pooling all their resources. For power, people have generators.
In those places, how do people shower or use the bathroom?
In Avdiivka, there’s no running water. Officials have to ship it in. I went to this one apartment complex where 200 people were using one toilet, and they flushed it by taking water and doing it manually. It’s a grim existence. And that’s not even talking about the constant shelling.
What about niceties many of us take for granted, like Wi-Fi?
In a lot of places, the internet is still working; phones are still working. In Avdiivka, city officials have put up solar-powered charging stations where people charge their phones.
There’s nothing you can do in your apartment. When people did come out, they’d stay in their buildings’ courtyards. They are one of the few places left to socialize in frontline cities and villages. People were cooking food over an open fire for all the neighbors.
How would you describe the mood of Ukrainians?
People miss their former life — the lives they’ll probably never get back, at least not in the same way.
They’re in mobilization mode. Either they’re volunteering or fighting or taking care of their relatives. I don’t know what people are doing in moments of self-reflection. But when they’re out and about, you don’t see a lot of despair. Everyone’s so stoic, even in the midst of a bombing.
They seem focused.
Nobody is really talking about anything else. At one point, I was at this volunteer distribution point at an ice rink. A local official was overseeing it. He’s a fan of American football, and he asked me how to get tickets for the Super Bowl. It’s his big dream to go; he’s turning 50 next year. That was the first conversation I had with someone making plans, and he was making big plans. It was jarring to be reminded of life outside war.
