Before the #Russianwww.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/w...

He Had 5 Followers on YouTube. It Landed Him in Jail, Where He Died.

Among the hundreds of Russians jailed for criticizing the war in Ukraine, the death of Pavel Kushnir in detention has transformed him into an antiwar symbol.

Don't suppose a court in Russia giving a 16-year sentence in a penal colony to WSJ reporter @evangershkovich just for doing his job will tarnish Putin's image among his American supporters, but it should. www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/w...

Evan Gershkovich Sentenced to 16 Years in Russian Prison

The espionage case against him has been repeatedly denounced by his employer, The Wall Street Journal, and the United States, but the verdict could set the stage for a prisoner exchange.

If the first volumes contained gentle admonitions about when Russia went astray, he said “the last book is like shouting ‘Stop it! Don’t do that!” Russia already made this mistake 200 or 300 years ago.”

Evgeny Chichvarkin, a Russian cellphone entrepreneur with a trademark waxed mustache, has delved into Boris Akunin's history books in an attempt to divine the country’s future. shorturl.at/quhGH

From Exile in London, a Crime Novelist Works to Transform Russia

Boris Akunin, the creator of a hugely popular detective series, hopes that fomenting a vibrant Russian culture abroad might undermine President Vladimir V. Putin’s government at home.

In a typically schizophrenic manner, #SaudiArabiawww.nytimes.com/2024/07/04/w...

Netflix Show Earns Its Saudi Creator Plaudits, and a Prison Sentence

In a video plea for help, Abdulaziz Almuzaini — a dual Saudi-American citizen — described how the authorities had accused him of promoting extremism through a cartoon franchise.

An interview from before the debate that makes for interesting reading today. www.nytimes.com/2024/06/22/m...

Gretchen Whitmer Wants a Gen X President — in 2028

The governor of Michigan isn’t saying it should be her, but she’s not saying it shouldn’t be, either.

By February, Mr. Savvinov was back in his native village. That month, on Defenders of the Fatherland Day, he was staggering drunk around the snowy streets, residents said, complaining loudly that villagers showed him insufficient respect. The next night, he murdered two of them.

Some of the murderers and other dubious types whom Russia is releasing from prison to fight in Ukraine return home to commit similar crimes all over again. www.nytimes.com/2024/04/06/w...

Pardoned for Serving in Ukraine, They Return to Russia to Kill Again

Recruiting convicts for its army has given Russia a manpower advantage. But it is backfiring in tragic ways when former inmates are pardoned and return home to commit new crimes.

2. Moscow made Syrian President Assad an ally and has supported Hamas, both part of Iran's "Axis of Resistance." Basically a Shiite Muslim alliance, even if Hamas are Sunnis. Sunni Muslim jihadists who founded ISIS consider Shiites apostates, along with their Russian friends.