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Sanctions are consolidating support for Putin among Russia’s elite

Sanctions are consolidating support for Putin among Russia’s elite

Farida Rustamova writes: “Since they adopted sanctions against us, we’re going to f*ck them. Now they’ll have to buy rubles on the Moscow Exchange to buy gas from us. But that’s just the beginning. Now we’re going to f*ck them all.” So tells me, with enthusiasm, a high-ranking Russian official. He has long been a member of Putin’s team, but has been considered a liberal thinker. A month ago he had a different attitude, saying with some chagrin that the…

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Autocracy can destroy democracy

Autocracy can destroy democracy

Anne Applebaum writes: In February 1994, in the grand ballroom of the town hall in Hamburg, Germany, the president of Estonia gave a remarkable speech. Standing before an audience in evening dress, Lennart Meri praised the values of the democratic world that Estonia then aspired to join. “The freedom of every individual, the freedom of the economy and trade, as well as the freedom of the mind, of culture and science, are inseparably interconnected,” he told the burghers of Hamburg….

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In Hungary, Viktor Orban remakes an election to his liking

In Hungary, Viktor Orban remakes an election to his liking

The New York Times reports: During the dark winter of the 2020 coronavirus wave, the Hungarian government set up a website so anxious residents could sign up for the news on the pandemic. For months, the system sent out updates about the virus, testing and where to get vaccinated. But last month, long after the vaccination drive had peaked, the system blasted out a very different type of alert: an email claiming, falsely, that opponents of Prime Minister Viktor Orban…

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‘We’ve got to stop fooling ourselves’: Enthusiasm gap keeps getting worse for Democrats

‘We’ve got to stop fooling ourselves’: Enthusiasm gap keeps getting worse for Democrats

Politico reports: At the end of October, Republicans held an 11-percentage-point advantage in voter enthusiasm. By January, that margin had ticked up to 14 points. Now, according to the most recent NBC News poll, it has swelled to 17 — a massive advantage that has foreshadowed devastating losses in Congress in prior years. The latest poll would be bad enough for Democrats. But it’s the trend line that is especially grim, seemingly impervious to a series of events — including…

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A bright star in the right place at the right time, provides a glimpse of the cosmic dawn

A bright star in the right place at the right time, provides a glimpse of the cosmic dawn

Science Alert reports: From billions of light-years across the vast gulf of space-time, from the very dawn of the Universe, astronomers have detected the light of a single star. Its discoverers have nicknamed it Earendel, from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning “morning star”; to date, it is the most distant object of its kind ever detected, dating to just 900 million years after the Big Bang. Because Earendel’s light has traveled so far to reach us, its properties are difficult to…

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An ancient solar calendar built by an unknown civilization

An ancient solar calendar built by an unknown civilization

Carly Cassella writes: Long before the Incas rose to power in Peru and began to celebrate their sun god, a little known civilization was building the earliest known astronomical observatory in the Americas. While not quite as old as sites like Stonehenge, these ancient ruins, known as Chankillo, are considered a “masterpiece of human creative genius“, holding unique features not seen anywhere else in the world. Based in the coastal desert of Peru, the archaeological site famously contains a row…

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Russia plays down peace-talks progress, intensifies attacks in eastern Ukraine

Russia plays down peace-talks progress, intensifies attacks in eastern Ukraine

The Wall Street Journal reports: Moscow dampened hope that a breakthrough in the latest peace talks had been achieved and followed through on its advertised shift in war plans in Ukraine by redoubling its ground and air assaults in eastern portions of the country. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday dispelled the idea that Tuesday’s talks in Turkey between Ukrainian and Russian delegates had represented a turning point. “No one said that the sides have made headway,” he said. “We…

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Putin misled by ‘yes men’ in military afraid to tell him the truth, White House and EU officials say

Putin misled by ‘yes men’ in military afraid to tell him the truth, White House and EU officials say

Reuters reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin was misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how poorly the war in Ukraine is going and how damaging Western sanctions have been, White House and European officials said on Wednesday. Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of its southern neighbor has been halted on many fronts by stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces who have recaptured territory even as civilians are trapped in besieged cities. “We have information that Putin felt misled by…

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Sanctioned oligarch’s presence adds intrigue to Ukraine-Russia talks

Sanctioned oligarch’s presence adds intrigue to Ukraine-Russia talks

The New York Times reports: When diplomats from Russia and Ukraine met for talks in the 19th-century Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul on Tuesday, their host urged the antagonists to reach a cease-fire “to the benefit of everyone.” Those words from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey may have resonated in particular with a Russian oligarch in the room, mysteriously watching from a front-row seat. The oligarch, Roman Abramovich, the 55-year-old owner of Britain’s storied Chelsea Football Club soccer team, is…

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Trump used White House phone for call on January 6 that was not on official log

Trump used White House phone for call on January 6 that was not on official log

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump used an official White House phone to place at least one call during the Capitol attack on January 6 last year that should have been reflected in the internal presidential call log from that day but was not, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The former president called the phone of a Republican senator, Mike Lee, with a number recorded as 202-395-0000, a placeholder number that shows up when a call is incoming…

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Trump’s Truth Social app plummets in traffic, sees 93% drop in signups since launch week

Trump’s Truth Social app plummets in traffic, sees 93% drop in signups since launch week

Yahoo reports: Former president Donald Trump’s Truth Social app is seeing a 93% drop in signups and similarly steep decline in traffic after a rocky rollout last month fraught with technical issues and an extensive waiting list for new signups to actually use the service. After going live on President’s Day, the Twitter-lookalike app saw installs decline by more than 800,000 since its launch week, according to Sensor Tower. Installs on the Apple app store this month have fallen to…

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Massive black holes shown to act like quantum particles

Massive black holes shown to act like quantum particles

Charlie Wood writes: When two black holes collide, the titanic crash ripples out through the very fabric of the cosmos. Physicists have used Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity to predict the rough contours of these gravitational waves as they pass through Earth, and wave after wave has been confirmed by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave detectors. But physicists are starting to flounder as they attempt to use Einstein’s thorny equations to extract ultra-precise shapes of all possible reverberations. These currently…

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The clearest evidence yet of Donald Trump’s criminal intent on January 6

The clearest evidence yet of Donald Trump’s criminal intent on January 6

Dennis Aftergut writes: On Tuesday, Bob Woodward and Robert Costa reported in the Washington Post that the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 has the White House presidential phone log, and it shows a seven-hour gap in the record of his communications that fateful day. The gap’s importance is difficult to exaggerate. The evidence of former President Donald Trump’s criminal intent with regard to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election is building, day by day, so relentlessly that at…

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Trump calls on Putin to release dirt on Hunter Biden

Trump calls on Putin to release dirt on Hunter Biden

Politico reports: Former President Donald Trump in a new interview called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release information regarding alleged dealings between Eastern European oligarchs and Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son. Trump’s remarks, in an interview with discredited far-right journalist John Solomon, were published Tuesday by the “Just the News” television show on the Real America’s Voice network. In making his claims about Hunter Biden, Trump cited the findings of a controversial, highly politicized investigation by Senate Republicans…

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