For today's newsletter, I reviewed a recent profile/obit published in Glasnaya Media recalling the life and career of human rights lawyer Elena Liptser. Neither her exiled father, Lev Ponomaryov, nor her imprisoned son, Alexey, could attend Elena's funeral this fall. https://meduza.io/en/brief/2025/12/04/this-was-russia-today

lol

Roblox is pretty awful, but I can attest that kids absolutely love this crap. If Western civ collapses but Russia survives, we'll know why.

Meduza

Russia bans Roblox over child safety fears — Meduza

Russia’s federal media censor, Roskomnadzor, announced on Wednesday that it had blocked the popular children’s video game Roblox. Statements ...

Italy becomes 1st European country to suggest explicitly that Ukraine should not be provided with additional weapons while a ceasefire is being negotiated. Would be “premature” to participate in a NATO program to buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine in light of ongoing peace negotiations, says Meloni’s govt.

Bloomberg.com

Italy Slams Brakes on NATO Program to Buy US Weapons for Ukraine

Italy’s foreign minister said it would be “premature” for his country to participate in a NATO program to buy US weapons for Ukraine in light...

lol, Austrian businessman Bernd Bergmair, former majority owner of Pornhub, has approached the U.S. Treasury about buying international assets of sanctioned Russian oil major Lukoil. https://www.reuters.com/business/former-pornhub-owner-interested-lukoil-assets-sources-say-2025-12-03/

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Brutal "band of brothers" profile from Reuters tracking 11 young Ukrainians who volunteered this spring and deployed to the front together. Zero of these men are still fighting today. 4 were wounded, 3 are missing, 2 deserted, 1 fell ill, and 1 killed himself. https://www.reuters.com/investigations/band-brothers-how-war-crushed-cohort-young-ukrainians-2025-12-01/

headlines, why have one when you can have them all

lol, Russia's pirated version of Stranger Things Season 5, on local streaming services and in movie theaters, censors the Robin and Vickie kiss scene. https://verstka.media/stranger-things-season-5-rutube-censored

Same table used by Putin and Scholz before the full-scale invasion, but with one crucial difference.