For Tuesday's newsletter, I reviewed a recent briefing paper by scholars Margarita Zavadskaya and Jussi Lassila about the "dual credibility gap" that has Russian exiles between a rock and a hard place. Zavadskaya and Lassila say the gap isn't insurmountable, but I'm not so sure...
Meduza
This was Russia today Tuesday, December 9, 2025 — Meduza
 You can read their paper here:
FIIA - Finnish Institute of International Affairs
The strategic dilemma facing Russia’s political exiles | FIIA
Since February 2022, Russia’s exiled opposition has faced a dual credibility gap. In order to maintain their credibility within Russia, they must...
Surely the most suitable font for this administration is Wingdings.
At State Dept., a Typeface Falls Victim in the War Against Woke
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Biden-era move to the sans serif typeface “wasteful,” casting the return to Times New Roman as part o...
 image
Bless Croatia's satirists.
Meduza
Duma speaker warns Putin about Europe’s ‘AI minister’ corruption scandal, unaware it was Croatian satire — Meduza
The Russian parliament’s top lawmaker made a fool of himself earlier this week in President Putin’s presence, but don’t expect much to co...
Responding to Trump's latest tirade against him, Zelensky told reporters today that he's prepared to hold new presidential elections in Ukraine with the noteworthy caveat that he needs U.S. help to "ensure security." We'll see if Trump views this as a concession or another P.T. Barnumesque stunt.
NBC News
Ukraine's Zelenskyy says he's ready for elections after Trump said it was time for a vote
“You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore,” President Donald Trump told Politico earl...
Trump’s envoys have reportedly given Zelensky just days to respond to a proposed peace deal requiring Kyiv to accept territorial losses in exchange for "unspecified U.S. security guarantees." Could TACO finally pull the trigger on Ukraine? Seems both inevitable and hard to believe.
Client Challenge
Maybe some egg on Politico's face here: Japan's govt denies its report that it rebuffed an EU request to join plans to use frozen Russian state assets to fund Ukraine," though we get in a separate Reuters report: "Japan hasn't yet decided specifically how to extend financial support to Ukraine." https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-denies-media-report-it-rebuffed-eus-request-over-russian-asset-plans-2025-12-09/ https://www.reuters.com/business/eus-costa-we-are-very-close-solution-frozen-russian-assets-2025-12-09/