For Ukraine’s sake, I hope European governments do agree to use their frozen Russian assets to extend a lifeline to Kyiv. But it feels a bit rich for the USG to lobby for this when Europeans would bear the risk, not Uncle Sam.
Major event in Russia's legal system & real estate market today: Supreme Court overturns (extremely unpopular) lower-court rulings allowing singer Larisa Dolina to keep an apt she sold after giving the proceeds to scammers. The buyer, Polina Lurie, retains ownership & will get the apt after all.
i know the cigarettes are in the box hanging below, but i choose to believe that the balloon itself is full of cigarettes and cigarette smoke. just look at that smokey gray balloon bastard
Russia banned Deutsche Welle today, adding it to the ever-growing list of "undesirable agents." That means it's now illegal in Russia to share DW content, work for DW, or even comment to DW for a story. You can still read it, though, if you're able to circumvent the Internet censors.
Interesting framing here from Wapo on Putin's well-documented executive isolation and coterie of yes-men. This information diet (worse now than ever for Putin) is important context for Kremlin policy, but IMO it doesn't mean the yes-men are always wrong, eg "reassuring him that Russia is winning." https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/12/13/russia-putin-yes-men-trump-cabinet/
Always interesting to see how public protests materialize in Russia today and how protesters navigate war politics and the Putin regime. Because these demonstrations ostensibly challenge neither, they generally (and wisely) slip below the global media's radar.
