Lawmakers plan to expand Russia’s infamous “undesirable” status to outlaw certain international organizations. Human rights activists think it could be a prelude to banning RFE/RL, BBC, and/or Deutsche Welle. https://t.me/deptone/876
On Monday, a Moscow court sentenced Ksenia Sobchak’s commercial director to 7.5 years in prison for allegedly extorting Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov. Sobchak later complained that she “fulfilled all the agreements” to avert this sentencing. Erm, okay. https://t.me/ostorozhno_novosti/23327
I plan to watch today's Superbowl through my fingers, turning off the TV when the Niners fall behind & switching to Yahoo Sports updates, with just the audio playing as I get my kids to sleep, back on the TV when my kids won't go to sleep, & skipping the halftime show. #Go49ers
“Well sir if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia – will you protect us?” Trump recounted the leader as saying. “I said: ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’ He said: ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay.” 😶
Tatiana Stanovaya argues Putin chose now to speak to Carlson because the Kremlin senses a moment in the West for messaging that Moscow will never give up in Ukraine, that Kyiv’s capitulation would end the fighting, but she says the war’s violence to Putin’s political psyche complicates dialogue even with conservative Americans.
Russia’s state pollster not at all suspiciously waits until antiwar Boris Nadezhdin is disqualified before releasing its first presidential candidates survey. And whaddaya know Putin enjoys support from an astronomically high 75% of likely voters.
Of the hundreds of hours of Vlad & Niki videos I've endured, I think the two that speak truest to the Russian-immigrant experience are (1) the one where the mom and baby are "arrested" for accidentally popping a balloon, and (2) where the kid just opens a new business once each of the cars in his rental fleet break down, after driving 30 feet of the lot.
Even Elon Musk is laughing at this shit. At home, Russian propaganda can spin anything into a win for Putin, but it seems any hopes the Kremlin might have had of influencing American perceptions with the Carlson interview were misplaced.