This is a treat

Reliably told that, if you want to use AV (even basic mikes) at a hotel conference room in D.C., one company holds extortionate monopoly across the city. How can this be?

Gazprom postpones $40bn gas treatment complex due to #sanctions and Western company boycott.

dostoevsky.b-cdn.net/2023/08/01/kru…

The Economist typically critiques, with glee, Western policy failures. Its defence of the timid handling of Russian state assets last week was puzzling. Here is a welcome rebuttal.

This is bleak, significant and dangerous.

Berlin lion (left) with my colleague William Alberque

Very interesting. Post-Wagner revolt, Kremlin withdrawing license to criticise conduct of the war.

Spot on. Too many generic geopolitical types said 'Putin won't invade because it would be irrational' --which begs every question.

Head of Duma Defence Committee says Wagner forces being sent to seize Suwalki gap. Handle with care: Discord leaks show past disinfo re Russian attacks from Belarus. But watch this deployment, apparently confirmed by other sources:
dostoevsky.b-cdn.net/2023/07/16/got…

If this is the cause, remarkable. Putin recently said there wd be a 100% check of vehicles crossing the bridge.

Essential reading. A machine, a system, has been created in Russia to traumatise and torture #Ukrainians and destroy their culture.

My interpretation: the less specific the referent, the politically/psychologically easier & safer it is to be candid.

So: if poll mentions “Putin”, then instinctive support.
Same but less strong for “country”.
“Future” is most vague and abstract, so best taps into true feelings.

58% of #Russians now say the worst days lie ahead. Highest since this question first asked in 2008, exceeding post-GFC aftermath.

Yet 61% say country 'going in right direction' and 81% that they support #Putin .

levada.ru/2023/07/11/obs…

Thank you, Chuck! I think some of it proved prescient…