It is also becoming the story of the day in global Olympics coverage, exposing them to international criticism. Had they just let him compete it would have prob been just a blip, because nobody in their right mind over there would be putting up a stink about him wearing the helmet. PR masterclass!

To this day I still cannot understand for the life of me how the same people who are addicted to the shortform video slot machine and have no remaining attention span also have the patience to sit through some guy sitting in a multi hour livestream

Doing research on the role of Orthodoxy in Putin's Russia particularly when it comes to icons and religious art and came across this nasty "patriotic art" that was shown in Moscow in 2023, artist is Valeriy Nesterenko. Like not only are they evil, but they are so tacky

It is perfectly clear that the ultimate goal of Bezos' moves with the Post was less about cost savings (to make up for self inflicted losses, granted), but about destroying local coverage in Washington, which was liable to be critical of him or his billionaire/WH friends

People insisting the Post's other media cuts are "the cost of doing business" or go on about unsustainable business models think they're so much smarter & more rational, but actually end up looking ignorant b/c they can't acknowledge role of malice/whims of the billionaire owners

The amount of loss in DC over the past year has been staggering. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of jobs, even entire industries, whole offices cleared out. The entire Kennedy Center, and now a huge chunk of our hometown paper. I don't think people outside understand the scope

Dear god please tell me why I am encountering "Grokipedia" high up on multiple google searches

Saw a cool video on IG by an Eastern European creator about how communism surpassed/appropriated regional folk culture in the USSR & the comments are full of "but capitalism homogenizes local cultures too!!!" comments. They really take "Communism was harmful" as a personal attack

The reason the """"Board of Peace""" logo looks so cheap and junky, aside from the obvious fact that it only depicts the US and has the stupidest name imaginable, is that I'm unshakably certain it was made by AI and not an actual designer

Honestly the EU should just ban US passports from tourist travel. It would be painful in the short term but it would certainly wake Americans up to how deranged this White House is being towards Europe

I appreciate how in DC we have a local chain that is unambiguously evil (Compass Coffee)

Maybe it's because I'm Ukrainian so this is all triggering, and setting aside Venezuela for a minute, the Greenland stuff genuinely the thing that is making me crash out. I don't care if it's just something they're saying. I can't take this anymore.

Cleansing the timeline with my homemade Ukrainian makivnyk

UNC-Chapel Hill is closing all six of its area studies centers to save $7 million dollars. UNC's football coach, Bill Belichick, makes $10 million a year. In total, the football team now has a $40 million budget. Make this make sense.

Everything you need to know about what Russians really think, which a lot of people insist they do but come off as very divorced from reality because they are unwilling to call out the imperialistic impulse, can basically be explained by this graph

I'm building a fort

Russians & their "friends" in the West are chomping at the bit to keep a wedge driven between Europe and the US because it is resolutely in their best interest to keep both sides divided and distrustful of one another. They already did it with everyday people using social media.

The thing about Trump/Ukraine is that the Ukrainians have tried everything. Tried humanitarian appeal (he doesn't care), critical minerals/economic carrot (not enough), European messengers (don't sway him), "peace through strength" (turns out this means nothing)

In Kyiv, Odesa, and Lviv today commemorations were held in memory of the 25th anniversary of the murder of my father Georgiy Gongadze, as well as for all fallen journalists killed during the war. All gave their lives for the truth, freedom and free speech in Ukraine.

Cannot be underscored how surreal it watch the admin take on multiple foreign conflicts that it had previously shunned any interest in engaging with to try to draw attention away from a domestic scandal. Foreign policy as diversionary tactic, with millions of lives in the balance

summary of this: Restaurant owners: we can't stay afloat anymore due to the initiative Council: *mostly repeals the initiative* Restaurant owners: Thanks. We WILL be keeping the service fees though :-)

Not to wade into Europe air conditioning discourse but I was gobsmacked to find out last night when in a Wikipedia hole that European heat waves have been the most deadly natural disasters on the planet for two out of the last 25 years

Olive oil not being excluded from tariffs under the EU-US trade deal

The level to which Russia & China are shoring up their partnership & buying/coercing allies around the world, while the US forcefully disengages in global engagement & kneecaps its allies economically and otherwise is starting to reach "keeping me up at night" levels of severity

Mass gatherings in 🇺🇦 are highly risky, for extremely obvious reasons; strikes against civilians ARE the enemy's strategy. The fact that people are hitting the streets says so much about their commitment to speaking truth to power & demanding a corruption-free, democratic future

"Although that war was much shorter... the way it was concluded holds important lessons for what could happen to 🇺🇦 if a cease-fire or an agreement to end the war is not followed by a more comprehensive plan to secure the country’s future." www.foreignaffairs.com/georgia/geor...

Again. People are RUSHING to sell out all their critical thinking to these things.

Not that anyone asked and I'm a zillenial, but I picked up at my first job that the superior way to answer the phone is "Hello, this is [your name] which saves the awkward "am i speaking to [name]?" portion of the call

Really important. Ukraine cannot allow itself to slip into old ugly habits because of the war.

🎓 News from me: I'll be starting work on an MA in Eastern European Studies at @harvard.edu this fall. Very excited to study the intersection of digital communications and public diplomacy in this region, and will be sharing insights on that very soon here & at instagram.com/_nanagongadze/

Spent some time with someone who repeatedly said "I asked Chat GPT" and I swear every time it happened I felt myself taking psychic damage

Considering the number of viciously anti-Ukraine people in the ranks of the Administration and the number of setbacks that have already passed, it is a massive testament to Ukraine's skills in personalized diplomacy that this is on the table. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

🔴 Russia’s June attacks skyrocketed over 1,000% from last year.

I know that "why isn't the media/people caring about this" posts are overdone but the secretary of defense seemingly made a truly earth-shaking weapons aid decision in opposition to/behind the back of the President and...

A lot of discussion about the current information/digital landscape is missing a discussion of incentives. The shortform video platforms demand an absolutely constant churn of content, and punish you in the algorithm if you're not engaging in that frequency of posts.

You hear this a lot on the left but it isn't true. USAID did not "fail to tell its story to Americans," the right targeted the agency with lies and misinformation. Ultimately this narrative turns conservative attacks into even more calls for the left to reform. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/o...

⚡️ Russian attacks kill 7, injure 34 in Ukraine over past day. Ukrainian air defenses shot down seven Russian missiles and 213 attack drones launched overnight, the Air Force said.

Wearing my social media manager hat for a second: this platform really, really needs to get around to providing post analytics. Like if you want to encourage news outlets/organizations to be serious about this platform, be serious and help us do our jobs too

Another weekend, another immensely consequential and close Central/Eastern European election

An affordable membership to @kyivindependent.com is well worth your money if you’re interested in Ukraine and want good English-language coverage of the war and the region. Highly recommended 👍

Happy Vyshyvanka Day!

📻 The work of the US Agency for Global Media stands as a bulwark against authoritarian interference and strengthens America, write GMF's @nanagongadze.bsky.social and Bret Schafer of @securedemocracy.bsky.social. 🔗 Read their analysis of damage caused by the shutdown of USAGM: t.co/uCc7r6D0Qe

I predict (at least, I surely hope) that at some period of time in the future, people who didn't surrender all critical thinking ability to ChatGPT or whatever will have a competitive advantage, in a sea of people who can't problem solve/be creative without AI

Because if I wanted someone to confidently make up answers to my questions I would simply ask a man

My colleague and I wrote about the disaster that is the shutdown of USAGM, which includes VOA & RFERL.Truth is the chief threat to authoritarians, hence their relentless attempts to suppress and distort it. America is strengthened by providing access to truth everywhere.

Russia's war against Ukraine is the most morally-clear conflict in the world today and also probably in a very long time. Anyone who isn't able to grasp the right and wrong side there has serious issues with their judgement and we shouldn't be afraid to say so

A new front has opened in my personal hate campaign against AI! "In short, AI is the perfect accomplice for populist leaders. It doesn’t care what’s true. It just knows what passes as true. And that’s more than enough to govern under populism." artificialinquiry.substack.com/p/trumps-ai-...