The idiocy of Hegseth cutting DoD's ties with Harvard (and, by the way, does he know Gen Caine, the JCS chairman, went to Harvard's Kennedy School?) slate.com/news-and-pol...

Deeply and personally offended by the insinuation that it takes only six months to write a book.

We will remember this winter. When an entire nation froze in the cold right on the border with the European Union, fought against the Russian army's advance, but did not give up.

Yet another reminder that territory isn't the main thing Putin wants, but control over Ukrainian sovereignty, including the ouster of Zelensky and his team. By Vladislav Gorin for @ceip-politika.bsky.social

Speaking of cheap books that can fit in your pocket .... (If you're not interested in Russian politics, there are more than 750 other Very Short Introductions) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/b...

This ⬇️

I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors. Great work everyone.

A few months ago a GOP state legislator resigned over racist texts, and the staffer of a NY GOP assemblyman was fired for comparing Black people to monkeys and other racist remarks. Let's see how GOP leaders respond now when it's the leader of their party (who has a long history here).

I am not going to repost the vile and racist image that Trump posted last night of President & First Lady Obama because it is beyond disgusting. Trump is a vile racist as is every Republican that continues to support him. I don’t want to hear mumbling from Mike Johnson or stoic silence from Thune.

Russia's regional budget deficits increased significantly in 2025, reaching 1.5 trillion RUB. The reason: Increased war financing from the regions and lower profit tax revenue. Regional spending rose by 10%, while regional revenues increased by only 5%.

I guess this moron is a prominent influencer. Wonder if he knows that Putin has an ICC warrant for the war crime of "unlawful deportation of population (children) & unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation." www.icc-cpi.int/defendant/vl...

Academic Russianists: geez, was I ever on a plane with this creep? (although quite sure he wasn't back in economy class)

Opening the "Year of the Unity of the Peoples of Russia" today, Putin talked about a history of foreign invaders "united by the desire to.. chop off a piece of us, to conquer, to destroy, to seize." He went on to say "the same thing is happening today." Well, yes, I guess one could say that.

This needs far more attention and action than it’s getting. Russia is deliberately seeking to generate a humanitarian catastrophe in Kyiv.

If this were Russia, everyone from the New York Times on down would be calling him a “regime-linked oligarch”

Read the damn room, Outlook AI bot.

Democracy dies in oligarchness

Washington Post reporter laid off while freezing in a war zone by one of the world’s richest people.

I am a Ukrainian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. I have a question. Why has Trump's year of negotiations been the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion? The number of deaths and injuries has increased by 31 percent compared to the previous year.

Nothing says "Russians and Ukrainians are one people" and Kyiv is "the mother of all Russian cities“ quite like trying to destroy its energy system and freeze its citizens.

Disturbing detail buried at the bottom of this disturbing story: the intelligence-community inspector general, Christopher Fox, "served as an aide to Gabbard in her role as spy chief before taking the oversight job." gift link here: www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

These U.S. Marshals were extremely unpopular when and where this photograph was taken. They didn't wear masks. They were public servants not thugs.

Another round of peace talks took place tonight. The results are on the map. Rocket and drone explosions in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and many other cities all night. In the morning, electricity and heat were out in many areas.

Russia used the pause in strikes proposed by the United States not to support diplomacy, but to stockpile missiles and wait for the coldest days, with temperatures dropping to −20°C.

Recently I received two photographs from the Donbas—one from the Russian-occupied part, the other from the corner still under Ukrainian control. The stories they tell are revealing:

"You have to put a lot of effort into not going mad." - @rolandoliphant.bsky.social relaying a message from his friend in Kyiv

not the point, but Tillis calling Miller Grima Wormtongue is absolutely d e v a s t a t i n g 😭😂 I can't think of a worse insult

Can’t believe they released the Epstein files to cover up for the Melania movie.

Looks like most of the grid is down in Ukraine & into Moldova. Apparently not the result of a new attack but the problems of keeping a grid stable when there’s already so much damage & in extreme temperatures. www.kyivpost.com/post/69175

Great, ED-209

To invoke the famous cartoon: "How about never? Is never good for you?"

The Grammys should get a bunch of people together and do a superstar cover of Purple Rain in homage to Prince and Minneapolis send tweet

Just because Russian efforts to influence US politics are frequently comical doesn't mean we should ignore them or Russian influence operations are a "hoax." From @mikeeckel.bsky.social @rferl.org.web.brid.gy

There is a strange misconception in the U.S. government that the war in Ukraine is about the territory of Donbas. They believe it because... putin said so? They just cant stop repeating nonsense about giving up Donbas, right? It is not a war for Donbas. It is a war to destroy Ukraine as a state,

Look if Minnesota is the hub then it's a Purple Revolution.

As someone from Iowa with family in Mpls, enjoyed this portrait. And as a Russianist, esp liked this sentence: "ICE’s invasion of Minneapolis was like Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, if nineteenth century Russians had also been world-leaders at organising cook-outs, help-meets, and charity drives."

OTD in 2003 Prez & then Ukrainian president signed “Treaty Between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on the Russian–Ukrainian State Border”. It set Ukraine’s borders as they were in 1991 & was lodged with the UN. So you can trust Russia on a new deal on Ukraine's borders

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitriy Peskov showing great self-awareness here: "We really do have problems with Poland. We really do have problems with the Baltic states. For some reason, they are constantly afraid of us and demonize us." "For some reason...." t.me/bbbreaking/2...

After Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a friend in Moscow was going to protests and getting detained at them. He typically got released with a court date and then fined. One evening an FSB guy visited him at his home to tell him he should stop going to protests. Police-state shit.

Honestly, the #5 subsection of Bsky might be fun.

Call for Papers CESS Graduate and Early-Career Interdisciplinary Workshop 2026 - “Memory and Memorial Culture Across Central Eurasia” University of Michigan October 2026 (exact date TBD) For more details - tinyurl.com/hvvwwdba

I once asked my late uncle what he thought ended the legal Jim Crow era. He immediately responded that the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in 1964 were the moment Jim Crow died. When I asked him why he said: “When White folks fight White folks, it changes everything. Enough was enough.”

Today I got a text from a friend in Kyiv asking if I was ok because she had heard about “extreme weather” in Syracuse. She has been without heat & electricity. & it filled me with shame & rage that my gov’t has $ for paramilitaries to terrorize US cities but not to protect 🇺🇦 from 🇷🇺 missiles & drones

"Don't forget to add the bit about people only having rights if they agree with what the government is doing."

🤬 Russian forces have launched more than 1,700 attack drones, 1,380 guided aerial bombs and 69 missiles of various types over the past seven days. 📸: Emergency Service of Ukraine

(why?) (I wanna know why) (you better tell me why) (why?) (why did they die?)

👇🎯 It's even worse. Not only is immigration a totally fake problem, but also it's the main reason 🇺🇸 has become the world's most prosperous & powerful country over the last 150 years. The idea that it's something to "fix" is entirely racism, white supremacy, & xenophobia. bsky.app/profile/mcop...

And the fact that Washington prefers not to notice the mass shelling of Ukraine during the peace talks is on its conscience. In the photo, children from houses without heating after Russian shelling are warming themselves at special points.