UKR-TAZ

I’ve given this blog a facelift, mainly to make it more readable, as some readers have complained over the years about the legibility of the white text on a black background, and especially the grey quoted text. But I also felt it was time to brighten and enliven it, in the spirit of підбадьорювання (pidbadioriuvannia, enlivening, enspiriting, as in lifting up one’s spirits during times of war or struggle); and because the old theme didn’t work well with the “categories” (see right-hand sidebar). I’ve also reorganized the categories to make them more useful. Comments welcome.

Cross-posted from Immanence…

The Washington Post reports that “Ruthenium-106, named after Russia” has been wafting all across Europe.

Two quick observations here.

Read the rest of this entry »

Inside Russia’s social media war on America (Time)

The Great British Brexit Robbery (Guardian)

Trump, Putin, and the New Cold War (The New Yorker)

The information war is real, and we’re losing it (Seattle Times)

Writing in The Nation, Jared McBride raises some important questions about the uses of (and control over) history in wartime Ukraine.

Marci Shore’s “Reading Tony Judt in Wartime Ukraine” indirectly, but provocatively, answers them.

Andrei Portnov’s “On Decommunization, Identity, and Legislating History, from a Slightly Different Angle” provides a balanced perspective on the same issues.

Links to various articles relevant to the topics explored on this blog (I may add to this list, so please check back periodically):

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/17/how-we-know-russia-shot-down-mh17.html

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/07/13/open-source-information-reveals-pro-kremlin-web-campaign/

http://voxukraine.org/2014/10/01/trust-and-prejudice/

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/everything-you-thought-you-knew-about-right-wing-parties-is-wrong?utm_content=buffer0240a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#.VXjEqPKHSh4.facebook

http://culture.lb.ua/news/2015/05/08/304258_filosofi_tsitiruet_putin_.html

https://www.opendemocracy.net/denis-gorbach/struggle-for-progressive-politics-in-ukraine

http://krytyka.com/en/articles/country-war-love-excerpts-donetsk-diary

http://rbth.com/opinion/2015/02/05/the_real_leviathan_43475.html

David Marples provides an astute critique of the new parliamentary law “Concerning the legal status and commemorating the memory of the fighters for Ukrainian independence in the 20^th century,” here.

This statement from December, a response by Ukrainian independent left groups to some western leftists’ (perceived) support for Russian aggression against Ukraine, deserves to be reprinted, as the attitudes it targets continue in some places.

The New York Times offers a history in maps of the Ukraine crisis, here.

Rory McFinn offers a handy set of guidelines for distinguishing Ukraine crisis commentators who don’t know much about Ukraine from those who do, here.