The Russia Guy

lol via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/jx2k3Te

Finn Brunton dives down the rabbit hole of "prediction markets" and how they've missed the utopia of coordinated expert opinion and evolved instead into public-trust-busting casinos that reward the corrupt. https://harpers.org/archive/2026/09/the-chaos-machine-finn-brunton-crypto-anarchism/ via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/sfbhPdF

Norway’s prime minister said on Sept. 9 that a drone nearly hit Zelensky’s plane leaving Moldova for Oslo on Sept. 8. His office later clarified that a drone threat had delayed the flight. How close the drones came remains unclear. https://www.nrk.no/artikkel/zelenskyjs-fly-ble-forsinket-av-dronetrussel-1527509 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/sWOKFi0

A Russian drone attack on a shopping center in Sumy killed two people and injured 20 others, including three girls ages 15–16, regional military administration chief Oleh Hryhorov said. https://t.me/hryhorov_oleg/3232 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/HetoYiO

A British man has been charged over alleged contact with the GRU Volunteer Corps, which police say is controlled by Russian military intelligence. Joshua Cammidge, 31, is accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service and preparing an act of sabotage. https://news.met.police.uk/news/man-charged-with-national-security-act-offences-512704 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/bQnoTFH

A Russian military court sentenced Lt. Gen. Yuri Kuznetsov, a former Defense Ministry personnel chief close to ousted Minister Sergei Shoigu, to 12 years in a high-security prison for taking kickbacks involving contracts with a military academy in Krasnodar. https://t.me/istories_media/13509 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/hXLlpB9

Economist editorial on "losing their terror of nuclear war" has lots of justified criticism of the big bads in Trump, Xi, and Putin, but curiously says nothing about the dangers of supporting attacks on a nuclear power via proxy war. https://www.economist.com/international/2026/09/08/world-leaders-are-losing-their-terror-of-nuclear-war via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/PegGkJu

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Washington should end all aid to Kyiv to speed a settlement, adding that support has already fallen noticeably under Trump. He also said the U.S. has not shown Russia any Ukraine roadmap, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned yesterday. https://t.me/zvezdanews/180732 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/aFm2C4b

22-year-old conscript Alexander Korolkov was sent to fight in Ukraine despite a personality-disorder diagnosis & a suicide attempt. 5 days after leaving a psychiatric hospital, he signed a service contract. He disappeared during an assault & has been declared dead. https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2026/09/09/skazal-chto-ego-doveli via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/aN2LQA0

Last week, the Trump administration resumed processing immigrant visa applications! But only from Hungary and Poland, while maintaining a temporary pause on immigrant ‌visa appointments elsewhere, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. 🤔 https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-resumes-immigrant-visa-processing-hungary-poland-pause-remains-elsewhere-2026-09-08/ via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/YnVOIg2

Yakutsk installed a monument to two Russian volunteers killed in Ukraine on the site of a demolished memorial to Poles exiled in the 17th–19th centuries & Polish victims of Soviet political repression. Across Russia, memorials to repression victims are disappearing while "SVO" monuments go up. https://t.me/Govorit_NeMoskva/69348 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/pKNW8hf

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told Bild that Berlin is unhappy with Ukraine’s volume of orders from German defense firms. He also supports the "voluntary return" of draft-age Ukrainian men and says Germany could help Kyiv identify them. https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland-und-internationales/bild-exklusiv-wadephul-macht-ploetzlich-druck-auf-selenskyj-6aa03568181cb962d48884fb via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/TJs2hXK

A jet-powered Russian Shahed drone struck a train traveling from Kharkiv to Izium, injuring at least six people, according to local authorities. https://t.me/Ateobreaking/177279 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/JfkP6Bl

Ukrainian drone(s) killed four people, including a child, and injured 29 in Novorossiysk, the region's governor said. A day earlier, a strike hit an apartment building in Perm, killing poet Stanislav Boguslavsky and his wife, parents of a regional lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party. https://t.me/horizontal_russia/57607 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/DQpnhla

excellent via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/XyC6efG

"European and U.S. officials are resigned to Russia’s war in Ukraine continuing into next year, acknowledging that the latest American peace initiative made no headway with Russian President Vladimir Putin." Some Lord Farquaad "some of you may die" energy here. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-08/kyiv-s-allies-see-war-going-into-2027-after-putin-met-us-envoys via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/SWIxcTJ

Sad to see the erosion of nature-related vocabulary in modern languages is affecting Russian, too. I've always been amazed by the average Russian's vast environmental vocabulary, at least compared with that of an ordinary Joe American like me. https://kedr.media/research/prirody-vse-menshe/ via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/lo5Dcpn

Zelensky apparently thinks Russia's "rhetoric" will change after elections later this month. Beforehand, "Russia will try to project an image of calm domestically while demonstrating strength against Ukraine through constant, intense airstrikes." A bit odd, given the expected winter strikes ahead. https://t.me/RBC_ua_news/204579 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/vFV3kJL

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov says Putin, in a phonecall today, backed Trump’s push for a “constructive partnership” between Russia and the U.S. and told the Donald that Moscow has no hostile plans toward Europe. The two leaders agreed to stay in touch. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ https://t.me/rbc_news/156426 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/d9Wl4rV

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, submitted his resignation after a senior subordinate was charged in an alleged bribery scheme involving scam call centers. Kravchenko denies any wrongdoing, though journalists say a figure called “the Boss” in released recordings may be him. https://t.me/bbcrussian/99096 via Kevin Rothrock https://ift.tt/cUMneFD