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Honestly, the war coverage of the NYT and mainstream media in general has not been great. There is too much headline seeking in a long hard slog of peer compet

Honestly, the war coverage of the NYT and mainstream media in general has not been great. There is too much headline seeking in a long hard slog of peer competitor armies. OP is a good article, but it’s about Russian society, not the war itself. It checks all the boxes that Russia is in fact a fascist state, but then for some reason doesn’t connect the dots and actually print it plainly. For people actually interested in the war, stick to sources more used to covering military issues. The Institute for the Study of War has a superb daily briefing. The Drive’s section The War Zone does well, as does the Daily Kos. Or even OSINT communities on Reddit. It’s much harder to take the Ruski mir seriously once you’ve seen enough mobiks with two days’ training being shot in a field filled with their own litter, knowing they would never send Muscovites to the front.

pphysch 3y ago
> The Institute for the Study of War has a superb daily briefing. ISW has some signal, but it's also run by the Kagan family which has been directly implicated in contributing to this horrible mess (see other comments about Victoria Nuland). Calling it "superb" given this enormous conflict of interest -- a bit much.
- labster 3y ago
  That all seems rather ad hominem, while not talking about the value of the information. All sources are biased; some are more useful than others.
  - pphysch 3y ago
    As I said, it has some signal but we must take their analysis with a huge grain of salt because they are closely associated with actual conspirators behind the conflict.
    - labster 3y ago
      I have a hard time believing that the Biden administration got the US Senate to confirm a member of Putin’s inner circle to the US State Dept. But we have Lord Lebedev as an example that weird things like this do happen.
      - pphysch 3y ago
        Perhaps you aren't as informed about the recent political history of Ukraine as you imagine.
        labster 3y ago
        No political history of Ukraine is necessary to identify the conspirators behind the war, as you put it. The decision to invade was made solely in Moscow. It cannot have been otherwise.
        pphysch 3y ago
        It is concerning that this sort of blatant anti-intellectualism is popular and accepted nowadays. Here are a couple of insightful talks by esteemed American academics that shed some light on this dark period: https://www.youtube.com/live/qciVozNtCDM?feature=shared https://www.youtube.com/live/qciVozNtCDM?feature=shared https://youtu.be/TAYTBiVJt4Y?feature=shared https://youtu.be/TAYTBiVJt4Y?feature=shared
        kemotep 3y ago
        So the problem with realism is why does Ukraine not have any agency of their own? Why does only Russia or the United States have a say and not the Ukrainian people about who they want to be allied with? In my opinion it is John Mearshiemer is misinformed. One thing he gets wrong is that he says Putin did not say anything about wanting to conquer Ukraine despite all evidence to the contrary.
        pphysch 3y ago

pphysch 3y ago

> The Institute for the Study of War has a superb daily briefing. ISW has some signal, but it's also run by the Kagan family which has been directly implicated in contributing to this horrible mess (see other comments about Victoria Nuland). Calling it "superb" given this enormous conflict of interest -- a bit much.

labster 3y ago
That all seems rather ad hominem, while not talking about the value of the information. All sources are biased; some are more useful than others.
- pphysch 3y ago
  As I said, it has some signal but we must take their analysis with a huge grain of salt because they are closely associated with actual conspirators behind the conflict.
  - labster 3y ago
    I have a hard time believing that the Biden administration got the US Senate to confirm a member of Putin’s inner circle to the US State Dept. But we have Lord Lebedev as an example that weird things like this do happen.
    - pphysch 3y ago
      Perhaps you aren't as informed about the recent political history of Ukraine as you imagine.
      - labster 3y ago
        No political history of Ukraine is necessary to identify the conspirators behind the war, as you put it. The decision to invade was made solely in Moscow. It cannot have been otherwise.
        pphysch 3y ago
        It is concerning that this sort of blatant anti-intellectualism is popular and accepted nowadays. Here are a couple of insightful talks by esteemed American academics that shed some light on this dark period: https://www.youtube.com/live/qciVozNtCDM?feature=shared https://www.youtube.com/live/qciVozNtCDM?feature=shared https://youtu.be/TAYTBiVJt4Y?feature=shared https://youtu.be/TAYTBiVJt4Y?feature=shared
        kemotep 3y ago
        So the problem with realism is why does Ukraine not have any agency of their own? Why does only Russia or the United States have a say and not the Ukrainian people about who they want to be allied with? In my opinion it is John Mearshiemer is misinformed. One thing he gets wrong is that he says Putin did not say anything about wanting to conquer Ukraine despite all evidence to the contrary.
        pphysch 3y ago