John Kaye

I expect to be reposting this every three months or so until the end of the Trump administration.

Lesia Bidochko and Oleksandr Siedin: Homophobia has taken center stage in Russia’s ideological presentation, not for its positive meaning to the regime, but as a moral argument for existential confrontation and escalation with the West.

commons.com.ua/en/gomofobiy...

The terror of ‘Tolerance’ Russia’s government funded a propaganda film this summer that sold 192 tickets on its opening weekend. The movie presents Europe as a nightmare of liberal values. — Meduza Close your eyes and feel yourself transported to mythical “Franglia,” where liberal values have triumphed over tradition, and human rights now reign. Gender identity is fluid, and refugees from the Mu...

What strikes me most about Andrey Grachev’s propaganda film "Tolerance" is that all the violence in the movie is perpetuated by its conservative, reactionary characters. In what's meant to be a cautionary tale about permissiveness, the bad guys are still the bigots. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/mtv-n-kysely-10-prosenttia-ajattelee-ettei-suomen-pida-osallistua-ukrainan-turvatakuisiin-puolueiden-valilla-eroja/9232600

Tänään ilmestyi myös toisenlainen kannatusmittaus.

www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/mt...

Sanonpa tästä kyselystä vielä sen, että olisi hirmu kiva, jos Perussuomalaiset ottaisivat sodan Venäjää vastaan yhtä vakavasti kuin oman sotansa sukupuolineutraaleja vessoja vastaan.

Mutta prioriteettinsa kullakin, ilmeisesti.

www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/mt...

My wide-ranging interview about the Russo-Ukrainian war for the Forum for Ukrainian Studies. One take-away: "The only reason there is an inkling of hope that the international world order will survive this enormous challenge is because Ukraine is resisting."
ukrainian-studies.ca/2025/09/23/i...

Matthew McConaughey says he wants a private LLM, fed only with his books, notes, journals, and aspirations, so he can ask it questions and get answers based solely on that information, without any outside influence.

this exists it is called thinking

Of all the good arguments against the ”Finlandisation” of Ukraine, this one really should stop the conversation in its tracks. The ”Russian obsession scale” for Ukraine is off the charts and confining Ukrainians to neutrality (ergo, subjugation) would not be a sustainable resolution.

These pleas for money have become routine, unfortunately, but the bottom line is that Meduza needs nearly to double its support base over the next few months, or it will cease to exist as it has for a decade. Without this dramatic donation growth, the Meduza you know goes away.

Getting to Nyet In recent days, Trump and his team have announced a series of breakthroughs in Russia-Ukraine negotiations, only to find out they’ve misunderstood the Russian position. Now it seems the only security ...

“Putin tries to play with words, but Trump thinks it’s a yes.”

@juliaioffe.bsky.social’s source sums up why Trump, Witkoff et al. are out of their depth when it comes to dealing with Russia. The irony is they wouldn’t have this problem if they’d just listen to Ukraine. puck.news/witkoff-trum...

Getting to Nyet In recent days, Trump and his team have announced a series of breakthroughs in Russia-Ukraine negotiations, only to find out they’ve misunderstood the Russian position. Now it seems the only security ...

“Trump and Steve Witkoff are clearly no match for [the Russian state]. They are so illiterate in the context, culture, and even the reality of what they’re dealing with that it is, frankly, embarrassing. Even worse, they clearly don’t even realize how badly they are out of their depth.”

Yhdysvaltain Suomea koskevasta ihmisoikeusraportista katosivat seksuaalivähemmistöt Suurlähetystö perustelee ”virtaviivaistetun” raportin olevan helpommin luettava ja lähestyttävä. Lähetystön mukaan raporttien ei ole tarkoituskaan olla kaikenkattavia.

Yhdysvaltojen Suomea koskevasta ihmisoikeusraportista katosivat mm. tasa-arvokysymykset, naisiin kohdistuva väkivalta, vähemmistöjen kohtaama syrjintä, vammaisten, sukupuoli- ja seksuaalivähemmistöjen, saamelaisten ja romanien oikeudet. www.aamulehti.fi/ulkomaat/art...

Wednesday's excited reporting of Trump's "very severe consequences" threat feels like a long time ago.

*taps the sign*

Search and be fined. New Russian law targets VPN usage and mere access (!) to “extremist” content Russia’s State Duma has advanced new legislation that would introduce fines for searching prohibited material online, including when using VPNs. Until now, even amid sweeping crack...

Today, Putin signed a series of laws that will dramatically expand state control in Russia. Soon, it will be illegal to even search for “extremist materials”.

Read about that part here: en.zona.media/article/2025...

1/4

Citizen by gender: How transgender people fought discrimination in the USSR A May 2025 study by the Sfera Foundation and the human rights group Vykhod recorded a sharp rise in pressure on Russia’s LGBT community — not surprising given that Moscow outlawed the non-existent “in...

Citizen by gender: How transgender people fought discrimination in the USSR

Between Stalin's ban on sexuality studies and Putin's crackdown on LGBTQ+, there have been successful cases of gender-affirming surgery and even times of relative freedom.

Russian photographer gets 16 years in prison for giving publicly available book to U.S. journalist — Meduza A court in the Russian city of Perm has sentenced photographer Grigory Skvortsov to 16 years in a high-security prison on treason charges, according to a Telegram channel run by his supporters.

In Russia even declassified information can be considered classified for the purpose of prosecuting you for *treason*. It’s been like that for quite a while. meduza.io/en/news/2025...

Tucker Carlson's not doing a very good job at pushing back against the allegation he promotes pro-Russian propaganda:

A must-read that walks you through the messianism and traditional values, i.e. beating your wife/kids, conquering your neighbours, and viewing unlimited state power as sacred, which Pu is enshrining in law, school textbooks, and public life. Yet some twist into pretzels to claim Pu isn't ideological

"Pu lied abt Crimea when Obama was president, lied abt Syria during Trump’s first term, lied to Biden abt having no plans to invade Ukraine —and he is lying now. It’s hard to find a single instance where Pu wasn’t lying— manipulating, embarrassing or demeaning Western leaders he holds in contempt."

Off the charts level of institutional vandalism this past week. Kennan Institute long gathered superb Russian military expertise at a time when the subfield was not terribly fashionable. DOGE & co actively destroying DoD intellectual capacity in their mindless rampage through the bureaucracy.

Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose.

Trump is eliminating Wilson Center, a stellar US foreign policy study establishment. Along with it goes the Kennan Institute - one of the best Russia study institutions.
I was fortunate to be a Kennan Fellow in 2017.
Such a loss

World Service must be fully state-funded to counter disinformation, say BBC bosses Ministers must cover full costs of championing western values abroad, senior BBC figures to argue

NEW: BBC bosses will make push for government to take back costs of the World Service, amid an “aggressive” Russian state disinformation drive

Now “undeniable” case for using world service to push western values, they say. State media moves in when WS moves out.

All part of charter renewal chat:

I am a broken record on this one, but gender is an incredibly important part of war legitimation in Russia

So the Trump administration deal is that Ukraine hand over $500bn of assets - far more than the value of US aid to Ukraine - in exchange for...nothing. Meanwhile, the White House is discussing developing economic links with Russia and readmitting Russia to the G8.

This is going to go on at many universities - the uncertainty will lead to fewer graduate programs. It will hobble scientific research which appears to be the goal.

In 2022, russians killed the mayor of Motyzhyn village, Olha Sukhenko, her husband and son. Before being kidnapped, she was evacuating village residents, delivering food and medicine. Their bodies were found in a mass grave after the liberation of the Kyiv region.

russian occupation is not peace.

Never forget what russia has done to Mariupol. There can be no lasting peace in Europe without justice for this. It's either peace through strength and accountability, or more wars through appeasement and concessions. No third way.

Russia has started enforcing its new ban on "childfree propaganda." A woman in Sevastopol has been fined 50k rubles ($500) for sharing memes that apparently play up the benefits of having no kids. Lawyers speculate that strict enforcement could even apply to complaining moms. t.me/agentstvonew...

Take a dive into Z-land with me 👇