Erica Marat 🇺🇦

Putin turns 73 on October 7. He was 46 when he first became Prime Minister in August 1999. Since that time he has been either Prime Minister or President for more than 26 years, more than 1/3 of his life. In 2004, he said "one could go crazy" working as president for 7 years.

Eventually you have to accept that no matter how many different notebooks you buy, they won’t make you a better writer. For that, you need to spend a lot of money on the right pen.

My feed today

Moldovan voters have (yet again!) thwarted Ru’s efforts to intimidate, buy, and manipulate them into abandoning their pro-EU course.

Moldovans cast ballots in a tense election plagued by Russian interference claims Moldovans are heading to the polls to cast ballots in a tense parliamentary election plagued by claims of Russian interference.

BREAKING: Moldovans are heading to the polls to cast ballots in a tense parliamentary election plagued by claims of Russian interference, a vote seen as a choice between integration with the European Union or a drift back into Moscow’s fold.

Boeing Gets Order From Uzbekistan Airways
The companies said Uzbekistan Airways would buy 14 of Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliner jets, with options for eight more

gift article
www.wsj.com/business/air...

Russian strategic bombers have taken off and likely heading to bomb Ukraine.

We’re in for yet another hellish night. Once more. Keep us in your thoughts.

Genocide or Not? The 1931–1933 Famine in the Collective Memories of Kazakhstan’s Post-Independence Generations This article presents the first study of how the 1931–1933 famine is remembered by Kazakhstan’s post-independence generations. The famine in the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic claimed ...

Genocide or Not? The 1931–1933 Famine in the Collective Memories of Kazakhstan’s Post-Independence Generations by
Berikbol Dukeyev www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Uzbek Fighters in Russia’s War Face Relatively Mild Punishments at Home The number of Uzbek nationals fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war remains significant, and the price of returning home has become little more than a grounding.

Latest from @niginakhon.bsky.social: The number of Uzbek nationals fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war remains significant, and the price of returning home has become little more than a grounding.

thediplomat.com/2025/09/uzbe...

Don’t Look A Gift Horse Meat In The Mouth

Speaking to a standup comedian Nurzhamal from Almaty, did Conan O’Brien just promise to visit Kazakhstan? 😁
open.spotify.com/episode/1Gts...

Excited to see this book by Shoirakhon Nurdinova, out in January 2026! 🤩
link.springer.com/book/9789819...

Thank you Diana!

Can’t wait to get started in 2026! 🤩

This is amazing. (Is there a precedent?)

The Ukrainian Embassy in DC becomes THE welcome place for some of the world’s most powerful leaders.

European unity is on display and Ukraine is the host and unifer.

United for just and sustainable peace.

Video c/o President Zelensky’s Official Telegram

Awesome dispatch from @meduza.io's The Beet on how Wikipedia's Central Asian-language pages are being built up/translated/grown: mailchi.mp/meduza.io/wi...

just realized that Ivan the terrible, Peter the Great, and (indirectly) Stalin all killed their own sons. in russia today these three are considered the country's greatest rulers. almost like a metaphor for russian history or something

During a missile strike on Kyiv, two schoolgirls and their mother were killed.

Their school announced that Alina and Anastasia Humeniuk died along with their mother. They were internally displaced people from Donbas who had sought refuge in the capital. Russia found them and killed them there.

I needed this today

Guys

‘Commanders Saw Us as Expendable’: A Russian Soldier’s View of the War Mikhail Simdyankin was lured into the military by a generous sign-on bonus and was stunned by what he found in Ukraine. ‘If I could, I would rewind and give all that money back.’

Oh the bottomless western sympathy for Russians willing to kill Ukrainians to pay off utility bills

www.wsj.com/world/europe...

A russian strike hit the entrance of a metro station in Kyiv packed with people sheltering from the ongoing attack.

New DNA Evidence Reveals Female-Led Society in Ancient China Neolithic settlement shows women held power near what is considered the birthplace of Chinese civilization

Gift link: What a fantastic piece on an ancient matrilineal society.

"these women stayed within their clans, while men often married into the groups, a contrast to the modern tradition of women marrying into the families of men."

www.wsj.com/science/arch...

Google’s Russian version of AI is exclusively fed by Kremlin’s colonial content

'Nearly everything was aimed at Lutsk' — Russia launches record 741 drones, missiles, targeting western Ukraine Russia launched another mass missile and drone attack overnight on July 9, targeting Ukrainian cities, including in the country's far-west regions located hundreds of kilometers from the front line.

Kyiv Independent - Russia launched what seems to be its largest missile and drone attack against multiple Ukrainian cities overnight with the far-western city of Lutsk coming under the heaviest attack of the war. kyivindependent.com/7-9-attack-d...

By Umida Hashimova

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New pub: Central Asian migrants at the US-Mexico border: An exploration of causes

Great piece analyzing spike in Central Asian migrants in 2021-2022. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

1. BREAKING

The White House has confirmed to Nick Schifrin that it has halted weapons that were set to go to Ukraine.

The weapons include: PAC3 Patriots, 155mm artillery rounds, GMLRS, Stinger, AIM-7, and Hellfire missiles.

The russians executed a Ukrainian soldier by tying him to a motorcycle and dragging him along the road.

There's a video of it circulating online, which I will not share.

There are hundreds of such cases. Happen over and over again because russians never face consequences for their actions

The Chan-Zuckerbergs stopped funding social causes. 400 kids lost their school. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg’s retreat from funding social issues forced the closure of a school Chan opened for disadvantaged families in Silicon Valley.

Priscilla Chan’s decision to stop funding the school she opened to help struggling families shows the risks for communities reliant on wealthy private donors.