Kevin Rothrock
@kevinrothrock.me
Russia watcher supreme. @meduza.io English-language managing editor. Ugly American based in Portland, Oregon. Signal: @KevinRothrock.01 / Find all my junk here: https://linktr.ee/kevinrothrock
this line from The Muppets (2011) is the main reason I force my children to rewatch it with me, pretending that they suggested it
November 29, 2025 at 5:40 PM
this line from The Muppets (2011) is the main reason I force my children to rewatch it with me, pretending that they suggested it
Long WSJ report on how U.S. and Russian business leaders have worked outside the traditional lines of diplomacy toward a peace agreement, but mainly toward business deals. An opportunity for American billionaires to slide back into the Russian market and undercut Europe. www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine
The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.
www.wsj.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Long WSJ report on how U.S. and Russian business leaders have worked outside the traditional lines of diplomacy toward a peace agreement, but mainly toward business deals. An opportunity for American billionaires to slide back into the Russian market and undercut Europe. www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Imagine being Andriy Yermak's commanding officer tomorrow.
November 29, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Imagine being Andriy Yermak's commanding officer tomorrow.
And off he goes, again.
November 29, 2025 at 6:11 AM
And off he goes, again.
Holly Case reviews a new book by Ukrainian historian Iryna Vushko about the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, which has many interesting insights into early 20th-century ethnic autonomy politics that Europeans are still duking out today. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
November 29, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Holly Case reviews a new book by Ukrainian historian Iryna Vushko about the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, which has many interesting insights into early 20th-century ethnic autonomy politics that Europeans are still duking out today. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Oliver Carroll sums up the end of Andriy Yermak and how it weakens Zelensky's political machine. www.economist.com/europe/2025/...
A corruption scandal costs Volodymyr Zelensky his top aide
Andriy Yermak amassed enormous power and lots of enemies
www.economist.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Oliver Carroll sums up the end of Andriy Yermak and how it weakens Zelensky's political machine. www.economist.com/europe/2025/...
Earlier today, anti-corruption agents raided the home of Zelensky's powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who says he's cooperating fully. Rumors have circulated for weeks about when Yermak might be implicated in the Energoatom-kickback scandal. t.me/stranaua/217...
Политика Страны
Ермак подтвердил обыски НАБУ в своей квартире. Говорит, что оказывает детективам «полное содействие».
«Сегодня НАБУ и САП действительно проводят процессуальные действия у меня дома. Никаких препятств...
t.me
November 28, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Earlier today, anti-corruption agents raided the home of Zelensky's powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who says he's cooperating fully. Rumors have circulated for weeks about when Yermak might be implicated in the Energoatom-kickback scandal. t.me/stranaua/217...
Today is Thanksgiving in America, a day when many of us visit our elders in their dusty old homes and express gratitude for things we mostly did ourselves. Or, as Volodymyr Zelensky calls it, Thursday.
November 27, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Today is Thanksgiving in America, a day when many of us visit our elders in their dusty old homes and express gratitude for things we mostly did ourselves. Or, as Volodymyr Zelensky calls it, Thursday.
is it just me or is Stranger Things not very fun anymore
November 27, 2025 at 6:47 AM
is it just me or is Stranger Things not very fun anymore
In today's newsletter — the final one I'm writing before turkeys everywhere run for their lives — I look at a recent report on 3D-printing farms sprouting up in St. Petersburg that are possibly serving as a makeshift production line for the Russian military's trinket needs. meduza.io/en/brief/202...
This was Russia today Wednesday, November 26, 2025 — Meduza
meduza.io
November 27, 2025 at 12:48 AM
In today's newsletter — the final one I'm writing before turkeys everywhere run for their lives — I look at a recent report on 3D-printing farms sprouting up in St. Petersburg that are possibly serving as a makeshift production line for the Russian military's trinket needs. meduza.io/en/brief/202...
The West wants Russia to return to the 1990s, and Russia wants NATO to return to the 1990s. Truly everyone loves that decade.
November 27, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The West wants Russia to return to the 1990s, and Russia wants NATO to return to the 1990s. Truly everyone loves that decade.
Can some native speakers weigh in on these bits in the Dmitriev–Ushakov transcript? Bloomberg describes this as "the original Russian included for reference," but some of the phrasing here sounds unnatural and clunky in Russian, like it was translated from English.
November 26, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Can some native speakers weigh in on these bits in the Dmitriev–Ushakov transcript? Bloomberg describes this as "the original Russian included for reference," but some of the phrasing here sounds unnatural and clunky in Russian, like it was translated from English.
whenever i hear Hendrix’s superior cover of All Along the Watchtower (sorry, Dylanites), my first thought is to rage about how Battlestar Galactica used that wretched arrangement in season 3
November 26, 2025 at 10:35 PM
whenever i hear Hendrix’s superior cover of All Along the Watchtower (sorry, Dylanites), my first thought is to rage about how Battlestar Galactica used that wretched arrangement in season 3
cool, trump is bloviating about honduras and using the same "democracy is at stake" election rhetoric that the democrats employed so effectively against him in 2024
November 26, 2025 at 10:12 PM
cool, trump is bloviating about honduras and using the same "democracy is at stake" election rhetoric that the democrats employed so effectively against him in 2024
If this is the "real story," I declare this story to be extremely boring. Would not buy a ticket. Would not even stream at home. Not on an airplane. Not even on the toilet.
November 26, 2025 at 9:58 PM
If this is the "real story," I declare this story to be extremely boring. Would not buy a ticket. Would not even stream at home. Not on an airplane. Not even on the toilet.
Excellent stuff here from Tatiana Stanovaya. x.com/Stanovaya/st...
November 26, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Excellent stuff here from Tatiana Stanovaya. x.com/Stanovaya/st...
songs to needle-drop for various apocalypses:
*aliens arrive, death-ray charging: norman greenbaum, spirit in the sky
*doomsday machine triggered: vera lynn, we'll meet again
*zombies at the door: the specials, ghost town
*life turns out to be a simulation: beach boys, good vibrations
*aliens arrive, death-ray charging: norman greenbaum, spirit in the sky
*doomsday machine triggered: vera lynn, we'll meet again
*zombies at the door: the specials, ghost town
*life turns out to be a simulation: beach boys, good vibrations
November 26, 2025 at 5:34 PM
songs to needle-drop for various apocalypses:
*aliens arrive, death-ray charging: norman greenbaum, spirit in the sky
*doomsday machine triggered: vera lynn, we'll meet again
*zombies at the door: the specials, ghost town
*life turns out to be a simulation: beach boys, good vibrations
*aliens arrive, death-ray charging: norman greenbaum, spirit in the sky
*doomsday machine triggered: vera lynn, we'll meet again
*zombies at the door: the specials, ghost town
*life turns out to be a simulation: beach boys, good vibrations
name a 90s action movie with a better opening 90 seconds than Die Hard: With a Vengeance. that Lovin' Spoonful to explosion cut is an all-time favorite.
November 26, 2025 at 4:48 PM
name a 90s action movie with a better opening 90 seconds than Die Hard: With a Vengeance. that Lovin' Spoonful to explosion cut is an all-time favorite.
oh, little pigeon, we have laid eggs inside of your brain! you are no longer in control! we control you, and you are under our power! we know everything, little bird meduza.io/en/feature/2...
Russian neurotechnology company says it can steer pigeon flocks with implanted brain chips — Meduza
The Russian neurotechnology company Neiry claims to have begun field testing a flock of pigeons with chips implanted in their brains, allowing researchers to steer the birds from the laboratory into t...
meduza.io
November 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
oh, little pigeon, we have laid eggs inside of your brain! you are no longer in control! we control you, and you are under our power! we know everything, little bird meduza.io/en/feature/2...
New state survey shows 66% of Kyiv schoolchildren speak Russian in class, & 82% do so during breaks. 1/4 Kyiv teachers uses Russian during lessons, & 40% switch to it during breaks. Nationwide, Ukrainian usage among Ukrainian children *fell* from 55% in 2023 to 49% in 2024.
November 26, 2025 at 3:52 PM
New state survey shows 66% of Kyiv schoolchildren speak Russian in class, & 82% do so during breaks. 1/4 Kyiv teachers uses Russian during lessons, & 40% switch to it during breaks. Nationwide, Ukrainian usage among Ukrainian children *fell* from 55% in 2023 to 49% in 2024.
poor rubio, surrounded on all sides
November 26, 2025 at 3:51 PM
poor rubio, surrounded on all sides
A Russian neurotechnology company claims to have created “remote-controlled pigeons” by implanting “neural interfaces” into their heads to guide their flight paths. In other words, they strapped solar panels to the birds’ backs and used electric shocks to their brains for steering.
В Москве испытали в полете голубей-биодронов с нейроинтерфейсами российской Neiry
Российская Neiry провела полеты-испытания первой стаи голубей-биодронов, в мозг которых имплантированы нейроинтерфейсы. От обычных дронов они отличаются длительным временем работы и дистанцией примене...
www.forbes.ru
November 26, 2025 at 3:10 PM
A Russian neurotechnology company claims to have created “remote-controlled pigeons” by implanting “neural interfaces” into their heads to guide their flight paths. In other words, they strapped solar panels to the birds’ backs and used electric shocks to their brains for steering.
Rustem Umerov, Zelensky's chief national security adviser, was questioned yesterday by NABU, Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau, in connection with the money laundering office at the heart of the Energoatom scandal. NABU's director has vowed to keep investigating despite "geopolitical issues."
Умеров дал показания НАБУ по "делу Миндича"
Секретаря Совета национальной безопасности и обороны Рустема Умерова опросили в Национальном антикоррупционном бюро в качестве свидетеля по делу о бэк-офисе, организованном Тимуром Миндичем.
www.pravda.com.ua
November 26, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Rustem Umerov, Zelensky's chief national security adviser, was questioned yesterday by NABU, Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau, in connection with the money laundering office at the heart of the Energoatom scandal. NABU's director has vowed to keep investigating despite "geopolitical issues."