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
Trump’s Venezuela bragging is what I’d expect from Zhirinovsky, had he lived to attack Ukraine in a VR game with the cheat codes on.
January 7, 2026 at 12:13 AM
Trump’s Venezuela bragging is what I’d expect from Zhirinovsky, had he lived to attack Ukraine in a VR game with the cheat codes on.
The optics of this scandal are cross-eyed-inducing. Volkov sends a vitriolic DM to a disgruntled ex-employee (lol), cheering the (faked) killing of neo-Nazi leader "White Rex" (whom the ex-employee now works for, lol), & Volkov is now at risk of being booted from Lithuania. meduza.io/en/feature/2...
He doesn’t get along with neo-Nazis Navalny strategist Leonid Volkov under fire in Lithuania for disparaging paramilitary leader ‘White Rex’ and top Ukrainian officials — Meduza
Lithuania’s Migration Department is investigating Leonid Volkov, head of political projects at the Anti-Corruption Foundation. The move follows comments Volkov made about the reported “death” of neo-N...
meduza.io
January 6, 2026 at 10:11 PM
The optics of this scandal are cross-eyed-inducing. Volkov sends a vitriolic DM to a disgruntled ex-employee (lol), cheering the (faked) killing of neo-Nazi leader "White Rex" (whom the ex-employee now works for, lol), & Volkov is now at risk of being booted from Lithuania. meduza.io/en/feature/2...
"Informal, through commentators and newspaper articles"? Am I led to understand that the "Russia once offered" claim is just tea-leaf divination? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/w...
January 6, 2026 at 8:15 PM
"Informal, through commentators and newspaper articles"? Am I led to understand that the "Russia once offered" claim is just tea-leaf divination? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/w...
The UK and EU are missing the chance to pledge their entire armed forces to a peacekeeping operation in Ukraine. Since such an offer depends on a peace deal that Russia won't accept, the gesture would be a generosity that Europe never has to honor.
January 6, 2026 at 7:09 PM
The UK and EU are missing the chance to pledge their entire armed forces to a peacekeeping operation in Ukraine. Since such an offer depends on a peace deal that Russia won't accept, the gesture would be a generosity that Europe never has to honor.
By being so adversarial toward America's European allies, the Trump admin will probably end up framing whatever the "Coalition of the Willing" slaps together as its big diplomatic achievement, especially after its peaceslop fails to meet Putin’s terms for capitulation.
January 6, 2026 at 6:37 PM
By being so adversarial toward America's European allies, the Trump admin will probably end up framing whatever the "Coalition of the Willing" slaps together as its big diplomatic achievement, especially after its peaceslop fails to meet Putin’s terms for capitulation.
Shelled out for a month of Claude to see if Claude for Chrome can hold a candle to ChatGPT Atlas. Apparently Claude is marvelous for coding, but I don't do any of that, and Atlas remains far more useful, IMO.
January 6, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Shelled out for a month of Claude to see if Claude for Chrome can hold a candle to ChatGPT Atlas. Apparently Claude is marvelous for coding, but I don't do any of that, and Atlas remains far more useful, IMO.
Politico meets its first 92-year-old man.
January 6, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Politico meets its first 92-year-old man.
Reposted by Kevin Rothrock
First Meduza newsletter of 2026 is out. Last week, Carnegie Center senior fellow Alexander Baunov wrote a gigantic essay about Putin's path dependence, Europe's naïveté on Russian experts, the Kremlin's overturning of Earth's moral universe. It was a lot. Here's my summary. meduza.io/en/brief/202...
This was Russia today Monday, January 5, 2026 — Meduza
meduza.io
January 6, 2026 at 7:13 AM
First Meduza newsletter of 2026 is out. Last week, Carnegie Center senior fellow Alexander Baunov wrote a gigantic essay about Putin's path dependence, Europe's naïveté on Russian experts, the Kremlin's overturning of Earth's moral universe. It was a lot. Here's my summary. meduza.io/en/brief/202...
Delightful review of Maria Bamford's latest published work, featuring several hilarious excerpts and a lovely portrait of an extremely funny lady. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Bamfordtown | Andrew Katzenstein
Maria Bamford’s wild and constantly inventive stand-up style relies on her never flinching from the most difficult realities.
www.nybooks.com
January 6, 2026 at 8:20 AM
Delightful review of Maria Bamford's latest published work, featuring several hilarious excerpts and a lovely portrait of an extremely funny lady. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
First Meduza newsletter of 2026 is out. Last week, Carnegie Center senior fellow Alexander Baunov wrote a gigantic essay about Putin's path dependence, Europe's naïveté on Russian experts, the Kremlin's overturning of Earth's moral universe. It was a lot. Here's my summary. meduza.io/en/brief/202...
This was Russia today Monday, January 5, 2026 — Meduza
meduza.io
January 6, 2026 at 7:13 AM
First Meduza newsletter of 2026 is out. Last week, Carnegie Center senior fellow Alexander Baunov wrote a gigantic essay about Putin's path dependence, Europe's naïveté on Russian experts, the Kremlin's overturning of Earth's moral universe. It was a lot. Here's my summary. meduza.io/en/brief/202...
i can understand "likes the sound of his own voice," but these tiktoking influencers staring down the barrel of a selfie video ten times a week are something else
January 6, 2026 at 3:27 AM
i can understand "likes the sound of his own voice," but these tiktoking influencers staring down the barrel of a selfie video ten times a week are something else
when the daycare sends a video showing "yoga time" and it's just the kids watching some youtube exercise thing
January 6, 2026 at 12:23 AM
when the daycare sends a video showing "yoga time" and it's just the kids watching some youtube exercise thing
Hated back home & in Ukraine, and distrusted in Europe, Russian émigré opposition politics continues to generate insufferable infighting. Leonid Volkov has landed himself in trouble again, this time for celebrating neo-Nazi White Rex's "death" & calling for Yermak, Podolyak, & Budanov to be jailed.
Anna Tiron
Пришло время рассказать правду о руководителе политических проектов ФБК Леониде Волкове. Леонид решил лично написать мне свое мнение после «гибели» Командира РДК Дениса Капустина, пожелав смерти...
www.facebook.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Hated back home & in Ukraine, and distrusted in Europe, Russian émigré opposition politics continues to generate insufferable infighting. Leonid Volkov has landed himself in trouble again, this time for celebrating neo-Nazi White Rex's "death" & calling for Yermak, Podolyak, & Budanov to be jailed.
USG social media under Trump continues its "Or Bust" campaign, tweeting from an iPhone is also a nice touch too.
January 5, 2026 at 8:08 PM
USG social media under Trump continues its "Or Bust" campaign, tweeting from an iPhone is also a nice touch too.
Ramzan Kadyrov has appointed his eldest son, Akhmat, who's only 20, as acting deputy chairman of Chechnya's government. Half his kids and dozens of his relatives have govt jobs. Seems like he's hanging on just long enough to hand it all over to them. t.me/RKadyrov_95/...
Kadyrov_95
Друзья, 2026 год мы начали с небольших кадровых изменений в структуре Правительства ЧР. Так, по представлению дорогого БРАТА, Председателя Правительства ЧР Магомеда Даудова, Ахмат Кадыров назначен на ...
t.me
January 5, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Ramzan Kadyrov has appointed his eldest son, Akhmat, who's only 20, as acting deputy chairman of Chechnya's government. Half his kids and dozens of his relatives have govt jobs. Seems like he's hanging on just long enough to hand it all over to them. t.me/RKadyrov_95/...
Interesting new project from political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya: "StarkTalk," a platform for connecting Russian and Western experts in a "virtual equivalent of Track 2 discussions." So much communication has broken down since 2022; this initiative makes sense. I wish them luck! t.me/stanovaya/1860
Stanovaya Тяга
Дорогие друзья и коллеги,
Я знаю, что сейчас многие из нас поглощены событиями в Венесуэле, но у меня есть важные новости. На протяжении последних двух лет я активно работала над идеей создать виртуа...
t.me
January 5, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Interesting new project from political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya: "StarkTalk," a platform for connecting Russian and Western experts in a "virtual equivalent of Track 2 discussions." So much communication has broken down since 2022; this initiative makes sense. I wish them luck! t.me/stanovaya/1860
Anybody know what happened to @neilphauer.bsky.social?
January 5, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Anybody know what happened to @neilphauer.bsky.social?
Hold onto your butts, folks: Trump says he believes U.S. intel over the Kremlin's claims that Kyiv tried to attack Putin's Valdai residence. "There is something that happened fairly nearby but had nothing to do with this." Bit of a black eye for ole Vova. www.reuters.com/world/europe...
Trump says he doesn't believe Ukraine struck Putin residence
U.S. President Donald Trump said he did not believe that an alleged Ukrainian strike on President Vladimir Putin's residence took place as claimed by Russia.
www.reuters.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:48 AM
Hold onto your butts, folks: Trump says he believes U.S. intel over the Kremlin's claims that Kyiv tried to attack Putin's Valdai residence. "There is something that happened fairly nearby but had nothing to do with this." Bit of a black eye for ole Vova. www.reuters.com/world/europe...
"NYT & WaPo learned of the secret U.S. raid on Venezuela soon before it was scheduled to begin Fri night but held off publishing what they knew to avoid endangering U.S. troops," reports Semafor. The special op's death toll is now 80 people, including civilians. www.semafor.com/article/01/0...
News organizations held off on reporting Venezuela raid
The American news organizations held their stories over concerns about endangering US troops.
www.semafor.com
January 4, 2026 at 9:49 PM
"NYT & WaPo learned of the secret U.S. raid on Venezuela soon before it was scheduled to begin Fri night but held off publishing what they knew to avoid endangering U.S. troops," reports Semafor. The special op's death toll is now 80 people, including civilians. www.semafor.com/article/01/0...
Medvedev says Ze could be next for Trump's new regime-change machine. Safe to say he doesn’t mean it, is just using Maduro’s abduction as a pretext to mock Ze’s legitimacy, ie his expired presidential term. Further proof that Moscow views the Venezuela situation entirely through a Ukraine prism.
Медведев допустил повторение венесуэльской операции США на Украине
США могут повторить в отношении Киева операцию, которую они провели в Венесуэле, причем в случае с Украиной оснований гораздо больше . Об этом в разговоре с ТАСС заявил заместитель председателя ...
www.rbc.ru
January 4, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Medvedev says Ze could be next for Trump's new regime-change machine. Safe to say he doesn’t mean it, is just using Maduro’s abduction as a pretext to mock Ze’s legitimacy, ie his expired presidential term. Further proof that Moscow views the Venezuela situation entirely through a Ukraine prism.
Today's Sunday paper from @oregonian.com is slightly taller than usual!
January 4, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Today's Sunday paper from @oregonian.com is slightly taller than usual!
Shot: Reading liberals condemning Trump's abduction of Maduro while expressing "complete awe of those who executed this order."
Chaser:
Chaser:
January 4, 2026 at 5:23 AM
Shot: Reading liberals condemning Trump's abduction of Maduro while expressing "complete awe of those who executed this order."
Chaser:
Chaser: