2022, my mind goes immediately to Albert Brooks in his film “Lost in America”. The scene where he finds out his wife gambled away their nest egg, “We are in hell, we have entered hell, when?”. Not at all the image I expected to be reflecting on in Siberia as…

October 22 was an unseasonably warm Saturday night in the Altai Republic. 8PM and thousands of well-wishers crowded the Victory Square to see their mobilized men off. President Putin called for the partial mobilization of troops for the special military operation on September 21. …

Thanks to Fred Weir for the inspiration. The summer of sanctions in Siberia has come to an end and their impact is a mix of muted and opportunity generating. Passing the six month mark for the SMO, the people and corporations who needed or wanted to leave, left. Coping strategies…

On February 24, 2022, the Donbas War turned into a Special Military Operation (SMO) and the Crimean special sanctions operation became a War. …

Day Three of the war and apart from Ukrainian flags or doves appearing on people’s cover photos, “No War” in black and white boxes, and a couple of petitions there is not a lot of chatter about the war in the social media universe. Regardless of how people feel about…

There is a lot of advice flying around about how the US and its Western allies should conduct their negotiations with Russia. Much of it sounds like more of the same, threats of sanctions and Russia paying for the “it” of the week. This is not a winning strategy and…

I was recently asked by a classmate to write an essay for a series leading up to our 50th high school reunion. A challenge under any circumstances. The added weight was to give voice to the 80 girls who slammed through the 190 year old tradition of Exeter as a…

Independent Novosibirsk City Council Deputy Natalia Pinus spent the last 3 summers running for office. What is that like for this mother of three, “… It is extraordinary, I sleep very little, 3–4 hours, I have a lot of energy, I work every single minute, I set priorities and I…

Most Americans who have heard of Minsk know it as the place where Phoebe’s physicist boyfriend on “Friends” went to work or from Bette Midler’s song “Rochelle, Rochelle” in Seinfeld, “Well, you made a long journey from Milan to Minsk… You never stopped hoping; now you’re in a Pinsk…. When…