Day 1288
Missiles, visas, village
“I don’t relish the idea of taking life, but I’m doing what I feel is right,” says Derek Huffman, formerly an Arizona welder, now a Russian conscript1. What he’s “doing” is helping reduce Ukraine’s power grid to rubble while his wife livestreams their “escape from LGBT indoctrination.” The reward: expedited Russian citizenship and a YouTube following. The extraordinary life he advertises is complicity in war crimes, branded and monetized.
Two weeks ago, Putin and Trump convened in Alaska to “end the war.” It produced exactly what one would expect from three hours of cameras and handshakes: nothing. Since then, Moscow has treated Ukraine to another missile deluge while Xi, Putin, and a gout-ridden Lukashenko waddled across Beijing red carpets. Xi spoke of a “more just international order.” Translation: fuck the current one. Lukashenko, barely able to shuffle a hundred feet, has been demoted from Europe’s last dictator to geopolitical slapstick.
