As Washington Predicts a Russian Invasion, the Mood in Kyiv Is Alarmed and Aggrieved - Ukraine is in the position that it has so resolutely tried to avoid: trapped between the irreconcilable power struggles of other states. - link
The Best and Worst Moments of the 2022 Super Bowl - The Rams beat the Bengals, Meadow and A. J. Soprano were reunited, and the N.F.L. hoped that everyone would forget the league’s problems for one night. - link
Autocrats, Not Terrorists, Are Increasingly Taking Americans Hostage - The effort to free Danny Fenster, a journalist imprisoned by Myanmar’s junta, shows a new threat to U.S. citizens worldwide. - link
Morgan Wallen Is Not on an Apology Tour - The singer was banished from radio stations after he used the N-word, but his album was still, by one count, the most popular of 2021, and he has now taken his show back on the road. - link
The Zora Neale Hurston We Don’t Talk About - In the new nonfiction collection “You Don’t Know Us Negroes,” what emerges is a writer who mastered a Black idiom but seldom championed race pride. - link
From Vox
Enough with the Ukraine war predictions -
Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s revealing joke about a February 16 invasion, explained.
The war between Russia and Ukrainewas supposed to start today, or maybe it was yesterday. Actually, the Ukrainian leader says Wednesday.
Or does he?
Monday afternoon, American news outlets startled markets when they reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video, “We are told that February 16 will be the day of the attack.” His spokesperson later clarified that he had been merely referencing other public media reports, and many journalists noted that Zelensky, a former comedian, was being sarcastic.
The mid-afternoon misunderstanding was the messiest episode in a string of frantic forecasts and much quieter walk-backs, as American and European officials try to surmise the next steps in a possible war — a war that may or may not happen.
Russia has gathered some 130,000 troops on the border with Ukraine and demanded certain concessions from the West to de-escalate. Moscow has denied intentions to invade, but diplomatic talks between Russia and the United States and its allies — including a phone call Saturday between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin — have not yet yielded any solutions. Against this backdrop, the world is reading between every line along the way.
Among all of the confident predictions being made, it often feels like we’re in a situation where no one knows anything. Everyone’s an expert on when the ground freezes just enough to allow tanks to roll across the Ukrainian border — or maybe the muddiness factordoesn’t matter much anyway. Seasoned analysts are making predictions based on when Putin invaded Ukraine last time (days after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia) or when he invaded neighboring Georgia (during the 2008 Beijing Olympics). Some prognosticators predicted that Putin would wait until after this year’s Olympics in order to avoid angering Chinese leader Xi Jinping. But on Friday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, “It may well happen soon,” which is to say, before the Games end.
This isn’t to say that nothing is knowable, just that it’s worth embracing some skepticism.
Zelenskyy’s particular date may have been a joke. But it was a revealing one: Everyone, including government officials, is operating with limited information, and even when they do have it, it can be used strategically or disingenuously to achieve their goals.
It’s worth embracing some skepticism
Ten days ago, the Pentagon told reporters that Russia was likely to “produce a very graphic propaganda video, which would include corpses and actors” as a pretext for war.
Biden’s team attempted to be transparent about the hair-trigger moment we’re in and show that the US is doing everything to avert war. Officials said they hoped disclosing this alleged false-flag operation would make it less effective, or stop Russia from doing it in the first place. But even when putting this information to the public, the Biden administration didn’t share receipts.
AP diplomatic correspondent Matt Lee, long the haggard cynic in the State Department press corps, was having none of it. In the State Department press briefing, he grilled spokesperson Ned Price about veering into “Alex Jones territory” — that is, conspiracy theory-land — by saying Russia is creating such a video without providing proof.
Price insisted that the very act of him briefing reporters on such intelligence was proof enough, but Lee pushed back. “I remember WMDs in Iraq, and I remember that Kabul was not going to fall. I remember a lot of things. So where is the declassified information other than you coming out here and saying it?” Lee asked.
A week later, Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan said, “there is a distinct possibility that Vladimir Putin would order a military action and invasion of Ukraine in this window, in this time period, and that could include the time period before February 20th, before the Beijing Olympics have been completed.” Members of the White House press corps channeled Lee in pressing for evidence.
PBS news correspondent Nick Schifrin had gone viral an hour before with a tweet that predicted imminent war. “The US expects the invasion to begin next week, six US and Western officials tell me,” he wrote.
The US expects the invasion to begin next week, six US and Western officials tell me, as Secretary of State Antony @SecBlinken said last night.
Sullivan partook in the usual verbal acrobatics of deploying a lot of words but not saying a whole lot. “We are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time should Vladimir Putin decide to order it,” he said, but then went on to deny the tweet.
How did we get to a place where there are so many predictions and so little clarity?
Even the weather forecasters can get it wrong
It’s hard to predict things in the lead-up to a war.
Added to that general truism is a fact specific to this conflict: Putin has tight control of the Russian government and so many of the country’s media organs. There’s a reason why so many analysts are quick to say that no one knows what Putin, a former KGB spy, is thinking.
Misinformation abounds, and information is being used to tell stories that may not hold up. Russia is one driver of this. The Kremlin, during its invasion and annexation of Ukraine in 2014 and ever since, has engaged in asymmetric or hybrid warfare — that is, unconventional methods, like cyberattacks, sowing disinformation, targeting US diplomats, and more.
This time around, the US appears to be responding to that asymmetric landscape by sharing its own kernels of information, promoting them to news outlets with the cloak of anonymity, and doing what it can to defang the power Russia might hold in its deploying of hybrid warfare.
Now everyone is left trying to divine what comes next, tuning in to reports like one about supplies of blood being sent to the front lines of Russian troops on the border.
But even in this environment of open questions, there are a handful of things that we can say with certainty.
Everyone knows that if there is a war, it will be a disaster. It will reshape Russia’s role in Europe, and call into question the Biden team’s wherewithal to steer the ship of state in advance of the 2022 midterm elections. It could lead to a new hawkishness among Democrats and Republicans. And the deaths may number higher than the conflicts emerging from the 2014 Ukraine crisis or even the civil wars in former Yugoslavia in the ’90s.
But when might all that happen? Who knows.
The shocking decision to allow Kamila Valieva to skate at the Olympics, explained -
Kamila Valieva will be allowed to skate at the Olympics, despite her positive doping test. | Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Despite failing a doping test, Kamila Valieva is allowed to skate. But she won’t be allowed to win a medal (yet).
Despite testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug, Russia’s 15-year-old Kamila Valieva will skate at the women’s figure skating event on Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), an independent, international body that determines sports disputes, decided in a hearing to allow Valieva to skate, following the announcement that Valieva had tested positive for trimetazidine in December. Trimetazidine is a banned substance that can improve endurance in athletes. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), trimetazidine is banned at all times in and out of competition. Russian athletes, including Valieva, are already not allowed to compete under the Russian flag for these Olympics as a punishment for the country’s participation in state-sponsored doping.
WADA, as well as various countries’ Olympic committees and former skaters, have taken exception to the ruling, deeming it a disappointment, and the IOC has already said it will not award Valieva at these Olympics even if she wins (which she probably will). Given the gruff backlash and consequences for the medal ceremony, it’s confusing as to how the CAS came to this decision in the first place.
While there are certainly some questions, here’s what we can decipher and do know regarding the CAS’s decision on Valieva, what happens to the medals she may or may not win, and why the investigation surrounding her and her coaches is by no means over.
Why is Kamila Valieva allowed to skate despite a positive doping test?
The governing body making this decision is the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which was asked by the International Olympic Committee, WADA, and the International Skating Union to suspend Kamila Valieva after Russia had allowed her to skate despite a positive test. It’s worth noting that CAS is distinct from the IOC. While it has made other decisions for the Olympics — including banning Russia for doping at the 2014 Sochi games — it is not the sole body that determines Olympic eligibility. (For instance, American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was suspended in 2021 by the US Anti-Doping Agency.)
Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
Even though Valieva and her teammates won the figure skating team event, the IOC will still determine if they will be awarded that gold.
According to the CAS decision, there are two general points of why it’s allowing Valieva to skate: that she’s a minor and minors are subject to lesser penalties because of their age depending on the transgression; and that Valieva has tested clean while in Beijing. Valieva’s positive test came in December; there was significant delay in test reporting and the results came only after she had skated in her first event. The CAS said that Valieva is still subject to punishment.
All of those points are debatable. Teenage athletes start drug testing at an early age if they’re competing in the Olympics and are familiar with the system and penalties of positive drug tests; the drug Valieva tested positive for was banned by WADA in 2014 and is banned in and out of competition. WADA recommends countries to follow up on test results that have not been reported yet, but the CAS stressed what it believes is an important point.
“The CAS Ad hoc Division was requested to determine the narrow issue as to whether a provisional suspension should be imposed on the athlete,” the CAS statement said. The key word here is “narrow,” and that the CAS emphasized that this decision does not mean they’re exonerating Valieva or saying she’s eligible for a medal. The CAS is simply saying that she will not be suspended for the women’s event.
What happens if Valieva wins gold?
When the final scores for the women’s event are tabulated on Wednesday, Kamila Valieva won’t be able to win a gold medal. The IOC said that if Valieva finishes in the top three, it won’t conduct a medal ceremony until the case is investigated and concluded.
“Should Ms. Valieva finish amongst the top three competitors in the women’s singles skating competition, no flower ceremony and no medal ceremony will take place during the Olympic Winter Games,” the Olympic committee’s statement said. The statement also asked the ISU to allow one extra skater to skate in the event, in case Valieva is disqualified.
It’s unclear how long Valieva’s case could take.
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Kamila Valieva of Team ROC falls during a training session.
For example, in these 2022 Olympics Russian athletes like Valieva skate under the name Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) because of a four-year ban instated in 2019. That ban stems from the country’s state-sponsored doping scheme from the 2014 Olympics in Sochi; a whistleblower exposed the cheating in 2016. The CAS initially suspended Russia in 2017. These cases take time, and it could be many months before Valieva’s case is closed and medals are awarded.
The other thing to keep in mind is that unless Valieva has a disastrous event, she is likely a lock for one of the three medals. At the 2022 European Championships she finished close to 20 points ahead of the next two best skaters in the world, her Russian teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova. She finished 15 and 30 points ahead of the field in the women’s short program and women’s free skate at this team event at these Olympics.
Those are astronomical numbers in figure skating. It seems all but ensured because of Valieva’s participation that there won’t be a medal ceremony for the women’s figure skating event on Wednesday.
What does Kamila Valieva’s doping case mean for the future of the sport?
After the CAS decision was made, the US Olympic and Paralympic committee issued a stern rebuke. “Athletes have the right to know they are competing on a level playing field,” USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said in a statement. “Unfortunately, today that right is being denied. This appears to be another chapter in the systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sports by Russia.”
WADA also issued a statement, saying it was “disappointed” in the decision. And WADA said that it plans to independently investigate the case and the adults surrounding Valieva since she’s a minor.
According to WADA, when a minor is involved in doping there’s a requirement to investigate the athlete’s “support personnel.” This ostensibly means the coaches and adults involved in taking care of and supervising the child athlete in question. To insiders in the skating world, this is an eyebrow-raising wrinkle because of Valieva’s coach Eteri Tutberidze and Sambo-70, the academy she runs.
Not even taking into consideration Valieva’s doping test, Tutberidze and her team have a history of former skaters who have talked about severe, even abusive, dietary restrictions that she placed on them and a number of former champions who have had very short careers hobbled by injuries. Valieva testing positive for trimetazidine puts even more of a focus on Tutberidze’s methods and how she takes care of her athletes, many of whom are minors. According to the AP, Tutberidze and her team could fall under the scope of a U.S. criminal law that targets people involved in doping that affect international sports.
In addition to Valieva, Tutberidze coaches Valieva’s two biggest rivals: Trusova and Shcherbakova. All three land quadruple jumps that no other women in the world can land. Now, more than ever, there’s a big question of how exactly they are doing so and whether or not Tutberidze’s methods are compliant with WADA’s rules about doping, and the long-term health of these girls.
All three are overwhelming favorites to win Olympic medals, whenever Valieva’s doping case closes. But this decision will cast a long shadow on the ethics of this sport.
Why “gentrification buildings” are misunderstood -
How new buildings can actually fight displacement.
When many people look at new housing construction, they don’t just see boxy, modern, and bland architecture. They see new buildings that symbolize displacement and gentrification, or the idea that the construction comes at the cost of pushing out existing residents and replacing them with richer, whiter residents. But as Vox policy reporter Jerusalem Demsas explains, new construction in the US can actually help fight displacement.
There’s a growingbodyof research on what actually happens when we add units of housing to neighborhoods: Market-rate units decrease displacement and rents in neighborhoods, while adding strictly affordable units decreases gentrification. And while people may not love the aesthetics of the new architecture, these buildings all look so similar for a reason: It’s the cheapest way to build, at a time when the US needs more housing quickly.
Watch the video above to find out more from Jerusalem on what these new buildings really mean for neighborhoods across the country, and how more construction — along with policies like rental assistance — can help the US housing crisis.
And for further reading, check out more of Jerusalem’s housingreporting, along with this video on how zoning laws make building affordable housing so difficult in the US.
Moving up, Mirabai Chanu ready for bigger challenges - Olympic silver medalist is eager to add an elusive Asian Games medal
What drives the business of IPL auctions? | In Focus podcast -
Crucial encounter for Chennaiyin, Odisha - Both teams need a win to stay in contention for the playoffs
Coeur De Lion, Son Of A Gun, and Golden Lioness catch the eye -
Jonty Rhodes takes up dual role of batting and fielding coach at Punjab Kings - While Kumble will work with the spinners, Damien Wright remains the fast bowling coach
From The Hindu: National News
High school functioning returning to normalcy in Mysuru - PU and degree colleges to reopen from Wednesday
India, Philippines reaffirm strong commitment to multi-faceted partnership - External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar concluded his first visit to the key Southeast Asian country
NCB organises “Darkathon-2022” to find solutions to counter drug trafficking - ‘Cybercrime has permeated almost every facet of society and is growing in volume, velocity and sophistication’
Donate online for TTD’s children’s hospital from Feb. 16 - Donors to get Udayasthamana Sarva Seva Endowments Scheme tickets
U.P. Assembly elections | ‘Babua’, ‘bua’ crumbled State’s economy; Yogi brought it back on track: Amit Shah - He was speaking in Auraiya which will go to polls in the third phase of voting slated for February 20
From BBC: Europe
Ukraine crisis: Biden and Johnson say still hope for diplomatic agreement - The US and UK leaders shared a call after Russia too suggested a diplomatic solution was still possible.
Putin critic Navalny put on trial again in Russia - The opposition leader, who has already spent a year behind bars, faces fresh fraud charges.
The Ukrainian grandmother preparing for war - From grandmothers to children, some Ukrainian civilians are preparing for a Russian invasion.
Winter Olympics: Kamila Valieva test ‘due to contamination with grandad’s medicine’ - Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has argued her positive drugs test was due to contamination with her grandad’s medicine, an Olympic official says.
The 15-year-old Russian figure skater at the centre of a doping scandal - Kamila Valieva always wanted to win Olympic Gold, but is under the spotlight now in a different way.
From Ars Technica
Maybe—just maybe—sending billionaires into space isn’t such a bad thing - “We only want to see progress.” - link
Booster protection from omicron hospital stay dips from 91% to 78% - Despite inevitable waning, protection against severe disease still looks strong. - link
IBM exec called older workers “dinobabies” who should go “extinct,” lawsuit says - IBM says “dinobabies” comment “does not reflect company practices or policies.” - link
The beating heart of a swimming robot - The right arrangement of heart muscle powers the fish without any controller. - link
Blade Runner 2099: Amazon, Ridley Scott begin work on live-action TV series - Ridley Scott—director of 1982’s Blade Runner—might direct, too. - link
From Jokes Subreddit
Did you hear that the US bobsled team put Donald Trump’s picture on the front of the sled? -
Apparently nobody else can make America go downhill faster.
Two engineers were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking at its top. A blonde walked by and asked what they were doing. -
“We’re supposed to find the height of this flagpole,” said Sven, “but we don’t have a ladder.”
The woman took a wrench from her purse, loosened a couple of bolts, and laid the pole down on the ground. Then she took a tape measure from her handbag, took a measurement and announced, “Twenty one feet, six inches,” and walked away.
One engineer shook his head and laughed, “Typical blonde! We ask for the height and she gives us the length!”
A blonde got caught in a blizzard… It was snowing heavily and blowing to the point that visibility was almost zero when the little blonde got off work. She made her way to her car and wondered how she was going to make it home. -
She sat in her car while it warmed up and thought about her situation. She finally remembered her dad’s advice that if she got caught in a blizzard she should wait for a snow plow to come by and follow it. That way she would not get stuck in the snow drift. This made her feel much better and sure enough in a little while a snow plow went by and she started to follow it. As she followed the snow plow she was feeling very smug as they continued and she was not having any problem with the blizzard conditions. After quite some time had passed she was somewhat surprised when the snow plow stopped and the driver got out and came back to her car and signaled for her to roll down her window. The snow plow driver wanted to know if she was all right as she had been following him for a long time. She said that she was fine and told him of her dad’s advice to follow a snow plow when caught in a blizzard.
The driver replied that it was okay with him and she could continue following if she wanted but he was done with the Walmart parking lot and was going over to the K-mart next.
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Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images