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The Best & The Brightest
Tara Palmeri, Julia Ioffe, Peter Hamby, Tina Nguyen, Abby Livingston & John Heilemann
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Daily
Puck’s daily political newsletter from Washington, featuring Tara Palmeri, Julia Ioffe, Peter Hamby, Tina Nguyen, Abby Livingston and Puck's new Chief Political Columnist, John Heilemann, on what’s really happening in this town—inside the White House and the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill, K Street, and the campaign trail.
THE LATEST ARTICLES
WASHINGTON
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May 17, 2022
Putin’s Wood Chipper
As we approach the three-month mark in Russia’s attack on Ukraine, there is plenty of cause for optimism—a “dynamic stalemate” in which Russia’s military is collapsing while Ukraine is fighting with discipline, valor, and Western aid. But as one Russian military expert told me, Russia is focused on “grinding down” the Ukrainian military. The word he used, though, was “peremolot',” which can be translated to describe something that a wood chipper does.
WASHINGTON
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May 10, 2022
About a Boy: The Roots of Putin’s Evil
Putin’s childhood taught him many lessons that shape his thinking and actions to this day: that might makes right, that existing hierarchies can only be changed through violence, that force is the only language that matters, that power is always a zero-sum game.
WASHINGTON
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May 3, 2022
Putin vs. His Oligarchs
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third month, Putin’s chummy ruling class is feeling the burn. It’s a reminder that they were never so chummy in the first place.
WASHINGTON
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April 27, 2022
Biden’s New Ukrainian Calculus
Before the invasion, the administration was hesitant to provide too many weapons to Ukraine since, the thinking went, they wouldn’t stop the inevitable and would likely end up in Putin’s hands. Now, the calculus is different.
WASHINGTON
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April 21, 2022
Mothers for Putin
Vladimir Putin’s misbegotten war is a blatant attempt to restore his vision of the Russky mir—a pan-Slavic neo-Soviet nation state built on Russian dominance. And yet his war is being waged by the very young men, and supported by the families, that his government has oppressed.
WASHINGTON
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April 11, 2022
Life and Death and in Between in Kyiv
Many Ukrainians are in a state of shock after the atrocities in Bucha. For Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle, horror has given way to a powerful new conviction.
WASHINGTON
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April 6, 2022
“Never Again” Again: The History of Putin’s Terror
Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine are more than just crimes against humanity. They’re a horrifying reminder that so many western peace-keeping institutions of the post-war era are defined by rhetoric more than substance.
WASHINGTON
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April 1, 2022
How Putin’s Game Ends
Contrary to Western optimism, there is emerging evidence that, after the initial shock and despair of a poorly planned invasion, Russians are now rallying around their flag and their president. Some are refusing to accept anything less than total victory.
MEDIA
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March 22, 2022
Hacking Through Putin’s Media Cult
Jean-Michel Scherbak, a young actor and model from Moscow, has turned into perhaps the most unlikely dissident hero in the current crisis. His Instagram posts, and now Telegram stories, are educating multiple generations of Russians about what’s really going on in Ukraine.
WASHINGTON
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March 16, 2022
Inside Biden’s Ukraine War Room
Joe Biden’s former Ukraine advisor reveals how the White House assesses Putin’s military objectives, his sanity (or lack thereof), and the best- and worst-case endgames for the Russia-Ukraine crisis.