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Xi and Putin are entering a dangerous time in the life cycle of dictators.

The most exciting explanations for Niger’s upheaval are globe-sweeping and probably wrong.

By Brian Klaas

On this special sneak peak of the Russia Contingency, Mike sat down with Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, to discuss the findings from their recent research trip to Ukraine. The conversation covered Russian defensive lines, the role that mines have played in stymying Ukraine's counteroffensive, and the broader challenges the Ukrainian military has with scaling offensive operations. To listen to part 2 of this episode, as well as a series of conversations about the Ukrainian counteroffensive and the Russian military, to become a member of War on The Rocks.

Geopolitics Decanted by Silveradoby [email protected] (Patrick Gray, Michael Kofman, Rob Lee, Dmitri Alperovitch), Friday, July 14, 2023 6:11 AM

South Africa’s deputy president says Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to attend an economic summit in South Africa next month but the country is trying to persuade him to stay away to avoid the legal and diplomatic fallout over his international arrest warrant

By Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan
July 14, 2023

Russia’s army is in some disarray, but despite low troop morale and the passivity of officers, the military is ready to pay a high price.

Information is easy to find — but trust is harder.

"India, a critical security partner of the United States, now buys huge amounts of Russian oil, purchasing one of every two barrels shipped at sea."

[..] "In a little over a year, India has gone from purchasing hardly any Russian oil to buying about half of what the country exports by sea."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/22/business/india-russia-oil.html #ukraine

Kateryna Stepanenko, Riley Bailey, Nicole Wolkov, George Barros, and Mason Clark June 13, 2023, 8:35pm ET.

Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in at least three directions and made further limited territorial gains on June 13.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with 18 prominent Russian milbloggers and war correspondents to discuss the progress of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on June 13.

Putin discussed the progress of the Ukrainian counteroffensive and signaled that he believes Russia can outlast Western military support for Ukraine.

Frances Elizabeth Hayward was the first woman to unofficially complete the Comrades Marathon in 1923, during a time when the race was only open to white men.

The Natal Witness reported at the time, “Hayward made a steady pace, dropping to a walk on the hills, and, at Thornybush, was last but one, a good mile behind the others. She looked cheerful and fit, having previously announced her intention of making Drummond by 11:00. She got to Drummond at 11:14, not far off her intended schedule.”

The article ended with, “Another signal of women’s emancipation from the thraldom of good-natured disdain in which mere man has held her.”

Apollo has become the center of a platform-wide fight between Reddit and its users.

France says it has uncovered a major disinformation campaign waged by Russia, involving the posting of false news items hostile to Ukraine made to look like they had been published by prominent French news organizations.