April 18, 2022

Help the Earth and Fight Putin


Help the Earth and Fight Putin
A green solution to a hefty problem? Lesya Polyakova

German economists warn against going cold-turkey with Russian energy, believing it could lead to a 2023 recession. Germany's solution? Ride your bike.

Germany currently opposes a complete embargo on Russian energy and still receives 40% of its gas and 25% of its oil from Russia. Thus, Vice-Chancellor Habeck, who is also economics minister and co-leader of the Greens, has suggested multiple ways that Germans can lower their energy usage, such as riding their bikes instead or driving, lowering the thermostat a degree, drawing the curtains to retain heat, and even recommending to bosses that employees work from home once or twice a week.

In an interview with the BBC, President Zelensky said that, as long as Russia continues to profit from oil exports, it has no reason to be serious about peace talks. As such, saving energy in German homes is a peaceful method for fighting Russian aggression.

All of these efforts can of course help limit dependency on Russian energy, but Zelensky and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba are still looking to Germany for more substantial ways to help fight the invasion.

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Fearful Majesty
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This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

Marooned in Moscow
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This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Steppe
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This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

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A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

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