Russia

Russia wants to clone popular services like the Google Play Store – good luck with that

April 1st, 2022

Andy Meek

Software developers and engineers in Russia have been given an impossible task by the goons in Vladimir Putin’s government. It’s basically an end of days assignment, reflecting the severity of Mother Russia having been decoupled from the rest of the world following its shocking and disastrous invasion of Ukraine. In the weeks since then, popular …

Business

Kaspersky antivirus software used by millions dubbed a national security threat by FCC

March 30th, 2022

Andy Meek

A US crackdown on all things Russia continues. The FCC has declared that Russia’s Kaspersky Lab cybersecurity firm poses a potential national security threat. So much so, that the commission felt it needed to place Kaspersky on a key list of banned entities. And as a result, US companies can’t use federal subsidies to buy …

Business

Netflix suspending its service in Russia will have no impact on Putin’s war

March 7th, 2022

Andy Meek

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that his country’s invasion of and war with Ukraine will continue, so long as the much smaller nation refuses to accept Russian demands and continues fighting. Which means at least one thing is clear about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine thus far. The punishing sanctions and widespread cutting off …

Politics

Fake news law will help Russia censor the truth about the Ukraine war

March 4th, 2022

Chris Smith

Anyone following the Russia-Ukraine war has seen an increasing number of horrific attacks on civilian targets in recent days. After failing to capture anything significant in the “blitzkrieg” phase of the war, Russia changed its strategy to shelling towns indiscriminately. But Russian citizens do not have access to these news reports from local state media. …

Business

Visa and Mastercard have started blocking access to sanctioned Russian banks

March 1st, 2022

Andy Meek

The global financial system is continuing to throttle essentially every aspect of the Russian economy, in an attempt to help bring the country’s invasion of Ukraine to a swift end. Among the latest Ukraine news as the week began? Financial sanctions led credit card issuers Visa and Mastercard to say they’re blocking some Russian banks …

Politics

Russia Ukraine war: Unexpected videos from the invasion

February 28th, 2022

Chris Smith

We’re on the fifth day of the Russia-Ukraine war, and the invasion is going very poorly. The Ukrainian army and people have defended successfully against Russia’s relentless attacks, with the entire western world coalescing to provide immediate support. The whole conflict has been unfolding under our eyes in real-time. It’s all thanks to an avalanche …

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the world on social media

Politics

The Ukrainian President is trending online – here’s the latest news

February 27th, 2022

Chris Smith

We’re four days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The world is watching the conflict almost in real-time on social media. But even if you’re not actively following the Russia-Ukraine war, you’ll see several topics trend on Twitter and other places. It could be SWIFT, the Ghost of Kyiv, or even the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. …

Politics

Ghost of Kyiv is trending online – here’s what it means

February 25th, 2022

Chris Smith

Russia invaded Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday morning, and there’s been an all-out war ever since. After massive artillery bombardments and air raids, Russian forces have attacked from the north, east, and south. Videos and photos quickly appeared on social media, documenting all that and showing the advance of the invasion in real-time. …

Politics

SWIFT banking system: What it is, and how it relates to Russia’s Ukraine invasion

February 24th, 2022

Andy Meek

As world leaders raced to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday — and come to grips with what kind of sanctions package to put together — one additional step keeps getting mentioned. It’s the prospect of kicking Russia out of the global SWIFT banking system, something reporters pressed President Biden on during a …

Politics

Russia Ukraine war: How to follow the invasion live on social media

February 24th, 2022

Chris Smith

It’s happening, just as the US and its western allies warned in the previous weeks. War has started in Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday morning, as Russia attacked its neighbor, with Russian troops invading from various regions. But the signs of invasion were already there several hours before Russia’s started missiles strikes across …