Author: Joey deVilla

Russia has a “burn book”!

Okay, it’s more of an “enemies list”, but I choose to view it as a “burn book” as seen in the 2004 film Mean Girls.

The more formal name for it is a list of countries that have committed “unfriendly actions” against “Russia, Russian companies and citizens”. If you’re a Russian national or organization doing business in one of the countries in the burn book, you’ll need to get special authorization first. Putin is the Regina George of geopolitics, and you can’t hang with anyone s/he has declared a “fugly bitch!”

San Marino made it into the burn book!

The burn book has all the usual countries/regions you’d expect: United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and so on.

But also on the list is San Marino. We’re talking about the city-state more formally known as Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino (“The Most Serene Republic of San Marino”), population enough to half-fill Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, fifth-smallest country in the world, and LARPer paradise.

It’s been on my “places to visit” list for a little while. Anyhow, San Marino’s inclusion took me by surprise for a couple of reasons:

1. I didn’t know it was still considered its own nation. I thought it was just a town or county and was always under the impression that their nationhood was kind of tongue-in-cheek micronation, in the same way that Florida’s Key West supposedly seceded from the U.S. and became the “Conch Republic”. But apparently it’s an honest-to-goodness microstate.
2. If they’re taking action against Russia, I have no idea with what. Tourism is their bread and butter, and I suspect that any sanctions they could impose would have anything more than a symbolic effect.They did have some of the most advanced weapons in the world — in the 13th century:
   Even when they became available, the Crossbow Corps never updated their gear to muskets. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi and the lightsaber, they stuck with the crossbow, “an elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.”The Crossbow Corps are still active, and they’re one the reasons — along with that gorgeous castle — that I’ve always wanted to visit.But they’re definitely not sending crossbows to Ukraine.

Want to know more about San Marino? Check out these videos:

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include their Eurovision song entry:

A moment of brightness in a dark time.

Thanks to Tony Pierce for the find!

The reportage of the Ukrainian refugee crisis has unearthed some ugly truths that are worth discussing.

Accidentally saying the quiet part out loud

Here’s CBS News’ Charlie D’Agata reporting from Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion:

Here’s how he described Ukraine:

“…a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European – I have to choose those words carefully, too – city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.”

It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating: What the hell would he have said if he wasn’t choosing his words carefully?

You don’t really need to wonder, as NBC News’ Kelly Cobiella eagerly said the quiet part out loud:

Here’s what she said:

“…just to put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria; these are refugees from neighboring Ukraine. Quite frankly, it is part of it. These are Christians, they’re white, they’re very similar to people who live in Poland [where she was reporting from]…”

She’s not even falling back on the weasel-word phrase “Judeo-Christian” — just Christian. She doesn’t sound all that different from Republican candidate Lauren Witzke, who identifies with the Christian values of Ukraine’s neighbor’s leader:

Here’s Lauren Witzke, the GOP’s 2020 Senate candidate in Delaware, heaping praise on Putin for taking care of his people.

“I identify more with Putin’s Christian values than I do with Joe Biden.” pic.twitter.com/6ldCD2vukm

— Ed Greenberger (@EdGreenberger) February 24, 2022

And if you think that she showed a certain ugly bias, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Here’s Ukrainian politician David Sakvarelidze on the crisis:

In the interview, he called the current crisis very emotional because it involves…

“…European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed…”

Quick aside on Europe as a continent

The idea of Europe as a continent is a social construction, not a geophysical reality. Just so you know.

It’s been noticed

This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the folks at Gravitas, a news show presented by WION, a New Delhi-based English language news channel whose name is short for “World Is One Network”:

Rebel HQ (part of TYT) has these observations:

One of my favorite journalists, Medhi Hasan, had a conversation with Ayman Mohyeldin about this matter:

This is a civilized city!
They’re blue-eyed and blond-haired!
This is Europe, not the Third World!

Tonight on @MSNBC, @AymanM and I discussed some of the awful and, frankly, racist coverage of the Ukraine war & Ukrainian refugees compared to the MidEast:pic.twitter.com/ir6qWHBNE6

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 28, 2022

…and let’s not forget The Daily Show, whose host Trevor Noah grew up in South Africa and knows a thing or two about how some people see that more melanin means less value as a human being:

First Coast News have also noticed the difference in treatment when the refugees are white:

We can chew gum and walk at the same time

Because there’s always someone who will counter these observations with the rebuttal that this is not the time to bring up this discussions as there are Ukrainians who may no longer have homes.

I will respond by borrowing a line from the soldiers on Ukraine’s Snake Island…

Privileged person: Go fuck yourself.

We can chew gum and walk at the same time. It is possible to stand with displaced people from Ukraine and stand with displaced people who aren’t blonde-haired and blue-eyed.

The fact that you can’t treat these groups with the same level of dignity speaks volumes.

In a recent tweet, Odile Turcu reminded us that “Generally speaking, March is a bad month for Russian leaders”. She backed up her point with these names, which I’ve expanded upon:

• Tsar Nicholas I — Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland — who brought Russia into the Crimean War and whose domestic and foreign policies are considered disastrous, died on March 2, 1855.
• Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili (better known to the world as Joseph Stalin) — Chair of the Ministers of the Soviet Union and Supreme Commander of the Red Army — totalitarian and killer of millions by famine, died on March 5, 1953. Happy Stalin’s Death Day!
• Tsar Alexander II — Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland — pacifist, emancipator of serfs, and generally less of a dick than many historical Russian leaders (a low bar, to be sure) — still was enough of a dick to his lower half blown off by a bomb by the “People’s Will” movement on March 13, 1881.
• Iván IV Vasilyevich (better know to the world as Ivan the Terrible) — grand prince of Moscow and the first to declare himself Tsar of all Russia — general rage-a-holic and purge-a-holic, a-hole behind the massacre of Novogrod and the burning of Moscow by Tatars, and the murder of his own son, died on March 28, 1584.
• Tsar Paul I — son of Catherine the Great and her husband Peter III (or perhaps by her side guy with a name so appropriate it’s almost Dickensian: Sergei Saltykov) — was killed by his own officers on March 24, 1801.

Once again: Happy Stalin’s Death Day!

The Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map is a public resource for mapping, documenting, and verifying significant incidents that happen in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Its goal, as stated on its webpage, is to “provide reliable information for policymakers, journalists as well as justice and accountability bodies about the evolving situations both on-the-ground and online.”

Created by Centre for Information Resilience and contributed to by Bellingcat, Mnemonic, Conflict Intelligence Team, and other members of the open source intelligence (OSINT) community, the purpose of the map is to provide reliable information. Its content is logged in a central database whose contents will be archived for future use by researchers, reporters as well as justice and accountability bodies.

Incidents or events are indicated on the map with colored “pin” icons. Each has been verified via image — photo, video, or satellite imagery — to confirm where and when it took place.

Green map pins indicate the movement and buildup of military assets. You’ll see many of these outside Ukraine, as they’re often visuals of supply convoys or trains bringing weaponry or soldiers.

Yellow map pins indicate “other footage” that don’t fit any of the other pin categories.

Orange map pins indicate evidence of gunfire, bombing, shelling, or explosion, but not necessarily civilian casualties, infrastructure damage, or military losses.

Red map pins indicate civilian casualties, infrastructure damage and military losses.

Click on a map pin to get more details about the incident at its location:

Another way to view incidents on the map is to use the list on the right side:

For more about the Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map, see Bellingcat’s article, Follow the Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map, as well as this CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada’s national public broadcaster) report: