Hello, my dear friends. These are hard times. The war is going on the people are dying. That's why this (and most likely some subsequent) newsletter is different from the topic. Please, share this newsletter, help spread the word and make some significance in helping Ukrainian people.

Thank you!

Donate to support the Ukrainian Red Cross to help civilians in this difficult time for Ukraine! – Товариство Червоного Хреста України

If the situation in Ukraine gets worse, volunteers and staff of the Ukrainian Red Cross would provide first aid in areas where access to medical services will be limited; сommunication will be established and awareness of health risks will be raised. And, of course, we will provide humanitarian aid to all people in need.

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Ukraine war flashes neon warning lights for chips | Reuters #ukraine #war #economy #politics

[original link]

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine read more by land, air and sea risks reverberating across the global chip industry and exacerbating current supply-chain constraints. Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas critical for lasers used in chipmaking and supplies more than 90% of U.S. semiconductor-grade neon, according to estimates from research firm Techcet.

In most countries, democracy is a recent achievement. Dictatorship is far from a distant memory - Our World in Data #politics #history

Identifying which countries are democracies comes with many challenges. People disagree  about what characterizes a democracy, and whether actual political systems can even come close to such an ideal. If they agree on what democracy is and that countries can come meaningfully close to it, its characteristics — such as whether an election is free and fair — still are difficult to assess. If knowledgeable researchers can be found, their assessments are still to some degree subjective, and they may disagree with others. Even if researchers align in their assessment of specific characteristics of a political system, they may disagree about how to reduce the complexity of these many characteristics into a single variable: a binary measure that says whether a country is a ‘democracy’ or not.

Understanding the War in Ukraine – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry #history #politics #longread

Portugal identifying job opportunities for refugees - The Portugal News #politics #war

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa has revealed that Portugal is already identifying concrete job opportunities with “immediate visa” opportunities for Ukrainian refugees.

Defending the City: An Overview of Defensive Tactics from the Modern History of Urban Warfare - Modern War Institute #war

Any future war against a peer or near-peer enemy will contain some measure of urban combat. A broad base of historical, demographic, sociopolitical, and military analysis makes that fact abundantly clear. As a result, militaries must be required to conduct both urban offense and defense operations. Military theorists have long described the defense as the strongest form of war, and current doctrine agrees. There are many reasons why a military would need to go into the defense in a campaign—to create conditions for the offense and regain the initiative, to destroy the enemy outright, to retain decisive terrain, or simply to slow the advance of a numerically or technologically superior force. A well-plan and -constructed urban defense could determine the success or failure of achieving a strategic objective, and could influence the outcome of a war.

Anonymous takes down websites of Defense Ministry, RT and Kremlin | The Independent Barents Observer #politics #security

“Our operations are targeting the Russian government,” Anonymous writes on Twitter. The hacker movement is known for its various worldwide cyberattacks over the last two decades.

First down in the internett-attack, said to be a response to the Ukraine War, was the Kremlin-backed TV channel RT.com. The news-site is directed to audiences outside Russia by broadcasting in English, Spanish, German, French and Arabic via its internet portals. The RT is considered a major propaganda channel for the Putin regime.

BP quits Russia in up to $25 billion hit after Ukraine invasion #economy #war

[original link]

BP is abandoning its stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft in an abrupt and costly end to three decades of operating in the energy-rich country, marking the most significant move yet by a Western company in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

ISW Blog: Russia-Ukraine Warning Update: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 26 #war

Russia mistakenly published article on Ukraine joining russia after war #war

Dainius