Guardian:

Joe Biden announced on Friday that the US plans to ban the import of seafood, vodka and diamonds from Russia in retaliation for Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

…

“Putin is the aggressor and Putin must pay a price,” he said.

Biden said the US was also banning the export of luxury goods to Russia, calling it the latest, but “not the last step we’re going to take”.

A few days ago I carried on a brief Twitter exchange with a taz reader who was drinking Finnish, rather than Russian, vodka as part of his contribution to the defense of Ukraine. He was quite open about being unsure his action had any practical value. It was something he could do. It made him feel good. When I protested that it seemed to me the only motivation here then was to make himself feel better he didn’t seem to see this as objectionable.

I think I may buy a bottle or two of Russian vodka tomorrow. It’s been years since I’ve bought any vodka, but I do want to have the option of drinking it when I want a shot. It’s odd, you know: I imagine there is some chance that even as I type somewhere in the world there is someone pouring a bottle of vodka into the sink, thinking something to the effect of „Ha! Take this, Putin! How do you like that, eh?!“ It’s an odd world.

Guardian:

Facebook and Instagram users in some countries will be allowed to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion, after parent company Meta made a temporary change to its hate speech policy.

The company is also temporarily allowing some posts that call for death to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in countries including Russia, Ukraine and Poland, according to internal emails to its content moderators.

“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules, like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’. We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” Meta said in a statement.

…

The temporary policy changes on calls for violence against Russian soldiers apply to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.

In the email recently sent to moderators, Meta highlighted a change in its hate speech policy pertaining both to Russian soldiers and to Russians in the context of the invasion.

“We are issuing a spirit-of-the-policy allowance to allow T1 violent speech that would otherwise be removed under the hate speech policy when: (a) targeting Russian soldiers, except prisoners of war, or (b) targeting Russians where it’s clear that the context is the Russian invasion of Ukraine (eg content mentions the invasion, self-defense, etc),” it said in the email.

“We are doing this because we have observed that in this specific context, ‘Russian soldiers’ is being used as a proxy for the Russian military. The hate speech policy continues to prohibit attacks on Russians.”

…

Emails also showed that Meta would allow praise of the Ukrainian far-right Azov battalion, which is normally prohibited.

Meta spokesman Joe Osborne previously said the company was “for the time being, making a narrow exception for praise of the Azov regiment strictly in the context of defending Ukraine, or in their role as part of the Ukraine National Guard”.

Guardian:

In Canada, a Russian pianist was pulled from an upcoming set of performances – even though he had spoken out against the war in Ukraine. The Montreal Symphony Orchestra said in a statement it would be “inappropriate” for 20-year old Alexander Malofeev to perform a series of concertos this week.

Malofeev, who has family members in Ukraine, has previously criticized Russia’s “terrible and bloody” decision to invade the country. The Montreal symphony said it would welcome back Malofeev “when the context allows it.”

On Wednesday, the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra announced that it had decided to exclude Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture from a performance next week. It explained that playing the piece – which commemorates Russia’s victory over Napoleon’s invading forces – would be “inappropriate” given events in Ukraine.

My entire reason for coming here was Rosa Luxemburg, who, apparently not being an outstanding figure of Polish history, did not rate a mention. No matter.

The Napoleonic Wars to some, the War of 1812 in the US, the Wars of Liberation in Germany.

In 2018 at Katyn and Mednoye I kept thinking about, and didn’t want to think about, what the Poles thought of the places. The Katyn Museum is what the Poles think.

Guardian:

Die Zeit:

Selbst der treueste Putin-Freund wird zugeben müssen, dass Amerikas Geheim­dienste vor der Invasion in der Ukraine bestens im Bilde waren und Russlands Pläne präzise vorausgesagt haben. Nun berichtet ein westlicher Dienst, China habe im Vorhinein von Putins Absichten gewusst – und nichts dagegen unternommen. Man habe lediglich darum gebeten, mit dem Angriff bis zum Ende der Olympischen Winterspiele zu warten.

Chinas Staats- und Parteichef Xi Jinping ein Komplize Putins? Natürlich wissen auch die US-Dienste nicht, was zwischen den beiden Präsidenten im Staats­gästehaus verhandelt wurde, als Putin zur Eröffnung der Spiele am 4. Februar nach Peking kam. Ob es einen Einspruch gab, eine Warnung oder ein Signal der Duldung. Doch das Schweigen Chinas zu den russischen Gräueltaten spricht Bände.

The tone of some of this media coverage, like the scene at Psaki’s press briefing yesterday, seems so prissy, so narcissistic, as to be parody. I feel that I need to find a comparison other than „parody“, as I am overdoing that. But Scholz’s statement of „wir brauchen“? Or this business? Here is a culture of flaccid, puffy, limp-wristed television watchers protesting that they’re miffed.