Ian Kummer

On March 22, 82 years ago to the day, the German SS and Ukrainian nationalists destroyed the Belarussian village of Khatyn along with all of its inhabitants. They herded 149 villagers, including 75 children, into a wooden shed and set it ablaze, shooting anyone who tried to escape. Over the course of the Great Patriotic War, the fascists … Read more

Recently I re-watched the Kenneth Branagh film adaption of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. This was the first time I had seen the story as an adult, and it hit me differently. Enough so that I felt the need to write something about it. Just about everyone is force fed Shakespeare as a child, and … Read more

Because I’m less than satisfied with existing English “pro-Russia” content and am feeling a little more confident in my Russian language skills (honestly I just need the practice), I have started a Substack. This will be where I post regular summaries of Russian news that I find interesting It won’t be about every random thing … Read more

It is a popular argument, particularly in the USA, to scream “If you like X Country so much, why don’t you move there?” Of course it is not reasonable to demand a person to move across the world to a country where he doesn’t know the language and would struggle to find a role in … Read more

I’ve seen a lot of chatter online from people who are surprised by JD Vance’s big role in the Trump presidency, but it shouldn’t be surprising. The vice president is a powerful and public-facing figure in American politics. We’ve just had a string of weak VPs for so long many people have forgotten what a … Read more