Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Russian brass collared for graft

The powerful Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu (R) and General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff of Russia armed forces

The powerful Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu (R) and General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff of Russia armed forces

Make us preferred on Google
Two top Russian generals have been arrested on charges that they signed away military land to civilian owners in exchange for bribes.

Evidently this sort of dirty side hustle has become a trend lately in and around Moscow, and the Kremlin is looking to crack down.

But it’s also worth noting that the two generals were until recently in charge of Moscow’s air defenses. As Ukrainian drones continue to penetrate deep into Russian territory – including a number of reported attacks on Moscow itself – the Kremlin may be making an example of these two for a reason.

After all, corruption is widespread in Putin’s system — but getting busted so publicly is a signal that you’ve fallen out of favor. (Falling out of windows is sometimes the next phase of the downfall, but we’ll put a floor under these metaphors here.)

More For You

One year since the El Fasher massacre
Will Fitzpatrick
Sudan marks a grim anniversary this week. Tens of thousands still remain missing after the RSF’s siege of El Fasher. The RSF also remains in control of the city, and the civil war continues to drag on with seemingly no end in sight. To mark the occasion, the British government has sanctioned 15 Sudanese military leaders from both the Sudanese [...]
Representatives of secondary school pupils organisations Les Lyceens vice-president Louis Letoublon (3rd L), Renouveau Lycee president Nathanael Combary (2nd R), Renouveau Lycee Monica-Shannon Ongmilan (L), and Bordeaux Academy representative to the National Council for High School Life Elliot Hostin (R), speak to the press as they leave the Hotel Matignon after a meeting with French Prime Minister on October 26, 2026

Representatives of secondary school pupils organisations Les Lyceens vice-president Louis Letoublon (3rd L), Renouveau Lycee president Nathanael Combary (2nd R), Renouveau Lycee Monica-Shannon Ongmilan (L), and Bordeaux Academy representative to the National Council for High School Life Elliot Hostin (R), speak to the press as they leave the Hotel Matignon after a meeting with French Prime Minister on October 26, 2026

Paoloni Jeremy/ABACA via Reuters Connect
France offers concessions to protestersAfter weeks of student-led protests over poor conditions in French schools, the government has promised to dedicate €4 billion ($4.5 billion) to school renovations, improve teaching, implement other education reforms, and to replace its controversial university admissions platform by 2028. But while [...]
Lula comes back, again
Eileen Zhang
Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva staged an astonishing comeback on Sunday to win a record fourth term, breaking a string of recent right-wing victories in Latin America. His opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, has so far refused to accept the results – echoing his father, Jair Bolsonaro, who refused to accept a loss to Lula in 2022. [...]
Do you have a right to Vegemite?
Will Fitzpatrick
That ban is much to the dismay of inmate Andre McKechnie, who sued Victoria’s Department of Justice and Corrections and argued that the ban violated his right to “enjoy his culture as an Australian.” But on Monday, Victoria’s Supreme Court rejected his challenge. Invented in the 1920s as an alternative to the then-popular Marmite, Vegemite was [...]