Scholz is extremely hard to pressure. This means that very extensive work was put into pressuring him, and for what? To get a release for a bunch of Russians Putin jailed? To motivate him to jail more?
The Kremlin assassins and spies were greeted with extraordinary pomp and circumstance by Putin. This is a mega victory for the Kremlin because tiny potatoes were swapped for huge fish.
Nobody’s thinking beyond instant gratification. There’s no long-term vision, no strategy. Everything is completely situational.
Clarissa's Blog 
“The Kremlin assassins and spies were greeted with extraordinary pomp and circumstance by Putin. This is a mega victory for the Kremlin because tiny potatoes were swapped for huge fish.”
Don’t know if I agree with this.
This exchange demonstrates who the bad people are here. The West exchanges journalists, dissents, while Russia gets murders back. It’s glaringly obvious who the bad people here are.
Also, these are low level murders, in what sense are they “big fish”? Big fish don’t go on killing missions to other countries. Besides, they are now known and probably on every “do not allow in” international list.
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I’d also like to add that Russia is not going to see Western tourists back for a veeery long time. In the case of the WSJ journalist, he was clearly a hostage and it’s now brutally obvious that if you go to Russia you should be ready to be taken hostage. Just another step in the North Koreanification of Russia.
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I hope it works because I have a colleague I’m trying to persuade not to travel to Russia for a conference but I’m not being extremely successful. Some people never learn, that’s the problem.
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Your colleague is a moron, show him this:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/RussianFederation.html
Also, he may be violating university rules regarding travel to dangerous areas.
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This is somebody who is a great fan of Yanis Varoufakis. Which explains a lot.
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\ I have a colleague I’m trying to persuade not to travel to Russia
Have you shared with him the new laws?
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She wouldn’t have a problem with any of this.
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Unless it goes on the official US government travel advisory list, most people will not realize it’s a problem.
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It IS on a travel advisory list. Level 4, as in do not fucking go there:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/RussianFederation.html
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That’s a relief!
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Also, Turkey has really gone off the rails:
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Невероятная история израильской песни, которая менее чем за год существования проделала такие головокружительные кульбиты и сальто – не только на родине, но и за границей, – что иному шлягеру от признанной поп-звезды и не снилось.
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