THE SHOW NOTES: The Russian Coup, Fighting Larry Fink, & Ignoring Pandemic Learning Deficits

Welcome! A coup was narrowly avoided in Russia.

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Explained: Russia’s Coup

The head of Russia’s private military led a coup over the weekend that nearly resulted in opposition tanks rolling into Moscow. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former convict and Putin ally who founded the Wagner group in 2014, took control of Rostov-on-Don, the southern defense command of Russia, late Friday night.

What happened: As Wagner (pronounced Vagner) rolled into Rostov-on-Don, multiple Russian military battalions swapped sides and joined Wagner. As far as we know, not a single shot was fired. At this point in the invasion, Putin released a video claiming Yevgeny Prigozhin was a traitor and all Wagner forces would be eliminated. Undeterred, Prigozhin turned his forces north, heading to Moscow just 670 miles away.

The threat: Wagner forces shot down 7 Russian aircraft on the road to Moscow killing 13 service members. This is the only confirmed instance of violence in the invasion. When Wagner was just 124 miles outside of Moscow, a truce was called between Putin and Prigozhin in a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The terms allowed for Wagner fighters to be given amnesty and reintegrated into the Russian military while Prigozhin will be exiled to Belarus. In exchange, Prigozhin demanded a Russian defense minister be removed from duty.

The (alleged) reality: The Telegram is reporting today that Russian authorities threatened Prigozhin’s family and claimed if he marched on Moscow, they would be killed. This allegedly**** is why Wagner turned around just 124 miles south of the Russian capital. Additionally, Putin’s airforce is known to be reliably loyal to the President which complicated further Wagner advancements.

Why did Wagner invade: The relationship between Prigozhin and Russia’s military elites has deteriorated over the past year. What started as veiled threats toward one another ended with multiple instances of Wagner soldiers and Russian forces attacking each other in the fight for Ukraine. The final straw appears to be Russia’s demand that all Wagner forces sign government contracts by July 1st.

Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin: A former prisoner of the Soviet Union, Prigozhin served as Putin’s caterer and became a confidant of the Russian President before founding the Wagner Group in 2014. Prigozhin owns multiple restaurants and two tech companies that allegedly attempted to interfere with the United States elections in 2016, 2018, and 2022.

What is The Wagner Group: The group serves as Russia’s private military that is often dispatched to fight proxy battles in locations like Syria, Lybia, and multiple countries in Africa. Wagner forces are well-trained mercenaries typically from Russian prisons or penal colonies but are known for perpetuating mass human rights abuses wherever they are dispatched.

Why we know nothing: The facts listed above are accurate to the best of our knowledge but are subject to change for two reasons. ONE: Russia purged all independent media inside of the country leaving Russian apologists who mix reporting with propaganda. TWO: Putin has a long history of not being faithful to his word. Already The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that Prigozhin is indeed under criminal investigation while the Russian defense minister he demanded to be removed appeared on camera in uniform this morning.

What happens next: In short, no one knows. Ukraine could benefit in the short term from the coup as both Wagner and Russian forces were scrambled from the battlefield to attend to matters at home. Putin looks inextricably weaker on the national stage while questions remain about the plausibility of reintegrating Wagner troops into Russian forces. Again, no one really knows what happens next.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NY Post, Yahoo, CBS, National Review, The Messenger

New York Times Madness

Every conceivable piece of data claims that children still face learning challenges from COVID restrictions and that kids in red states are better off than kids in blue states. Additionally, understanding the exact field and degree of the learning deficit is important to arm educators with the information to fix the problem. However, The New York Times (paywall) suggests it’s not helpful to measure pandemic learning loss or even talk about it.

Ms. Bonilla’s experience illustrates a roiling debate in education, about how and even whether to measure the academic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s children — and how to describe learning gaps without stigmatizing or discouraging students and families.

It gets better:

Others go further, arguing that regardless of what terminology is used, standardized testing to measure the impact of the pandemic is unnecessary or even actively harmful. Voices as prominent as the former New York City schools chancellor, Richard Carranza, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest educators’ union, have encouraged parents to opt their children out of state tests during the pandemic. “We do not want to impose additional trauma on students that have already been traumatized,” Mr. Carranza said.

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