In the modern world, we have no shortage of “content” to consume (a ghastly noun combined with an equally ghastly verb, yet somehow quite appropriate). Much of it is like fast food: nutritionally dubious. How many things do you read and instantly forget? How many sound identical to something you’ve already read? How many do you not even read because time is short and the demands on it many?

We do not need more words on the page. What we need are more words that are carefully crafted and stem from deep thought and reflection. We need more ideas that move beyond the superficial and the obvious and challenge the way we think about the world. Nowhere is this truer than how we think about Russia.

This is incompatible with a weekly production schedule. As such, I’ll be shifting this newsletter to something less frequent, to facilitate a focus on depth and meaning.

I haven’t decided what that frequency will be: perhaps once a fortnight, perhaps once a month, perhaps no less than once a month. The frequency is not the point — except, maybe, for stimulating me to action. What matters is quality, not quantity.

So expect to hear from me here less often. But, when the newsletter does drop in your inbox, I hope you can have confidence that it will be even more worthy of your time than it is now!

About me

I'm Dr Mark Youngman, an open-source investigator specialising in Russian security, and I run Threatologist. You can explore the free research and resources available in the Russian Security Research Lab (RSRL). If you need bespoke analysis or data — a dataset, literature review, or tailored report scoped to your question — check out my services.