2020

MAX PARRY—Contrary to what one might assume, the boundary dispute does not date back centuries and its roots are relatively modern, despite the interrelated historical persecution of Armenians by the Turks and Ottoman Empire. As many have noted, the foundations for the war which began in 1988 were laid not in antiquity but decades prior during the establishment of the Soviet republics in the South Caucasus following the Russian Revolution. More specifically, the controversial decision by Joseph Stalin in 1921 to incorporate the region into Azerbaijan would have enormous consequences when the USSR later dissolved, as the vast majority of the population within the upland territory have historically been ethnic Armenians.

FINIAN CUNNINGHAM—Why would the Russian authorities have consented to Navalny being taken to Berlin if there was a possibility of incriminating evidence being found? That doesn’t make sense. In fact, it sounds ludicrous.

The Germans have refused to cooperate with the Russian authorities to supply materials verifying their claims of detecting Novichok. The Hague-based Organization on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons supposedly verified the German claims. But the OPCW has refused to cooperate with Russia to demonstrate a verifiable, legal chain of custody of samples and testing. To put it bluntly, Navalny’s body samples could very easily have been adulterated while he was in Berlin. His toxicological tests were conducted by German military intelligence.

NILES NIEMUTH—The stimulus check will not even come close to covering one month’s rent for millions. The median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the US is more than $1,000 per month. In cities like New York and San Francisco the average monthly rent is well over $3,000.

The national moratorium on evictions—which has not stopped tens of thousands of evictions from being filed and thousands tossed from their homes—has been extended by Congress by a month, meaning that millions have the cold comfort of being thrown to the curb in February rather than January.