The Takeaway

Two million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded two weeks ago. 

The UN's high commissioner for refugees has praised the response from Poland, Romania, and Hungary where Ukrainians have fled in search of safety from the relentless attacks. But he acknowledged the horror of what the people themselves are experiencing. 

Many global humanitarian organizations in neighboring countries have tried to aid those still in Ukraine, but they’re struggling to employ the normal channels as ports are blocked and roads compromised by bombings. 

The Kremlin offered to create so-called humanitarian corridors for civilians to safely leave Ukraine, but mainly allowed pathways leading to Russia and their ally Bela-roos. And as of today, both Ukrainian officials and the Red Cross have cited danger, including mines, along the only routes that led to other parts of Ukraine.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, more than four hundred civilians have been killed in Ukraine and over 800 injured since the Russian invasion began. 

For more on this, The Takeaway spoke with  Adam Keehn, Director of Complex Emergencies at the global non-profit Americares. 

Can there ever be true justice if most cases never make it to trial and instead are subject to plea bargaining? That’s the question posed in the new book Pleading Out: How Plea Bargaining Creates A Permanent Criminal Class by Dan Canon who joins us to discuss this unfair and often unchecked part of the criminal justice system. 

Collier Meyerson was only 6-years old at the time of the Crown Heights Riot, but having grown up with her white, Jewish father and Black mother and living 10 of her adult years in Crown Heights, she’s able to provide an insight and personal perspective as she explores history, identity, political power, and racism during and after the Crown Heights Riot in the Pineapple Street Studios podcast, Love Thy Neighbor.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted how global dependency on fossil fuels and nuclear energy can create significant geopolitical issues in times of conflict. A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. has been pressuring the Biden administration to ban imports of Russian oil and rely more on domestic fossil fuels, but the White House is resisting that measure at the moment, arguing that it would unnecessarily raise gas prices for Americans.

At the same time, Russian attacks on nuclear power plants in Ukraine have worried officials, who have major concerns about what could happen if those plants become unstable.

We speak with Jonathan Elkind, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and a former Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the Department of Energy, to get some insight into how energy supplies are factoring into Russia’s war.

Words like 'unhinged,' 'insane,' and 'psychotic' have all been used to describe Kanye West’s behavior in recent weeks. Outbursts, twitter pleas to his wife, Kim Kardashian, and threats to her current boyfriend Pete Davidson have been met with understandable alarm.

There’s also been a rush to pass judgement accompanied by potentially dangerous and demonizing language when it comes to his mental health. West has been public about his bipolar disorder in recent years. While Ye’s condition is not an excuse for harassment or dangerous behavior we should exercise caution and be very clear in how we characterize and talk about his bipolar disorder. 

We look at bipolar disorder, the stigmatizing language used to describe West, and more with freelance journalist Kiana Fitzgerald who recently wrote, “Bipolar disorder is complicated. So is how we talk about Ye” for Vox.

This weekend we learned that 31-year-old WNBA star Brittney Griner was detained in Russia since February. Griner’s vulnerability in this moment is a reminder of how top athletes in the WNBA face a very different landscape than their male counterparts in the NBA.

According to a Sports Illustrated report, the New York Liberty were fined $500 thousand dollars last year due to a violation of the WNBA league’s collective bargaining agreement for chartering of flights in the second half of the season. It's a violation because supposedly it exceeds the permitted compensation to players.

Howard Megdal, the editor and founder of The Next Women’s Basketball Newsroom and The IX Women’s sports Newsletter joined us for more about how inequity effects women’s basketball. 

As pandemic restrictions loosen up across the country, the most vulnerable among us are still very much at risk if they contract Covid-19. We hear from immunocompromised listeners about how they’re feeling about this stage of the pandemic.

In February, the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team reached a $24 million settlement after their 6-year legal fight for equal pay. Kelsey Trainor, entertainment attorney and VP of Business Affairs at Gaming Society joins us to discuss this historic decision and next steps for women’s soccer and women’s sports.

We speak with former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, what actions the U.S. and NATO should take to aid Ukraine, and how the rest of the world can respond to Putin’s nuclear threats.

Putin’s war against Ukraine is changing the lives of Russians.

Russian authorities have arrested and detained thousands of Russians who have openly protested the invasion. And many Russian Americans and Russian Immigrants living in the U.S. stand in solidarity with Ukraine, and against Putin’s aggression.

Global sanctions and boycotts are a critical tool being used to pressure and isolate Putin. At the same time, this moment has proved precarious for some Russian businesses in the U.S. Vandals broke windows at the Russia House Restaurant in D.C. last week. The famous Russian Tea Room in New York sat almost empty this week, despite posting on their website that they stand with Ukraine. 

We speak with Anton Svyatsky, managing partner of Fragment Gallery, which works with marginalized artists in Russia and Eastern Europe to amplify their visibility and facilitate conversation with the West. And Ekaterina Pravilova, Professor of history at Princeton, specializing in 19th-century Imperial Russia and the Rosengarten Chair of Modern and Contemporary History at Princeton University.