Putin’s Bag of Tricks
Kremlin politics is so opaque that it functions like a sort of personality test. Optimists glean just enough hope to justify their wishful thinking, while pessimists find hints of the most monstrous conspiracy theories.
Empty Towns, Destruction in Georgia Show ‘Everyone Is to Blame’
Less than an hour’s drive to the north is Tskhinvali, where fighting began after Georgian forces took the city following a night of heavy bombardment. Most houses had broken windows and were either pockmarked by bullets or gutted by shelling.
Where Kosovo’s Ethnic Lines Are Drawn Most Starkly
During NATO airstrikes, Serbian forces raged through the city, expelling Albanians and torching their homes and shops. Today, women and children are about the only ones who dare venture into the now Serb-dominated side of the river.
Wall of Fear
I was 17 years old when I first saw the Berlin Wall. I clambered up an observation platform in West Berlin to peer over to the Brandenburg Gate. Two summers later, I was back. Everything had changed.
New Afghan Generation at War
“When we were fighting the Russians, it was to the Americans’ advantage to help us,” says Commander Masood. “But when the Soviets were destroyed, they forgot about us.”
Alan Chin
About Lucian Kim
Based in Berlin and Moscow, I’ve reported from the rubble of the Soviet empire since 1996. I’ve written for Slate, BuzzFeed, nytimes.com, Bloomberg News, The Moscow Times and The Christian Science Monitor. I’m particularly interested in developing new journalism platforms.
Ukraine on the Brink
It sounds like a vacuous Hollywood thriller: after police massacre protesters, a despised leader flees to a passive-aggressive ally who sends his army into the leaderless country. That’s reality in Ukraine today.
Click to read my dispatches for BuzzFeed and Slate.
Khodorkovsky and Me
It was a very strange feeling to find out that Mikhail Khodorkovsky had landed in Berlin. I’d moved to the German capital in part to kick the adrenaline addiction of reporting from Russia. I was tired of the news always coming to me.