In process of trying to evacuate family members from Kharkiv today (fingers still crossed on that!) I’ve heard from journalists & combat veterans who’ve shared advice on fleeing a war zone, specifically Ukraine.
In case this helps anyone else:
🔹 Wear/ pack 3+ layers of warm clothes. Reports of ppl walking 2-3 days in freezing temps to cross borders
🔹 Don’t move outside at night. Ukraine has night curfew in place (times might vary from city to city) & ppl moving outside at night can be shot on sight even if journos
🔹Don’t spook soldiers. Do everything possible to make it obvious you’re a civilian. This can include:
✅ Wearing brightest-coloured clothing possible
✅ Walking w/ hands clearly out or raised when passing soldiers
✅ Walking at normal pace/ not running when passing soldiers
🔹If you or family member isn’t Ukrainian (i.e. holds only a foreign passport) contact your embassy in Ukraine to ask if they have staff at European border(s) who can assist you to expedite your crossing. Reports of unassisted non-Ukrainians waiting days to cross the borders.
🔹Some journalists/ media have extra seats in vehicles & might be able to help evacuate to safer city. If you have media contacts on ground in Ukraine inquire, but don’t harass. Remember media professionals are busy, often inundated & affected by human trauma of this tragedy too.
🔹Russia has not attacked trains yet in Ukraine & trains may be safer than cars as a mode of transit, though depending on your city getting to the train station could be dangerous.
🔹 If you or loved ones are in Kharkiv specifically, trains are still running during day. They’ll likely fill up fast. Exercise great caution getting to train station bc shelling has been intensifying.
Here’s tomorrow’s train schedule from Kharkiv, sent by a Ukrainian friend:
✳️ I’m still waiting to learn more crucial info, like if we’ll manage to wire them $ vis service like Western Union when (inshallah) they leave Kharkiv & arrive to safer city where banks/ transfer services may be operating. Will update when possible. Any further info appreciated.
🔊Update: My fam evacuated Kharkiv Tues. morning as Putin bombed their city center. Utterly terrifying but our relief when they boarded Lviv-bound train at Kharkiv station was incredible. They’re safely in Poland now. 🎉Continuing this thread to help others w/ more tips❤️🇺🇦✊👇
First, if you can get yourself to Lviv I can likely mobilise same network of Polish guardian angels who helped my family to help you or yours. They offer free rides to & accommodation in Poland w/ *zero* discrimination re: skin colour, nationality, etc. They are true heroes.
If you need their help getting from Lviv to Poland, DM me the following info & I will connect you:
🔹# ppl traveling
🔹ages/ genders/ passport nationalities
🔹when they want to leave Lviv
If you prefer going to country besides Poland, I can give recs but network isn’t as strong
Next, how to get to Lviv? Trains & buses still running from most cities inc Kyiv & Kharkiv (worst hit city so far & where my fam fled 2 days ago).
*If* you can get to train or bus station safely, do it. Note: men aged 18-60 might have to wait for women & children to board first
Telegram channels exist w/ specific evacuation details for most big cities. Here’s a link to the Telegram channel w/ information about evacuation from #Kharkiv:
*I don’t know Russian or Ukrainian beyond the alphabet so can’t help translate- sorry!
If you’re fleeing #Kyiv:
🔹If you have car, journalist friends on the ground have told me it’s best to go to Teremki where buses are leaving to Lviv. It’s safer to drive/follow behind a bus bc (a) they’ll take safest routes & (b) Putin has not attacked trains or buses yet
🔹Buses & trains are, to my knowledge, still leaving Kyiv for Lviv as I said, but might be crowded. Also may be difficult for men aged 18-60 years old to board. But doesn’t hurt to try *if* you can get to bus or train station safely.
🔹If you want to be evacuated from #Kyiv & don’t have a car, there’s a special evacuation form. Fill this out & someone will contact you:
Another Q many ppl have is how to send $$ to friends/fam in #Ukraine.
Miraculously my fam evacuated quickly enough & cheaply enough (via train from Kharkiv to Lviv then free ride to Poland) that we didn’t need to send $$. But everyone I spoke w/ suggested the app Wise:
Tacking whatever new bits of useful evacuation info I get onto this thread now, so forgive me for dropping new info in a more random, less organised way. Priority is getting the word out in hopes this information helps ppl.
🔴 If you are *not* a Ukrainian passport holder—esp if you’re visibly non-white, from a country w/o embassy support, or don’t have a Ukrainian green card—do the following to cross border into EU as smoothly as possible:
✅ Plan to cross border alone or in small sedan-sized group
✅ Contact me or someone else who can arrange for Polish person to drive you from Lviv into Poland (if that’s where you want to go) in small, family-sized car. Border guards may be better-natured w/ cars driven by Poles than w/ large groups of foreigners traveling on foot or bus
✅ Make sure to go through a border crossing w/ reputation for efficiency in processing non-Ukrainians. Some crossings, like Medyka, are notoriously bad esp for foreigners. Experienced networks of evacuation helpers, like that which helped my fam, will know the best crossings.
✅ Understand borders may tighten esp for non-Ukrainian nationals (could be arg for evacuating sooner vs later). Eg: Reports of #PolandBorder getting more restrictive for Syrians. My network is getting ppl through, but getting tougher esp for passports w/o embassy representation
✅ Contact your Ukraine embassy if possible to see if they have representation on ground at crossing(s) & give heads-up you’re coming
✅ Carry your Ukrainian green card if you have it (will make crossing easier!) & other identifying docs (marriage certificate, student ID etc)
One more thing re: crossings for non-Ukrainians, inc “toughest” cases (eg: Syrian w/o updated travel docs or national of African country w/o embassy rep): *Please* get in touch. My network has expertise in & commitment to providing transport & accomm ➡️ Poland in these situations
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For whatever it’s worth to Zach or other students, I’ve sat on Rhodes Scholarship committees & reviewed many elite apps.
This essay: (1) lapsed into hubris by the end of para #1, & (2) didn’t explain *why* Zach wants to learn from other humans, let alone at a particular uni.🧵
No matter how impressive the application, painting oneself as a preternaturally gifted wunderkind who’s doing x or y elite university a favour by applying can turn off reviewers.
Communicate confidence, curiosity & commitment to learning from/contributing to your new community.
We shouldn’t get the idea that you want x opportunity simply for the prestige—or, as Zach says in his concluding paragraph, because it will “elevate my work.”
You need to explain how this opportunity will springboard you to fight the part of the world’s fight you’ve chosen.
Imagine getting deported from a country where you’re a legal resident. A country that calls itself a democracy. A country whose most prestigious government scholarship, the Fulbright, you won.
All because you coauthored this nuanced & articulate op-ed in the student newspaper ⬇️
Here’s the link.
This is, of course, the op-ed that the young Turkish scholar Rumeysa Ozturk coauthored for the student newspaper at Tufts University, where she was pursuing a PhD in childhood development.
Before I started following its specific positions, I’d assumed that the BDS org—@PACBI—was a logical, non-racist actor.
After its boycott of Standing Together, & esp after its statement today declaring Oscar-winning film No Other Land violates BDS, I no longer feel that way. 🧵
I encourage everyone to read the following two statements in chronological order:
@PACBI I’ve screenshot the full No Other Land directors’ statement on the left here.
And, on the right, you can see a screenshot of what I considered the most important operative part of BDS/@PACBI’s denunciation of the film as a work of “normalisation.”
The left accelerationist case for Trump paints him as a vile vessel who will, nevertheless, achieve important goals: (1) make the US less militaristic & (2) empower the Global South.
It makes intuitive sense bc Trump is weakening USG & Western alliances. But it’s deeply naive 🧵
I see at least 6 reasons why:
1) Rising US expansionism 2) More frontal assault on international law & multilateral institutions 3) Disinvestment in soft power 4) Hypocritical reliance on hard power 5) Emboldened bad actors in the “imperialist international” 6) Nuclear reliance
Let's consider these in order.
Most factors existed before (eg: the George W. Bush years did a lot of factors 1 & 2). But Trump 2.0 is mutating & combining them in new ways that merit careful, concerned observation.
Factors 1-4 relate to US behaviour; 5 & 6 to reactions to it.
The mixing of extreme rightist & leftist elements in Elon’s power grab is under-explored.
Another example: fetishisation of permanent revolution via an authoritarian vanguard that’s committed to freeing the people from corrupt elites shows up in a lot of Marxist movements.
But the influence of that third & freakier element, Earth-eschewing techno authoritarianism, on Musk’s behaviour seems even less appreciated.
Just watched a mind-bending @60Minutes interview. It’s the stuff of a great American novel: the story of Senator Mitch McConnell’s life.
@LesleyRStahl interviews McConnell & @tackettdc, whose biography just came out.
The arc of his career is... whew. Triumph & tragedy 🧵
@SenMcConnell is an institution in my home state, Kentucky. One of the most consequential politicians in the past century, and one of the savviest Senators in history.
So savvy, in fact, that he ended up beating himself—and the US—at his own game.
I grew up thinking of Mitch McConnell as preternaturally political & dangerously savvy. Cunningly ruthless & willing to advance Republican Party power at deeply painful costs.
A master craftsman turned evil genius when he stole Garland’s Supreme Court seat. A force of nature.