Hilary Barth
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hilarybarth.bsky.social
Hilary Barth
@hilarybarth.bsky.social
Professor of Psychology at Wesleyan U, CT, USA. Tentatively using this to post mostly-science content .. no promises. Still on Ukraine X/Twitter.
Reposted by Hilary Barth
This is an actual thing Putin said today:

"We are taking a surgical approach with Ukraine, very carefully."

4 images of Russia's "surgical approach":

kremlin.ru/events/presi...
December 3, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
“Russian President Vladimir Putin has underlined his true intentions by issuing a presidential decree calling for an escalation in efforts to eradicate all traces of Ukrainian identity from the approximately 20% of Ukraine currently under Kremlin control.”

www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrain...
While Trump talks peace, Putin is escalating efforts to erase Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree this week calling for an escalation in efforts to erase all traces of Ukrainian identity from the approximately 20 percent of Ukraine currently und...
www.atlanticcouncil.org
December 2, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
In the running for greatest human accomplishment.
Currently dorking out over this graph about child mortality with my brother. Just mind boggling to take in.
December 2, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
While "peace" negotiations continue, remember that Russia could simply stop the war at any time.
December 2, 2025 at 2:04 PM
“Ukraine’s children enter fourth school year under invasion as 4.6 million face education barriers”

news.un.org/en/story/202...
Ukraine’s children enter fourth school year under invasion as 4.6 million face education barriers
This year alone, 4.6 million children in Ukraine are struggling to access education as they endure a fourth academic year under full-scale war.
news.un.org
December 1, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
“Diplomatic efforts continue”
December 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
Russians committing mass murder today on the streets of Ukraine's city of Dnipro, launching missiles into a heavily populated area in the morning hours.

Four people dead, and 22 injured.
December 1, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
OTD in 2021 Russian Embassy on Londonograd reported that US & UK were manipulating false claims of a Russian invasion & occupation of Ukraine to spread panic.

Which is why you can believe us now we say we want peace.
November 30, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
The Ukrainian front is not about to collapse. But the Russians want you to think that
understandingwar.org/research/rus...
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 28, 2025
The frontline in Ukraine is not facing imminent collapse despite recent Russian gains and Kremlin assertions.
understandingwar.org
November 29, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
Extraordinary WSJ reporting today that unveils the extent to which Trump, Witkoff, Kushner and US business executives are salivating over business deals with Russia while Putin’s forces kidnap Ukranian children and bomb civilians in their apartments.

🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...
November 29, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
Imagine getting ready for your daughter to come home from her freshman year of college for Thanksgiving, and the day of departure she goes MIA, and then 48 nightmarish hours later she calls you to tell her that ICE goons kidnapped her and shipped her to Honduras www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/25/m...
November 29, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
Ukraine is in Europe. And he’s attacking it every day.
November 27, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
the real question is how long russia can keep jangling keys in front of trump's people
November 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
Steve Witkoff isn’t promoting peace. His interventions are helping Vladimir Putin and prolonging the war
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
What Is Steve Witkoff Trying to Do?
Trump’s envoy isn’t promoting peace. His interventions are helping Vladimir Putin and prolonging the war.
www.theatlantic.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
What folks need to realize about "peace talks" is that this is all theater for Washington. Ukraine knows that Russia has no intention of stopping the war, and the Russians know the Ukrainians know that. So this is just all a performance for Trump, hoping he blames the other for the lack of peace.
November 26, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
This transcript of a short phone call on 14 October between Steve Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s most senior foreign-policy adviser, is the most mind-bending thing you will read for a long time. Who obtained the recording, and how? (gift link)
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Witkoff Discusses Ukraine Plans With Key Putin Aide: Transcript
The following is a transcript of an Oct. 14 phone call lasting just over 5 minutes between Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, and Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s most senio...
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Witkoff helped the Russians undercut the Trump/Zelensky meeting last month.
November 25, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
"20 Days in Mariupol" was a harrowing and essential Oscar-winning documentary on the 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The latest film from the same team premieres tomorrow night (Nov 25) in the US on @frontlinepbs.bsky.social.

www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontli...
November 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
Looking at this photo of the US-Ukraine Geneva meeting, I wondered who was in the delegation. ABC has the list:

abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

No Russia or Ukraine experts (although US Ambassador to Ukraine Davis & SACEUR Grynkewich were there).

Who is the guy with the notebook? Andy Baker. 1/2
November 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
The war is Ukraine’s fault because they haven’t shown enough “gratitude” to Donald Trump. This is like watching a Godfather sequel where the Don has advanced dementia.
November 23, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
Don’t sanewash this, media. The Trump White House forfeited benefit of the doubt a while ago. They pushed an awful, very Russia-friendly plan for Ukraine, and are now lying to save face.

You can tell because the plan aligns with their year-long efforts, and the current lies contradict each other.
Pretty obvious what happened

Team Trump, high on their own supply and sympathetic to Russia, thought they could make Ukraine surrender and declare Trump a glorious peacemaker.

Then they got out of their bubble into reality, embarrassingly flopped, and are now scrambling to lie trying to save face.
November 23, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
Do I understand correctly that there is now a dispute within the administration about whether this "peace plan" was written by Russians or Americans?
November 23, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
Extended group rejection
November 22, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Hilary Barth
So, to recap, Ukraine and Europe understand that America has effectively endorsed a 28-point plan to force Kyiv to capitulate, set a Thursday deadline to accept it, and threatened to cut off all aid.

Now Marco Rubio says it's all wrong, that's not the plan, there's no deadline and no threat.
November 22, 2025 at 11:04 PM