Features
Letter from one Russian dissident to another dissident
The April 13, 2022 issue of The Jewish Post & News carried my article, “Conversations with a Friend in Russia,” about the war in Ukraine.
My friend and I have continued to exchange messages about the ongoing illegal war of aggression by Russia via a secure network.
Here is an edited version of a recent long letter my friend asked me to send via email to Russian dissident émigré Mark Feygin.
Feygin is a former Russian lawyer and human rights activist. He also served from January 1994 to December 1995 as a deputy of the State Duma and was the vice mayor of Samara, notes Wikipedia.
In 2011 and 2012, Feygin was active in opposition to President Vladimir Putin, and announced that he was forming an opposition party. Since the February 24, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has gained a following on YouTube, hosting daily discussions with Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych on his channel. I have made some minor grammatical and syntactical corrections to the letter.
“Dear Mark!
“I hope my letter will not only reach you, but you will find time to read it. I considered it important to share with you the following considerations. I developed them as a result of a long – since February 24, and continuing all the time – following the course of Putin’s war against Ukraine.
‘“… this (Putin’s lies) is not obvious to the Russian layman …”’ These were your words in the New Year’s Eve stream at Zhdanov’s. That’s exactly what it is – for the main contingent, from which Putin’s occupying army is replenished, Putin’s lie is not obvious! This category of citizens has their brains blocked by many years of Putin’s propaganda. But it is necessary to make sure that Putin’s lies, his real war crimes and crimes against his own people become obvious even to the most recent idiots in this country! We need replacement drivers in their primitive and zombied brains.
“Why is it important to do this now, and not wait until Putin is somehow demolished and his accomplices, remaining in power, begin to explain to the masses that the dwarf ‘turned out to be not a father, but a bitch’ (as Andrey Piontkovsky voiced this scenario).
“This must be done now, in the midst of the war; because the doubts sown in the brains of marginals deformed by Putin’s propaganda is a real mechanism for influencing their motivation. This is a real mechanism to reduce the ranks of creatures ready to become consumables in Putin’s occupying army. The more degenerates join the ranks of the occupying army, the longer the war will last, the longer the torment of Ukrainians will continue, the more destruction there will be in Ukraine, the longer the maniac will be able to continue his terrorist activities. Therefore, it is important to reduce their ranks and change their motivation.
“The human psyche is a plastic material, an easily induced substance, but in order to reorient it, it must be acted upon. Putin’s propagandists, for their part, make an active direct impact on the brains of this redneck mass (and very effectively), but there is no counter-influence on this contingent.
“Clever verbose analytical streams of opposition bloggers and experts do not solve the problem of suppressing the drivers operating in the heads of this category of the population. They do not hear and do not listen to these clever arguments.
Here, Kiriyenko calls on the masses to make this real terrorist war the people’s war…. And, who is calling the Russian layman to the people’s war against Putin and his occupation regime?
Some of the citizens come to understand the realities themselves. But the majority in this demographic cohort won’t make it on its own. If such appeals are heard, then (it must be done) in the verbose context of analytical reasoning and assessments.
“But in this format, these appeals will not pierce the brains of idiots. They must be broken through with short and sharply directed formulations – directly calling Putin the only enemy of their homeland, of their nation.
“Cattlemass, which includes representatives of all social categories of citizens, does not care about the suffering of Ukrainians. On the contrary, they rejoice at this because they have already had hammered into their heads that their enemies have settled in Ukraine, and Putin is their protector. These deformed brains cannot be reoriented by clever reasoning and revelations.
“They need to briefly and clearly drive other formulas into their minds: that Putin is an enemy of the Russian (their) people; that Putin has plundered their country and is now finally destroying it; that Putin is an enemy of Russia, destroying the population of their country, exterminating them; that Putin is depriving their children and grandchildren of a future in this country; that each of their volleys in Ukraine is a volley that destroys their own country; that those who serve Putin are traitors to their country and there will be punishment for this; that Putin in power in Russia is Hitler’s revenge for the defeat in the Second World War, etc. – that Putin must be destroyed in order to save Russia and restore a normal life in their country for themselves.
“Your own shirt is closer to the body” and this should be emphasized in the information war. For them, these formulas should sound short, repeated and continuous. Otherwise, the majority will not reach.
“The lamentations of some well-known anti-Putin and anti-Russian bloggers-journalists that ‘Russians are genetically predetermined slaves’ are not just stupid and unfair (remember how the people rose in Khabarovsk, at least) – they are harmful, because they only help Putin’s mafia to consolidate the rednecks around Putin and use them as an instrument of his crimes.
“For the benefit of the cause of victory over Putin’s evil, it is necessary to reprogram these deformers as far as possible, in all possible ways, right now. Seeds of doubt can only germinate if they are thrown into the ground. Otherwise no.
“There is such a formula: “If a person is told every day that he is a donkey, he will soon scream like a donkey!’
“This is how the human psyche works. Putin’s propaganda actively and aggressively uses this principle, it is built on this. And it gives results, as we all see. And yet there is no effective counteraction to this in the information war! The situation in the information field is similar to the situation in the real war on the combat front, where the defenders of Ukraine are forced (so far) to respond to massive shelling by the occupiers only by shooting down missiles in their skies and destroying the occupiers within their own territory.
“In the information war, Putin’s people are persecuting lies, but by a method that affects simple brains. They aggressively stigmatize the victims of their aggression as ‘Nazis’, attribute all their own crimes to the victims, inspire their inhabitants that this is a holy war for the ‘defense of the Russian world’, etc. In the brains of Russian inhabitants (in very many) induced by Putin’s propaganda, there was a merger of retrospective images of the Second World War with their perception of the current acts of Putin’s occupiers as the war against enemies. And, in response to that from the so-called opposition on the information field, only wordy explanations of the depth of the maniac’s mental deformation, endless exposure and ridicule of his paranoid delirium, repeated discussions of his health and the vile tricks of his lackeys, etc.
“This also needs to be voiced, of course, but this is absolutely not enough to achieve a result. Where are the active direct accusations and calls for a people’s war against the occupiers? The information war on the part of the anti-Putin forces should change from debatable and explanatory to offensive and accusatory, calling for resistance.
“Moreover, now the long-winded and repeatedly repeated arguments of anti-Putin bloggers also come with oppositionists (true and pseudo) attacking each other and their mutual denials. I do not give examples, they are well known. Well, what result should be expected from such an ‘information war’? Oppositionists cease to be trusted. The opposition seems to be there, well, at least this, but the result? In the current format, these moans of the opposition can last forever.
“To achieve success on the field of “information warfare” an active, aggressive counter-action is needed. We need a consolidation of all forces, and not neurotic outbursts and mutual pecking. If there is real resistance, it will objectively work to sow doubts in the zombie brains of the bulk of the Russian layman, reprogram them – point them to their real enemy, urge them not to become accomplices in the destruction of their own country. Moreover, it will be pure truth, reinforced for them by what they experience every day in their own skin. They experience, but endure and do not think about the reasons, because they are under hypnosis. There is no anti-hypnosis. There is no massive ‘trench agitation’. (It is all the more strange that it does not exist in a country with such historical experience – let us recall what successes the Bolsheviks achieved with their “trench agitation”).
“Orcs can only be changed by driving other motivating blocks into their minds – that their real enemy is the one they currently serve. There are still surprisingly few examples of such active offensive work on the information front (as Arestovich said – “little, bad, not enough” – that’s exactly the case here!)
“A positive example of how this should be done is the New Year’s address of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Reznikov. Everything is on point, strong and concise. It is all the more strange that “trench propaganda” is not used by anti-Putin informationists, when a maniac and the actions of his gang provide abundant objective texture for guilty verdicts and calls for a people’s war against a real enemy.
“These accusations and appeals must be made not only on some Telegram channels and (intricate, lengthy, often contradictory) on some YouTube streams, but in 24×7 mode, on all possible channels, briefly, persistently, with conviction and clearly.
“It is necessary to use all available modern technologies in order to convey the necessary messages to the addressee. It is necessary to hack federal TV channels and load them with the necessary content (experience with regional TV has already begun to appear).
“It is necessary to hack the loading of advertising plasmas on the streets of big cities and display the necessary frames and appeals on them. (It is technically possible, because there was a case when an amateur hacker put a porn video on Moscow street plasmas). Well, and so on. Do it now, and not wait until after the victory over Putin’s fascism. Information warfare is important as a direct instrument of real physical warfare, but to be effective it must be carried out with methods that penetrate to the target.
“That’s all for now. But, there’s a lot more to say.
“Respectfully,
“Good luck and victories in your fight!
Features
Musings from Dizengoff Street – by Bruce Brown (updated August 14)
(August 14, 2026) Despite three years of varying degrees of warfare. Moody’s biannual report of the Israeli economy was quite positive. Basically, the report saw no pressures on Israel’s credit rating. While the macro data remains strong, Israel still faces a complex geopolitical situation further complicated by upcoming elections (we pondered about how crazy that is in an earlier muse). And Israeli’s inflation rate for the first half of 2026 fell to a historic five year low of 1.2% (vs Canada’s 2.6%). As for my own pocketbook. Haven’t had an infamous Israeli bank overdraft in years. So all is fine.
If that’s not enough economic voodoo talk for one musing. According to one famous barometer. Israel moved to second place in the Economist’s Big Mac Index. Introduced in 1986, this tasty indicator compares the purchasing power parity across countries by measuring the price of a McDonald’s Big Mac -which most can relate to- against the benchmark U.S. burger. So while a Big Mac in the U.S. costs $6.22. In Israel it costs $7.67, the second most expensive place to buy the hamburger in the world, Switzerland being the most pricey at a whopping (no reference to Wendy’s) $9.04. While the cheapest Big Mac can be enjoyed in Indonesia at only $2.38. Canada ranked 22nd of the fifty-four countries considered, at $5.85. Parity. Smarity. I’m going for my Big Mac fix. Just after I finish writing this muse….
(August 11, 2026) Bravo Boy George. We certainly will dance again! And what better way than with his new reggae tune. Now Boy George is dealing with a hostile backlash against his just stand for Israel. Having to withdraw from London’s East End production of Jesus Christ Superstar where he was going to play – guess it. King Herod. Never a big Culture Club fan, but I am anyway -as a sign of support- going to download his greatest hits to my Spotify library. And hoping to have a chance to buy a concert ticket should Boy George perform in Israel. Kind of reminds me of Bob Dylan’s 1983 song Neighborhood Bully. Also in defense of Israel. I’m going to download that song as well. Although don’t think he was hounded the way Boy George is now. Sign of the times I guess.
+++++
Coming clean. I sometimes find myself chanting, to no one in particular, that snappy little ditty ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’ Now why can’t we come up with something as catchy. With such an impressive gene pool of great Jewish songwriters. George Gershwin. Irving Berlin. Burt Bacharach. Carole King. Neil Diamond. Leanard Choen. Paul Simon. Gene Simmons, Amy Winehouse. Bob Dylan. And yes, even the Buddhist Boy George. And still… gurnish! No wonder we’re losing the global PR battle
(August 8, 2026) Outside Basimta Café in Central Jerusalem. Love the red shirt against a tiny sea of black. Not sure I am shrugging because of the ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat or the lack of an ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat. For the last six weeks Israeli headlines shouted about the cafe chaos. With the ultra-religious blocking entrances and storming the café. While shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Upsetting the secular amongst us just wanting to enjoy our Saturday iced matchas. So the wife and I thought we would check it out. And. Yes. Buy something to support the business. Uproar. Not. Blocked entrances. Not. Storming the café. Not. Albeit there were police barriers separating the devout protesters from the coffee drinkers. The protesters being just a few dozen black clad, pious Jews. Mostly teenagers. And yes. Shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Certainly underwhelming in its reported mayhem. Reminds me of the famous saying misattributed to Mark Twain – “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do, you’re misinformed.” But I did enjoy my iced matcha.
(August 6, 2026) Here we go again. Another round of forever negotiations. As someone who negotiates for a living. The way things are going in the straits. If I had to recommend a book on the subject to a new hire. Between The Art of the Deal, A Presidential Edition by Donald J. Trump or The Real Art of the Deal by the Mullahs of Iran with a special forward by the IRGC. Well. I would choose the latter.
(August 3) Bravo Yoav Segalovitz, Liberal Yesh Atid MK and Monsour Abbas, United Arab Ra’am MK and party head. For breaking a glass ceiling where a Jewish lawmaker joins an Arab political party. No less a political earthquake in my little shtetl. Which can significantly impact coalition block arithmetic and posturing and strategy in the upcoming elections. Now Ra’am can be considered a legitimate ‘Zionist’ partner when forming coalition blocks and potentially pushing the ‘center left/right’ party over the 60 seat majority threshold. In our crazy parliamentary democracy defined by a multi-party (about fourteen!!), proportional representation system. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Israel’s proportional representation model of governance is the best parliamentary democracy system except for all other forms of working democracies. Stay tuned for more amateurish political musings as we move towards Israel’s 26th national election – five of them held since 2019.
(August 1) Although both sides say they are open to diplomacy. Neither really trusts the other. And American military action, or its threat, continues. I read headlines in the middle of the night -it’s a nervous habit lately– that the Dynamic Duo of Trump and Netanyahu may again strike in unison. Possibly this weekend. Yikes! Prompting me, at 2:30 AM, to dash around the house stocking my safe room. Bottled water. Canned food. Medicines. Documents. The beat goes on….
If it’s crazy here. It’s insane in Italy. With a recent online ‘Jew Hunt’ in the Milan area. Before being removed, the digital forms urged reportings of Israelis and Italian Jews staying in local hotels. The infamous Global Sumud Movement -yes, the one coordinating ‘peace and humanitarian’ flotillas to Gaza- was somehow connected. Although they deny involvement?! This deranged decree was looking to identify Zionist tourism and Zionist neo-colonization in Italy. I’ll stick with stocking the saferoom.
Then there’s New York Mayor Mamdani, a Global Sumud Movement supporter, threatening to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu if he comes to New York. But since discovered he has no legal right for such a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic antic. Maybe Mandami should be arrested! Or at least impeached. For being a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic mayor.
Here’s a post Bruce sent us Friday, July 31:
WARTIME MUSINGS
Should credible threats against FLOTUS and ‘FSOTUS’ (first son..) not be justification to attack first.
As for yesterday’s summit. Netanyahu really can’t win. Explainer. If Trump now attacks without victory its ’cause of Netanyahu. If Trump now attacks with victory its ’cause of Trump. And, in Israel, if Trump doesn’t attack -victory or not- Netanyahu failed in his eighth meeting with Trump. And if Trump does attack -victory or not- half the country will vilify Bibi anyway. Missing a permutation?
Ya. I know. Kinda’ need a definition of victory for that musing to work.
And here in my little shtetle. We go to sleep unsure if there will be a code red in the middle of the night. And if not. We wake up thinking it will be tonight. How do you define stress?
Seemed like an appropriate way to end this musing.
Bruce Brown is a former Winnipegger who made aliyah to Israel over 35 years ago. Bruce first began writing for us – in his own inimitable style, in 2012, during what was known as “Operation Pillar of Defense.” His occasional musings on aspects of life in Israel that were far from what you’d typically read in other reports from Israel were hugely popular – both in the print Jewish Post & News and on this website.
We’re now glad to report that Bruce is back writing for us – this time on a regular basis. We will post Bruce’s reports as they arrive – with the date of each post at the beginning of that post.
Here’s some information about Bruce – and awards he’s received for his writing:
Bruce Brown. Canadian born. Now living in Israel (for a long time). Bruce works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. He received the American Jewish Press Association’s award for writing excellence in 2019 and 2025. And wrote the 1998 satire, “An Israeli is….” Bruce’s musings are political, social, economic and personal. With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic and irreverent insight.
Features
Alberta’s regulated online casino market hits one month: what changed for players
A month after private operators went live, Alberta has quietly become the country’s most closely watched gambling market. Here’s what the new rules mean for the people actually playing.
A year ago, playing at an online casino in Alberta meant using sites that operated in a legal grey zone, with no provincial oversight and little recourse if something went wrong. That ended on July 13, 2026, when the province’s regulated iGaming market officially launched, opening online casino and sportsbook play to licensed private operators for the first time. The market is overseen by Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) and run through a new Crown body, the Alberta iGaming Corporation.
Alberta is only the second province to open a competitive commercial market, following Ontario in April 2022. What set the launch apart was its scale on day one. Twenty-two operator sites went live at midnight, with more than 50 licensed by AGLC to follow. Brands plenty of Albertans already know, including DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars and theScore Bet, now compete directly with the government’s own Play Alberta platform.
For players, the real change is less about new games and more about ground rules. Licensed sites must meet standards for identity verification, deposit and loss limits, data protection and dispute resolution. If a payout is disputed or an account frozen, there’s now a regulator behind it rather than an offshore support desk in another time zone.
That framework is also reshaping how sites compete. Speaking to Bookies.com, an independent authority on licensed online casinos in Alberta, one industry observer noted: “Twenty-two sites going live on the same day is unusual. It forces operators to compete on trust and payout speed from the first weekend, not just on marketing spend.”
That pressure shows up in the details players tend to overlook, like withdrawal times, the clarity of bonus terms, and how quickly identity checks clear before a first cash-out. In a crowded field, those are the things that decide whether someone stays with a site or moves on after a week.
The province has been candid about the point of all this. Officials say the regulated system is built to pull players away from unlicensed offshore sites, redirecting that activity to operators that answer to a regulator and pay into provincial revenue. Service Alberta minister Dale Nally, who oversees the AGLC, has framed boxing out that grey market as the core goal.
We’ll keep following how this develops across the country in our Local and Canadian News coverage, where provincial policy shifts like this one tend to land first.
One month in, the market is still finding its shape, and the operator lineup will keep changing as more of the 50-plus licensees come online. But the headline for players is simple. Albertans now have a legal, regulated way to play, with responsible-gambling tools and the recourse that a licensed market is supposed to guarantee. For a lot of people who were already online, that’s the part that actually changed.
Features
The Types Of Gaming That Are Popular Across North America
Gaming in North America covers almost every style imaginable. Consoles remain a huge part of the culture that changes all the time. Older gaming hobbies like board games still fill living rooms and hobby stores.
People can always find a way to play that suits their interests and preferences. That could be online or offline.
That variety is part of what makes the region so interesting from a gaming point of view. There is no single dominant style. A lot of people prefer quick mobile games that they can play on the go. There are also superfans that sink hundreds of hours into console adventures. It isn’t all about high tech; plenty still enjoy games that have been around for generations.
The common theme is choice. North American players now have more ways to play than ever before.
Classic Casino Games Have Found New Life Online
Casino games have been popular across North America for a long time. The way they are played has changed dramatically in recent decades and brought them to new audiences.
Traditional games such as blackjack and roulette are still easy to recognize. The rules remain familiar to a lot of the population. The technology surrounding them has moved forward at a breakneck speed.
Roulette shows this change. The experience once meant gathering around a physical wheel and watching the ball bounce between the numbered pockets. That same basic format now works online in several different ways.
Digital roulette recreates the wheel through software. Live dealer versions stream a real wheel from a studio using high-definition cameras. Players can follow the action on a laptop or smartphone without losing the simple appeal that made roulette popular in the first place. People who want to play roulette varieties online even have a lot of choice for how they do so.
Slot games have changed even more.
Modern online versions can include detailed animations and new mechanics that would be difficult to reproduce on an old mechanical machine. Newer styles such as crash games have also grown alongside more traditional casino titles.
Casino gaming has essentially become another branch of digital entertainment. People have so much choice that they may turn to ‘games of the week’ as recommendations for a new game to try out.
Please embed the link:
Board Games Are Still Going Strong
Board games remain extremely popular across North America. There are even festivals in the area celebrating the choice in board games.
Part of their appeal is social.
A board game creates a reason for people to gather around the same table for competition. They usually debate at least one rule before the night is over!
Classic games still have huge audiences. Chess and Monopoly are instantly familiar. The modern board game scene has become much broader.
Games such as Ticket to Ride and Wingspan helped introduce more people to strategy-heavy tabletop games without making them feel impossible to learn.
Hobby gaming has also become a culture of its own.
Dedicated stores host game nights and board game cafes have turned tabletop gaming into an evening out rather than something that only happens at home.
In an age of screens, cardboard is doing surprisingly well.
Console Gaming Remains A Giant
Console gaming is still one of the biggest parts of North American entertainment.
Living-room consoles have become far more than machines for playing one game at a time. They now act as entertainment hubs for multiplayer gaming and detailed worlds.
Sports games remain popular. Action games and open-world adventure games also draw huge numbers of players.
The appeal is easy to understand.
Console gaming offers impressive graphics and deep experiences without requiring the same level of setup that can come with a gaming PC.
Controllers have evolved too. They have added better feedback and more precise inputs. Online multiplayer has become standard and easier for most players.
PC Gaming Has Its Own Massive Audience
PC gaming occupies a slightly different space. It tends to attract players who like flexibility.
Hardware can be upgraded over time. Digital stores offer enormous libraries ranging from blockbuster releases to tiny experimental projects made by one person.
Strategy games and simulation titles have especially strong roots on PC.
MMORPGs also remain closely linked to the platform. Large communities spend years inside these imagined online worlds.
Competitive gaming has helped keep PC gaming at the center of esports too.
Genres such as tactical shooters and real-time strategy games continue to attract players who enjoy fast competition and highly skill-based play.
Social And Multiplayer Games Keep Growing
You might assume that the online world is isolating gamers. But it is actually fair to say that gaming has become much more social over the last decade in many ways.
People increasingly play with friends who may live hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Cross-platform technology has helped with being able to connect players reliably.
A group no longer always needs identical hardware to play the same title together. Console and PC communities can sometimes mix. Voice chat keeps everyone connected during a session.
The conversation happening during the game becomes just as important as the game itself.
There is no single type of gaming that defines North America. A serious mix is probably the clearest trend of all.
Gaming has stopped being tied to one device or even one kind of player. It now covers everything from a quick game on a smartphone to an all-night board game session or a huge online adventure with friends.
