I felt helpless watching the news last night. It makes my blood boil that one man can decide to steal an entire country costing countless lives and likely get away with it just because he has a bigger army.

I was especially struck by the interviews with Russian citizens. Some were certainly outraged and embarrassed by the actions of their government and military. But they seemed to be in the minority, and many that were publicly speaking out were getting rounded up by the police. Most others seemed to think the invasion was justified, or even defensive in nature.

It’s scary what propaganda and misinformation can do. A bald-faced lie on any given topic can cast doubt on the whole issue. Then suddenly it’s so easy to shrug your shoulders and say “well, I guess there are two schools of thought” or “the truth lies somewhere in the middle”. But a propagandist’s willingness to spout a lie, shouldn’t relieve us of the obligation of seeking out the ground truth. I’m far from an expert, but it seems that this is Russia’s core strategy in keeping their population complacent. (And likely a strategy they used within the US as well to create turmoil).

I’ve taken a break from my normal personal finance content to make this post. It’s an attempt to use this small platform I’ve built to nudge people in the direction of good information. I personally am still in the process of learning about this situation, but I tried to thoughtfully compile these lists from other trusted sources. You can click here to head to the @glblctzn article that contains most of the links mentioned here.

– Jeremy

via Instagram