Protests erupted after French police killed a 17-year-old of North African descent on June 27.
Protests have rocked France for more than a week after police killed a 17-year-old of North African descent.
President Macron has said his government needs the authority to block social media to curb protests.
French lawmakers are also considering a new surveillance measure that critics call authoritarian.
Soon after news broke that French police killed a 17-year-old of North African descent on June 27, protests broke out across the country. Those protests have sometimes turned violent. Protesters have set cars and buildings alight. Police have arrested thousands.
In the middle of all this, critics say the government led by French President Emmanuel Macron has taken an authoritarian pivot.
First, on July 4, during a meeting with mayors, Macron suggested the government needs the authority to regulate or block social media platforms during major protests.
A government spokesperson later claimed Macron could have meant to suggest just blocking certain functions on social media platforms, such as Snapchat maps, in order to curb protesters' ability to organize gatherings, the Washington Post reported.
Then, French lawmakers on July 5 authorized police to surveil suspects by accessing their device's GPS, camera, and microphone with a judge's permission, the national newspaper Le Monde reported. The measure is part of a larger bill on judicial reform that is now making its way through the French parliament.
The measure raises "serious concerns over infringements of fundamental liberties," advocates with the digital rights group La Quadrature du Net said, according to Le Monde.
Meanwhile, Eliska Pirkova, a senior policy analyst at Access Now — a digital rights advocacy organization — called the suggestion of blocking social media "a strong blow to democracy," according to the Post.
Both left- and right-leaning lawmakers, meanwhile, characterized the comments about blocking social media made by Macron, who is considered centrist, as anti-democratic. Even members of Macron's own party, the Renaissance Party, are calling the suggested policy a mistake, according to the Washington Post.
There is no country in Europe that completely blocks any social media, the Washington Post reports, but countries like Spain, Belarus, Turkey, and Ukraine have placed limits on its use.
Elsewhere in the world, social media censorship has increased in recent years.
In an effort to stop people from gathering to protest COVID-19 restrictions, the Chinese government censored discussion of certain cities on social media, according to the BBC. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch reports that Russia has placed immense pressure on social media companies operating in the country to censor posts that government officials deem "illegal." These posts include calls to protest, according to the watchdog organization.
Similar police access to geolocation data and live cameras is an ongoing issue in the US digital policy sphere.
While a 2018 Supreme Court case limited police's ability to use location data without a judge's oversight, the Wall Street Journal reported that the federal government has been able to sidestep this ruling by purchasing users' data from marketing firms. For example, in February 2020, the Department of Homeland Security pulled location data from cellphone applications for use in immigration and border enforcement, according to the Journal.
American police are also using private cameras like Amazon's Ring for surveillance. And in November 2022, the city of San Francisco enacted an ordinance allowing police to request access to live feeds from internet-connected home security cameras, the New York Times reported.
Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer said customers shouldn't feel an obligation to tip for takeout or coffee orders.
Getty Images
Shake Shack's founder told CNBC that customers shouldn't feel obligated to tip on takeout orders.
Last year, Shake Shack added the option to tip at all its locations.
More restaurants are prompting customers to tip during payment, causing confusion and frustration.
Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer weighed in on the debate about tipping in the US on CNBC's "Squawk Box" this Thursday.
Meyer said customers shouldn't feel obliged to tip when ordering takeout or coffee from a restaurant.
"If you're just taking out food, and it was just a transaction, I give you money, you give me a cup of coffee – I don't think there's any obligation to tip," he said.
In 2015, Meyer banned tipping at all of his Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants and raised prices on his menu in what he said was an attempt to give employees fairer wages. This decision was reversed after the COVID-19 pandemic when its restaurants began reopening and rehiring. Meyer founded Union Square Hospitality Group, and while the group doesn't oversee Shake Shack, it does manage many restaurants in New York City.
In 2017, Meyer told podcast "The Sporkful," that tipping was "one of the biggest hoaxes pulled on an entire culture." He said that tipping was established after the abolition of slavery so that businesses wouldn't have to pay workers. This mostly affected employees in the service industry, who were predominantly Black.
According to CNBC, many restaurants use point-of-sale systems like Square and Toast where customers are prompted to tip – either on a tablet or the card reader. This sometimes causes confusion about how much to tip or frustration as patrons feel they have been overcharged.
Tipped employees like servers are usually paid less than the standard minimum wage. According to the US Department of Labor, the federal minimum wage is $7.25, but for employees who make tips, it's $2.13 an hour. During the 2020 presidential race, President Joe Biden promised to ban the tipped wage.
Elizabeth Parry says her instructors have been living in the Hamptons for years and know how to deal with high-profile personalities, so she doesn't have to teach them about rich people.
Courtesy of Elizabeth Parry
Elizabeth Parry runs her own company, Hamptons Swim, which provides swimming lessons.
Although 95% of her clients are high-profile, she also gives back and teaches scholarship families.
Parry says her instructors are trained on how to speak to the clients and always be "Switzerland."
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Elizabeth Parry, a 43-year-old swim instructor in the Hamptons and owner ofHamptons Swim. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I grew up in the Hamptons in a town called Water Mill, and I've been teaching swimming for 22 years.
Today, I run my own company, Hamptons Swim, where we provide swimming lessons for all ages and levels. My clients own multi-million dollar homes in the Hamptons and are incredibly high profile.
My upbringing was modest
I grew up as a Hamptons local, not one of the rich city people who came out in the summer. The contrast in lifestyles, made particularly evident when wealthy New Yorkers seasonally migrated to the beach, entrenched in our small-town society an "us vs. them" mentality.
However, for me, this disconnect was natural. Almost everyone in my family worked doing something related to catering to these fabulous people. Still, it was very hard not to feel like less. In the Hamptons, the richest of the rich come together to spend a relaxing and luxurious summer in their $300 million homes on the ocean. The town even has a street known as "Billionaire Lane."
Growing up near the ocean, I spent many years swimming and lifeguarding and finally decided to become an instructor. Once I started out, I found that I not only loved it, but that I had a natural rapport with the luxury community.
Soon, business was booming
When COVID-19 hit, there was a massive exodus out of the city. People didn't want to be confined to their high-rises, and Europe was closed. My business started growing faster. Suddenly, I couldn't handle all the demand by myself.
I now have 16 instructors and charge $120 per half hour or $240 an hour. I look for people with similar experience and teaching credentials as my own, plus I do background checks and intensive training. We're still hiring and looking to expand.
There really is a need for my niche business in this luxury world
Everybody should learn how to swim, and accessibility for pools in the city is limited. The clients I work with don't want to take their kid to the YMCA; they think it's gross. They prefer to have them learn in their personal pools.
They can have whatever they want, and what they want is for their child to have a really good experience with an excellent instructor.
My high standards make my business successful
It's what allows me to raise my rates and still have clients refer me to their friends. Thankfully, a lot of my instructors have been living in the Hamptons for years, so they already know how to deal with these high-profile personalities. I'm not pulling somebody out of a cornfield and teaching them about rich people.
Still, my training does include what the expectations are, how to speak to the client, and how to always "be Switzerland." Always say: "Yes, ma'am," "No, ma'am." Arrive early, because there's going to be a gate and there might be somebody who meets you at the door. Try not to go into the house; try to go around (especially during COVID-19).
A lot of times, the parents aren't even there. The nanny or somebody else on their staff is with the child.
I'm also very big on privacy
It's a small community, after all, and they all know me. I've had many clients say to me: "Oh, if it's one of your people, totally send them over." I take good care of their children, and my instructors are the same. They know there won't be any gossiping from us.
Although 95% of my clients are high-profile, the Hamptons is not just rich people. I'm a big fan of giving back to the community, so I have two scholarship families that I teach at my parents' pool. Swimming is so essential that it shouldn't just be for the rich and fabulous.
This range has allowed me to realize that a lot of the stereotypes present in my community growing up were false. There was an attitude of putting rich people in a certain category, assuming they were going to treat us badly or like we were less. The older I get, the more I realize that if you treat people with kindness, you'll get treated with kindness back.
I love the families I work with. I've worked with some of them for 10 years, and they've always treated me with the utmost respect and kindness. I've been hugged and given gifts from some very powerful and influential people that, if you looked them up in the media, people might not say such nice things about them.
A software engineer triggered a backlash on the workplace discussion site Blind when he asked for advice on how to ask out an intern. One succinct reply: Don't.
Getty Images
A software engineer asked users on work discussion app Blind for advice on how to date an intern.
Dozens of users criticized the engineer for being a "cringe" creep who lacks self-respect.
The engineer told Insider he was surprised by the backlash, but still plans to ask out the intern.
The engineer, who said he works for Microsoft, said he'd taken an interest in an intern and had even requested a meeting with her to get to know her better. Blind requires users to provide a company-tied email address; Insider couldn't independently verify his employment.
Blind users responded to his question — How can I ask her out? — with nearly 100 comments within a day. One succinct answer to his question: Don't.
The user, who described himself as a "good looking and charismatic" software engineer in his 20s, said he had a meeting with a "cute intern" and told her he would "schedule a follow up meeting" to continue their conversation.
But his true intentions were beyond just a workplace meeting: "I don't know much about the topic but I just wanted to talk with her more," the user wrote, referring to what was discussed during the meeting.
"How can I ask her out?" the Blind user wrote. "I have never met her and I think she is WFH full time. Maybe ask to meet her for lunch on campus?"
In just one day, dozens of Blind users commented on the post to express their disapproval over the engineer's ulterior motives.
"Stay off the interns," another person identified as a Microsoft employee wrote. "Also the way you described yourself is cringe af."
Other users told the engineer to "be better," "stop being weird,"and "have some respect."
On top of the backlash, some Blind users raised concerns that using a follow-up meeting as an excuse to ask an intern out could potentially count as a human resources violation.
"Your method of scheduling a fake-follow up is flat out harassment," a worker with a Blind account tied to cloud-computing giant Oracle wrote. "Don't ever use any work concept as an advancement on anyone *especially* someone in a lower position than you. It's gross."
When Insider contacted the original poster by direct message for comment, the software engineer said the sheer volume of responses made him reconsider asking the intern out. But after mulling it over, he said he decided he'll still pursue her in a way that, he said, would be "workplace-appropriate and amicable for both of us."
He wouldn't share his name with Insider, but said he does work for Microsoft. Microsoft didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Blind lets people post anonymously, so names aren't tied to the posts.
"Love is such a powerful chemical," the engineer told Insider. "I have a really strong feeling that she will accept my request to get to know each other outside of the workplace and I am praying that a romantic relationship will form between us before she completes her internship and returns to her home state to finish college."
In fact, workplace romances seemed to have risen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a 2022 report on the topic, the Society for Human Resource Management found that 33% of the 550 US workers surveyed said they were currently or previously involved in a workplace romance with their peers or superiors — 6 percentage points higher than before the pandemic began.
As for dating an intern, people on Blind didn't see that ending well, at least according to one user whose account is tied to North American Bancard, a payment processing firm.
"If you need a job, Microsoft will have an open position soon," the person quipped.
The US is performing much better than many other wealthy nations when comparing economic growth and inflation rates.
The US had the highest GDP growth since the start of the pandemic among the G7 countries, an informal group of industrialized democracies.
This data further suggests the US is not heading toward a recession.
Though many Americans are still feeling the effects of higher prices, the US economy is performing much better than many other wealthy countries.
Compared to the G7 countries, an informal group of industrialized democracies, the US has the highest gross domestic product growth over the last three years while also seeing inflation come down faster than most of those other wealthy countries.
The US came in well above the other G7 countries in terms of GDP growth since fourth quarter 2019, or right before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the OECD. The US grew 5.3% over the period, while Canada grew 3.5% and Italy 2.4%. Germany and the UK were both in the negatives.
The latest release from the Commerce Department showed that the US grew at a 2% annualized rate for first quarter 2023, showing that the economy is still growing at a pretty decent pace.
And despite last year's inflation spike, that best-in-class economic growth has been happening alongside more modest price increases than in the other rich countries. The US has been doing a lot better on official inflation than most of the G7, as measured by comparing inflation rates as measured by each country.
However, a recent analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisors suggests an even better picture for inflation in the US. When looking at harmonized inflation, which which compensated for differences in the methods each country uses to calculate inflation, the US surpassed even Japan, peaking earlier and falling sooner than the rest of the G7 and currently enjoying the lowest inflation rate among the wealthy democracies.
Even when taking out food and energy prices, which were especially elevated in Europe due to the invasion of Ukraine, the US came in below the other G7 countries. The US's peak core inflation early last year was lower than that of Germany and the UK last month.
The US Consumer Price Index in May showed inflation was at 4% year over year, declining substantially from its over 9% peak last summer. This still remains above the nation's 2% inflation target.
Despite this data, "inflation going forward remains considerably uncertain across all G7 nations, including the US," the CEA wrote.
This data further signaled that the US is not heading toward a recession, a topic on many Americans' minds. But despite the US's outperformance on GDP and inflation, many Americans are still worried about the nation's economy.
Despite a jump in June, consumer sentiment is still around the levels of the Great Recession, suggesting Americans are still worried about a possible recession. Falling real wages and still-high prices have continued hurting millions of Americans, despite data showing a strong labor market and slowing inflation.
However, the labor market slowed drastically in June, with 209,000 nonfarm payroll jobs added. Job growth in May and April was heavily revised downward, suggesting the job market was not as hot as it seemed.
The degree of improvement in consumer attitudes will be determined by developments in labor markets, Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, told Insider.
"Consumer spending has been supported thus far by really strong incomes, really strong labor markets, and if that remains the case, I think we're going to continue seeing this trend," Hsu said. "But if we see unemployment creep up, or if the inflation slowdown starts to reverse and come back again, I think all bets are off."
Elon Musk and staff from Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory.
Tesla/Handout via REUTERS
Tesla is laying off some staff at the Shanghai Gigafactory, Bloomberg reported.
That comes just five weeks after Elon Musk said their hard work "warms my heart."
Musk visited the factory late at night as he finished a tour of China which included meetings with government officials.
Tesla is laying off some staff at its Gigafactory in Shanghai, Bloomberg reported, five weeks after Elon Musk praised them.
Musk visited the Shanghai Gigafactory at the end of May as part of a two-day visit to China, which also included meetings with senior government officials and a lavish 16-course meal.
"Thank you for being here late at night," he began. "It's been incredibly impressive how you have been able to overcome so many difficulties and so many challenges."
"I just want to let you know, it warms my heart," Musk said, tapping his chest before making a fist pump.
But just over a month after Musk's visit, some of those workers have lost their jobs, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The precise number of people who've been laid off is unspecified and some of these employees have been given the option to transfer to another part of the factory, these sources said. Insider reached out to Tesla for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Bloomberg reports that Tesla began notifying battery-production staff that they would be laid off earlier this week. That department makes up less than 1,000 of the Gigafactory's 20,000 staff, per Reuters.
The reason for these layoffs is also not clear. According to data from local trade group – the China Passenger Car Association – which was cited by CNN, deliveries from Tesla's Shanghai factory more than doubled in the second quarter of 2023 and accounted for over half of its global sales.
Six weeks before Musk's visit in May, the Shanghai plant came into the news after some staff took to social media to complain that they had their performance bonuses unfairly cut, Reuters reported.
But it's already drawing criticism from the right.
On Thursday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on Twitter that she's "definitely sure Threads will be the same Marxist style social media experience that [Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg] usually offers," sharing a screenshot from another Twitter user that appears to show a content warning on Donald Trump Jr.'s profile on the new platform.
"This account has repeatedly posted false information that was reviewed by independent fact-checkers or went against our Community Guidelines," reads the warning, the authenticity of which could not immediately be verified.
Insider has reached out to Meta to confirm whether Trump's account includes the content warning, and for their response to Greene's criticism.
—Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) July 6, 2023
The Georgia Republican added that the "Marxist style social media experience" would entail "social experimentation serving Big Pharma, the Intelligence Community, and DEI Initiatives to strengthen corporate stocks supporting garbage DEI issues and steal elections."
After launching late on Wednesday, the app — a text-based micro-blogging site largely modeled after Twitter — had already garnered 10 million sign-ups in its first seven hours, according to Zuckerberg.
In criticizing Threads right out of the gate, Greene is drawing on long-standing antipathies on the right towards both Meta and Zuckerberg.
Conservatives have long argued that the platform is biased against them, and have been critical of its content moderation decisions, including its two-year-long suspension of former President Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol.
Some have also claimed that Zuckerberg is engaged in an effort to influence American elections, pointing to more than $400 million that Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, made ahead of the 2020 election to nonprofit groups that issued grants to state and local governments for election administration during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leonardo DiCaprio attends Netflix's "Don't Look Up" premiere in December 2021 in New York City.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Americans named Leonardo DiCaprio the most trustworthy climate authority in an online survey.
Celebrities can unite people in a way that politicians and scientists can't, researchers said.
Only 2.8% of TV and film scripts produced between 2015 and 2020 included any climate-related terms.
This article is part of Insider's weekly newsletter on sustainability. Sign up here.
The climate crisis and the movie "Titanic" have at least one thing in common: They've been the subject of passionate debates for decades. (I'm firmly in the Jack could've survived camp.)
Now they also share a main star.
In an online survey, Americans named Leonardo DiCaprio the most trustworthy famous authority on climate change and other environmental issues. The National Research Group, a Hollywood consultancy, conducted the poll of about 1,500 US residents in June.
The firm asked adults ages 18 to 64 to name the public figure or celebrity they trusted the most on sustainability. DiCaprio was the top answer, followed by the climate activist Greta Thunberg, former Vice President Al Gore, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and President Joe Biden. The poll was weighted to reflect factors such as age, race, gender, and income.
"I think that really speaks to how in an era of strong political polarization, celebrities are one of the few unifying forces in American culture," Fergus Navaratnam-Blair, the research director of the National Research Group's global marketing team, told Insider. "They can bring people together in a way politicians, and even scientists, cannot. Science has also become so politicized not just because of climate change, but also because of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic."
Navaratnam-Blair said there were pros and cons associated with celebrities playing an influential role in the climate discourse. If Hollywood stars get people talking about the crisis, that can be a good thing. But celebrities often consider how advocacy will affect their personal brand, so they may shy away from taking a stand on climate policies that are controversial so they don't risk alienating fans. Endorsement deals can also raise conflicts of interest.
For his part, DiCaprio's environmental activism dates to 1998, when he launched a foundation that reported awarding at least $100 million in grants as of 2019 to global projects aimed at combating the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. That year, DiCaprio's foundation merged with two other groups and was renamed Earth Alliance. BuzzFeed documented 17 times DiCaprio used his platform to urge climate action.
Over the years, the Academy Award winner has also been criticized for his air travel, including taking gas-guzzling private jets to receive environmental awards, though he flew commercial to the 2021 UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Page Six reported.
In 2021, DiCaprio starred in "Don't Look Up," a film that satirizes how powerful politicians, corporations, and the media have responded to the climate crisis. DiCaprio and his costar Jennifer Lawrence play astronomers desperately trying to get people to do something about a comet hurtling toward Earth, to no avail.
The film is part of a recent shift in how the climate crisis is portrayed on TV and in movies, Navaratnam-Blair said. "Don't Look Up," the action-thriller "How to Blow Up a Pipeline," and the show "Extrapolations" all identify clear villains, from tech billionaires and poll-obsessed politicians to fossil-fuel executives and a media that doesn't treat the crisis with urgency.
Compare that to "An Inconvenient Truth," the 2006 documentary that ended with Gore calling for personal action such as buying energy-efficient light bulbs and cutting down on unnecessary travel.
Navaratnam-Blair said the National Research Group's findings suggested that people who viewed stories featuring climate villains were more likely to support more-drastic actions, such as disruptive protests, than those who hadn't seen these types of shows and movies.
Yet there aren't many fictional climate stories on TV or in movies. An analysis of more than 37,400 scripts produced between 2015 and 2020 found that only 2.8% included any climate-related terms.
"San Francisco has become an anything-goes city — but not in a happy-go-lucky way," Lisa Mirza Grotts said.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
In this as-told-to essay, Lisa Grotts describes leaving San Francisco after years of loving it.
The crime and disorder she saw made it hard to live there and make it hard to visit now.
She never saw herself leaving the city but has no regrets about moving.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation withLisa Mirza Grotts, 60, a former San Francisco resident who now lives in Healdsburg, California. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I moved to San Francisco in 1984. My husband and I loved our city for many years, but we sold our home and moved 70 miles away to Healdsburg, California, in November 2021. We had been spending time there during the pandemic, going back and forth to the city, and it sealed the deal for us: We wanted to move permanently.
I never thought I'd leave the city, but it's a simpler lifestyle for us. We can spread out; we grow our own vegetables.
A major issue has been Proposition 47, a 2014 law that recategorized nonviolent offenses and raised the felony shoplifting threshold.
I worked in politics in San Francisco for many years, including for a city supervisor and as the director of protocol for former mayor Willie Brown. So I've not only been a resident, but I've been on the inside to see how things work.
The disorder made it hard to live there — and makes it hard to visit now
The city feels broken, because it seems like there are no consequences for anything.
I went into a major chain clothing store recently and saw a couple walking around wearing puffer coats stuffed with clothes. Every security bell and whistle went off when they left, and I said to the security guard, "You're just going to let them run loose?" He said, "I hate this city."
A tent city in San Francisco in Grotts' former neighborhood.
Courtesy of Lisa Grotts
Before we moved away, my husband and I walked into a Safeway one night and saw two guys with switchblades. We had someone die from a drug overdose in the park across the street from our house. In Union Square, which is San Francisco's retail haven, some stores give out brown paper bags to cover shopping bags so people don't get robbed. I stopped wearing my engagement ring out.
We finally decided we couldn't do it anymore. I can think of 20 other families that have also left the Bay Area.
I never thought I'd see myself leaving the city, but I'm comfortable in my new world
Healdsburg is a small town of about 11,000 people in wine country. It's very Hallmark. We don't have to worry about our cars getting broken into. I don't miss that, or the traffic.
I now work as an etiquette expert and can Zoom with my clients from anywhere. My husband works as a managing director and either meets his clients virtually or travels to see them.
Now that I'm not a San Francisco taxpayer, I don't have to complain about what goes on. I can come to the city to see friends or go to dinner, and we're back home in Healdsburg for the 10 p.m. news.
I enjoy my former city a lot more now — because I can go home.
Did you leave San Francisco recently? Or do you have a moving story to share? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.
The inside of Russian President Vladimir Putin's armored train includes a lavish dining room (left) and a beauty treatment room (right), the Dossier Center found.
The train, which cost at least 6.8 billion rubles to make, is equipped with a cinema, spa, and gym.
It also has a beauty room that includes anti-aging machines, the report said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's luxury armored train is fitted with a beauty room, anti-aging machines, and a gym, according to a new report.
Several photos and blueprints of the train were published in a joint investigation by the Dossier Center, CNN, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, and Norddeutscher Rundfunk on Wednesday.
The media outlets cited intelligence documents, interviews with former officials, and at least 25,500 internal documents belonging to Zircon Service, the company that has been servicing the train for decades.
The train cost taxpayers at least 6.8 billion rubles ($74 million), the report said, adding that upkeep and maintenance costs around 1.45 billion rubles ($15.8 million) a year.
The train is made up of 22 carriages, though not all of them are always used at the same time, the investigation found.
Eight of them are technical carriages, which house communication centers, satellite equipment, and a diesel power station.
The other cars are fitted with restaurants, a cinema, and a lavish dining room as well as a Turkish hammam steam room and a beauty room, the report said.
The beauty room includes a massage bed.
The Dossier Center
The beauty room, which is sound-proof, has everything from "anti-aging machines" to "firming emulsion", and "cherry blossom" facial masks, per the reports. Also on board is equipment for life-saving emergencies, such as a ventilator and defibrillator, and a patient monitor.
Another car has been turned into a gym, which is equipped with a press bench, a hyperextension machine, and dumbbells weighing up to eight kilograms, the report said.
Putin's security team, the Presidential Security Service (SBP), also specifically requested that the gym includes exercise equipment for "training thigh muscles," the report added.
A Turkish hammam is attached to Putin's fitness carriage.
The Dossier Center
Rumors of Putin's supposed obsession with health and how he looks have long existed in Russia.
Reports of him having plastic surgery first surfaced in 2010 after he was spotted with a huge blue-and-yellow bruise around his eye during a meeting in Kyiv, The Guardian reported
The reports forced Putin's spokesperson to issue a denial, telling reporters at the time: "It's probably just how the light fell. The prime minister is tired," the outlet reported.
The gym is equipped with exercise machines that focus on "training thigh muscles," according to The Dossier Center.
The Dossier Center
Putin also specifically requested a special communications system on his train, which allows him to watch television without interruption as it moves through tunnels, the latest investigation found.
It is always manned by dozens of employees who are expected to undergo quarantine before working on the train when Putin is present.
"People are always ready ... so that they are already 'clean' and can go with the president when he's onboard," Gleb Karakulov, the former captain of the Federal Guard Service — a group tasked with protecting Russia's highest-ranking officials — told the Dossier Center earlier this year.
This appears to be standard procedure for Putin, who started taking extreme measures to isolate himself during the COVID-19 pandemic — and apparently hasn't stopped.
A report published in June 2020 found that he built a special disinfection tunnel in his palace in Novo-Ogaryovo that all visitors had to pass through.
The dining room features a long table and velvet chairs.
The Dossier Center
Putin is not only paranoid about his health, but also his security. The armored train runs on a secret railway network that includes parallel lines and stations near his residences around Russia. This was previously reported by the Russian investigative outlet Proekt.
But the latest investigation details just how well protected the train is, finding that everything from the walls, doors, and windows are bulletproof.
The beauty room in Russian President Vladimir Putin's train features anti-aging machines.
The Dossier Center
The Federal Guard Service's press department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Karakulov previously told the Dossier Center that the train also has a secret timetable so that it can move around inconspicuously.
Another alternative to traditional five-day weeks, however, is starting to gain support among both employers and employees: working nine days in every 10.
Hays, a UK-based recruitment firm, surveyed 3,483 employers and 5,370 professionals in the UK between April and May 2023, and found that the bi-weekly solution was largely viewed positively across respondents, according to a press release viewed by Insider.
This would see workers clock in nine days with one day off for every two work weeks, effectively working an average of four-and-a-half days per week.
Some 68% of professionals surveyed would be keen to move to a different organization that offered nine working days in 10, Hays' research found. This increased to 72% for younger professionals between the ages 20 and 39.
Around 28% of employers surveyed have already implemented or are planning to introduce the alternative work week — 32% of which are large companies with over 1,000 employees.
"Our research shows that professionals are keen to embrace different ways of working, as flexibility and work-life balance continue to be important considerations for individuals today," Gaelle Blake, head of permanent appointments at Hays UK and Ireland said in the press release.
"Although only a small number of organisations are currently offering employees a four-day work week, a nine-day fortnight could be a good alternative which would take less of a structural shift and is already being implemented, or considered, by more than a quarter of employers."
Interest around the four day work week has peaked in the past few years as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated demand for flexibility and work-life balance.
61 companies in the UK took part in a four-day work week trial in 2022, and all but five said they plan to keep the policy in place.
Of the 2,900 employees involved, researchers found that fewer workers quit or took sick days during the trial.
Generally hesitations around the four day work week center on reduced efficiency and productivity, but working nine days in 10 could offset some of these issues while maintaining work-life balance.
Agris Tamanis left the tech industry to teach at a high school.
Agris Tamanis
Agris Tamanis cofounded Printful, a billion-dollar print-on-demand company, in 2013 in Latvia.
In 2020 he left to teach computer programming at his hometown's high school.
He said he felt burned out but found teaching more rewarding than tech.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Agris Tamanis, the 53-year-old cofounder of the Latvian unicorn company Printful. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
In 2020, a year before the company I cofounded would be valued at $1 billion, I returned home to Cesis in Latvia to start my new job as a programming teacher at the local school.
I'd spent decades building businesses. Now I had to build trust with a classroom of teenagers to whom I was just another teacher.
Back in 2004, I became known for cofounding Draugiem, a Latvian social network that reached 1 million active users in three years. This was over half the population of Latvia.
We launched Printful, Latvia's first unicorn, in the early 2010s
Having tasted success, my cofounder and I started to experiment with new business ideas. In 2013, we launched Printful, a print-on-demand service for small businesses.
There were plenty of skeptics who thought we just printed T-shirts, but we saw the potential. We'd developed a unique, scalable technology, and there was growing global demand in the nascent e-commerce industry.
Printful became Latvia's first unicorn — a startup valued at $1 billion — eight years later, in May 2021.
I developed the first version of the printing software, helped build the core team, and, in my free time, packed orders at the warehouse.
Once the business started to show traction, I stepped back from daily operations. I hired people more intelligent than I was and let them get to work.
Hiring programmers highlighted the need for new tech talent
I still kept my finger on the company's growth and participated in strategic decision-making. My day-to-day focus was on Printful's work environment, culture, and employees.
Hiring was always a major struggle. There was a catastrophic shortage of programmers, and it wasn't just Printful's problem. The whole IT industry, in Latvia and beyond, was suffering from a tech talent shortage.
When the world was taken over by COVID-19, my team switched to remote work. My job taking care of our office and work environment became somewhat irrelevant.
At the same time, a school in my rural hometown had been searching for a computer-programming teacher for nearly two years. Some kids wanted to learn programming, but there were no local teachers.
A friend suggested I fill the position. I'd already returned to my hometown, so I agreed spontaneously.
Leaving the startup world for teaching was fun but challenging
I decided to temporarily step back from Printful to become a full-time teacher until the school found someone else. I worked as a full-time teacher for five semesters, from September 2020 until this January.
The teaching job was challenging but exciting.
With every new class I had to gain the teenagers' respect and cooperation. Then we'd become a team learning things together. If I didn't know something, we'd all Google the answer; students who understood things faster were my right-hand people and helped others get ahead.
Despite enjoying this job, after 2 1/2 years, I started to feel tired and burned out.
Leading a classroom demanded more energy than entrepreneurship, and coming to school was very different than coming to the office.
For one, I couldn't just show up — I had to prepare for every class to keep my students interested. I was responsible for getting these high schoolers excited about programming.
I'd set up interactive lights and blinds in the classroom that the kids could control by writing scripts. It was fun but also took up a lot of my free time. I'd spend evenings and weekends planning assignments. At one point I'd work 50 or more hours a week.
I realized how tough teaching is
The work of preparing for classes was all on me. Even in the early days of Printful I had cofounders who had my back. As a teacher, being a one-man team was exhausting.
Teaching also required me to change my lifestyle. At Printful, we had flexible working hours. At the school, I had a fixed schedule, something I hadn't had for decades.
I was drained, but I couldn't just quit and leave kids without programming classes again. My company and I found a suitable replacement candidate and agreed with the school to pay two-thirds of his salary. Meanwhile, I still work as a substitute teacher.
I stopped teaching full time in January, but I haven't returned to Printful either.
I want to be available to substitute whenever necessary; I felt that going back to business full time would make it impossible. Entrepreneurship is also demanding. Teaching is exhausting, but it brings me more joy than entrepreneurship ever did.
Teaching changed the way I approach business
Teaching reminded me of what excites me the most about business: the challenges of starting new ventures rather than navigating established ones.
Every time I entered a new classroom, it was like starting a new business. I didn't know the kids, they didn't know me, and we didn't know what to expect from each other. The excitement and challenge of the unknown made me look forward to going to work.
I'm back to experimenting with new business ideas again.
My teaching experience is helping with this work. I've learned to communicate complex ideas more clearly, so that a high schooler can understand. That makes it easier to bring my business ideas to life.
People demonstrate outside of the Supreme Court on June 30 after the high court axed President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
After the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, scammers are taking advantage.
The Federal Trade Commission issued a notice warning against giving away student loan information.
Student loan payments are set to resume in October, though there could be some flexibility for borrowers.
Federal and state officials are warning about scammers taking advantage of uncertainty around the future of student loans after the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling striking down President Joe Biden's forgiveness plan.
"If you have federal student loans, you've probably heard about the Supreme Court decision and know that repayments are restarting in October," the Federal Trade Commission wrote in a notice after the decision. "But you might also be hearing from scammers who take advantage of confusion around big news like this."
The FTC provided several suggestions to avoid getting bilked by scammers:
Don't pay for help accessing student loans as "there's nothing a company can do that you can't do yourself for free."
Avoid giving out your Federal Student Aid login
Don't trust anyone promising debt relief or loan forgiveness, even if they claim they're with the Department of Education
The Federal Communications Commission has also warned Americans about any offer that directs to "any website outside of StudentAid.gov." and if a "caller/texter asks for your Federal Student Aid ID, bank account number, or credit card information."
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the high court's 6-3 ruling that held Biden and his administration overstepped their authority by proposing a nearly $400 billion loan forgiveness plan rooted in a 9/11-era law. Roberts said a program of such sweeping magnitude required more explicit congressional approval. Biden later responded that he will try again, this time under a 1965 law.
In the meantime, payments on federal student loans are set to resume in October. Insider previously reported that the Education Department is looking for ways to provide some flexibility for borrowers are payments continue after a lengthy COVID-19 pandemic-related pause.
It's not just federal officials that are taking notice of the scammers. New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella also warned of an increase in scams following the court's decision.
"Scam calls and texts often use broadly publicized current events to add legitimacy and familiarity to their fraudulent schemes," Formella and FCC wrote in a joint alert. "Scammers might use these calls or texts to pressure consumers to make a payment or provide private information."
Student loan-related scams aren't the only scams on the rise as of late. In June, the FTC released a "consumer alert" warning Medicare users to avoid giving out their Medicare numbers over the phone. The commission said that Medicare fraud and abuse cost the government around $60 billion each year.
Madison Taylor is a millennial living in Las Vegas and working in marketing.
She works for a French company because she prefers its policies on travel, education, and time off.
Her boss' support of work-life balance was something she'd never experienced before.
This is an as-told-to essay based on an interview with Madison Taylor, a millennial living in Las Vegas. She works remotely for a US office of the Paris marketing company Publicis Groupe. Taylor said she appreciates its "French policies" and the ability to work from home. The interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.
I used to work in politics, where work consumed my days and nights.
My career was rewarding and I felt like I was making an impact on everyday lives. But it was also addicting, and I got stuck in the cycle.
People constantly told me, "Everything you're doing is so important." I started to put so much pressure on myself to keep going. My roles, often requiring 70 hours of work each week, made me neglect every other aspect of my life.
After multiple jobs with political campaigns and nonprofits, I realized that life is not just about work. A job should be something that works for us.
The realization pushed me to move to France for three months — a country I've loved since I studied there in college. When I returned to the US, it was a coincidence that a friend of mine was working for a French company, and they referred me to an open role at the company's Chicago office.
My initial idea was to start with the US branch and eventually internally transfer to the Paris office. Visas and work laws have made transferring more difficult than I expected, but the role has come with a lot of benefits in the meantime.
My boss's support of work-life balance was something I'd never experienced
Taylor says the company support has improved her mental health.
courtesy of Taylor
After my political career, I knew I wanted a job that gave me more flexibility. But even after the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult for me to find a fully remote opportunity.
When I found my current role, I knew it would be a great fit: I'd earn $80,000 working remotely while still having 401(k) benefits and healthcare, similar to what American companies typically provide. I also have extensive time off and frequent holidays, which many French companies expect.
There's so much support from the company; my mental health has never been better.
Everyone at the company knows that you are not on this planet to work. I've never had a boss who wanted to give me time off before, but our managers truly do respect our work-life balance.
I actually cried a little bit on my first day because my boss told me, "We're not out here saving lives — log off."
My new job offers benefits I've never seen before, such as six-week travel opportunities
Taylor takes advantage of flexible policies to travel.
courtesy of Taylor
Another workplace benefit I'd never had before is continuing education. This company allows employees to take classes relevant to their job or field and will reimburse them for a portion of the cost.
The company also offers a policy called "Work Your World," with which employees can work from anywhere in the world for six weeks every year, and the company helps facilitate an apartment exchange with others in the program.
My home base is in Las Vegas, but I used the work-anywhere program, company holidays, and time-off policies to visit Canada, France, and seven US states last year.
It's been hard to tell myself that it's OK to take that time away from work because I'm so conditioned to think otherwise. But in reality, we're not just here to work our lives away, so I just keep telling my brain to shut up.
I finally don't feel like work is my first priority in life, and it's a freeing feeling.
This story is part of a series called "Millennial World," which seeks to examine the state of the generation around the globe.
With the return-to-office debate heating up, Insider polled readers on LinkedIn to see whether they like going into the office on Mondays, Fridays, or neither.
Data on office occupancy rates also shows Mondays and Fridays are the most vacant days of the week.
We asked Insider readers on LinkedIn to tell us whether they agree. Here's what they said.
With major companies like Amazon, Disney, Salesforce, and Meta trying to wrest reluctant workers back to the office, the corporate world is grappling with a big question: Are we ever returning to the office five days a week?
Meanwhile, a report from Placer.ai, a firm that tracks mobile-phone data from 800 sites across the US, found that those who come into the office are indeed more likely to do so in the middle of the week. They appear to be avoiding the workplace on Mondays and Fridays, according to the data.
Insider asked readers on our LinkedIn page if they're going into the office on Mondays and Fridays, Mondays or Fridays, or neither.
LinkedIn
So Insider polled readers via LinkedIn to see if they agreed with the stats. We asked: "Given the choice, do you go into the office on Mondays and Fridays?"
As of Monday, just over 16,000 people had already responded, and the results — not scientific, of course, but an interesting snapshot — corroborate Roth's contention and the Placer.ai data.
A little less than half of the respondents said they wouldn't go into the office on either Mondays or Fridays. Another 29% said they would go in on either a Monday or a Friday — but not both. And only 22% said they would go in on both Mondays and Fridays, given the choice.
Why do some people choose to come in on a Monday, a Friday — or both of the days?
An academic administrator wrote that "the commute is easier on both days because less people work those days, it's more peaceful in coffee shops as well."
Steven Roth, the chairman of one of New York's biggest private landlords, Vornado, said Mondays in the office are "touch-and-go" and Fridays are likely "dead forever."
Misha Friedman/Getty Images
And an academic based in the UK agreed on the ease of a Friday commute: "Love working Fridays ... nice and quiet and commute is easy. Also sense of relaxation as the weekend approaches," he wrote. "Hate Monday working though — for the converse reasons."
Robert Parlaman, who works as a Facilities and human resources coordinator at Levolor, a company that manufactures window coverings headquartered in Atlanta, told Insider via LinkedIn message that he never had the option to work from home even during COVID-19.
On the one hand, the mandate has helped him feel more connected his job, he said. "I go into the office Monday-Friday. I enjoy being at the office and feel more connected to the company I work for when I'm in the office," he wrote in the comments section of Insider's poll on LinkedIn.
Offices are less than half full across the US
City
Wed 6/14
Wed 6/21
New York metro
48.1%
50%
San Jose metro
39.4%
38.1%
San Francisco metro
44.4%
45.4%
Chicago metro
54.7%
54.0%
Washington D.C. metro
46.9%
46.3%
Philadelphia metro
40.9%
41.2%
Houston metro
60.6%
60.8%
Austin metro
58.3%
58.2%
Dallas metro
54.5%
54.4%
Average of 10
49.7%
49.8%
Los Angeles metro
49.6%
49.7%
Source: Kastle Systems building swipe data from 2,600 buildings in 136 cities
But in an ideal world — or at least one with more choices — he'd like to go in just four days a week. "I would choose Monday-Thursday in-office, and the office CLOSED on Fridays," he said. "4-Day work weeks over 5-Day Hybrid schedules," he suggested.
A four-day workweek seems a long way away for most US workers, but still less than half are coming into offices.
Kastle Systems — which tracks when employees swipe their badges at office entrances — found that the average office occupancy rates across the week for the country's 10 major metro areas were just under 50% for the weeks beginning June 14 and June 21.
Have more thoughts to share on returning to the office? We want to hear from you. Contact reporter Lakshmi Varanasi atlvaranasi@insider.comor on encrypted messaging app Signal at 262-408-1907.
Some suburban women have gravitated to Gov. Ron DeSantis' 2024 campaign over school reopenings, per CNN.
DeSantis pushed for full in-person instruction among children earlier than officials in many states.
Some of these women have jokingly called the governor "Daddy DeSantis" and "Freedom Daddy," CNN reported.
When schools across the US shut down in March 2020 during the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic, many parents began to wonder how long their children would be learning from home.
Months later, when it was clear that COVID-19 would be an enduring health issue that would impact the way students would interact with their friends and family for years to come, many officials and localities sought to keep remote learning as an option for schoolchildren.
But some officials, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, pushed to reopen schools for in-person learning despite a surge in COVID-19 infections in the state — a stance that became a divisive issue for parents across the country, with many railing against their local school boards over decisions not to fully reopen schools.
And as DeSantis launched his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, some suburban women — including a swath of women who have backed Democratic presidential nominees in the past — are keen on a presidential campaign by the Florida governor, according to CNN.
Vanessa Steinkamp, a Texas teacher and mother of three, told CNN that it was critical for schools to reopen in a timely manner, as she felt vulnerable students would be left behind academically without in-person instruction.
She watched DeSantis push for in-person learning early in the pandemic, and in the spring of 2021, remarked to the network that she was firmly behind the governor's position.
"If DeSantis were to run tomorrow, he would win," Steinkamp told CNN at the time. "All he has to do is run on opening schools."
Recently, a circle of like-minded friends Steinkamp amassed over the school reopening issue told CNN that they had jokingly referred to DeSantis as "Daddy DeSantis" and "Freedom Daddy."
Louisiana state Attorney General Jeff Landry said the Biden administration had violated the First Ammendment.
AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte, File
A federal judge on Tuesday limited Biden officials' contacts with social platforms, per The NYT.
Two GOP attorneys general argued that the administration had violated the First Amendment.
The ruling would be a major setback in federal officials' efforts to combat misinformation online.
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked key Biden administration officials from communicating and meeting with social media companies regarding significant amounts of content on their platforms, which could limit a push to debunk false statements online, according to The New York Times.
The injunction came in response to a lawsuit filed by Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who argued that the government overstepped its authority in pushing social media companies to combat misleading posts that officials believed might spread incorrect information about COVID-19 vaccinations or election results.
Attorneys general Jeff Landry and Andrew Bailey, from Louisiana and Missouri, respectively, said in their filing that the government's actions in seeking to tackle coronavirus-related misinformation were "the most egregious violations of the First Amendment in the history of the United States of America."
In the injunction, US District Court Judge Terry A. Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana — who has not yet made a ruling in the case — wrote that the Republican attorneys general "have produced evidence of a massive effort by Defendants, from the White House to federal agencies, to suppress speech based on its content."
The ruling has dramatic implications for technology companies, which often speak with government officials throughout elections and national emergencies.
In the ruling, Doughty — who was nominated to the bench by former President Donald Trump — carved out several exceptions permitting talks between the government and the companies, which would include officials informing platforms of national security threats, criminal activity, or foreign efforts that could throw an election in the United States.
The ruling is likely to be appealed by the Biden administration, the Times said. The White House and several large tech companies didn't immediately respond to the Times' request for comment.
Here are the reasons Putin gave, how they match with reality, and the other likely reasons why Russia sent its armed forces into an independent, sovereign nation.
A Ukrainian serviceman stands amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 6, 2022.
AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File
Putin sees Ukraine as Russian
Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, before declaring itself an independent country, cementing the move in a referendum days before the USSR collapsed in December 1991.
Stephen Hall, a Russian politics expert at the University of Bath in the UK, said many Russians still hold this view, and that "it isn't just the Kremlin."
Hall said Russia sees Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, as the "mother of Russian cities," and for Putin he can't have that being outside his own country.
Hall added that Russia needs to claim Ukraine in order to back up its argument to being a great power that has existed for millennia.
Without it "Russia can't claim a thousand years of history because Kyiv was already in existence 1,200 years ago, when Moscow was a forest," he said.
A priest takes part in the funeral of 38 pro-Russian soldiers, at a cemetery in Luhansk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, November 11, 2022.
REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
Recreating a Slavic Brotherhood
Fifteen of today's sovereign nations were once part of the Soviet Union, and experts say Russia cares more about Ukraine than nearby Belarus, as well as other former USSR countries in central Asia.
Hall said "Putin's opinion has always been that Ukrainians and Russians are the same people, that they're part of the Slavic Brotherhood of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine."
Belarus is already essentially a Russian puppet state, making a military invasion of it almost pointless, whereas Ukraine has increasingly aligned itself with the West in recent years.
Belarus is also much smaller than Ukraine and Russia is less interested in claiming its history, Professor Brian Taylor, a Russian politics expert at Syracuse University, noted.
Thomas Graham, cofounder of Yale University's Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies program, said Ukraine has been important to the "Russian political imagination for decades, if not centuries."
A former US presidential advisor on Russia, Graham also said that Ukraine's territory aided Russia's economic strength throughout its history, including supplying much of the Russian Empire's coal, steel, and iron from the 19th century.
He added that without Ukraine's Donbas region, "Russia would not have been a great power at the end of the 19th and into the early years of the 20th century."
A Ukrainian police officer takes cover in front of a burning building that was hit in a Russian airstrike in Avdiivka, Ukraine, March 17, 2023.
AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Putin blamed the West
Taylor said the invasion of Ukraine reflects Putin's "grievances that have been brewing for a long time."
For Putin, "Russia has a right to rule Ukraine. Russians and Ukrainians are one nation and one people. They were illegitimately and artificially separated when the Soviet Union collapsed, and he blames the West for trying to pull Ukraine out of Russia's natural friendship," Taylor said.
Hall said the idea that NATO is threatening Russia by expanding towards its borders is "very much part of the Russian propaganda narrative."
He also pointed out that NATO doesn't simply expand, but that countries apply to join, usually motivated by a perceived outside threat. In eastern Europe, that threat often comes from Russia.
Lithuania's prime minister, for example, told Insider in February that her country joined NATO "because of Putin."
But Putin has reversed that excuse and was playing a "blame game," she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin embraces a soldier as he visits a military training center for mobilized reservists in Ryazan, Russia, October 20, 2022.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
A NATO excuse
Putin has used the NATO line to try to convince an international audience who might already have strong misgivings about the Western military alliance, Hall said.
And if Russia can engage with even a minority who feel this way "it creates an electoral voice for Russia to use to try and stop Western engagement," he said.
Hall added that even if NATO was expanding "that doesn't justify what Russia has done in Ukraine."
Ukraine's own ties with NATO deepened after 2014, when pro-Russian forces invaded eastern Ukraine, starting a conflict that continued until the 2022 invasion.
But Taylor said he doesn't see a "coherent explanation" for how NATO's alleged expansion could lead to this war.
Before Finland joined NATO earlier this year, no new countries had joined the alliance since 2004, and even then it was "pretty tiny countries" — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — Taylor noted.
He also said that NATO didn't put additional troops in the region "so it wasn't like the addition of those countries created this military force on Russia's doorstep."
In fact, Taylor said that the US was cutting back on the size of its armed forces in Europe until pro-Russian forces occupied parts of Ukraine in 2014.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Omar Marques/Getty Images
It's all about the 'Nazis'
One of Putin's most frequently claims is that "Nazis" run Ukraine, so Russia must intervene to stop them.
This is despite Ukraine having a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and there being no evidence the country's leadership is controlled by Nazis.
Taylor said there are some who identify with Nazi ideology in Ukraine, but "it's a small group. They've never been politically powerful or important, but they are there."
"But there are also Nazis in Russian politics, there are Nazis in American politics," he said.
The experts said the key to understanding Russia's repeated claim of Ukrainian Nazis is that they use the term differently to the West.
"Russia has a different perception of what Nazism is and what fascism is in general to how we perceive it in the West," Hall said.
"Nazism is Russia-phobia to them. So the Ukrainians are Nazis because they're anti-Russian."
Putin also promotes this Nazi idea to win support in the West, where people have always been "susceptible" to the argument that Ukraine has a Nazi problem, Hall said.
He said Putin's strategy is partly "throw things at the wall and see what sticks."
But really, Putin just wants a legacy
According to Graham, there is no evidence that Putin was under public pressure to invade Ukraine, which suggests at least some of his reasoning was personal.
All three experts said Putin's desire to be revered in history books likely motivated him to attack.
Hall said Putin's anxiety is around "am I going to be a footnote in Russian history or are they going to write books about me like they do Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Stalin."
Taylor agrees, saying that Putin sees himself as "a great historic Russian leader restoring Russian lands, and he was thinking about his legacy as he turned 70."
"What have the great Czars done? They've expanded Russian territory," Graham said.
In this handout photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service in December 2022, Russian soldiers take part in drills at an unspecified location in Belarus.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
Even so, why now?
Even with all of the above, why the invasion happened when it did is an intriguing question. Experts pointed to multiple reasons why Russia invaded in February 2022.
One was the arrival of Zelenskyy, who came to power in 2019 after a career as a comedian and actor. Putin believed that in Zelenskyy "he had someone he could manipulate in Ukraine," Hall said.
Taylor said that during the 2019 election, Zelenskyy was also seen "as the one who was potentially more pro-Russian. He's from a Russian speaking region. His first language was Russian."
But then, in 2021, Ukraine charged one of Putin's closest allies with treason.
Taylor said the arrest of Viktor Medvedchuk made Putin realize "his goal of bringing Ukraine under Russian control peacefully has failed. And so the only option left is the military one."
He also pointed to geopolitical reasons why Putin didn't launch a full invasion sooner.
Part of the reason was US President Donald Trump getting into power. Trump was "very friendly towards Putin, at least in his public language," said Taylor, and also publicly criticized NATO. This meant Putin could wait to see if the alliance would " kind of shatter from within."
But in 2021 President Joe Biden, who was a much stronger proponent of NATO, took office.
Taylor also credits the COVID-19 pandemic, saying Putin "was much more isolated for that two-year period than he normally would have been."
Graham said Putin's recent tendency towards "megalomania" had been "exacerbated" by him being "in extreme isolation."
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with war correspondents in Moscow, June 13, 2023.
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images
Putin saw his chance
Graham believes that Putin also likely saw some opportunities from the state of global politics in 2022.
He noted Zelenskyy had a low approval rating before the invasion, and some squabbling among Ukraine's elite meant Putin thought they likely wouldn't unite against him.
The US' "chaotic" withdrawal from Afghanistan, new leaders of Germany and the UK, and pressure for France's president all meant Putin thought there was no "capable Western leadership" to oppose Russian aggression, he said.