Russian disinformation around Ukraine set the stage for the Kremlin’s election meddling here. Clinton saw it coming, but couldn't stop it.

By insisting on a pro-Kremlin agenda, and trying in vain to halt all inquiries into the Russian meddling in the election that brought him to power, Trump undermines his own political position, inviting further investigation of his financial dealings and opening the possibility of charges of obstruction of justice. Not a good time for policy, or those trying to communicate it.

Odessa may not exactly leap to mind as a hotbed for book lovers – it is perhaps better known globally for its "mail-order bride" industry. And although it lacks the literary pedigree of St Petersburg, Edinburgh, Paris or Tangier, it has a storied past as a stopping point for Europe-trotting writers and intellectuals.

Society often encourages women in Ukraine to take the “traditional values” path in life: Get married, have children and take care of their breadwinning husbands. Those who choose to live differently, often independently, encounter judgmental attitudes or worse.

In the case of shared history, there is no way to suggest an appropriate narrative of any historical event that would be satisfactory for all counterparts. Digital rewriting, reevaluation, or reassertion of history is inevitability problematic. The only way to eliminate such conflicts and disconnect raised on social media is to emphasize “shared understanding and mutual openness.”

Some spokespersons have it tough. Think Sean Spicer trying to defend Donald Trump, Ron Ziegler defending Richard Nixon, maybe Dmitry Peskov fronting for Vladimir Putin. But the kind of tough job facing a spokesman that we should really respect is the one performed for the past three years by Col. Andriy Lysenko, spokesman of the Ukrainian armed forces. He comes daily to the Ukraine Crisis Media Center in downtown Kyiv and reports on-the-record on the state of the war in Ukraine’s eastern regions.