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Reason
Reason
Eugene Volokh

"Happy New Year, My Son"

A song released Dec. 20 by the anti-war Russian singer Maksim Pokrovsky (who now lives in the U.S.); the two actors are prominent Russian actors who have also fled Russia after signing a statement opposing the war. The video struck me as much more effective, because it is much subtler, than the video of his "Ukraine," and the lyrics are also subtler than some of his earlier, more directly satirical (though often very funny) work.

The music may at first come across as emotionally out of step with the topic—the death of a young Russian soldier in the war—but I expect that was a deliberate choice, and I think a very effective one. More broadly, in the words of the group itself, "yes, it doesn't sound particularly elevated, but that's very important."

You can read a translation of the lyrics by clicking the "Show more" link here, but there are also English subtitles in the video itself. The video has 2.5M YouTube views over the last month, so I think it struck a chord.

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