Their fight is our fight.

From Odesa, Ukraine, to Odessa, Texas. From Odesa, Ukraine, to Odessa, Texas. [Mother Jones]( MoJo Reader, I grew up learning to speak Russian. The Cold War was at its height in the early '80s, and my school in Germany offered English as a second language in fifth grade and Russian in ninth. We were caught—though I didn't fully realize it as a bookish punk-rock teen—between two massive powers that might just conclude that a little nuclear war in Europe was the price to pay for global dominance. So, in my overalls and with bangs down to my nose, I marched against NATO, its nuclear missiles, and the superpower leaders who seemed determined to rob my generation of any kind of future. If you had told me that I would make it to middle age, I would not have believed you. I would also not have believed it if you had told me that three-plus decades later, the Cold War would be long gone but a hot war would be raging in the former Soviet Union; that nuclear plants would start to look like the lesser energy evil; or that the conflict between pro-democracy forces and a global authoritarian movement would be threatening the United States' own system of governance. In fact, just typing this all out feels surreal. How the hell did we get here? And where do we go from here? I can't tell you, exactly, right now. The world is upside down. But one thing is crystal clear: There is a direct line from what's happening in Odesa, Ukraine, to what's happening in Odessa, Texas. Undemocratic minority rule, oligarchy, corruption, disinformation, attacks on those who dare tell the truth; these are all challenges we are fighting here at home. They are different, in degree and in substance, from what people in Ukraine and Russia are experiencing, but they are connected. Their fight is our fight—just not in the way that warmongers claim them to be. That's the upshot, and headline, of [my new post that just went up]( where I unpack how the truth is kryptonite for authoritarians in the information war we find ourselves in, and why I'm in awe of the power of independent, reader-supported journalism right now. I hope you'll give it a read, and if you can, that you'll [support Mother Jones' journalism with a donation]( as we get a later-than-expected start on our spring fundraising push. Putin's war didn't start with the in­vasion, and it's not just against Ukraine. It began at least eight years ago, when he launched both his assault on Crimea and his first big offensive in what the British journalist Carole Cadwalladr calls the Great Information War. That offensive was directed against the West, including the United States. What does an information war look like? Look around. It's about disrupting the infrastructure of conversation and poisoning the way people relate to each other. It's about pushing and placing propaganda. It's about attacking the very notion of truth and trying to shut down those who report it. And as for what those attacks on the truth look like as authoritarians consolidate their power, we need only look to Putin's Russia. Last month, a number of Mother Jones readers—you may have been one—got a [front-row seat]( to his war on the press. A quick recap: Meduza is the last and largest site continuing to report the truth in Russia, and it’s also a reader-supported operation like Mother Jones, but with Putin's crackdown, its Russian donors were suddenly cut off. That hits close to home to me, and it was immensely inspiring to help pull together reader-supported newsrooms in the EU and US and help them keep reporting the truth in Russia. Thank you so much to all who pitched in! Putin's media crackdown was predictable, because an informed and outraged citizenry is the greatest threat to autocrats in Russia and beyond. But I didn't expect to see such a stark reminder of how journalism that is made possible by support from a wide community of readers is the most powerful defense against the censors. It is the one thing that can keep Meduza reporting the truth despite the enormous odds. They can defy Putin and continue to reach Russians who desperately need factual, independent journalism, so long as people who care about the truth pitch in and help them scrape by. I often talk in the abstract about how being supported by a community of readers is the most resilient model to pay for real news out there. But to see it help keep Meduza going and see people who value independent reporting across borders step up, that was a whole other level. Before Putin's war on Ukraine, we had been planning to launch a short fundraising push in March. Those plans went out the window because asking you to help Meduza was the right thing to do, and because whenever we kick off an online fundraising drive, I also like to take the time to really dive into the day's headlines and how Mother Jones' journalism can make a difference. It helps me process the news and our work, and it's important to me that our fundraising respects your intelligence, gives you [the full picture]( (at least the best I can do), and lets you decide [if our independent journalism is worth your donation and trust](. Right now, we need to raise about $450,000 to hit our online fundraising budget by the time our (yawn) fiscal year ends on June 30, and it's time to get started. That's more than we can typically raise with a monthlong or so campaign, and it's not enough time to try squeezing in two smaller pushes (like we had originally planned) to come up with the money it takes to keep Mother Jones going. But instead of trying to gin up even more urgency right now by harping on a deadline and specific target, I am just going to leave it at telling you the truth and see if we can make a big dent in that over these next few weeks. I hope you can help. Corrupt leaders the world over can (and will) try to shut the truth down, but like we just saw with Meduza in Russia, when the truth has millions of determined people on its side, you can't shut it down for good. And I can't think of a more powerful or urgent argument for your support of Mother Jones right now: [Please join your fellow MoJo readers and our fierce team and help make our independent journalism strong with a donation if you can](. Thanks for reading, and for everything you do to make Mother Jones what it is. [Monika] Monika Bauerlein, CEO Mother Jones [Donate]( [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. 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