The Washington Post - USA (2022-03-06)

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COLOR OF MONEY

Biden’s plans to help struggling Americans are as wildly

optimistic as a child’s Christmas present list. G3

WORK ADVICE

I survived covid-19, but my career might not. My boss

said I am now off the leadership track. G5

KLMNO

BusineSS

SUNDAY, MARCH 6 , 2022. SECTION G AX FN FS LF PW DC BD PG AA FD HO MN MS SM

BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK

As soldiers stalk an eerily

quiet European city, a young

boy asks a stranger to help

find his mom, while in a

bombed-out building a parent

gives a plush toy to his child

hoping it will provide some

reassurance.

The images evoke scenes in

Kyiv and Kharkiv as the Ukrai-

nian cities face a growing Rus-

sian invasion. But the tableau

in fact comes from “This War

of Mine” — an award-winning

video game from 2014 that has

seen its popularity soar since

Russian President Vladimir

Putin’s troops descended on

the country last week.

The game, from Polish de-

veloper 11 Bit Studios, is help-

ing people in Europe and be-

yond empathize with and even

vicariously experience the

feelings of everyday Ukraini-

ans. It is one of several exam-

ples of cutting-edge immer-

sive technologies — besides

video games, they include a

slick reality-distortion app

and virtual reality — to which

SEE METAVERSE ON G4

Costs of conflict for Ukraine, Russia

BY SUSANNE WENGLE

For many Russian citizens older than about

30, the scenario is painfully familiar: Prices for

nearly all goods are rising, and the value of the

ruble is dropping.

A popular Telegram

group is advising people

to withdraw all their sav-

ings, convert cash into dollars or euros, or buy

“physical assets” such as phones, watches and

cars that can be sold later. Lines are forming at

ATMs and banks, and rumors of where foreign

currency might be available are spreading fast.

Nearly everybody is making frenzied calcula-

SEE RUBLE ON G5

PERSPECTIVE

Regime aims to blunt

public pressure as bread

prices spike, ruble dives

BY ANATOL LIEVEN

It’s time to start thinking about how

President Vladimir Putin might be replaced.

If his invasion of Ukraine continues to go

wrong, it’s very difficult to see how he can

long survive in power.

That in turn means

thinking about the na-

ture of the Russian regime as a whole and

whether it has the capacity to extricate itself

from the yawning pit that Putin and his

closest associates have dug for Russia.

In important respects, the Kremlin’s plan

has already failed. Everything depended on

SEE OLIGARCHS ON G4

PERSPECTIVE

Oligarchs taking a hit,

but stopping Putin

is beyond their means

REUTERS

Customers shop Thursday at an Ikea store in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. The turmoil of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought economic concerns reminiscent of the hyperinflation of the early 1990s.

BY ABHA BHATTARAI

AND ALYSSA FOWERS

It’s become a familiar routine:

Her daughter’s day care is closed,

so Hannah Watland is home with-

out pay.

In the meantime, her expenses

pile up. She owes $500 in rent and

$600 a month for day care,

whether it’s open or not. Her bank

account is down to $20.

“We’ve just barely been scrap-

ing by,” said Watland, who makes

$14 an hour at her retail job in

Rapid City, S.D. “Every day we

don’t work is a lot of money that

isn’t coming in.”

The latest wave of coronavirus

cases has disrupted even the best-

laid child-care arrangements. But

low-income parents have been hit

disproportionately with a double

whammy in recent weeks — los-

ing both child care and income at

much higher rates than their

wealthier counterparts, accord-

ing to The Washington Post’s

analysis of census survey data.

SEE CHILD CARE ON G3

For low earners, no day care o ften means no pay

Analysis of census survey data shows they lost both at higher rates than their wealthier c ounterparts

JESSE BURKE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Kevin Flanagan at home with his kids Meredith and Brian in Seekonk, Mass. Parents like him with

low incomes struggled to earn a living and pay for day care during the winter’s coronavirus surge.

BY CRISTIANO LIMA

It starts as a routine news
segment with an interview with
the head of the local chamber of
commerce. Suddenly, a shot
rings out, startling the two-per-
son crew. As a gunman enters
off-camera, reporter Alison Park-
er reacts to the sound, her jaw
dropping wide. A steady wave of
shots roar as she screams. She
runs, desperately, as the camera
tumbles to the ground. The clip

cuts and the final scene is the

legs of the shooter as he advanc-

es.

The grisly clip was recorded by

videographer Adam Ward on

Aug. 26, 2015, as he and Parker

were fatally shot by a disgruntled

former colleague while reporting

near Roanoke. Broadcast live,

the horrifying footage quickly

went viral, viewed millions of

times on Facebook, YouTube and

other sites. Six years later, it still

SEE PARKER ON G2

Why a father created an

NFT of a deadly video

Andy Parker is fighting to remove social media

posts of the killing of his daughter on live TV

Immersive technologies deliver

an intimate perspective of war