Follow the Ukraine war from an AAPI perspective

National Public Radio has sent Tim Mak to Ukraine as part of its news team.

OPINION

It is hard to imagine anyone is feeling detached from the news coming out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but I imagine there are quite a few who still are wondering what it all means to the all-important "me."

On a macro-scale, the war being waged there could determine the future of democracy throughout the world. Free nations -- officially and unofficially -- sending supplies and weapons to the Ukrainians, uniting against Russia's aggression.

On the more human level individual stories are heartbreaking and inspirational at the same time: the anguish of family separations, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the fighting leaving behind homes and the invalid, a text message from a Russian soldier bewildered at being called a fascist, to his mother moments before he was killed, old men and teenagers after seeing to the safety of their family,  are heading back into the fray, being given assault rifles to fight off the invaders .

Following the war from afar is made more difficult because the disinformation campaign from both sides, clutter up the Internet. Seasoned journalists, forced to meet deadlines, are reporting the rumors with caveats to their veracity, making it difficult to find reliable news sources.

But if you want that AAPI angle, (because we are everywhere and we are as professional as anybody else), I've been following the Twitter account of journalist Tim Mak is a good start -- @timkmak. He's on the ground traveling throughout Ukraine, reporting online and filing stories.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: If you are aware of any other AAPI journos who are in Ukraine, let the Twitterverse know about them. #RepresentationMatters.)

Mak is an Investigative Correspondent for National Public Radio, where he has worked since 2018. In that role, he focuses on accountability journalism and enterprise reporting. He appears regularly on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

For 13 years, he has covered politics, national security, Congress and nonprofit organizations. During that time, he has worked for a variety of publications, including The Daily Beast and Politico. His foreign reporting has taken him to South Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Japan and Hong Kong.

Mak's feature writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and the L.A. Times, among other prominent outlets.

His first book, published November 2021, is titled 'Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA.'

Mak holds a B.A. from McGill University, where he graduated as valedictorian. He is also a former EMT who worked on the front lines of the COVID pandemic. Let's hope he doesn't have to put his EMT skills to use.

EDITOR'S NORE: For more commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.