A Russian nationalist homestead movement in Poland, a poisoned river in Thailand and dolphin deaths in the Bay of Biscay
DISPATCH №53
Hello and welcome. Each week, Translator’s Dispatch brings you summaries of three compelling stories from media beyond the Anglosphere. It’s our way of helping us all read the world a little differently, to get out of our mono-lingual media bubbles. Feel free to share.
This week, we begin in Poland, with a fascinating investigation into the origins and politics of homestead settlements being established in the country by an antisemitic, nationalist Russian spiritual movement.
From Thailand, we have an article about contamination of the Salween, one of Southeast Asia’s main transboundary rivers. A new investigation asks why the state is refusing to confront the cause of the problems at their source.
And finally, from the Bay of Biscay, we examine how the convergence of climate change and commercial fishing is leading to a spike in dolphin deaths.
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A hectare of heaven?
An antisemitic, nationalist Russian spiritual movement with roots in esoteric literature has quietly established rural settlements in Poland - and is attracting concern across Europe
In recent years, a Russian sect known as the Anastasian movement has been growing in popularity not only within its home country but also in Europe and North America. Many of the goals of the movement can seem appealing: it argues for a return to nature, communal and intergenerational living, and ecological self-sufficiency.
Researchers have found, however, that its core texts promote antisemitic and nationalistic beliefs. Authorities in Germany and Austria are monitoring Anastasianism as potentially extremist, but Poland - where settlements for the movement have been founded by a Putin-sympathiser who appears now to live in Russia - appears to be taking no such precautions. Journalists from the independent Polish investigative website FRONTSTORY visited the communes in the country and traced their origins.
The Anastasian movement dates back to the 1990s and a bestselling series of books called The Ringing Cedars of Russia by Vladimir Megre. Megre, a photographer turned businessman, claimed to have encountered a mysterious hermit named Anastasia in the Siberian taiga. In his books, Anastasia presents a philosophy centred on - in the words of FRONTSTORY’s journalists - “a life outside the system, in harmony with the cycles of nature, with elements of Slavic mythology”.
At the heart of the movement is the idea of “ancestral homesteads”: one-hectare plots of land cultivated by families and passed down through generations. Followers believe these settlements offer a beneficial alternative to modern urban life.
In Poland, such settlements have been founded in the rural West Pomeranian region, bordering Germany. “Villages nestled in pine forests, where Russian troops were stationed just 30 years ago, could be the perfect place for a new beginning,” the authors write. This new beginning was orchestrated in Poland by Piotr Kulikowski, a figure about whom little is known but is described in the article as a Putin admirer who regularly shares Kremlin talking points online. Beginning around 2015, he purchased large areas of land for some 2.3 million złoty (£500,000/$650,000), then divided them up to sell to families. He has since disappeared from public view in Poland, with his last known online activity suggesting he may be in Russia.
The communities he helped establish remain informal and relatively small. On their visit, the website’s journalists describe them as similar to hippy communes. But the reporters also quote academic research that has identified conspiracy theories, as well as nationalist, racist and antisemitic ideas within Megre’s writings.
“According to Anastasia’s prophecies,” they write, “all-powerful Jews possess vast sums of money and influence world governments. A return to nature also means a return to racial purity.”
Elsewhere in Europe, authorities are keeping an eye on the movement and its local adherents. In Poland, however - despite the country’s historic hostility towards Russia and its geographical proximity to an increasingly belligerent Moscow - security services have not confirmed any dedicated investigation.
The original article by Maja Golub, Katarzyna Kubacka and Agnieszka Józwik ‘Hektar raju Rosyjskie osady w Polsce: czym są Dzwoniące Cedry?’ was first published in Polish on January 22, 2026 in FRONTSTORY.PL.
It is available here.
FRONTSTORY.PL is an independent Polish investigative media outlet founded in 2021.
Summary by TM
When a river becomes forbidden
As Thailand’s Salween River joins a growing list of contaminated waterways in the country, a new investigation asks why the state keeps managing damage, while refusing to confront its source
The Salween River is one of Southeast Asia’s great transboundary rivers. In this piece in The Momentum, Phiphatphong Sriwichai looks at how it has become Thailand’s fifth “forbidden” river, unusable for drinking, farming, fishing, or daily life.
The story begins with a grim sense of déjà vu. In late 2024, residents along the Kok River noticed an unusual cloudiness in the water. Tests later revealed suspected contamination from heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic, believed to originate from gold and rare-earth mining operations in Myanmar’s Shan State. A year later, rather than resolution, the crisis has multiplied. The Kok remains off-limits, and three more rivers, the Ruak, Sai, and Mekong, have been added to the list. Now, the Salween has joined them.
In September 2025, researchers from Chiang Mai University’s Environmental Science Center detected arsenic levels in the Salween River at four to five times above acceptable standards. For communities in Mae Hong Son Province who rely on the river for food, transport, and income, this discovery confirmed what they had already sensed through sight and taste. Yet, as Sriwichai documents, official action once again lagged behind local alarm.
Environmental advocates such as Pianporn Deetes of Rivers and Rights argue that the source of contamination is not mysterious. Mapping by the Stimson Center shows more than 126 gold and rare-earth mines clustered near tributaries feeding the Salween. Despite this, the Thai government has avoided formally attributing blame to upstream mining in Myanmar. Conflicting statements from senior officials, some acknowledging mining as the cause, others denying sufficient proof, have further muddied the waters.
As a result, state intervention has focused on monitoring and risk reduction rather than prevention. Letters requesting cooperation from Myanmar have gone unanswered for over a year. Without confirmation of the pollution’s origin, authorities claim they cannot halt the flow of toxins.
One of the report’s most damning findings is that civil society, not the state, has driven nearly every meaningful response. Villagers were the first to collect water samples. University researchers conducted repeated tests. Only then did agencies such as the Pollution Control Department step in, conducting fewer inspections despite having far greater resources. Even health testing has been limited, with only a handful of villagers screened once, and no follow-up.
As Sriwichai makes clear, the Salween crisis exposes a deeper failure. Treating contamination as a series of isolated incidents rather than a systemic, cross-border problem allows the state to manage symptoms while avoiding responsibility.
This original source article หรือต้องปนเปื้อนทั้งประเทศ รัฐจึงจะแก้ไขปัญหาที่ ‘ต้นตอ’ เมื่อสาละวินเป็นแม่น้ำปนเปื้อนอีกแห่ง by Phiphatphong Sriwichai was published in Thai in The Momentum on January 7, 2026.
It is available here.
The Momentum is an independent Thai news and analysis platform covering politics, society, environment, and culture across Thailand and Southeast Asia.
Summary ZN
Warm waters, closing nets
How climate change is driving dolphins into deadly contact with fishing fleets in the Bay of Biscay
In this article for the French daily newspaper Libération, journalist Julie Renson Miquel reports on new scientific findings that shed light on the surge in accidental dolphin captures along France’s Atlantic coast and the western English Channel. Drawing on a multi-year research project, the article argues that the rise in dolphin deaths since 2016 is closely linked to climate-driven ecological upheaval in the Bay of Biscay.
The findings come from the Delmoges project, conducted between 2022 and 2025 by Ifremer (the French institute for the study of the sea), the University of La Rochelle, the University of Western Brittany and the CNRS (France’s state-funded scientific research body). Speaking to Libération, Clara Ulrich, fisheries expertise coordinator at Ifremer and scientific co-lead of the project, explains that earlier assumptions about weakened dolphin health have now been ruled out. Necropsies show that most dolphins found entangled in nets were in good condition and had full stomachs, indicating they were actively hunting when captured.
The more plausible explanation, she says, is a “profound change” in the region’s ecosystem. Sea temperatures in the southern part of the Bay of Biscay have risen by 0.8°C over the past two decades. At the same time, nutrient levels have declined due to reduced rainfall and a 30 percent drop in flow from the Loire River. This has led to weaker water mixing and lower chlorophyll production, disrupting the base of the marine food chain.
The consequences ripple upward in what scientists describe as a trophic cascade. With fewer nutrients available, plankton production declines, sardines grow smaller, and offshore fish stocks shift. Dolphins, which depend heavily on anchovies and sardines, now have to consume more fish to meet their energy needs. The species they prey on are concentrating closer to the coast, at greater depths and in denser schools. Dolphins have followed.
This altered distribution explains why dolphins are now more frequently found in coastal waters during winter, often in smaller groups. But these areas overlap with gillnet fishing grounds (gillnets are a kind of vertical curtain-like net, weighted at the bottom) increasing the likelihood of accidental capture. Although the total number of fishing vessels and days at sea has declined in recent years, the content and deployment of nets, particularly by small-scale gillnetters with fewer reporting obligations, remains difficult to quantify. Scientists still cannot fully determine why some dolphins manage to escape the nets while others do not.
Emergency winter closures imposed by French and European authorities have shown measurable results. Nearly 300 vessels are required to remain in port between late January and late February, a measure that has reduced average winter strandings from around 4,700 between 2017 and 2023 to 1,900 in the 2024–2025 season. Yet the closures are politically contentious and economically painful for many fishers.
Technological solutions such as acoustic deterrent devices and onboard cameras are being tested, but Ulrich stresses that there is no simple fix. The crisis reflects a broader climate-induced transformation of the Bay of Biscay ecosystem. Science can clarify the mechanisms at work, but the path forward will depend on negotiations between researchers, fishermen, NGOs and policymakers confronting a rapidly changing sea.
The original source article by Julie Renson Miquel ‘Hausse des captures accidentelles de dauphins dans le golfe de Gascogne : L’écosystème de la région subit un changement profond à cause du réchauffement climatique’ was published in French, on January 6, 2026 in Libération.
It is available here.
Libération is a daily national newspaper based in Paris, France. It is widely known domestically and internationally as Libé. It is generally considered to have a centre-left editorial orientation, with a historical commitment to defending civil liberties and minority rights, although its political stance has evolved since its early years.
Summary by ZN
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