@822-190 don't waste your breath - I have no great love for the Amerrican way of life - but as a citizen of Australia, formerly of Europe I have no trust in the former Soviet Russia. Putin has a record of even ratting on his teenage school mates to the Secret Police - has no personal honour, has a reputation for cruelty. He, however, had made his intentions very clear when he first took power, or rather sat down on the 'throne' left empty by a drunken Yeltsin, but no-one was listening.
Now that he is an aging man, he wants to show his virility one more time - by killing as many young men as possible, never mind if they are from his own nation or someone else's, he must show 'history' 'what a man he is' - I loathe this jumped up secret service agent!
Where is his intelligence that he could not see, to stay friends with Europe, and with Europe being so dependent on his supply of gas/oil - he could have made Russia stronger than ever, instead of setting out on a war of conquest with the flimsiest of arguments?
I live in the West, hence my sympathies are with the West, whatever form that takes - Nuclear war is definitely a risk I have nightmares about.
Are Putin, Biden, Trump mad enough to contemplate such high stakes?
We live in dangerous times and we should not allow our own citizenry to 'betray' us even on these pages, yet, I have today been 'given up' by someone I have known for 25 years, only because we differ on Putin's role in history - i didn't even say a word, but he sees himself as a 'Slav' all of a sudden, and the Ukrainians are Slavs and the same as Russians and such nonsense ad nauseum.
Europe, and particularly Eastern Europe has had a variety of nations leaving its DNA there - and to go all nationalistic is the oldest, cheapest and nastiest trick in the book IMO - it almost makes me come back to the Bible, that we are all created the same and brothers and sisters under the skin.
We are living in very insecure times and it does not bring out the best in people.
Grain of salt is my prescription and a drink at night. We may wake up to nuclear war, if these pages are to be believed.
Take care
Taurisk
