War Is Horrible

Heartbreaking.

I am about to post a very interesting conversation with Riley Waggaman on “COVID Russia” (will send in a second) but before I do that, I want to emit a scream and talk about the war.

Several things to say.

One, this situation is terrible.

Two, I am pretty sure that, unlike the people on the ground who are mostly sincere on every side, Putin is a typical cynical president who is using this whole “anti-Nazi” rhetoric to enrich himself and his family, play with food and oil prices, and “build back better.” And so are the Western leaders who are hypocritically shaking their fists at him. All cynical maniacs!

(Here is a very moving and non-partisan article by Riley about the cynical rhetoric and the poor life standards of the Nazi-defeating World War II veterans in my old homeland, which is a personal topic to me because I remember how at one point, after the collapse of the USSR, when the new cultural values rolled in, it became common for teens to laugh at war veterans and their medals,…