I'm going to try to keep this blog mostly related to the podcast, sci fi, etc., but I feel like I have to vent a little. Most listeners are unaware that my wife is from St Petersburg, Russia, and still has family there. I also have a lot of Russian and Ukranian friends here through her. She's going through a terrible emotional experience and I feel pretty helpless to ease her suffering in any way.
I just saw on CNN that that the Russians are hearing pure BS about what's going on. The so-called NAZI leaders of Ukraine forced them into this humanitarian special operation, which is going great except for all the atrocities the Ukrainians are committing against their own people. Putin is more popular than ever. Behind him is a network of former KGB officers in positions of authority and if anything were to happen to him one of them would step right in and be just as bad. The sanctions aren't hurting the powerful and only provide evidence of how much hate the west has towards the Russian people.
When I contrast this nightmare with KSR's beautiful vision of member states each doing their share to combat climate change and avert a sixth mass extinction I just feel utterly helpless in how to get from here to there, let alone in how to comfort my wife. She isn't interested in the future, only the awful now.
It's hard to focus on the product I'm trying to bring you all. Sci fi almost seems like a cop out right now. Bear with me as I muddle through.
