Alexei, I enjoy your stories and their insights into what's behind the curtain that is Putin's Russia. This story is in deed alarming, but also I think it is sort of obvious. My takeaway from reading that list of bullshit was that point 12 was it's primary purpose; aimed more at the Russian citizenry than anyone else, telling them that their desire for the freedoms and civil societies of the West will have to stop. Putin plans to cut them off from the world and hold them captive both intellectually, physically and every other way possible. That's because he knows any other approach will result in his antiquated, throwback view of Russia drying up and dying.

But then again, the nails are already in his coffin, and the coffin of his Russia. It may take a bit of time to close the lid air tight, but the good people of the rest of the world will have their revenge and Putin will have his isolated and impoverished country. There is no way he will ever be forgiven for Ukraine. The atrocities of his armies will hang around his neck for all of history; as they have for Hitler. He can never rejoin civil society and as long as he sits in the seat of power in Russia they cannot either. He and his Russia will be ejected from the global market place. No one will want to buy anything of Russian origin from the knowledge that it is drenched in the blood of thousands of innocent children and their parents and grandparents. Putin is a cancer in the world, amongst the worst people to ever have lived. Cancers threaten the health of the whole organism and thus must be excised or it will kill us all.

I struggle with the idea that Russians are not smart enough to see what he's doing. I imagine that the cosmonauts that just returned from the space station saw the news feeds from across the world if no one in Russia did. They know that his war is a sickness he is suffering and trying to infect everyone with. Perhaps they will not have the balls to speak up, not publicly anyway, but I've got to think that they will tell the truth in confidence to those they trust. How could they not? The word of truth will seep into Russian consciousness and they will be horrified at what this war criminal has done in their name.

Anyway Alexei, I've written more here than I set out to...but could have gone on a great deal further. Do keep writing about this though. Only through understanding can we comprehend the plight of Russia's humanity.