So this is the painting I bought in Ukraine. It has finally been framed and put under non-reflective glass, and I will see it every time I come down the stairs.

The painting was obviously inspired by the 2013 Revolution of Dignity.

Russia has threatened to target Denmark’s warships with nuclear weapons if the Scandinavian nation becomes a member of Nato’s missile defence shield. Russian ambassador to Denmark said a move towards better integration with the Western alliance would make it a “threat to Russia”, and that it would have to accept the consequences.

Mikhail Vanin told the told Jyllands-Posten newspaper: “I do not think that the Danes fully understand the consequences if Denmark joins the US-led missile defence shield. If that happens, Danish warships become targets for Russian nuclear missiles.”

Maybe now somebody will start paying attention. Russia makes threats of nuclear attacks pretty much every day now. As a philologist, I can tell you that words create reality. Saying “I will nuke you!” over and over again makes the probability of a nuclear attack soar. People soon get used to the idea that nuclear weaponry is not the horrifying force that, if unleashed, will destroy the planet (as the Cold War philosophy suggested) but something that can and should be used whenever you are mildly dissatisfied with something.

Cold War was enormously better than this because I can absolutely guarantee to you that the Soviet people were as terrified of a nuclear Holocaust as you were. The nuclear option was not really an option. Nobody suggested that nuclear weapons should be used. And nuclear strikes were definitely not a subject of light banter or regular, everyday way of addressing reality. 

I know I’m turning into a bore, harping on this all the time, but I used to think that the danger of nuclear weapons was self-evident to everybody on the planet. But younger Russians don’t know anything about Hiroshima and have no idea what nuclear weapons are, really. Most people in Russia seem convinced that you can deliver nuclear strikes and not suffer any consequences. Nobody is educating them on the dangers. 

And by the way:

The Russian authorities are hosting tomorrow a meeting of Europe’s neo-Nazis, extreme nationalists, and anti-Semites who share one thing in common – their unqualified support for Vladimir Putin.

Putin needs to make sure that no Western leader will come to Russia in May to attend the celebration of the victory over Nazism. He does all he can to make it impossible for anyone to show up. This meeting is one useful trick that will promote this goal.

And when nobody comes to the celebration, he will be able to exclaim in triumph, “See? Nobody wants to celebrate the victory over Nazism. That’s because the West is Nazi! And it is up to us to defend the legacy of anti-Nazism. Let’s do our grandfathers proud and continue their sacred fight against Nazism.”

The people of Russia will lap it all up, and the Russian troops will move on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Another benefit of supporting European neo-Nazis is that their success at the polls will justify Russia’s hostility towards their countries.

P.S. Russia’s Twitter users were told today that any tweet that mentions the word “Nazism” will leave its author open to charges of promoting Nazism.

Mainstream journalism keeps getting more and more disgusting. The Washington Post interviews Navalny, presenting him as a “top Kremlin critic” and forgetting to mention his neo-Nazi leanings.

It’s extremely irresponsible not to do at least a cursory research of your subject. The newspaper has been dragged into legitimizing the views of a neo-Nazi because a journalist is too lazy to do run a couple of Google searches.