And who says if they feel threatened? Remember, what you feel is the reality. The Russians will decide if they feel threatened. We are watching the idea of a nuclear war being normalized. It’s being mentioned daily as a possibility on Russian TV. Now things have progressed to the point where a leading government official feels comfortable saying it. Russians are clearly trying to talk themselves into a nuclear strike. This is a closed system that admits no feedback.

Going back to the conversation of whether Russia or China is more dangerous. Is the Chinese government openly and aggressively priming its population for a nuclear war? I don’t think so.

Here is a really fun exercise I did today. Draw the following graph (or whatever you call it, I’m not much of a mathematician):

Now put the things and the people that are foundational to your life wherever it feels right. Don’t overthink it. What makes you who you are? What are the things and the people that are central to your sense of self? Arrange them in circles of any size wherever you want on this graph.

Mine, for instance, has books at the very center, my inner life and the capacity to express my thoughts at the bottom, Klara on the right-side arrow, etc. Do yours (come on, it’s just for fun), and then I’ll explain how to glean insight from all of it.

After you have filled the graph, here is how to interpret it:

Turns out that women tend to put their children on the right side of the horizontal axis. I did that, too. These are the women who tend to sacrifice themselves on the altar of “being a good mother,” which is not good. In a healthy situation, children are on thee bottom part of the vertical axis.

Forget the Russians who are currently in Russia. What about the immigrants from Russia? Where are they in all this?

I’ve had people (acquaintances, colleagues, etc) from all over the world reach out to me. Somebody from India I worked with briefly in 2009 and never saw since. Somebody from Nigeria I used to know years ago. A guy from Mexico who was in my BA program with me. And so on. People do the sweetest, kindest things to show support. People who really don’t have to care.

No Russian people have manifested themselves, though. Nobody reached out to say, “hey, I know you have relatives in Kharkiv, is everybody OK?” Colleagues, acquaintances, relatives – zero contact. Once again, I’m talking about immigrants. So please don’t tell me they are scared of Putin. Besides, I’m not looking for public statements. But pretending all of a sudden that your colleague, acquaintance, brother doesn’t exist? That’s not great.

And it’s not just me. I asked around. Nobody has heard anything from their Russians.