Johnson is being hardcore, and I’m jealous of the Brits for the first time ever.

The West isn’t dead yet. This is good to see.

There was an intense propaganda campaign in Russia that lasted for over a decade and encouraged people to adopt children who lived in Russia’s terrible orphanages. It’s a great campaign, obviously. Adoption is great.

But the campaign failed. Nobody listened, nobody cared.

So please spare me the talk about the poor, brainwashed Russians. Nobody gets brainwashed into anything that’s completely alien to their sensibilities. They didn’t let themselves be brainwashed into adopting Russian kids but were somehow magically brainwashed into murdering Ukrainian children. What sense does this make?

Exactly what I said yesterday about the UK moving into the world leadership position that is being left vacant by the US. Why the US has decided to dismantle its cultural, economic, political and every other advantage is a different question. Things like that aren’t subject to the laws of primitive materialism.

This is what Freedom Square in Kharkiv looked like after Russians hit it with the very first air strike on the city:

This is what it looks like today:

There are still no window panes but see how it’s all been cleaned up? People went out and cleaned. The square now looks better than any regular Russian town looks in peaceful times.

I’m hearing that people are planting flowers in the many flower beds around the city. Daily, groups of citizens come out to clean and beautify the city.

What’s really messing with my head is that Kharkovites didn’t used to be this way. One of my biggest complaints when I emigrated were piles of dog shit in the streets, no trash cans, and mountains of soggy garbage everywhere. I have a highly developed aesthetic sensibility, and seeing dog shit was freaking me out.

This is what a nation-state does to people. It makes them want to see their land beautiful. Ukrainians changed so much in the 21st century. Imagine how fast they’ll rebuild with just a little bit of help and hopefully some peace.