I’m leaving for Canada tomorrow to be with my father, and as I’m sorting through the byzantine COVID requirements in Canada I’m struck by how insane that formerly great country is compared to the US. For all intents and purposes, Canada is still in March of 2020, confused, terrified, and stupid.

I’m hoping they won’t forcibly quarantine me, but if they do, prepare for a stream of posts about Canada’s idiocy and the importance of the nation-state.

My favorite Twitter account these days is the official account of Russia’s Foreign Ministry. The tweets are moronic but the comments are brilliant, funny, and inspiring. I scrolled through dozens of comments today, and they were all excellent. I couldn’t read the ones in Hebrew but I’m guessing they were not expressing profound joy at Russia’s narrative of the Holocaust being caused by Jews.

Like the war itself, the idea that “Jews holocausted themselves” serves purely internal purposes in Russia. Things that look insane from the outside usually have a logic that’s visible on the inside.

Remember how Democrats always tie themselves into knots trying to explain the existence of black conservatives?

“It’s not enough to be physically black. You’ve got to be politically black.”

“This is internalized racism.”

“This is multiracial whiteness.”

It all sounds certifiably nuts but the slogans aren’t aimed at people who can perceive the nuttiness of these statements. They are aimed at people who are full-time subscribers but still feel some residual discomfort at calling a black SCOTUS Justice or a black philosopher a white supremacist.

It’s the same with the Russian narrative about “Nazi Jews.” Who cares if it annoys any actual Jews? It’s not about them. The story exists for internal consumption.

One of Russia’s chief propagandists (not Soloviev, another one) dedicated a segment of his massively popular TV show to a discussion of how Russia can easily destroy the UK with a single nuclear strike.

“It’s such a small island,” he enthused, pointing to a map with an image of a charred UK. “And Russia is enormous. They won’t be able to hit all of us at once. And we can nuke all of them dead with one single Sarmat!”

The Sarmat missiles are also known as “Satan II.” They aren’t currently ready for deployment, so the choice of the Satan II missile as basis for a threat is about the symbolism of its satanic connotations.

This is one of many daily occurrences of Russia’s relentless normalization of nuclear war. And all of the dark impulses of the human soul.

In the meantime, the Pope, who might be expected to have an opinion on Satan, still feels confused by the situation.

God, what a doofus. Out of respect for Catholic readers, I’m not using a stronger word but I’m thinking it.