That is an excellent, though chilling article. It deserves to be read in full. Personally, I think we are living in the end times, though psychologically I have always been inclined towards negative, catastrophic thinking in the style of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).
My impression is that Putin behaves like a ruthless Mafia boss. Maybe I have been watching too many series like Gomorrah, but the self-destructive element suggests to me that he certainly would engulf the rest of the world in a nuclear conflagration. I think he is that far gone. Maybe he is not formally, diagnostically mad, but to me he is politically deranged (whatever that means), and is in thrall to a combustible ideology that he would sacrifice himself and the rest of us to. And I do not think that his compatriots in the Kremlin are a sufficiently restraining influence. They are probably a bunch of ‘yes’ men and women.
Should add that I sincerely hope that I am wrong about this. My wife has been going on about mundane matters today that assume that there is a future to be had. I haven’t challenged her as English is her second language and she hasn’t been keeping up with things like I have. Maybe it’s better for her to remain oblivious.
Hope that I am making sense here. I have a problem with alcohol, am a fearful, cowardly wimp in real life, and my drinking has escalated over the last few days as I have been lying awake at night fretting about all of this, so I cannot claim to be an objective commentator.
It’s simply that old axioms like ‘pressure leads to resistance’ are presently passing through my mind and I think that Putin will lash out indiscriminately if he feels boxed in.
The last thing that I would say is that if this turns out to be the end of us as a species that we have to be on the side of right. Maybe our actions are meaningless and ultimately insignificant when carved into the larger universe, but we are right to oppose this monster, even if we die in the process of doing so.
Once again, apologies. I probably should be medicated (though is there an anti-depressant that can mitigate fears about WW3 ?) and not posting here so pessimistically.
www.theguardian.com