This is a summary of some points from what I was reading online last week.

Anne Applebaum and Alexander Stubb are spot on : Putin dreams of restoring the Russian Empire.

The Russian population, brainwashed by years of propaganda, dreams of the same thing.

Russia has everything: vast territory and resources. The search for new ones is not the reason for the invasion of Ukraine.

Mentally, Russia is an empire living in the past. That is why Russia does not feel whole without Ukraine, which it perceives as an inseparable part of itself.

Ukraine’s victory will mean the death of this empire. Russia’s defeat will come when it rethinks its imperial identity. Only political and cultural reform will turn Russia into a civilized neighbor.

As long as Russia exists as an empire, it will think in terms of “buffer zones” and borders reaching all the way to Lisbon, and it will remain a real threat to Europe.

And then there is Trump, who doesn’t help Ukraine and continues to appease Putin.

It’s clear to everyone by now that Trump is on Putin’s side. Either Putin has something devastating on him, or he thinks he can make more money by betraying Ukraine, contrary to all American foreign policy since 1948.

Recently the US Senate passed a sanctions bill on Russia, but this is just a symbolic act. Speaker Johnson is going to ignore it in the House until October and if any changes are made it will delay the bill even longer.

Trump does not need a bill. If Trump wanted to sanction Russia he has that power right now. Trump continues to not sanction Russia every day. Trump just wants good PR by allowing this bill to pass before the November election.

The conclusion from this discussion is that there are much darker times ahead and I fear more than ever that a bigger war is coming to Europe. Of course, I hope I am wrong.

Ukraine will survive, and Ukraine will one day heal and grow. But until then there is a lot more pain still to come.

Dave and Dave

Last night Kyiv was attacked by 40 ballistic missiles. The biggest such attack since the start of the full scale invasion. And Europe is sitting with Patriot interceptor missiles while Ukraine is exposed and hurting. WTF?! The whole point of NATO is to defend against Russian aggression. Ukraine is holding the line, while Europe debates and discusses and sips lattes.

But there is a lot more going on this week. These past few days has seen protests all across Ukraine. I am no expert on politics in Ukraine but I follow every development as closely as I can. Besides the evil neighbour to the East, there are struggles inside Ukraine which are far from trivial. And I am not referring to ongoing corruption issues but rather, the leadership struggle which erupted this week.

The current Defense Minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov was let go this week by President Zelensky and this has sparked these protests. Just about everyone I know in Kyiv is confused and upset by this decision from Zelensky. One thing it demonstrates again is that democracy is alive and well, as people protest freely and I believe their voices are being heard. The Ukrainian people like Fedorov and it certainly seems like he was doing many good things. So why did he get sacked? This is a very good question.

I do not know Mr. Zelensky but I know people who do, and my own sense is that his heart is in the right place. So why did he make the decisions he made this week? One friend of mine from Kyiv said that Zelensky is exhausted and often can’t see the wood from the trees, and when someone is so run down they tend to make mistakes.

A leading journalist I follow in Kyiv said this: The public storm from Ukrainian society — military and civilian — pushing Zelensky to dismiss Syrskyi is reaching critical mass and seems to passed a point of no return. If it happens, the result of the mindless decision to sack Fedorov could even be a net positive for Ukraine.

This coming week could be pivotal. There is no progress without struggle, so perhaps next week we will witness a breakthrough. It has happened before. The Ukrainian people often surprise everyone – this is a soulful nation of smart people. I have faith that the chips will fall into place, but for sure, there are many more sleepless nights ahead, from rocket attacks, and also, from internal turmoil.

One of the biggest sources of trauma and stress in Ukraine is the military moilisation. You don’t read about this in the international news, but for men under 60 in Ukraine it is a very real thing. Everyone believes in their country and everyone wants Ukraine to win, but not everyone wants to be a soldier. It is a horrible situation and God knows what the answer is. And at the same time that all of this is going on, the Ukrainian armed forces are hitting back at Russia left, right and center. This is bringing a lot of joy to Ukrainians (I don’t know how else to put it) but don’t mistake this for Ukrainians being happy. Far from it. When the war is over one day then perhaps we can talk about happiness. But for now, the struggle grows more intense by the week.

We are trying to capture some of these themes in the latest chapter of Kyiv of Mine, which is scheduled do go live on the 24th of August.

Slava Ukraini !

This week saw Bunster’s school break up for the long summer holiday. And on the first day of his vacation adventure he got sick. Off to the doctor we went. The Bunster has a sore ear, and a bit of a runny nose and a small cough. He is a bit better as I post this. We hope tomorrow when he wakes up that he is feeling good again.

At the start of this week we watched the Egypt Argentina World Cup match at a a friend’s flat. It was an unplanned thing, that late afternoon, after school that day. Our hosts consisted of an Egyptian and Syrian, and myself. And 4 kids. Egypt! Egypt! Egypt! That is what all of us were shouting, and the excitement was quite something. I thought Egypt was going to win for sure. But alas, something happened.

I am not a sporty person and I don’t know much about soccer, er, football. But what I do know is that something was not right. In my eyes, Egypt were not treated fairly. They should have won.

Tomorrow the Bun man has soccer practice in the park (if he is feeling better). He likes playing with a soccer ball.

The Bunster is going with some friends to the cinema on Sunday to see Toy Story 5. He is very excited.

I was reading about the message of this new film in the successful Pixar franchise. What I understand is that this Toy Story installment warns us about the trappings of the online world, especially when it comes to children. Technology can have its place in a child’s life as long as it’s not allowed to be all-consuming.

I saw this quirky posting on Twitter and it made me laugh, in a nervous way. I hope this is not what will happen this Sunday in the cinema. If it does then we should all start to panic.

Last week we attended a concert at the Newton Prep primary school and the Bunster sang his heart out. We loved every minute of it and it was good for the soul.

There were about 70 kids all around age 5. This is reception year for the Bun man and he seems to enjoy his school. He has a cool group of friends, from all over the world.

Before the concert began one of the teachers made some announcements, about the fire alarm and other safety things. And then this warm sounding teacher spoke about something which has stuck in my head. She suggested that everyone put their phones away. She did go onto to say, “By all means, take photos and videos”, but she explained that when we are taking photos and videos the kids only see our phones and not our faces, and she emphasized at how they want to see our faces.

I took a few photos right at the end but my phone was away for the concert. And the Bunster was looking right at us. I assume this was the case for each kid there. They need to be acknowledged and affirmed. The Bun man wants us to be proud of him. He actually asks us, “Are you proud of me?” I can just melt.

It was such a beautiful experience and the kids were amazing. How the music teacher gets them to do all of that is just beyond me. We can’t get the Bun man to sit still when eating dinner, and yet, for an hour, he was singing and bopping, and he was so cool. I did not want it to end. I felt very blessed to be able to be there and to experience love like this.

My last thought on this mad phone-photo culture that has consumed the planet : how many sunsets have we all taken pictures and videos of on our phones? And how many times do we look at these photos and videos? Most of us never look at what we have captured ever again. So why do we do it? How many of life’s magical moments are we missing out on because of these digital distractions?

None of the kids in Bun’s reception group have a phone and I hope none of them get one anytime soon. I grew up without a mobile phone in my pocket and I survived. These phones have their uses, sure, but also, they are taking something away from all of us. To be present we need to put away our phones.

The Russian drone that hit a residential building in Romania this week was no accident. Russia is testing the West. Slowly. Constantly. The writing is on the wall. Of course, NATO said this is not on. But other than a few words of dissatisfaction, no one will do anything. The Russians can sense weakness, and this will fuel their evil.

Yes, many will call it an “accident”. Was the full scale invasion of Ukraine an accident?! This is all deliberate, and it will keep on coming.

Russia will not stop, unless they are stopped. My bet is that Estonia is going to be attacked in the next year or two. Will America do anything to help Estonia? I don’t think so. And then NATO will fall apart. That is what I reckon.

I read online that the EU Commission said that Russia had crossed yet another line. What a joke. Russia has broken every law there is, countless times, for so many years. How many more of these so-called lines must Russia cross before Europe finally wakes up.

When Russia eventually bombs a NATO country we should not act surprised. They keep telling the world they are going to do it. When will Europe start believing that they mean it?

I believe a bigger war is coming to Europe. Of course, I hope I am wrong.

Kyiv got attacked again. This past Saturday brought the biggest bombardment yet to Ukraine’s capital by its insane neighbour, Russia. So much pain and destruction. And the world just continues to watch. Like it is a reality TV show.

Where is the moral and strategic imagination of the world’s leaders. Russia will not stop, unless it is stopped. Ukraine is keeping the evil at bay, and paying for this in blood. Where are those infamous Taurus missiles, for example, that the new German leader promised Ukraine if he was elected?

This was the news I read the day after the strike in Kyiv. And just a few days before there was the UK’s surprise easing of Russian oil sanctions. WTF ?!

I was chatting with a friend in Kyiv last night. The recent strike on the city was the main discussion. My friend then says to me, “The world does not see Ukraine as an equal country.” He is right. And this is very sad. This is largely a result of Russian propaganda, which is a very real thing, and it is non-stop.

If Paris or Madrid, say, had a strike like Kyiv just had then the world would go crazy, And yet, Kyiv (and other cities in Ukraine) have had countless attacks in the past 4 years, and nothing seems to change.

My friend also said to me that the Oreshnik ICBM which was part of the Saturday strike was sent not to scare Ukrainian ,but rather, the rest of Europe. This is all part of the games that Russia constantly plays. Terror is their strategy, and it clearly works. What a sad state of affairs. Europe is so much bigger and powerful than Russia and yet, everyone is so scared to do anything. This has been clear for quite some time.

One other thing that my friend pointed out is that Kyiv (and the rest of Ukraine) still needs more air defense. If Europe does not want to fight, then that is one thing, but why not help Ukraine defend itself to the max. I don’t get it. I have not got it for a long time. Ukraine pleads non-stop for more air defense capacity and it is always the same story of too little, too late.

I was listening to a magic podcast. Magic, as in abracadabra. That beautiful art that produces smiles, laughter and wonder. The magician said something so simple and it has stuck with me all week.

“Confidence isn’t built just by success. It is also built by repetition.“

The more you try the better you get. Luck favours the persistent.

A simple message that we often forget. An overnight success takes 20 to 30 years.

Practice makes perfect. Embrace the journey. Never stop.

If you love doing something then keep doing it. That is what purpose is all about.