19 December 2025
Peace and Justice
Russia is paying an
enormous price, but the same is true — if not more so — for Ukraine.
Ukraine is a very poor country, with an income that is half of Russia’s, plagued
by corruption that is not only among the magnates and “golden taps” (as they say)
but is widespread at every level: to get anything, you have to pay. I believe it
is, in fact, the only country in the world where the resident population has
decreased — reportedly by 11 million, about a quarter, since independence.
Now it is devastated, with the few industries and structures it had destroyed,
due to a crazy war born of insane nationalisms.
I know Ukraine, whose civilization, monuments, and history I admire, and it
saddens me deeply to see it fall into such an abyss from which I cannot see how
it could emerge.
I see no other solution than accepting the solution proposed by Putin and Trump:
right or wrong, what does it matter?