A sense of dread

by Rick Blechta

Unlike Douglas with his lovely post yesterday, I can't let my weekly post go by without a political comment. We usually don't make them on Type M, but well, a one-week moratorium seems in order in my view. So if you don't wish to read my post this week, I completely understand.

It’s with a sense of dread that I wake up in the morning as the news comes on the radio. These days you’re certain what the lead story will be and you only hope things haven’t gotten worse. I cannot begin to imagine what it’s like to be living in Ukraine at the moment where anything is possible, right up to nuclear annihilation.

War is such a stupid thing and always has been, yet it persists. I wonder, if a head-count in Russia were taken, I wonder how many people would support what their leader is doing.

The world lost something when those who started wars actually had to fight in them. In fact, they often led the charge. I wish that were still the case.

Political thrillers are a popular sub-genre of crime fiction, but they seldom have ongoing wars as a plot point. What is often a plot point is someone preventing a conflict from getting started. Not only can that be very exciting, but it gives the reader someone to cheer for. Who could be against someone who is (usually) risking their life to stop a madman? We can cheer on the good guy and hiss the evil genius behind the nefarious plot.

Right now the people of Ukraine are our heroes, but I don’t think they can pull off a miracle and save themselves.

What will be the outcome? It’s anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure: the world will be even more damaged after, and nobody needs that. Unfortunately Putin doesn’t see it that way.

I hope he rots in hell — the sooner, the better.

Getting off the soapbox now…