After 35 years of being involved in Soviet and Russian affairs I continue to be surprised, amazed, appalled, angered. I know in Russia normal logics don’t exist. I know that a relation with Russia is a love-hate affair. I know nature there is ruthless, and the political history is filled with cruel suppressions of dissent, mass murder and idolatry of harsh and dictatorial rulers. I know Moscow is a showcase of vulgar extravaganza, I know that just outside Moscow a sea of poverty exists. I also know that the country is a puddle of abject alcoholism, resulting in genetic degradation, in places leading to collective imbecility. But I also know it is a country where hospitality can be comparable to none, where survivalism is the magic skill and where people keep on smiling and laughing in spite of the hopeless situations they sometimes have to…