Nothing wrong about being emotional, especially when you're in the middle of it. Feeling pain, desperation, hate, and powerlessness doesn't mean any of those emotions defines who you are or how you need to act – even if it feels like it's going to stay that way for a very long time. You seem to be well aware of that at some deep level though.

I truly think it's extremely impressive how well you seem to handle the situation you are in. If I didn't think so, I would probably have tried to word my last comment a bit more carefully, as it's a fine balance to strike – discussing geopolitics and big picture stuff can understandably seem extremely cold, callous, and removed from reality, when you're confronted with the immediate horrors that's happening in Ukraine right now. To be honest I wouldn't have blamed you at all if you answered my last comment way more aggressively than you did.

I will have to check out how the SWIFT diconnection for Sberbank and Gazprombank have (not) been working more closely. You are completely correct that there are a lot of different interests at play – and you will always have individuals, companies, investors, politicians, and criminal networks, not just in Russia, but also in the West, that will take advantage of the war and larger scale consequences of it. The world is a messy place, and humans are even more messy... 😕

Thanks for the heads-up, and hope everything goes well with your recovery after the operation! Greet Nick when you get a chance, and wish him all the best as well! 🙂

PS. Spring flowers are blooming here in Norway as well now! 🌸