Hi Nigel,

I do think that degree matters.

Putin is evil, through and through. Trump is evil as well. There is little doubt that given half a chance, Trump would turn into Putin.

He can’t — or I hope he can’t — because of the checks and balances of the American system.

However, invading Iraq — as horrid as it was — did not turn Iraq into a wasteland with millions of refugees; as did Putin’s years of bombing peace loving Syrians.

Your point is a good one. Destabilizing governments creates footholds for terrorists — whether they be political or professional.

I saw a fascinating piece on All In with Chris Hayes, an American news program on MSNBC, which traced the many ‘evil strong man’ regimes now in place to the refugee crisis created by Putin in Syria; from Orban in Hungary to Trump’s 4 years here.

The thing I don’t get — and I am about to write about — is how in Hell Putin can ‘own the rights’ to the Ukrainian sky.

It seems to me that if Biden and the NATO allies had started flying sorties over Ukraine, at that sovereign country’s behest, during Russia’s supposed military buildup for ‘exercises’, Putin would then have had to shoot down American and NATO planes in order to enter Ukrainian airspace — instead of the other way ‘round.

A little forethought goes a long way.

Anyway, I have some questions about Medium. And, I have no idea how to get Medium to respond in any way to anything.

So, here goes…