My daughter’s London school class has a number of Russian children and others with connections to the Ukraine. Wisely, the Headmistress wrote to all members of the school community asking them to be alert to divergent views, and apply common sense and respect to how we communicate with each other. Yet that wisdom is endangered by politicians, broadcast, social and print media, which cannot separate the fact that you can abhor what is happening in the Ukraine, yet have a great affinity for a people, who brought us Chekhov, Dostoevsky and the Mariinsky Theatre. We can be disdainful of a country’s leadership (Assad, Maduro, Khamenei, Putin) but supportive of its’ people’s future. There is zero inconsistency.
