In the last two or three weeks I have been re-reading A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch and I barely remembered any of it. I had read it two or three decades ago and I read it again recently. The first thought this time, after reading Gulag by Applebaum, and other history books, is that it’s quite tame compared to other books. The other thing I noted is that it ends with him thinking that he has had a good day.
Recently I have been using the Radio France app for iPhone and came across a set of three podcasts looking at Russia and its move towards digital sovereignty. This is a set of three podcasts looking at how Russia has tried to seperate itself from the internet, but especially from US influence.
Russia is not alone in trying to do this. Europe is making an effort, as is Asia, and Asia, and Australia. The problem, at this moment in time, is that if the US government catches a cold, to use a metaphor from last millenium, the world falls sick.