Thread by @tanjamaier17

I can’t listen anymore to discourse from smart people sitting safely in the west talking about what might come next. Even my favorite podcasts. Ukraine is suffering immeasurable loss, a human tragedy on an incomprehensible scale. And it’s here, right here. And they are there.

My Russian friends are spread all over; many left Moscow long ago. They are all going through their own private battles right now. Some men fled yesterday, destination unknown. Some Russians who cried on Thursday are now really angry — but not at Putin, they blame west/Ukraine.

It’s going to get even uglier. It’s going to hit even closer to home. It’s not going to be just limited to Ukraine. These wounds are forever wounds. They don’t heal. The hatred stays. The anger lasts. It’s going to be like walking on eggshells. Truth will become very subjective.

I see now, I feel today, how friendships and relationships might fall apart in an instant. How lives change in a matter of minutes. What it means when people feel they are fighting for raw survival. It can bring out both the best and worst in people. I’m trying to remain level.

P.S. Russia deep fake game is going next level and it has all the babushki believing all of it — that every Russian person in the west is now enemy number one. I just got sent a photo of “email” from a Munich doctor refusing to treat Russian patients anymore…in perfect German.

P.P.S. sharing this again for the evening crowd. I usually write every morning Europe time. On the weekends it's sometimes afternoons. I hope most of this is still relevant 10 hours later, free to subscribe: tanjamaier.substack.com/p/day-9?s=w