Meh

It’s getting harder and harder to sustain any outrage at what happens here. Were this England I’d be on the streets throwing bottles at policemen. Here, where I have two children and more invested in the country’s future than I ever really did in my homeland I have succumbed to the general apathy, or is it fatalism?

Saturday last, a rag tag group of democrats held a demonstration on Pushkin square. 2,500 turned up apparently, nearly all of the meek and disillusioned middle aged folks.

There were 8,500 police present, water cannon and helicopters hovering overhead: this in a country where terrorists can drive through borders with trucks full of explosives for the cost of a fifty dollar bribe. How so?

Whatever serves the status quo is good?

A poll recently had half the population yearning for the days of Brezhnev and the other half overjoyed at how well things are going now: No opposition left, no free media, rampant corruption, brutal police tactics and spite filled nationalism emerging as the only ideology the state has on offer.

So what would you do in such circumstances? Fight for a democracy that nobody wants?

Doing the right thing is quixotic to the point of perversity against such a background and so apathy wins out. Make money, look after yourself, court important people and shore up the walls against the inevitable fuck up: these are the only moves that make any sense now.

But still the people are as good as they are anywhere else, they love their children, even Sting spotted that for God's sake. It’s not that it fills me with despair: that would be absurd in the face of such an indomitable will to enjoy life, just, meh.