Of Ukraine, wines & war

As the Russian war in Ukraine enters its fifth year of the current stage today (don't ever forget that it's been active since 2014), there are going to be the annual parade of articles talking about the situation now and four years ago, back in 2022. The only good thing to happen around this unfortunate anniversary is that various accounts on social media (especially Darth Putin) mock those who, back in 2022, were unequivocal in how stupid everyone was about how there wasn't going to be an invasion. Unsurprisingly, many of them have come out as full-blown Russia sympathizers or at the very least, right-wing mouthpieces who keep claiming Ukrainian collapse only to be proven wrong, every day. As Paul Krugman recently pointed out, if you compare maps of Russian-occupied Ukraine today and a year ago, you will see very little difference. And this despite Russia seeing massive casualties and…