Lord of the Flies

With my hands still raw from the rowing, I read another chapter for William in his rather unusual choice of bedtime story. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, it is just as frightening to follow the stranded young boys on the island today as it was when I first read Lord of the Flies three decades ago.

Today, Svenska Dagbladet had an interesting piece on Austrian neutrality and how the country has not followed the same road towards NATO membership that Sweden and Finland have taken. While I, most reluctantly, have come to the conclusion that joining NATO is the right decision at this point, I was surprised to find that a majority in Austria thinks that Ukraine should trade land for peace even if it would mean rewarding Putin for his war of aggression. In a further unexpected twist, only among Green (!) voters is there a slim majority in favour of continuing the fight, something which again goes to show how differently the war in Ukraine has played out on a sociological level compared to previous conflicts.

Considering what is at stake, a Russian victory in Ukraine, however ephemeral, is simply ethically unacceptable. The problem is that a Russian loss would come with extreme escalatory risks, meaning that, with the possible exception of regime change in Moscow, it is difficult to see how this can in any way end well.