Absolutes

Waking up to slippery roads and stranded trams, it took me forever to get to the railway station this morning but, with two minutes to spare, I made it aboard train 481 which delivered me in time to my quantitative methodology class in Halmstad. Now on the train back home, I am eating another “lussekatt” and pondering the very normality around me. The Dutch tourists taking in the scenery along the coast, the kids asking how much longer the ride will take, and the many tasks on my list of things to do before the Christmas holidays.

Meanwhile, it has been a thousand days since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, two internet cables have just been cut in the Baltic Sea, and everyone seems to think that the only way to defeat nationalism abroad is by becoming equally nationalistic at home. Whereas the Cold War was about defeating an undemocratic ideology, today’s conflicts seem to be about absolute identities, with no serious conversation about how it will all end. In today’s discourse, the mere thought of regime change is made fun of, as if the only thing certain is that Russia (or China for that matter) will remain an enemy for decades to come.