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Slack.com slash THQ. This is the Friends Vistory Debating Society. I'm John Batscher,

Professor H.J. Mackender here at Year's End, helping us understand the points of view

of five capitals now locked into a European war, the worst conflict on the continent since

1945, no end in sight to see the events of these last days. We begin as usual with Moscow.

Professor, the world watches Moscow for a sign of bending a knee or in some fashion weakening.

There is no such news coming from Moscow. Vladimir Putin remains strongly in control of

his apparatus. We're told repeatedly, and I talked to Moscow in these last days, that

the support remains firm for Russia and its conflict in Ukraine. The explanation that

this is a war to prevent NATO's attack is accepted everywhere in intellectual circles

in Moscow. The young people are told that we can deal with the sanctions of the West.

For example, you can no longer go on Amazon and buy a Kindle, but you can go on a Russian

site and buy a pirated Kindle. They're adapting. What is the Moscow point of view here at Year's

End? Good evening to you, Professor.

Good evening, sir. I think that, as always, when we look at Moscow, we're not really looking

at the great country of Russia. We're looking in particular at Mr. Putin, who is very difficult

to read. Now, he said in the last week that I'm quoting him almost exactly about wars

always and through negotiations of some kind, and that he would like to end this war as soon

...