Wichita,

Thank you.

I go through depressive stages too often myself.

But I tell you what: when I was growing up NOBODY ìinsideî ever believed that Communism will end as it did, and we were more less convinced that the only way for it to go would be in a mushroom cloud. I heard about American anti-nuclear drills (duck and cover); our ìcivil defenseî classes in high school were complete with learning to operate what I in retrospect believe were WWI rifles and detailed description of how to organize an evacuation and decontamination of a factory in case of nuclear attack (no, we were not taught how to defend or evacuate a school). I bet none of you guys had such fun classes!

Believing that it will not happen because the other side will not start the war did not cloud our fears of nuclear war: we did not need to believe it – we knew that. However, we were pretty damn convinced that our guys, given right circumstances, would not hesitate to launch.

As it happened, even the Communist leaders had a strong sense of self-preservation. And why not? Life was definitively good for them and no matter how luxurious were their fallout shelters it was still better to be on the outside.

Anyway, after seeing the impossible event i.e. peaceful implosion of the Soviet Union, (no matter what that bloody Putin is up to now), I am most hopeful that happy future IS possible, if we work hard enough to make sure of it.