There is a "war" on for the hearts, minds and sensibilities of those in Eastern Europe: the Western-style capitalism (with its good and bad points), and the Putin-style oligarchy of the "shadow-USSR" era. Who will win? What will win over the minds of the people whose needs are much, much simpler.
People want a chance for a good life: freedom, or at least clarity in the pursuit of freedom; success beyond niggardly survival; satisfaction beyond the "minimum allowed by law." Absolutes used to rule the world. Everything was either "good" or "bad," "right" or "wrong," freedom or slavery, happiness or despair.
Now it appears "nothing is absolute!" And that phrase is the linchpin of the "new absolutes." Nothing is absolute; nothings is absolute; nothing is absolute. Change is our only mantra; it is our only possibility. And adaptation is the only course that most of us can take.
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