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Typo: mineral wealth in the ground is $11 trillion, not million, obviously ))

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Excellent word picture. I envy you the experience. Why do they stay? My father was parish priest in the heart of London in WW2 near the docks, a big German target,with a wife and two small children. They had no air raid shelter and hid under the stairs during the nightly raids. They put my brother, a baby, in the oven and told the rescue services where to look if the house was hit. Eventually he was hit when out making sure the church choir was safe. He survived - just. He told me he stayed because it was his duty to look to his parishioners most of whom worked nearby. And he didn’t send his family away because he thought they should stay together. Both my grandfathers carried on as doctors after normal retirement. In addition one was local Home Guard Commander and the other in the Observer Corps. I understand exactly where your Donbass friends are at.

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It was interesting to see how life carries on despite death being nearby, as if life is stronger than death.

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very informative article Charles. My wife and I may end up in her native Kherson after the war is over. Weary of our debased US and retiring in the Spring. Most of my wife's friends and relatives hope to return there too. I assume it will be Russian and am glad about that. Be happy to help them pick up the pieces of their city. Hopefully the Russian gov will invest in its rebuilding - it was pretty run down when I was there in 2001-2004.

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Sounds like it would be a lot of fun to help rebuild Ukraine.

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My wife and I are actually thinking of moving to Austria if they follow the current direction into the BRICS.

Like you, we are disgusted with the United States and its rotten political and legal infrastructures.

We have traveled to Austria for over 22 years but had to stop in 2014 when I retired. Then, of course, the Austrian Greens gained control and the rest is history until recently when an Austrian nationalist party came back to power. Hence, the consideration of looking east by the new leadership.

I know some German and have begun brushing up on my language skills for a possible trip back sometime next year...

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I think Austria would be a great place to live, as long as one can keep the crazies out of power.

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An understatement, but alas despite Austria's theoretical neutrality, clearly nicht so einfach. Even with the FPÖ now at 29% it's highly unlikely that it will be permitted to play a role in the government, much less turn the tide against the "crazies" and their suicidal policies copied from the rest of Western Europe. Moreover, recent experience with massive vote fraud has shown that the folks calling the shots there will stop at nothing to maintain their control.

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I have been in touch with a lady in Lugansk for some years. Her mother died prematurely. The girl herself got uterine cancer at the age of 31. I helped her move to Vladivostok where the cancer was discovered. They removed her uterus. I encouraged her to change her diet and to drink alkaline water - much to the disgust of her oncologist. He wanted radiation treatment and chemotherapy. She recovered and is now cancer-free. The oncologist came to see her and to write down her method.

What I am getting at is that I think the drinking water in Lugansk is contaminated. Probably with heavy metals. It is not normal for people to fall ill like that unless they are consuming toxins.

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Hey Charles, good stuff as usual. Do you have a podcast? Looking for co-hosts?

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I don't because am too busy to make that commitment but I may start one sometime in the future. At this stage, if I had time, which I really don't, I would prefer to go on existing shows.

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