Ricotta Apple Sandwich - Ukraine Morning Ritual

20220307 #breakfastdiary 372, -4°C/occasionally cloudy, 11min/exercise Toast bread in a pan with olive oil. (On busy mornings, I just brush the bread with olive oil straight on the pan.) Spread ricotta on the toasted bread and top with apple, cinnamon, almonds, and honey — #ricottaapplesandwich Harvard professor Stephen Walt, writing in Foreign Policy a month before the invasion on January 19th, diagnosed that "America's liberal fantasy brought on the Ukraine crisis," arguing that the aggressive, value-driven diplomacy of the U.S. and the West would trigger a Russian invasion of Ukraine — and his prediction came true. According to him, NATO's eastward expansion was pursued for security reasons, but was in fact driven by a values orientation toward spreading freedom and democracy; it was largely foreseeable that Putin would perceive this as isolating Russia and threatening his own system, and respond with an extreme military escalation. Moon Chung-in, A Tragedy That Could Have Been Avoided, but Wasn't A brilliant analysis. Still, with the whole world's attention fixed on #Ukraine, so much else is getting buried — Palestine, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Bosnia, Kashmir. Various discussions and negotiations are actively continuing. Those quick to seize an opportunity are already rolling out yellow-and-blue color marketing, and the rest of us hit "like" and console ourselves with the thought that we, too, contributed to peace in Ukraine.