Doug Bates, good to hear from you again and thanks for a powerful, painful   relevant column.     Having  once monitored Soviet military  activity in the DDR and  later having  had a great time with the people  in Russia in 1968 in spite of the CPSU and the  Cold War, I've cheered when Gorbachev came to power and moaned as Putin became a despot.

Listening to Trump attack journalists and seeing this dangerous link between Putin and Trump is as chilling as a St. Petersburg  winter night.