My Dad blames Obama for the war in Ukraine

A short story but I thought it’s worth sharing.

I’m close to both my Mom and my Dad (they separated in 1999). While I was able to get my Mom out of collapsing Russia and bring her to us in America, I can’t do the same for my Dad. He’s in Moscow. For one thing, his US visa expired, and even before the war, the US consulate in Moscow wasn’t processing any visas. Besides, he still has a business to look after in Moscow. He co-founded a meat production company in the early 1990s. Nothing is left of meat production but there are now a few supermarkets in Moscow and its outskirts.

I message and speak to him a lot about the war in Ukraine. He’s educated, very well-read, well-traveled, always open-minded. He had a spectacular career in the Soviet era when he was very young. He was also successful in the post-Soviet economy, as an entrepreneur, though he went through a lot of ups and downs (he got kidnapped!). His entire life he’s been very liberal, loving Western culture and politics, dismissive of “sovok”, a derogatory term used to describe the Soviet system.

Today we started by messaging.

“How are you”, I asked.

“Well, I’m worried of course. I still can’t believe that what happened only compares to year 17 [referring to Bolshevik revolution].”

We later spoke. It really surprised me to hear this:

“For all my sympathy for Obama, it’s his fault.”