Everyone should understand the meaning of the word “cost”. You can try avoiding expenses, but costs will still come, one day. What is happening in Georgia now is very much about neglecting the meaning of the word “cost” by politicians, mainly in the West. However, costs cannot disappear through wishful thinking. Current decision makers may try to hide from them, but they may return at a higher rate.

Russia. The word still evokes images of conspiracy behind gray concrete blocks, while a strong military marches through the streets in a tour de force of the iron hand that rules the harsh country. The Kremlin was working hard to ensure that this stereotype, of influential and ruthless Soviet toughness, is exaggerated. Disinformation, ostentatious secret service operations and bellicose rhetoric all served this illusion.

Hundreds of tones of dead fish have recovered from the Oder river. First dead fish were spotted already in late July. In early August, some anglers and local politicians from Lower Silesia alarmed regional authorities. There was no reaction. The mass die-off was detected when locals came across thousands of fish corpses near the village of Widuchowa on 11 August.