One can condemn Putin’s actions and even cheer on Ukraine’s military resistance without fostering a false image of Ukraine’s political system. The country is not a symbol of freedom and liberal democracy, and the war is not an existential struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. At best, Ukraine is a corrupt, quasi-democratic entity with troubling repressive policies.
Given that sobering reality, calls for Americans to “stand with Ukraine” are misplaced. Preserving Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity most certainly are not worth the United States risking war with a nuclear-armed Russia.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/whitewashing-ukraines-corruption/

"This phenomenon has been happening ever since there has been stand-up comedy," he says. As the two jesters from Richard I's court demonstrate, comedy has always been risky, and the power has always ultimately rested with the audience.

"What is wrong and what is OK is determined not by the teller, but by the audience member, by the receiver, and by their mood, the context they're in, the number of drinks they've had, their culture, their identity," continues McGraw.

If the power rests with the audience, the comedian has a tricky task in pleasing them. Stand-up comedian Catherine Bohart knows this pressure well. "The psychology of an audience is really interesting because [if] you seem fine, they are willing to trust you," she says. "But if you are being vulnerable, they can sniff out that anxiety and vulnerability."

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220323-the-jokes-that-have-made-people-laugh-for-thousands-of-years

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged to move "heaven and earth" to make sure Ukraine won the war.

There has recently been an increasing number of pledges to increase military support to Ukraine, including Germany's announcement that it will send 50 anti-aircraft tanks, in a sharp U-turn in policy.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61252320 

Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles.

Всё к лучшему в этом лучшем из миров 

 Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles (‣ Вольтер. Кандид, гл. 1 - 1759 г.) 

Alles ist aufs Beste bestellt in der besten der möglichen Welten. (Voltaire. Candide). 

Mit diesen Worten parodiert Voltaire in seinem satirischen Roman die teleologische Ansicht des deutschen Philosophen Leibnitz, nach der alles in der Welt zweckmäßig erschaffen sei, so dass diese als "die beste aller möglichen Welten" zu gelten habe.
Verwendungsweise des Zitats: Ausdruck einer ironischen Ablehnung.

1. Horrorshow (‘хорошо’ or ‘khorosho’ meaning ‘good’)

“I gave him one real horrorshow kick on the gulliver and he went ohhhh, then he sort of snorted off to like sleep…”

The Nadsat word for ‘good’ comes directly from the Russian word for good. Anthony Burgess purposely took liberty mis-transliterating the word, however, so that it would be spelled with the English word “horror.” This is important as its usage throughout the novel quite literally goes from good to bad. Gradually, “horrowshow” acquires an ironic meaning, revealing Alex’s satisfaction with violent films and horrific acts of torture.

2. Gulliver (‘голова’ or ‘golova’ meaning ‘head’)

I had something of a pain in the Gulliver so I had to sleep.”

Like ‘horrorshow’, ‘gulliver’ is an extremely anglicised version of the Russian word golova, and therefore looks like British slang at first glance. The word is perhaps an allusion to Jonathan Swift’s classic Gulliver’s Travels, giving the English-speaking reader a tauntingly false sense of familiarity. Although Gulliver was a giant in a land of pygmies – was this a sly depiction of big, scary Soviet culture taking over the West?

Statements from U.S. and other Western officials, as well as pervasive accounts in the news media, have created a stunningly misleading image of Ukraine. There has been a concerted effort to portray the country not only as a victim of brutal Russian aggression, but as a plucky and noble bulwark of freedom and democracy. The conventional narrative would have us believe that Ukraine is an Eastern European version of Denmark.

The promoters of that narrative contend that the ongoing war is not just a quarrel between Russia and Ukraine over Kiev’s ambitions to join NATO and Moscow’s territorial claims in Crimea and the Donbas. No, they insist—the war is part of a global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a leader worthy of nothing less than Winston Churchill’s legacy. President Biden, in his March 26 remarks on the war, said the conflict was “a battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and repression, between a rules-based order and one governed by brute force.”

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/whitewashing-ukraines-corruption/

Earlier, White House spokesperson Kate Bedingfield said the US had information that Mr Putin "felt misled by the Russian military" and this had resulted in "persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership".

"Putin's war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term and increasingly isolated on the world stage," she said.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called the assessments "discomforting", because an uninformed Putin could result in a "less than faithful" effort at ending the conflict through peace negotiations.

"The other thing is, you don't know how a leader like that is going to react to getting bad news," he said.

In a rare glimpse of internal dissent, Ukrainian President Zelensky announces he has sacked two generals as they were "traitors"

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60949706

 A challenge to God is likely to be punished. However I suspect there may be dare-devils who will put their life at risk by drinking Atomik.

A company that produces Atomik - a vodka made in Chernobyl's exclusion zone - is releasing two more premium drinks and donating profits to Ukraine's refugees.

The move comes as Russian troops occupy the land where the fruit is grown and harvested to make the drinks.

Scientists who set up the Atomik project have studied crops grown in the Chernobyl exclusion zone for 30 years.

Their work has enabled people living on contaminated land to distil slightly radioactive fruit down to a spirit that is no more radioactive than any other.

Sallie Tisdale. Talk dirty to ma: an intimate philosophy of sex. - New York, Anchor Books, 2014. - 340 p.

The author is an award-winning essayist. 

“Perversity, like obscenity, is a relative condition; we define it for ourselves… What about the secret things most of us most of us do now and then, or wish we could do, but never speak about? Like algolagnia, otherwise painful sensations that turn into sexual pleasure, like the getting and giving of hickeys, scratches, love bites, and pinches. Like spanking, whipping, slapping. What about begging, please, talk dirty to me, dear?” [Tisdale, 2014: 104, 108 - 109]