The Great Terror in Russia and how it influences thinking to this day: I believe that you cannot comment about a country or a society without knowing something about where it has come from. In Russia’s case, not to examine what was perpetrated on the population during the Soviet years would be to ignore the elephant in the room. When I lived there, I did many road trips around the country. Once, I was visiting the towns and cities in the Golden Ring and in a small town called

This novel is mainly set in Kiev and is about the dismay of Russian commanders as they see the Soviet Union disintegrating around them. They resolve to do something about it. In reality, one of them, Vladimir Putin, actually did. Kiev, Ukraine, January 1998: Colonel General Igor Pavlovich Yavlinsky was not a happy man. As he gazed out of the seventh floor window of his office on Krechatik, the main street of Kiev, he pondered on what might have been; what should have been. H

Brendan in the early days. I saw an item on TV recently about the erection of a statue in a place called Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, in Ireland, to Dr. Brendan O’Regan. Who was he, many would ask — probably one of the greatest Irish innovators of the 20th Century or indeed of any time. The erection of a statue is hugely deserved but it cannot even begin to quantify what this man achieved or do justice to his legacy. I’m not too sure as to what positions Brendan held in Shannon A

Largely because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine and President Putin’s seemingly total disregard for human life and human rights, Russian people in general have gotten a bad press in recent times and have had to keep their heads down. But there is another side to Russia, one which I encountered on a daily basis when I worked there full time. I am still in touch with former colleagues, most of whom abhor what is being done in their name. Back in the day, I wrote a book about Russ

I have written many articles about Russia over the years and, more recently, in the context of the war they have waged on Ukraine. One of the recent articles was read by a lady from Ukraine who complimented me on it. I was delighted to get the positive feedback but it reminded me that before I ever lived in Russia, I had spent two and a half great years working in Ukraine, in Kyiv. This was in the late 1990’s, relatively soon after independence from the old Soviet Union. The

Altai Mountains - Siberia I read an article by a fellow writer this morning which stated that Russia is experiencing profound demographic issues and that this is effectively the root cause of their invasion of Ukraine. There is merit in this assertion. Russia, as the leading actor (Dictator) in the Soviet Union was a powerful nation, some would say a superpower. But since the break-up of that failed entity, Russia’s population has declined significantly and continues to do so