Monday evening roundup

If you're unclear as to what Russia's after... so is the Kremlin.

Um, this may be a valid point

The Lenin statues have been treated by Ukrainian protesters as a stand-in for Russia itself. And while it surely is a captivating media moment and will perhaps galvanize like-minded protesters, it isn’t likely to play a positive role in helping Ukrainians to come to terms with their complicated past and it is certainly not going to change the reality of Ukraine’s geographic happenstance, sandwiched between Russia and the European Union.

Once historical sites and statues are gone, they do not come back. This is not just unfortunate for historians and museums but also for those whose history (whether glorious or uncomfortable) is being destroyed. It precludes the possibility of a public place for contemplation and psychological recovery. Ultimately, eradicating history in the pursuit of a revised national narrative represents a lack of confidence that past traumas and current debates will be fairly sorted in the future.

But I'm going to say, go ahead and trash those statues.

On an (accidentally) quasi-related note: materialism's not necessarily a bad thing when the stuff has meaning.

Aggressive dudes in bars know perfectly well that they're being douche bags.