Once upon a time there was a people not far from the present war, just across the Sea of Azov between Ukraine and Russia, a people of such legendary beauty that it was known as the Circassian Ideal. They were a mountain people and also lived on the steppes. The qualities of the Circassian people so contrasted with those of the Russian, and invoked such jealousy and hatred that those Russian rulers would not let the Circassians live. They too were called them "scum" by the Russian czar, just as Putin does the Ukrainian people today.
Throughout the eight months of this war I have had two, twinned dreads. One, that Russia's invasion would engulf the United States and the world in a nuclear fireball. Two, that if that were avoided, Putin would nonetheless not let the Ukrainian people live, that he would commit genocide against the Ukrainians as his predecessors did in the Circassian genocide (1763-1900), "their only crime not being Russian".