I was floundering in search of a subject for my weekly article. I was tempted to write about the ongoing trial by jury but it is not over yet and maybe will take a while. What can be said has already been said and over and over again.

Then I was saved... by YouTube which this morning put up in its music section Symphony No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff which I had never heard before in the version by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Vasily Petrenko who was also new to me.

This work set me reflecting on the immense contribution of Russian culture to the art of Europe and of the world, not just in music but also in literature and architecture. 

The current war brought about by the insane invasion of Ukraine has isolated Russia from the rest of the world even in sports and travel let alone trade and the possibility of cultural exchanges.

The great Russian propaganda machine tries hard to mask this isolation portraying Russia as a well-ordered society with incredibly beautiful places like St Petersburg and the pristine uncontaminated North.

But a new reality is making itself felt - the attacks by Ukrainian drones have reached areas previously thought to be immune and have affected the provision of fuel to many areas of Russia.

The worst affected is naturally Crimea which is now virtually besieged with huge queues at every fuel distribution pump and people fighting each other for a gallon of petrol.

For all the talk about peace negotiations neither party is ready to sit down at the negotiating table as this would represent a climbdown with incalculable risks.

So the war will go on with more Russian deaths and more missile air raids for Kyiv and elsewhere.

But there's a problem: Russia has unlimited resources and her missile stockpiles get continually replenished by allies such as China.

On the other hand it takes much more to make an interceptor than it takes to make a missile. And the Ukrainian stocks are running down and not getting replenished in time also because the allies are more into making promises than delivery.

The Ukrainians have been remarkably resilient, getting used to sleep in underground shelters through the coldest winter nights and going about their lives as if the missile barrages don't worry them.

Will this continue for ever?

There will always be the possibility of the conflict being widened to other countries. 

At this point we can expect either that this state of affairs remains longer and longer or else that one or other side collapses. 

The possibility that Russia will be the one reminds one of the collapse of the Soviet Union whose effects are still with us. 

A note of history 

Blazej Stanislawski

The Mediterranean gave birth to great ancient and antique civilizations. The region retained its primacy in the early Middle Ages. It became the arena of activity of the Byzantine Empire, the representatives of the Latin world, the Arabs and the Turks. Moreover there was also the expansion of peoples from the North - the Scandinavians, Vikings, Rus' and Normans. 

All this will be the subject of two research projects under the Mediterraneo Programme.

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