>I now have church friends in Odesa Ukraine and we are communicating but he watches MSM and thinks Putin is a monster I'm not saying Putin isn't a killer -- I think he is. Your friend is likely too young to remember what it was like before Putin. I was told that if a line of people formed on the street, you got in it. Why? Because it may be the only time you could get whatever was being sold or given out (like food or toilet paper). There was an underground/black market where you had to be "connected to the mafia" to get decent quality meat. They clearly have a different quality of life there now. It may not be perfect, but it's much better.