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John Bouchard's avatar

Thanks for these videos.

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McDdd's avatar

"Your dedication to the adventure of proving yourself cleverer than me is paying off!"

I wouldn't like to imply your statement (from a comment on a post I made 15/01/24) indicates a uncomfortable degree of self-interest or even obsession BUT, please rest assured, Mr Hampton, I have no interest in proving myself cleverer than you (or anyone else). Really, I just want to tell my story, to get it online as accessible and interesting as I can. It would be wrong for me to say I don't care what anyone thinks of it, obviously, because that's not true BUT the story, and it's accuracy are more important to me than others' opinion of it. But that's all about me.

About you, quite honestly, I don't believe I could hope to 'prove myself more clever than you' because I believe you are more clever than me. I wouldn't say I'm in awe of the way you collate and report because the word 'awe' is so... Bollocks! BUT I have the deepest admiration for the way you work and wish I could do something similar, rather than going on and on about myself.

For example, you are the only person I know who has made one of the most important observations about the way our world is run in the 21st century: "Yeltsin would go on to see something profound in Putin that no one else had." The importance of this statement can't be overestimated. Without it, there is no understanding of how or why we are where we are. As I've already said, you are the only person, as far as I'm aware, who has recognised that. To do so without having had the first hand experience of Russia and developed a deep love for its language, people and culture as I believe I (quite profoundly) have, that makes you far more clever than me.

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