I was at the Obninsk State University for Nuclear Power Engineering, in the faculty lounge. Two professors approached me with a simple message: “Daniel, I am so sorry for you and your country on this terrible day.”.

I was shocked, and touched, and struck. Me, lone Amerikanitz, there, where the West is loved and lost, both bolstered and blamed, riveted, reviled, railed. I couldn’t help but be touched, but I went back to my room and did something Russian; I had a few shots of vodka and stared at the sky. I stared at the flower my students gave me on teacher’s day; there’s a day for every kind of worker, there are many days like it but that one was mine.

…

I have very little more to say beyond what Adam has said; my own country guts me. For those of us with long lives left to live, these will be interesting times. In the Chinese sense.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 21:17 and is filed under Oversight.