Martin Longman started BooMan Tribune with a extra top diary section for international writers. That was nice, although these also were listed in the general top diary section. This led to some criticism. Next to Frank Schnittger and myself, there were quite a few global writers on the sites with weekly contributions. Jerome, ask, Londonbear, Mattes, Sirocco, heathlander, Hurria, shergald, and a few from Germany and Australia.

As time went by, many moved on and quite likely social media was attractive to some. In the end both Frank and myself stayed on @BooMan. Having seen a number of flame wars on domestic American politics, the division on the site started as the election cycle of 2016 came to a close. Nearer the election date, the DNC group demanded blinded loyalty to the cause of HRC. Be with us or be damned. Personally I had wished for Bernie Sanders to be the nominee for the Democrats, it was not to be.

As soon as HRC lost the election to a misogynist and extreme rightwing fool Trump all hell broke loose. After her derogatory remarks about a basket of deplorables, her campaign and numbers started a backslide that gained speed after the remarks by FBI head Comey. The Hillary fans thought it time to attack community bloggers who had not "fully" supported her and were in the corner of Sanders. The intelligence community did a last attempt to unseat Trump by the whole RussiaGate episode and impeachments which did further damage to American politics and fueled the Red-Blue states divide.

Impeachment was not going to happen. So America went after Putin ... he did it.

In 2017-18 European Tribune was a desolate place. A recommended diary stayed up until expiration date. Most of the time the column did not reached 8 diaries, but often just six. Do I overcrowd (?) or is there lacklustre appetite to write an article. A number of times I suggested as such ... step up to the plate in baseball terms.

No surprise there is deep rooted division in an approach to contain Russia or try to get Russia closer to the European culture and tied to the EU and global economy. The Neocons of US foreign policy have chosen for the last two decades to destroy the regime of the Kremlin.

I saw no response to a number of suggestions, so I willingly lowered the number of comments about the War on Ukraine and wrote an article about the crucial role of Turkey and the Middle East. A breaking news item about former MP Ian Austin was the second article. I sense the criticism is more about my dissenting view than the number of diaries in recent months.

After the years of Brexit to keep the newspaper columns filled, Europe was confronted with the Covid-19 pandemic and kept all of us on edge. Tolerance level has decreased and patience is short. In the chaos of today, there is a power grab by the military and intelligence. The UK is out of the EU and the EU-27 is further weakened by division Old and New. Both Putin and Trump/Biden exploit this division. The AUKUS incident of cutting submarine ties with France in preference to GB was an early indication. After demonizing the Kremlin and Russia to full extent, all eyes will focus on China. The US has a long list of using crippling economic sanctions to put pressure on a nation and harm its people. Germany sees very harsh economic years ahead, the motor of the EU is sputtering.

The confrontation happening today will have a profound change on global politics for the next decades. An immense historical event that should be commented on and not result in closing shop. The ultimate form of censorship.

'Sapere aude'