Thanks, it did trigger a bit of a depressive phase, which I sort of expected, but I managed to get through that one.

Well, I recently lost, like, 50% of my credibility as an intellectual as I stopped smoking. So I guess I am now somewhere in between both ends.

You know what makes it even sadder? While propaganda does play a huge part of it, from all that we can gather information-wise, a vast majority is motivated by abject poverty and lack of perspectives in life instead of jingoist enthusiasm.

They have been beaten down and dehumanised by the system first, given a bleak and cynical outlook on life and themselves - and then basically been offered money for suicidal operations, most likely benefitting their relatives unless they manage to “win the lottery” and come back home alive.

There’s a very real risk this will become the future of recruitment in Western nations as well, so we really should not turn off our empathy, even though I will never understand how they can charge forward into pants-shitting terror like this, instead of either surrendering or downright fragging their commanders in open mutiny.