What have I learned writing these blogs?
Unlike my blog co-authors, Roger and Dean, to me participating in the RUSUK project has one extra benefit: practicing my written English skills. The guys got it naturally, I haven’t. But I 
always wanted to do it on a level that might be ok for English-speaking audience to read. RUSUK is a fantastic opportunity to try to achieve it. This relentless training process is really the best way to achieve it. And then, once I get to a milestone, to keep rolling further down the road. Especially when I’ve got Roger as editor by my side to point out things that need to be fixed or clarified.
But there is much more than this.
To me, this is a very challenging journalistic project. On a weekly (OK, almost weekly, my bad!) basis we’re doing so many various topics, from down-to-earth ones, like blogs about Trump or Putin or the World Cup madness, to very philosophical ones, such as welcoming aliens and facing the consequences as humankind.
This is like exploring the unknown or making spiritual journeys. Where do we travel this week, lads? Do we get on board the time machine and make it to the 16th century in an effort to establish ourselves in that gloomy epoch? Or do we just stay right here, in this time and space, checking out today’s leaders and their deeds, sometimes outrageous or dubious?
Whatever it is, doing the RUSUK project I’m exploring the world around me, together with other crew members, Roger and Dean. I also get their perspectives, both personal and national, which is precious.
Finally, I appreciate writing these blogs as it means a great deal professionally. I’m not ashamed to mention my work with RUSUK. Just the opposite, I am proud of doing it.
So I am having a nice flight along with my co-pilots. No clouds on the horizon. Welcome on board!
A Change for The Better
The biggest takeaway I have from writing these articles is that I now believe that we will be the last generation to live in a traditional capitalist system. The idea that you have a job and a check will be under serious pressure in twenty years.
I’ll not bore you with my logic here but you can read my reasoning if you’re interested. 
We have had several of these shifts before: the Black Plague for example, passed power from the 1%, back to the people. The most recent shift was from the farm to the factory.
If these High-Tech, Multi-Nationals make electric, self-driving cars and 3D printers, we will not need factories for the most part. Just print out a new widget.
Why would anyone send the car down to the store to buy anything? Most of us simply will not have jobs because commodity goods are no longer manufactured. How will we pay for electricity?
Of course, it’s not in the interest of the one percent or their politicians to discuss these things. If you’re a broadcast network and you make your living from selling commercials, this really is something you wish would go away because your economic model may be about to collapse. If most people don’t have jobs, nobody needs to buy advertising.
My glass is half-full and I do believe this will result in a better society. The question is the transition: that period when we go from our current economic model to whatever follows. 
What have I learned from writing this blog? That we may be about to become a society of artisans. Live music will return to the restaurant and the community faire will come back. I have learned that, if we avoid war, we are about to become a much better people.
What have I learned when writing my blogs?
A great deal about my two buddies….
I’ve found, over the past 20 months that I have a solid and firm opinion on almost everything, but that, sadly, I actually don’t know that much about anything.
Even subjects in which I think I am proficient, I find myself having to check facts, figures, and dates that I thought I knew so well, only to find that the mists of time have diminished that memory much more than I would have considered. Take the Biafran War – I was convinced that it started around 1958, but it was actually almost a decade later.
Much research through writing these blogs has increased my meagre knowledge, from not knowing too much about most things, to knowing just a little bit more….whether I will remember this extra stuff is debatable…..
I have learned that I am much angrier about things that make me angry when I start writing about them – things like religion, extremism, gun laws, (or rather lack of), denial of science, whatever – I feel a lot more emotional all-round really when writing. Often, I find myself editing by toning down some of the language in my blog the following morning after writing.
I have also learned a great deal about my two buddies. One, Dean the cowboy, I see at least twice 
a week, but I feel I know him more by his writing. I think he is far more forthcoming about himself when he puts his feelings into words. And I reckon that’s a good thing. A talented American that hates Trump, likes anything to do with astronomy and space, and is happy to drink the crap wine is OK with me! I like to think he has become a best mate.
My Russian buddy Sergey, would you believe, I have only actually met a few times during a vacation he spent with his family almost two years ago in the paradise that is my homeland of North Cyprus. Yet, because I edit and therefore read his blogs very very carefully, I have for a long time now regarded him as a lifelong friend, another very talented chap who never ceases to amaze me with his creative writing, (in mostly perfect English by the way) despite it being nearly two years since we spoke face-to-face. How cool is that? In fact, I can safely say that I have learned more about his motherland than anything else since Rusuk was created.
By the way, such is my gradually fogging-up memory, I have had to research whether to use the word “learned” or “learnt” in both the title and text of the blog. It appears you can use either, although “learned” is more used in British and American English. Which is amazing, because, as we all know, Americans cannot spell. Color, flavor, humor, labor, neighbor, I could go on, but it’s too depressing…
Overall, I have learned that this planet is a pretty fucked-up place. My hopes for the future, particularly for my sons and families, and their families in the future, are coated with pessimism, although us humans do have a habit of pulling through against the odds. The trouble is, it’s us humans who have created those “odds”.
But all in all, writing these blogs has been a mostly positive experience for me, and one that I hope will continue for a long time. A very long time. Because, not only do I find it stimulating, it 
would also mean that I will still be alive and kicking someway into future, despite a memory that sometimes appears to be more stumbling along than kicking.