From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 27 March

In the same way that not all Germans were Nazis, not all Russians are supporters of Vladimir Putin and his thuggish regime. Because you are forced to play in the mud does not mean you are dirty.

IT would be folly to assume that Russians living outside of the Federation are supportive of Mr Putin’s war on Ukraine; although, I do know someone who – despite financially prospering under the freedom offered by the Crown in this country, insists Ukraine belongs to Russia and therefore Mr Putin’s war is justifiable. What had been lost on me was, despite the Putin supporter living for almost half a century in Australia, the 20-plus years of communist inculcation lingers on.

My proffered hypothesis of Western Australia choosing to secede from the Commonwealth of Australia, and, subsequently, being bombed into submission by the remaining states, was lost, totally. There is none so blind as those who do not want to see.

The ethnic and ancient history of Ukraine is complicated and dates back to the Copper and Bronze Age – 3300 BCE.

Recently, and most importantly, following the Ukrainian-Soviet War (1917–1921), during which the invading Russian Bolshevik Red Army established control, the Ukrainian Bolsheviks, having defeated the national government in Kyiv, established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. On 30 December 1922 it became one of the founding members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The alliance was further strengthened by the Ukrainian born Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev.

The initial COVID pandemic gave rise to a farcical, international wave of xenophobia. Chinese nationals living abroad were blamed and targeted for the outbreak, with many Westerners stupidly believing it originated in China as a consequence of someone, in a remote village, cooking-up a pot of bat soup! Sometimes, one is left shaking one’s head in speechless astonishment.

Alarmingly, the same nonsense is happening to those Russians living outside of the Federation. While there are those billionaire kleptocrats who have ruthlessly plundered the former USSR, the average Russian is exactly like the rest of us. The generation born after the fall of communism is fighting to shake-off the yoke of the past. Mr Putin’s fanatical revanchism is the major barrier to their success.

In a disturbing trend, Russian children are being bullied at school; a Prague professor has refused to teach Russian students; a Russian-themed restaurant in Washington was vandalised, and a young, piano prodigy was banned from a concert in Montreal despite speaking out against the war.

Quite rightly, the world is outraged at Mr Putin’s barbarous war; however, while companies are boycotting Russia, we must be careful it does not develop into a hate campaign against the innocent Russian people.

The comforting smell of freshly baking bread, hanging heavy in the early morning air, is one of life’s sensory joys!

Trevor Walker trained as baker and then changed direction for a time. Now he has returned to his trade and is baking some of the best bread you will taste, ever.

In a moment of daring he opened a Ballarat online bread delivery business in the middle of the COVID pandemic. So far so good. He is celebrating six months of operation.

He uses a sourdough starter; no commercial yeast; and the bread is baked in one of the country’s few commercial woodfired bread ovens, and which brings its own distinctive flavour. Walker delivers around Ballarat in an electric car.

To celebrate his bread-baking birthday, he has some surprises for his online customers.

Visit Walker’s website at beforeslicedbread.com.au.

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald 3BA Monday at 10.45am and contacted via [email protected].