First of all, this is Friday, and if you are in the USA, it is a day off for our country's 249th birthday.  How much longer we'll have  a Democracy will be a challenge with Donald Trump as president. Greece is where Democracy was born. However,  Democracy in Athens 2500 years ago  was not quite what it is supposed to be.  First, only males who served in the militia could vote.  With all the ineligible men, women, children and foreigners, only around 15% could participate in the democracy of those days As best as I can determine,  modern Greece did not return to Democracy until 1974!   Joined the European Union in 1981, but elected a socialist government later that year.  The government continues through crises, sometimes with coalitions involving communists, other times just messed up and in scandal.  So is Greece a Democracy today.  I guess yes. San Marino claims to have been a Republic since the year 300, but its current constitut...

About the Ukraine matter, here is another explanation, by  VOX , of why Putin invaded.  In short: Putin believes that Ukraine is an illegitimate country that exists on land that’s historically and rightfully Russian. Zelensky’s willingness to move away from Moscow and toward the West is, in Putin’s mind, an attempt to legitimize the “false” regime in Kyiv. The existence of an anti-Russian regime in what he views as rightfully Russian territory populated by rightfully Russian people is unacceptable to him — so unacceptable that he is willing to wage a costly and bloody war over it . I haven't been paying much attention to chess for quite a while, so with nothing better to do this sparkling (the view of Honolulu from where I sit is fabulous) Saturday morning, I will attempt to crystallize the essence of the field.  Click on  this  to see the world ranking: #1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway is only 31 and has already been World Chess Champ for five years.  His peak ...