"The Russian-American relationship is a real piece of work. With a strange quasi-masochistic twitch, I enjoy the journey I'm making in the shadows of these two empires. My existence twinkles somewhere between these giant imperialist machines.

"I don't care about borders (though borders do care about me). I know there is power in an intersectional, inclusive, international union of those who care about people more than money or status.

"We're more than atoms, separated and frightened by TV and mutual distrust, hidden in the cells of our houses and iPhones, venting anger and resentment at ourselves and others. We don't want to live in a world where everyone is for sale and nothing is for the public good. We despise this cynical approach, and we're ready to fight back. More than that, we are not just resisting, we're proactive. We live according to our values right now.

"When I try to find words to talk about a more holistic approach to world politics, when I suggest thinking about the future of the whole planet rather than the ambitions and wealth of nations, I inevitably start to sound naïve and utopian to many people. I thought for a while that it was because of my poor personal communication skills, and maybe that is part of the problem. But I see this failure of words as a symptom of something larger. We never developed the language to discuss the well-being of the earth as a whole system. We identify people by where they are from, while never learning how to talk about people as part of a larger human species.

"We've survived the Cuban missile crisis, etc., etc. And now, we're happily falling back into the ancient Cold War paradigm. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set the Doomsday Clock to two and a half minutes to midnight. Global threats are the worst they've been since the US Star Wars initiative in the 1980s. We're so excited to be able again to blame our counterpart, an external enemy.

"When two people fight for a long time, they end up looking more and more alike. You mirror your opponent, and it's always possible that sooner or later you'll be indistinguishable from her/him. It's an endless game of copycat. It may be good for you when your opponent is a person of great qualities, but when it comes to a relationship between empires, the result is usually ugly."