Now, we have market wizards guessing not what happens inside the head of the other megalomaniac who leads his country with an iron fist, where ‘I don’t know’ would again be more apt. None if any particularly expected a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Do Vladimir Putin’s ambitions extend beyond Ukraine?

But what we do know about life under a dictator in Russia: Innocent people who are arrested and jailed, no real political opposition, corrupt institutions and muzzling of the free press. Despite harboring tremendous natural riches, Russia’s per capita GDP is lower than that of the likes of Romania, Turkey, Latvia and Hungary.

We also know, if only from Vladimir Putin’s own statements, that one of the reasons he wants to take over Ukraine is to remove the potential threat to his regime of an emerging democracy on its border. Ukraine is far from perfect, but a functioning democracy nearby could erode Putin’s power base, should Russians desire something similar.

Like many Australians, we often presume our democracy is automatic. In some ways this is have pity, especially with a Federal election around the corner, that the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD) in Old Parliament House is closed to the public following the fire at the front doors. I went to MoAD just before it shut down, and it was an important reminder of how we have to fight to try to hold on to the values and the elements of our democracy.

MoAD houses a terrific exhibition titled Truth, Power and a Free Press addressing the role of the media in exposing corporate crime and government scandals. It’s hard not to see the irony there, that such a museum should exist in a place like Old Parliament House at a time when there is more doubt than ever about the truth we’re hearing from our politicians up the hill. The political conversation has descended into a divisive and insulting sloganeering, the opposite of what MoAD calls for.

This explanation, which much of our mainstream media prefers to ignore, is among the exhibition:

“There has to be trust in the news. Facts must be reported, as accurately as feasible at times it means standing up to people seeking to prevent the publication of facts that are undeniably in the public interest. Lacking a shared basis of fact, trust erodes and democratic debate collapses.”