Last night, Russian missiles struck a military training base in western Ukraine near the country’s border with Poland. The site, the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, serves as a hub for Western arms shipments, and for Western forces to train Ukrainian fighters. The airstrike killed at least 35 and left more than 100 injured. Russia’s attack followed its threat to target foreign weapon shipments sent by the U.S. and other countries to assist Ukraine.
In respect of your question "What if...?" regarding casualties of the base bombing, we don't know that a NATO national isn't among the dead and, if one or more is, neither NATO nor the victim's home country will be anxious for that to become public information. That would be the precipitating event you discussed and I, for one, would want to have whatever response I was going to make and the reasons for it thoroughly thought through, lined up and under way before I made the doleful announcement. I profoundly hope that isn't the case but I have seen a report that there was a National Guard unit at the base providing training and support for the Ukrainian army.
I think that sometime this week or next we will finally get fed up with what we are seeing everyday and call the bastard’s bluff, at least I hope we do. Those people need help, help that we in the west can give them in order to prevent their annihilation. I think we as human beings have an obligation to put an end to this given that we have the capacity to do so. I’m in favor of setting up humanitarian corridors and telling the Russians not to dare fuck with us if they want to stay alive, it will give the Russians an excuse to go home. If we don’t do it now when will we, we are going to have to face this bastard down or he will continue, he’s like the bully in the school yard, the longer you allow him to get away with his shit, the more of it he will inflict upon the innocent.
I read an article in The Atlantic this morning written by a Ukrainian journalist who asks the question whether or not World War III began with Russia's attack on Georgia 2008 and then the "annexation" of Crimea and the little green men in the Donbas in 2014-15, and that now with the attack on Ukraine we are not on the BRINK of a world war but are at a TURING POINT in one that began many years ago. There are folks making the "geography is destiny" argument these days. Heard a British one on NPR and read another from Medium a while later. They say, not as an excuse for what is happening, but that geography and demography are rational ways "to understand" why it is happening. I call that bulls***. Putin will take any excuse he can get as long as he can palm off the reason for the war on something or someone else. The West has not been paying attention, probably due to so much dirty money being mined in Russia. And there are too many who have for years figured that tied into the world economic sphere Russia would finally put its old story of hegemony and world conquest on a shelf. It seems a few, Putin in particular, have been reading their bedtime story for years. There is not a bit of dust on it. Still you have to ask, what is in it for Russia to do what it is doing now? Is it purely a huge miscalculation based on western inactions of 2008 onward, a desire to "reset" the relationship? Now that he's in it (and it appears someone in the security services is under house arrest in Russia for producing shoddy intelligence) and up to his neck in sanctions that are holding, and global business shuttering their Russian stores for a period of time (until he pulls out of Ukraine in totality), and thousands of Russians fleeing, is he attempting to take everything he can, destroying people and places as much as possible, and then cut a deal - give me this part and I'll leave you alone? He is a pariah (except apparently to the former Chancellor of Germany, Schroeder) but that still leaves the Nato alliance in a bad place. It is too bad Stoltenberg is not already gone to take over a central bank in whatever country he is from. Because what Nato needs now is someone who is not a banker. Putin wants the former republics back. He thinks all of the decisions of 1991/92 were a huge mistake. You just have to read his speeches and know who his go to philosophers are. He has played the money game and the deal maker game for years now. He did not expect the world to react as it has. So far the west is holding together. He believes if he can drag things out long enough, do enough physical and emotional damage, the west will tire and just want to get it all over with at any cost, even the loss of Ukraine on the map of the world. Lavrov has said as much. And if we don't do more to get what Ukrainians need to Ukraine this period in world history will be but the beginning of the long darkness of mobsters and tyrants picking off nations one by one. The war Putin has begun is indeed a war between Democracy and Fascist dictatorship. Both systems espouse values. Which do you want? Communism as an economic force died long ago in the capitalist money pits that emerged after the demise of the Soviet Union. The US and other nations are struggling against a system of disinformation which the FSB etc have become expert at. The AFD in Germany support Putin. but guess what - the gop does the same in the U.S. Democracy is not a sure thing. It never was. But now it is crystal clear. Sadly there is no Frodo to grab the ring of power off Putin's finger and fling it at last into the fires of Mordor. Putin has thrown a great deal away to pursue his vision of a reunited Russian empire of the 18th/19th century. Problem is, he has 21st century weapons.
I tried to send an email to President Biden through the Whitehouse web page. Some technical glitch prevented it from sending. I’m going to keep trying. Perhaps if any of you feel the same, you could also try. Dear President Biden, Do any Russian oligarchs own property in the states? Could we seize their assets and make a place for refugees? Could you also encourage Britain to do the same? Thank you.
Also, I’m hoping we hear from Zelensky soon. His absence makes me fear for his safety.
I'm glad I read this today, the 14th, after a cup of java. If I had read it last night, I probably would not have been able to sleep. As I write this, my favorite classical station is playing a piece from "The Mission" which somehow seems completely apt for the times we live in.
NATO is already at war will be in a nuclear war with Putin before long. I hope all their readiness is on red alert. And this is optimistic ha ha
We are in Warsaw and fly to Calgary on Wed. Tanya is heartsick at leaving while I am going home. It isn't fair but at least we have a place to go
In respect of your question "What if...?" regarding casualties of the base bombing, we don't know that a NATO national isn't among the dead and, if one or more is, neither NATO nor the victim's home country will be anxious for that to become public information. That would be the precipitating event you discussed and I, for one, would want to have whatever response I was going to make and the reasons for it thoroughly thought through, lined up and under way before I made the doleful announcement. I profoundly hope that isn't the case but I have seen a report that there was a National Guard unit at the base providing training and support for the Ukrainian army.
I think that sometime this week or next we will finally get fed up with what we are seeing everyday and call the bastard’s bluff, at least I hope we do. Those people need help, help that we in the west can give them in order to prevent their annihilation. I think we as human beings have an obligation to put an end to this given that we have the capacity to do so. I’m in favor of setting up humanitarian corridors and telling the Russians not to dare fuck with us if they want to stay alive, it will give the Russians an excuse to go home. If we don’t do it now when will we, we are going to have to face this bastard down or he will continue, he’s like the bully in the school yard, the longer you allow him to get away with his shit, the more of it he will inflict upon the innocent.
I read an article in The Atlantic this morning written by a Ukrainian journalist who asks the question whether or not World War III began with Russia's attack on Georgia 2008 and then the "annexation" of Crimea and the little green men in the Donbas in 2014-15, and that now with the attack on Ukraine we are not on the BRINK of a world war but are at a TURING POINT in one that began many years ago. There are folks making the "geography is destiny" argument these days. Heard a British one on NPR and read another from Medium a while later. They say, not as an excuse for what is happening, but that geography and demography are rational ways "to understand" why it is happening. I call that bulls***. Putin will take any excuse he can get as long as he can palm off the reason for the war on something or someone else. The West has not been paying attention, probably due to so much dirty money being mined in Russia. And there are too many who have for years figured that tied into the world economic sphere Russia would finally put its old story of hegemony and world conquest on a shelf. It seems a few, Putin in particular, have been reading their bedtime story for years. There is not a bit of dust on it. Still you have to ask, what is in it for Russia to do what it is doing now? Is it purely a huge miscalculation based on western inactions of 2008 onward, a desire to "reset" the relationship? Now that he's in it (and it appears someone in the security services is under house arrest in Russia for producing shoddy intelligence) and up to his neck in sanctions that are holding, and global business shuttering their Russian stores for a period of time (until he pulls out of Ukraine in totality), and thousands of Russians fleeing, is he attempting to take everything he can, destroying people and places as much as possible, and then cut a deal - give me this part and I'll leave you alone? He is a pariah (except apparently to the former Chancellor of Germany, Schroeder) but that still leaves the Nato alliance in a bad place. It is too bad Stoltenberg is not already gone to take over a central bank in whatever country he is from. Because what Nato needs now is someone who is not a banker. Putin wants the former republics back. He thinks all of the decisions of 1991/92 were a huge mistake. You just have to read his speeches and know who his go to philosophers are. He has played the money game and the deal maker game for years now. He did not expect the world to react as it has. So far the west is holding together. He believes if he can drag things out long enough, do enough physical and emotional damage, the west will tire and just want to get it all over with at any cost, even the loss of Ukraine on the map of the world. Lavrov has said as much. And if we don't do more to get what Ukrainians need to Ukraine this period in world history will be but the beginning of the long darkness of mobsters and tyrants picking off nations one by one. The war Putin has begun is indeed a war between Democracy and Fascist dictatorship. Both systems espouse values. Which do you want? Communism as an economic force died long ago in the capitalist money pits that emerged after the demise of the Soviet Union. The US and other nations are struggling against a system of disinformation which the FSB etc have become expert at. The AFD in Germany support Putin. but guess what - the gop does the same in the U.S. Democracy is not a sure thing. It never was. But now it is crystal clear. Sadly there is no Frodo to grab the ring of power off Putin's finger and fling it at last into the fires of Mordor. Putin has thrown a great deal away to pursue his vision of a reunited Russian empire of the 18th/19th century. Problem is, he has 21st century weapons.
I tried to send an email to President Biden through the Whitehouse web page. Some technical glitch prevented it from sending. I’m going to keep trying. Perhaps if any of you feel the same, you could also try. Dear President Biden, Do any Russian oligarchs own property in the states? Could we seize their assets and make a place for refugees? Could you also encourage Britain to do the same? Thank you.
Also, I’m hoping we hear from Zelensky soon. His absence makes me fear for his safety.
I got it sent to president@whitehouse.gov
I also admitted it wasn’t right, but it was more right than bombing and killing. They lose a few bucks but they get to keep their life.
TC, Is Putin, literally, asking for it or is he, literally, out of his mind?
I'm glad I read this today, the 14th, after a cup of java. If I had read it last night, I probably would not have been able to sleep. As I write this, my favorite classical station is playing a piece from "The Mission" which somehow seems completely apt for the times we live in.