24 February 2022

Ukraine

This is a dark day for Ukraine, for Europe and for the world. The easiest prophecy to make  has now come true. Surprise, surprise, the massed Russian troops were not just engaged in military exercises within shouting distance of the border with Ukraine, they were indeed preparing for invasion.

In years to come, I will look back upon this blogpost and what I hope is this - that in the intervening time, the Russian people will have booted out the megalomaniac who is now in charge. They will have found a way of beginning a new phase in their nation's history built on truth and democracy and not upon the whims of a madman who is living in a distorted vision of the past.

Why should innocent Ukrainians and Russian soldiers die for his delusional ego?

You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one.

47 comments:

  1. I now question everything we're told by this government and the BBC.

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    1. It surprises me that you put the BBC in the same bag as The Johnson Gang.

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    2. At last someone who is questioning the BBC and the Government. What about the last 2 years propaganda that has come from them and left people in fear over a virus that was no more than a severe flu?

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    3. Of course, in addition, that same virus has left 166,244 British citizens dead and an estimated 1.3 million suffering from Long Covid. No fakery there and absolutely no reason for deception by the BBC.

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  2. Today Ukraine. What next?

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  3. You are indeed not the only one, Neil. And yes, it is a sad day.
    An interview with our still relatively new chancellor Scholz last night on TV showed me that many who were following Putin's verbal and written output over the past few years are not at all surprised. He's not made it a secret that he wants to shift borders. And when the shifting involves those borders that have been stable since 1945 within and at the outer rims of Europe, it does not bode well.
    Add to that the other madmen (where are the women in this game, by the way?) who have way too much power on this planet - you know who I mean - and it looks even worse.

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    1. When Pandora's box was opened, all of the ills of the world got out. Putin's Ukrainian adventure will be like that. He should have kept the lid on it.

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  4. The entire world needs to sanction Russia until they rid themselves of this despot. He is not doing anything for the betterment of his people, it's all for his ego.

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    1. The Russian propaganda and misinformation machine seems to work most effectively within Russia itself.

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  5. How have we once again allowed this to happen?

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    1. Because we imagined that keeping our fingers crossed would be sufficient.

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    2. I'm not sure what the alternatives were. We couldn't have acted first; he'd have argued that we were the aggressors. (In fact he argues that already.)

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    3. Behind the scenes there are spies, secret surveillance, military strategists etc.. Surely they knew what was coming.

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  6. That painting really struck my funny bone this morning when there is not much to laugh about.

    As I heard on the radio this morning, Putin will most likely win this war, but hopefully in the long term, all the sanctions will turn it into a tactical defeat. I'm not real hopeful though that our president will get tough enough on sanctions.

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    1. Several European countries rely upon gas supplies from Russia but of course this in not the case with America.

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  7. He is mad. How can anyone contemplate the deaths of thousands of people for their own glory. Yet here we are again the shuffling of territorial borders for greater power, and as someone has said, where are the women in all this, definitely not making war.

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    1. Probably making the tea. If Putin had to wash and iron his own clothes, visit the supermarket and make family meals he would have had little time to contemplate the nightmare that he has ignited.

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  8. My heart goes out to the people of Ukraine. They did not ask for this. Nobody did, except that lunatic with little man syndrome. I just hope we can diffuse this before it blows up into something much more wide-spreading. The former USSR states and other ex-communist countries, like Poland, must be wondering if they are next. If it does come to a world war, it worries me, as it will be like no other war we have ever experienced before. Technology and the internet will have magnified it a thousand times or more.

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    1. It almost seems like an idea for a fictional film - but it is here and it is now.

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  9. In past years Russia, it's people, history and literature, fascinated me, and I read much about it. One thing that stood out was that there was a "pattern" - times when the country almost opened up to the world and the people had more freedom, but there were too many dark times when they were oppressed and the country turned in on itself.
    When the Berlin wall came down I wondered how long before some despot came along to reclaim all those freedoms, and the lands the old Soviet "empire" lost. It seems he's arrived, and this madman won't stop until those old boundaries are restored.
    A friend recently sent me an email of interesting facts about the Ukraine and it's easy to see why Putin wants to take control. It's a country rich in mineral and agricultural wealth. If he wins this war he won't need to worry about sanctions the rest of the world impose - he will have everything he needs.
    My thoughts are with the people of the Ukraine.

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    1. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration Carol.

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  10. This is heartbreaking and discouraging. Terrifying also. Some of the rhetoric I hear in the U.S. is unhinged.

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    1. Why? What are they saying Margaret?

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    2. Right wingers LOVE Putin and LOVE Russia and their bloated orange god has been crowing with glee about the invasion. You may think I'm joking about that....I wish I were.

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    3. Good heavens! That is truly awful - coming from red-blooded Americans.

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  11. It's a terrifying time. He is truly "Hitlerian" in his megalomania. As you said, we can only hope this causes enough pain within Russia that the people rise up -- though booting him out would probably be difficult because I'm sure he pulls the strings when it comes to elections.

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    1. Maybe with Ukraine, Putin has pushed his luck too far. I hope so.

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  12. I say we need to hold on to our dreams of peace... Ukraine has been on the news here non-stop all day today, I suppose it's the same in the rest of Europe. One thing I don't know is what ordinary people in Russia are thinking.

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    1. Russia is home to a lot of of well-educated, free-thinking and influential people. I am sure that most of them can see through Putin's games... but of course they are not entirely "ordinary".

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    2. It's mainly the "influential" part that seems a bit doubtful to me.

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  13. Sad so sad. How could any body kill and invade? All we can do is pray for these poor people.

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    1. As I said before, a leader who cared about his people would be totally focused on the COVID pandemic which is still raging in Russia. 132,998 new infections reported today and 762 deaths.

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  14. As they say, "I hope your dreams come true." I see demonstrations in Russia today but I'm not sure of the source.

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    1. If I was a Russian living in Russia I would probably be afraid to demonstrate.

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  15. Ha! I just noticed the political cartoon was one of John Deering's. I only read the comics from the Democrat-Gazette on Sundays (which includes his two strip comics), so I miss his daily political cartoons. That's a good one. (we have to find humor where we can get it)

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    1. It is humour with teeth - accepted in democratic nations.

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  16. It is horrific. Canada and Alberta in particular has a huge Ukrainian population. It is a bad day today.

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    1. It puts our own domestic concerns into a very different perspective.

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  17. Anonymous10:00 pm

    Interesting to hear in the news this morning that there are protests in Russia by Russians against the invasion. Someone needs to firmly point out to Putin that The Soviet Union is a broken egg and cannot be put back together.

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  18. Replies
    1. And there will be many more ahead. It feels like a massive earthquake.

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  19. You certainly aren't the only dreamer, there are many of us. We dream of peace without maniacal bullies, petty greedy little men who want what they don't need.

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    1. I saw him on my TV screen telling evil lies. The long-suffering Russian people deserve better.

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  20. My understanding is that Putin is well loved in Russia so the hopes of turning the people against him seems slim.....

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    1. There are thousands of oppressed Russians who despise him and what he stands for.

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