Like many around the world who are sitting in their homes and watching their large and small screens to what is happening in Ukraine, I watch in horror once again.
It seems the world has taken a disastrous turn of events. We have seen so much these recent times, the pandemic, Taliban taking over Afghanistan, tensions in South China Sea…
The current situation in Ukraine shines the light on how much I don’t know about this country, it’s history and it’s need for overcoming oppression from Russia. When you see people filled with national pride, rallying against oppression and fighting in the streets, you know that there is simply so much…you don’t know.
Their spirit to fight is enough to tell you that they’ve endured horrors in their history we’ll never know. Poverty, starvation, genocide, they’ve seen it all in their history with Russians fighting for independence.
At the same time, I question just how much the west should have known this was coming and to have done more before things got out of hand.
I don’t have much to say – anything at all actually on this as I sit back and watch how this plays out and hope the dominoes don’t fall to start WW3.
It’s distressing to see and read the news and the tweets every day and whatever I do or say, seems meaningless, frivolous and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things when I seem to be an observer in the plight of people trying to fight for their country.
It’s hard not to be affected by the news and feel helpless because you’re seeing the cost of decisions made either way. They’re in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.
(This post was difficult to write because anything I write down is meaningless – it comes from a place of utter naivety, uneducated and cluelessness – and also pissed off with despotic power, collusion and trade deals because of…gas, $).
Notes
I’ve started to read a bit more history into the Russian and Ukrainian history in an effort to at least understand a little bit. I know it is absolutely nothing but in some small way, I hope it shows respect. I feel I need to do something – just to understand.
Here’s the thread I used to investigate the books. You may find these of interest too.
Then there are the arguments that the situation was indeed brought on by the west with the expansion of NATO eastwards. This paper written in 2014 makes for some thought provoking reading.
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