Dept. of Fire and Weeping
Ukraine
I've been glued to the television since yesterday afternoon, Chicago time. I'm sure many of you have as well.
Part of me has been cynically disgusted at the hypocrisy of our horror at a European war, at the attention and sanctions and drums beating - when we seemed over the past too many years, and seem now, so willing to let black and brown innocent people across the globe suffer through bloody wars and horrors with deafening silence. Or worse, how we here in the West have beat the drums and sent our militaries to non-European countries to add to that suffering for the sake of oil, for the sake of geopolitcal maneuvering.
The other part of me is all too aware that those other undemocratic and hypocritically ignored or involved wars did not involve the would-be Czar of All the Russias, with his paranoia and his finger on the nuclear button.
Two other things that are rattling around in my brain. China may be reluctant to visibly support Putin, but is probably more than willing to offer its financial networks for Russia to move money past sanctions, and is undoubtedly willing to purchase natural gas that's been blocked from European sale.
The other is that someone pointed out that the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan was sparked at least in significant part, by the anger of Soviet mothers seeing their sons come home in body bags. The fact that people are out on Russian streets demonstrating against this war, despite close to 2,000 arrests, may be the thing that should frighten the Czar.
Jesus wept.
So do we all.
I've been glued to the television since yesterday afternoon, Chicago time. I'm sure many of you have as well.
Part of me has been cynically disgusted at the hypocrisy of our horror at a European war, at the attention and sanctions and drums beating - when we seemed over the past too many years, and seem now, so willing to let black and brown innocent people across the globe suffer through bloody wars and horrors with deafening silence. Or worse, how we here in the West have beat the drums and sent our militaries to non-European countries to add to that suffering for the sake of oil, for the sake of geopolitcal maneuvering.
The other part of me is all too aware that those other undemocratic and hypocritically ignored or involved wars did not involve the would-be Czar of All the Russias, with his paranoia and his finger on the nuclear button.
Two other things that are rattling around in my brain. China may be reluctant to visibly support Putin, but is probably more than willing to offer its financial networks for Russia to move money past sanctions, and is undoubtedly willing to purchase natural gas that's been blocked from European sale.
The other is that someone pointed out that the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan was sparked at least in significant part, by the anger of Soviet mothers seeing their sons come home in body bags. The fact that people are out on Russian streets demonstrating against this war, despite close to 2,000 arrests, may be the thing that should frighten the Czar.
Jesus wept.
So do we all.