There is a limited duration of time that one can sit on a fence. It begins to bite and the ache spreads. The body begins to wilt and in a growing desperate need for relief begins to cave. The determination to sit on that fence weakens. Worse, that fence sitter falls to one side, the wrong side, that which will forbid any more fence sitters from future existence. Only with a sheer determination to avoid that situation, that bleak future, can the fence sitter, in a most precarious situation, pull back, and lean to the other side, the proper side, the one with acceptance of responsibilities. The one which stresses the brotherhood and unity of humanity. The one with a hope for a future. Period.
So "Choose!" Zelensky says, addressing the Russian soldiers now invading his country. Choose between life and death. Between right and wrong. Choose for your souls is the message sent to the rest of the world. Choose where you are and where you will be - and where you need to be, should be, must be. Choose for your life, the life of your nation. Despite all the denials, "This is not my war," -it actually is. The damned truth. Recognize that. See the truth. It is right there. Like it or not.
After 19 days of catastrophic loss and immeasurable destruction, war waged on civilians, the war continues, a war which should never have been, yet existed long before this. It began with Georgia, Chechnya, Moldova. With statements stressing that Ukraine was actually a 'natural' part of Russia. With constant incursions, testing the resolve of NATO. Tests they failed.
"Responsibility for war crimes of the Russian military is inevitable,"
Yes, there will be judgements - maybe - but those judgments and responsibilities also fall upon the shoulders of those who remained silent. Those who allowed this entire mess to even exist, to allow its possibility to morph into probability and ultimately into excruciating reality. That my friends are us. Most assuredly, actually, shamefully so. Denial is futile for truth will always out, sooner or later, denials useless against the judgements of history.
Presently, this war is being fought as a DIY war - do it yourself, literally and figuratively. Ukrainians grab whatever they can find, including the trophies of bitter fighting - Russian equipment left behind. How fitting. But that is not enough, certainly not if Ukraine is to remain upright, perhaps bent a bit, but still, erect enough to continue a brutal fight against ravaging invaders. The question remains though -for how much longer. The bravery of Zelensky and his family, particularly in light of the kidnaping of a mayor of a captured city, the heroism of an elderly couple defying a group of invading armed Russian soldiers, the desperate defiance of civilians against the brutality of the Russian army, and the reality of an invading army lacking food and shelter, proper clothing, seeking all that within the civilian realm. Not enough. Not nearly enough.
At present we are cynically playing the Cold War game, war by proxy, at least on one side of this conflict. We reassure ourselves that we are avoiding WWIII. But we are deluding ourselves. WWIII has already begun. It was in play as Russia invaded other countries, ripping off pieces of them. It continued in 2014 with the Crimea invasion and annexation. The world? Stood still. Remained silent. Result? Ukraine. No, we need not fear igniting WWIII for it has already been lit. There is no way on this beleaguered world of ours to deny the interconnectivity of nations. All attempts to isolate a country fail, sooner or later. Time is the ultimate enemy; thus, autocrats, power crazed, desiring more, always more, do as much as they can during their period of strength. Only a strong denial, an adamant stand against their incursions will do the trick. Grossly missing.
We need a realistic approach. Okay, no boots on the ground, but arm and equip the Ukrainians with offensive weapons, not merely defensive. Defense most often fails. Pure and simple. Open resistance and power to resist comes only via offense and appropriate arms. Shivering in our shoes, refusing to send planes, is for naught, other than assuring Russia of victory when Ukraine is exhausted, reduced to rubble, bereft of a huge portion of its population, along with Russians fleeing their country and its increasingly paranoid world.
The inevitable result? More incursions, for Russia knows that NATO will not resist, even as he tests them again, edging ever closer to their borders, even as he will roll into Moldova, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Georgia and on and on until there will be no resistance possible, only a resigned shrug and a false self - congratulatory, "Well, we avoided a WWIII." No, we did not. No, we will not. Not this way. Always speak from a position of strength and power. We have ceded that, given it up. Much to the detriment of all.
"What if they come to your land next?"
That is a question posed by a besieged Ukrainian in Kyiv, there to take care of elderly parents. Sadly, others cannot survive as they are attacked. The pregnant, in labor woman in a bombed maternity hospital, with crushed pelvis and detached hip, who begged the doctors to kill her when she learned the baby was dead, well, G-d granted her that wish a half hour later. Is that what we will allow to continue?
Read that question again. Tyranny does not willingly stop in its tracks. It does not collapse of its own will. It gathers as much as it can before an inevitable fall and vigorous opposition, though the intervening period wreaks havoc on humanity. Read the question again and think, hard and long. Realistically, not wishfully. How do we prevent that? Think again.
I add and leave you with this heartfelt plea from the brave wife of a brave man - the Zelenskys.
STOP WAR
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