Leaving

[bill_schubert]

While I'm not a fan of collective punishment I just finished listening to a WAPO interview with the Prime Minister of Lithuania.  The interviewer specifically asked her how she felt about punishing the Russian people with boycotts and banking blocks for what Putin is doing.  Her response was far more elegant and gentle but was in essence:  

By what Putin could see the world didn't care if he increased Russia's land mass. He acquires sycophants and so gets no push back internally.  The west is indifferent to his take over of the Russian government.  Lithuania has for a long time said that the west should be boycotting his regime.  Had the west followed this recommendation and given Putin a strong signal that aggression would be met with destruction we might not be where we are today.  

My sister is moving off LJ to DreamWidth and the primary reason I'm on LJ is to have another stream of communication with her.  I will follow her.  I've tried to import my archive to DW and once I've figured out that has worked (or not) I'll delete this journal entirely so that it will at least have some impact with the owners of LJ.  Grain of sand but there it is.

My DW name is, cleverly, bill-schubert.  No end to my creativity.  

During the Desert Storm times I used to read a blog by an unknown women called 'Baghdad Burning'.  I read it in real time and it was sad and inspiring and riveting and I still think of it during such times as these.  Her title line was appended with:

... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...

Her last entry 10 years later in 2003 ended with 'Lo khuliyet, quilibet" which means "If the world were empty of good people, it would end".  She still thinks it is safe.  

That always spoke to my romantic soul.  

Comments

[amw.livejournal.com]

Did you read Salam Pax too? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salam_Pax I was riveted during that invasion, both with the embedded reporters trying to tell the story of the military and the bloggers covering it. I have to admit i find this invasion a bit tedious by comparison, perhaps it's just part of being older, once you've experienced realtime updates in one war, the (morbid) novelty is gone. I am still getting a sense of déjà vu, though, in particular the Ukrainian politicians' updates about how well they are going remind me of the infamous Iraqi Information Minister. There's so much propaganda... I know it's necessary to try boost morale, but it comes across as so performative and absurd when it gets reported out to the wider world.

If you're interested in more dry updates, the ISW thinktank is filling a role we had from the neocon milbloggers during Iraq: http://www.iswresearch.org/

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

This feels so different to me since the U.S. is only on the periphery although in the middle of it politically. This feels more like Bosnia before we got involved. The ISW is interesting.

[amw.livejournal.com]

Interesting! Yes, i guess for me the Iraq War was one of those things i kinda watched by the sidelines, even though Australia (where i lived at the time) and the UK (my citizenship) joined the coalition. This also feels a bit sideline-y for me, even though i do consider myself European.

I am a bit disappointed in the coverage which seems to be elevating Ukrainians to some kind of mythological heroes for Europe... Like, this is a government that is literally tearing apart families, forcing men who are trying to flee to stay and fight, so it's doubly shit - mandatory conscription and also sexist. They're not above reproach. Meanwhile wars continue in Sudan, Nigeria, Syria, Yemen etc and not only do they not get a mention on the front page of western newspapers, but their refugees are demonized and refused safe haven in the exact some countries that are now acting all kumbaya. Obviously Russia is the aggressor here and when they step into a fight it's a lot more risky due to the nuclear factor, but i feel like a lot of western commentators and the media in general are showing some real rubber morals in this conflict. But, eh. I just hope it ends soon and with as little bloodshed as possible, i guess that's something everyone can agree on.