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Saturday 26 February 2022

Forget spears and swords


What makes Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine different is it’s a “modern” war. All the available up-to-date death-dealing technology aimed at the twenty-first century city of Kyiv. Multi-storey blocks of apartments which suddenly become very vulnerable to weapons delivered by supersonic jets screaming across an unchallenged sky. Refugees, well-dressed for winter, packing suitcases, getting into cars and forming traffic jams.

Contrast and compare with the scenes of yesteryear occurring in, say, Kabul in Afghanistan.

Modern in the sense that we, the spectators, become uneasily aware of an elephant in the room. Just suppose the Ukrainian forces managed to force some kind of military stalemate, however unlikely. You’ve heard translations of Putin’s hardline broadcasts; language born out of a 30-year-old grudge, with the fall of the Berlin Wall seen as a world catastrophe. The loss of an empire. Would this guy hesitate to use even more deadly weapons?

And there have been hints. One of Putin’s early aims was to take over the still radioactive prize of Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, scene of the world’s greatest nuclear accident. Why? I have absolutely no idea. Only that it seems symbolic and, in my book, symbols proclaim the zealot.

Those of us with a true sense of history will find no comfort. US and UK citizens talk easily about the way we “won” WW2. It’s true we were on the winning side but we were not alone. Think of that relentless horde coming in from the East and sweeping across half of Germany. Yes, those guys. Twenty-million dead yet still they came.

Ukrainian soldiers are being asked to sacrifice themselves. Why not surrender and, later, form guerrilla armies. Recalling why those same Russians, after years of trying, left Afghanistan to the Taliban.

7 comments:

  1. I have purposely been avoiding the news. I liked reading your perspective. It helped me grasp some of the underlying story behind this insanity.
    (PS-- I had to give up my old blog account name because of a computer hack. I am the old robin.andrea13).

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    1. NewRobin13: Born a newshound, still a newshound in retirement. In fact there was some good news in this morning's nespaper, playing up Ukrainian resistance. But one has to be careful about such matters: the good side is just as likely to tell fibs as the bad one.

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  2. There are so many parallels with Nazi Germany's invasion of the Sudetenland (and look where that led!).

    Putin also seems to have become as deranged as Hitler (and look where THAT led)

    He seems to be just as hated at home by the Russian population in general and he is obviously keeping everyone at arms length in his meetings. Is his assassination being ploanned? I hope so.

    Guerrilla armies always seem to trump conventional ones - even in the times of ancient Rome when the Picts were able to invade past Hadrians Wall.

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  3. Avus: Yeah, but I'd have sided with the Romans. I'm a great enthusiast for central heating.

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    1. I agree. "What have the Romans ever done for us". The list is endless.

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  4. Avus: More concisely: What did the Picts ever do for us?

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