WORDS: 1,894 —  To answer that question we could easily reply.. “Why not?  It’s as good a year as any.”  In other words, why would we even presume that mankind has learned anything from past history, just in the 20th century alone, that would suggest that in 2022 we’ve finally realized the errors of our collective ways, and our amazing application of technology has made our current times on the road to some Utopia.  No more dictators!  No more oppression!  Freedom for all!  Well, it seems humanity isn’t there quite yet.

But morally we do also ask that question.  Ukraine at the time of the invasion was what one could perceive as being a typical European nation with a historical culture, interlaced with the advantages of modern technology, some Western social influence, and a basic middle class economic affluence.  Certainly a working democracy.. and a beautiful country to see… both in urban and rural vistas.  Much of the population, educated, knows English and Russian… and native Ukrainian.  So it’s no wonder much of the developed world can identify with the personal human tragedies and devastation of the people.  It’s also a greater safety concern for the nations of Europe… especially those Eastern European nations sharing borders with Ukraine and Russia.

White, Blue-eyed, Blonde People?

Let’s get this nonsense out of the way.  In a BBC interview late this last February Ukraine’s chief prosecutor remarked emotionally about the invasion of his country by Russia (reported HERE).

“It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed, children being killed every day by [Russian President] Putin’s missiles, helicopters and rockets,” said David Sakvarelidze.

This remark, and others of similar context by the media, has been interpreted in many circles as smacking of a bit of racism.  The suggestion that white, blue-eyed Europeans suffering in war has some greater need for attention than, say, the largely ignored at the time past genocide in Rwanda or the various conflicts in the Middle East, Myanmar, etc.  Frankly, the reason these other conflicts don’t/didn’t receive the media coverage and world attention is because they WERE Third World non-European nations that typically DO often in their own histories suffer from leadership excesses, civil discontent, and religious zealots.  As I related in the first paragraph above, Ukraine has developed with the rest of Eastern Europe to embrace current technologies and Western influence in their society.  It’s more a “Second World” nation.  So.. yes… it’s not often a relatively modern nation inhabited by Blonde, blue-eyed, white people are invaded by another nation of blonde, blue-eyed white people.  Let’s also keep in mind, the vast media outlets have reporters in the field (and their camera/sound teams) of white people as well as racially mixed and diverse people, that many times will not easily fit into a conflict zone without some racial risk from their appearance.  How many white, Asian, Hispanic reporters are going to feel safe in middle Africa entirely black conflict zones?

All I can say is… just plain get over it.

This Conflict Is Definitely About Personalities

Putin… Zelensky… Biden… then there’s Johnson… Macron… Scholz… Duda…  This isn’t a war about ideologies at all.

As I keep lamenting.. the battle is not to save Ukraine but to stop Putin from going any further in the future.  So where does that leave us ill-informed/uninformed political bloggers, or anyone else for that matter, in trying to second guess that which we are not privy to, to figure a way out?  It doesn’t take a super in-the-know government think tank genius to presume there’s a LOT of behind-the-scenes activity going on.  Listen to your average Trump Conservative and they have Biden all sized up for a rest home.. but not before blaming him for all the world’s ills for the last three decades… including this invasion.  I tend to take people as they come until I see them in action.  I’m a humanist.  Biden is noted for his empathic nature toward people less fortunate.  Given that one can easily presume all the media coverage of all the tragic human stories, destruction, and carnage in Ukraine has got to be eating at him.  The most powerful man in the world and he can’t do a damn thing to save those people. I am sure that’s bugging the crap outta him.  What’s that mean?

I like to think that translates to his pushing intel activity across all unconventional fronts.. including some measure of trying to “encourage” Putin’s removal by force by his own people… military, civilians, etc.  Maybe there’s some action in trying to secure a level of confidence that Putin’s nukes can’t be used, and from that we can intervene with some level of Allied military action in Ukraine.  We already know that Russia’s military is basically a sub-standard fighting force, man for man, as their command-and-control was never capable for this kind of invasion.  I’ve been asking myself whatever happened to Radio Free Europe, The Voice of America, Radio Liberty, of the Cold War era that tried to penetrate into Russia with some semblance of factual news?  I suppose that would mean people in Russia would have a radio to listen to… likely only in their cars anymore as computer tech has made radio all but obsolete.  Now it’s social media spreading the news… factual or not.  One can only hope to presume our intel people are developing electronic interventions to convey more truthful news into Russia to counter their propaganda.

And All These Visits To Europe?

Take note, there’s been a lot of communication between Biden and heads of state in Europe.. and this week after his NATO summit he’s heading into Poland.  I can make the observation that if there’s so little America and our allies can do to stop Putin, other than sanctions, for fear he will let loose his nukes and start WW3, then what are all these meetings about?  The obvious is that Biden is going to Poland to assure them we are on their side as a NATO partner.  What happens if a wayward drone or missile flies into Poland while Biden is there?  It will never be taken as a “mistake”.  This visit is surely being well publicized for a reason.  Why is that?  Heck, Blinken, Harris, and even Austin have been to Poland recently.  Why does the Prez need to visit?  A secret meeting with Zelensky perhaps?  Is his visit just some kind of political stunt to make it appear our leader is “going to the front” of the conflict to direct something?  I firmly do not agree with that one.  But one has to presume this is going to be a Secret Service nightmare to coordinate through all kinds of threat levels.  There will be lots of military on alert.. and any number of AWACS planes and U.S. fighters in the region that can respond quickly to any threat.  So I do not think this is just a whimsical PR stunt simply to mingle with Ukrainian refugees and toss them paper towels.  Biden is not like that normally.. so why now.  He could be doing a face-to-face secretly with Zelensky… the “Z” man himself making a dash into Poland.  I rather think not.  Could it simply be some sort of signal to Putin of NATO/Allied resolve?  Maybe, but that’s all a lot of effort in presenting a message already given many times over by the visits of other high ranking U.S. and foreign officials to the region.

Letting our imagination take hold a bit… could Biden’s visit to Poland… or into Europe in general under the NATO summit.. include a secret meeting with Putin himself somewhere?  I doubt that as well as I pretty much think at this point Putin doesn’t care what anyone thinks… and he has no immediate desire to sue for a cease fire, or a peace, or a withdrawal, or an armistice, etc..  In fact, as this is being written there’s media coverage of a possible official entry of Belarus into the war… meaning an active involvement beyond just assisting the Russians by providing them a base from which to attack Ukraine (HERE).  Is that another of those “red lines”, like chemical warfare, use of tactical nukes, hacking America’s computers?  In fact, does Belarus becoming active against Ukraine signal a larger conflict in the region.. inching closer to expanding Zelensky’s World War III?

And “War Crimes”?

Today it’s being announced that the U.S. is now declaring, via the State Department, that the Russian forces have committed, and are continuing to commit, war crimes.  Not sure what impact that has other than perhaps laying some groundwork support for the Hague… but even at that, the U.S. is not a member, hence some court jurisdiction might have to be established elsewhere.  This just might affect Russian military moral as any officers conducting such military activity, even under orders, just might be held up for war crime accountability charges at a later date, unable to travel outside of Russia for fear of being arrested and deported.  I am guessing Putin doesn’t care and will keep going with his personal plans for Ukraine defeat and submission to Moscow.

Let’s Pause On This “World War III” Idea….

It is VERY conceivable that we can have a World War III without annihilating each other with a nuclear exchange in the process.  One has to define what would constitute a war on that scale.  For one thing, the world economy is in flux.. a mess… as a result of Russia invading Ukraine.  Markets are unpredictable, transportation costs are soaring forcing shortages around the globe.  Let’s not forget about the pandemic.. just below the surface of all this.  Then we.. the West… have a proxy war going on with Putin.  We have opted to fight back using economic sanctions… which in a way is like shooting ourselves in the foot.  Yep.. there’s a war brewing for sure, but it’s not the same as a World War I and II defined shooting war.  Think of it as an extension of “Chaos Theory”.  One country invades another in Eastern Europe and it affects the price of gasoline in Billings, Montana… or the availability of strawberries in Taos, New Mexico.

So then we ask.. how can we stop all this from happening?  It’s all about one man… Putin… and the world fears him why?  Because he presumably has his finger on a nuclear strike capability and we fear his inability to act  rationally because of what he is currently doing.  Seems to me, we should also be concerned that the next piece of bad news from Ukraine regarding Russian defeats that hits Putin’s ears could itself alone inspire him to let loose Armageddon…. if not localized tactical nukes onto Ukraine… or his chemicals.

I think we can sum all of this up with the idea that there comes a point in time where we just have to have some faith that the people we’ve elected to power, as well as those of our allies, are smart enough to think of a broader picture of causes and effects.  This by no means suggests that we should cease our criticizing what our leaders do, but when we do that we should bear in mind that there very easily could be things going on behind the scenes we may never know about.