We see in Ukraine that Barbarian and Putin are synonymous

Some Ukraine opining on Facebook yesterday and today:

Larry

I am enormously sad but strangely hopeful.... What the hell is that combination?

I HATE war.

Eric

This combination is due to the fact you are a scientist. There may be problems, but we can figure it out. You taught me this foundational principle. On the surface, it seems to be a strange dichotomy. But in reality, it is a characteristic of strength and perseverance.

Larry

Thank you. And maybe.

Laurie

You’ve seen war. In your life you’ve seen it and you know what the aftermaths look like, most of which never really heal or go away. It’s not “glorious” or “patriotic” or an exercise where manhood is authenticated and recognized by lesser beings. War is wanton, senseless, utterly destructive and never fought by those who wage it - they send other people’s sons and daughters to fight while they watch and profit.

Laurie

This is a quote from M*A*S*H, over 40 years ago but relevant still. True, still.

 

Mary

It’s called CANCER!

Rita

I dreamed last night that the nukes were dropped , it was strange , I had no fear , there was nothing we could do but wait for it , horrible feeling.

Laurie

This is a different kind of anxiety for me than what existed while trump was in office. For me, every day under trump was some freaking other thing and it was like a darkness belching black hole that you could do nothing about. This is a confirmation of every single shadowy foreboding we felt every single day for over 4 years.

And the man and all his minions remain free and remain in active Congressional office.

Evil is real.

Sloan

Evil is very real, and you'd be amazed at how often Americans into spirituality and on the left side of the spectrum tell me there is no such thing as the Devil, while the folks on the other side of the spectrum are certain God is on their side and they have nothing do with the Devil.

The German Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship, which compared cheap salvation to what Jesus lived and promoted in the Gospels. Bonhoeffer got caught in a plot to overthrow and assassinate Hitler and ended up in a concentration camp, where he was hanged.

Sloan Bashinsky

President John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby and Martin Luther King opposed the Vietnam war and were assassinated. 

I'm old enough to remember American bombers dropping Agent Orange and carpet bombing parts of Vietnam to stop the flow of troops, arms, food, etc. to North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops in South Vietnam. The bombings killed lots of civilians. Besides defoliating vast swaths of forests, Agent Orange poisoned lots of people, including American troops. America's barbarism in that war, which was none of America's business - American leaders invented fake reasons to enter it, because America wanted access to Vietnam's rubber trees and other natural resources - played out again in different versions in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Barbarism describes the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol at the behest of outgoing President Donald Trump. Putin saw how the U.S. Congress and American law enforcement dealt with that. Putin knew he had Trump's fond sentiments, thus the fond sentiments of MAGAs and most Republicans, because Russia helped get Trump elected in 2016.

We see in Ukraine that Barbarian and Putin are synonymous. 

Ironically, Congressional Republicans wanted to impose heavy sanctions on Russia to try to stop the Ukraine invasion, and President Biden and Democrats wanted to wait. Had heavy sanctions been imposed before the invasion, had the Russian stock market closed, had its oligarchs lost a great deal of their wealth and yachts, had Biden told Russia to kiss his oil and natural gas pipelines out of Russia goodbye, if he invaded Ukraine, which would have sent Russia back to the Stone Age, so to speak. If Biden had armed Ukraine with antitank and antiaircraft missiles and automatic rifles and mines before the barbarians came, maybe Putin would have hesitated?

Now, Putin is all in, so far. The Barbarians are proving to the world they and their leader are Barbarians.

In today's news that Big Pharma declined to pull out of Russia for humanitarian reasons. It would not be fair to the Russian people, who are not being attacked at home by their Barbarian troops. Perhaps Big Pharma executives should have all their assets frozen and their yachts and airplanes seized, and be kicked out of all their country clubs.

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com