It increasingly appears that Putin has lost the war he started. Nothing has gone as he thought it would.
Far from welcoming Russian forces with open arms, Ukrainian men and women have fought back with dedication, tenacity, and furiousness beyond anything he anticipated.
It is clear that Russian forces are not into the fight, abandoning tanks and equipment, and crying on camera when captured.
It is only those who do not see what’s happening on the ground who are still firing cruise missiles, rockets, and long-range artillery.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have picked up arms to defend their homeland. More thousands of diaspora Ukrainians are trying to get back to the “old country” to fight.
With bombing and missile attacks on Ukrainian schools and hospitals, even maternity wards, Putin has committed war crimes.
Putin is apparently now taking his frustrations out upon the FSB, the decendants of the KGB where Putin put his psychopathic talents to use in his younger years.
Unfortunately, thousands more will die and be injured in this madman’s quest — for what?
Putin is waking up people all over the world who have Ukrainian roots, those who support them, and those who cherish freedom and democracy.
I was a “Super-Uke” in my youth and early adulthood.
For many years I was in a Ukrainian youth chorus, was an altar boy and Sunday school teacher in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, was Saskatchewan provincial president of the Ukrainian Students’ Union of Canada, was a teacher at Ukrainian youth camps, and a teacher at Ukrainian language summer schools.
And eventually I burned out and abandoned most of my Ukrainian connections.
I went to Japan to teach English for over a decade, and then do journalism for Tokyo-based English-language news services for a few more years. That was about as far away as one could get from Ukrainian-Canadian issues .
It wasn’t until after I returned to Canada in my 40s that I started gradually returning to the Ukrainian world, assisting an aunt and my late mom in translating and editing some 20 volumes of Ukrainian literature into English.
My Ukrainian is very rusty now, after several decades of little involvement with the Ukrainian-Canadian community.
But, Putin, you’ve inspired me to be more active, to perhaps polish my weakened language skills.
Putin’s treachery, lies, and war crimes against civilians are goading people around the world to stand, and to fight.
P.S. I don’t hate Russians, I love your resistance. I just hate Putin and the oligarachs.
You all deserve better, and I admire your protests.
I’ve been an editor/writer, both in-house and freelance, for over 30 years.
There’s a handy space between the two printers (laser and colour inkjet) on my computer stand in which I keep my most-used reference book.
Well, today I realized I’ve been getting up and walking to a nearby bookcase to grab Stokes Birds way more often than I was reaching up for The Chicago Manual of Style.
I’m glad mainstream media ran a story like this, but to make it sound like something new is innacurate.
These ideas have been around for decades, and volunteer streamkeepers and wetlandkeepers have been pushing municiaplities for more infiltration for what seems like forever.
The best way to protect local creeks and urban and suburban watersheds is through the sponge concept of getting as much rainwater into the ground as possible instead of piping it away.
Heck, BC municipalities are supposed to have developed Integrated Stormwater Management Plans (ISMPs) that are supposed to have watershed protection components years ago, but many are nowhere near being fully implemented.
One of my late Mom’s favorite aphorisms was “if you can’t find anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
She was also a brilliant, hard-working professional, and a community activist on issues ranging from education, to human rights, to racism, to inclusiveness, and fulfilling one’s personal capabilities.
And I suspect she’d be finding it very hard to hold her tongue about Covidiots, and deniers, and community safety abusers.
I’m sorry, but I have zero sympathy for Canadians abroad who are now facing tough, expensive, (finally) mandated and not just recommended regulations upon their return to Canada. Those who are whining on a beach somewhere.
If they had heeded public health advice, they would never have left the country for a vacation.
In this time of fake news, Covid, societal troubles and tribulations, and rampant social media wildness, I remember the words of Ukraine’s greatest poet, Taras Shevchenko, from some 150 years ago:
Учітеся, брати мої!
Думайте, читайте,
Learn, my brothers,
Think, read. . .
Translation mine.
Don’t just mindlessly click. Read and think.
The great thinkers of centuries ago knew that education was key to confronting rampant poverty, and all its accompanying ailments. Not to mention entrenched social stratification.
And that subjugation and exploitation, be it by empires, countries, or soulless businesses, is evil.
Shevchenko was incarcerated for his words by the Russian Empire.
Not much has changed today, eh?
When a dictatorship fears words, they must carry meaning. . .
People in Ukraine, Russia, and beyond, have been subjugated for centuries, let the flowers blossom.
Please, people, take the time to read, think, and learn.
Our consummately professional and constantly bantering Toyota saleswoman contacted us to wish us a happy new year and let us know that she’d love to discuss new-car-smell options with us .
We have a RAV4 Hybrid, and it’s been a solid vehicle with a combo of AWD, phenomenal pep, super gas mileage particularly in town where the electric drive gets the most use, and perfect reliability.
Just out of curiosity we asked about the RAV4 Prime, a plug-in hybrid version that can run on electricity only for about 70km before the hybrid gas/electric system kicks in.
She laughed and said, “you can give me a deposit on a RAV4 Prime today, and you can expect delivery in two to three years.” She wasn’t kidding. . .
Apparently they can’t get enough of them and have long waiting lists.
