Southern novelist William Faulkner’s famous line saying “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” is usually interpreted as a reflection on how the evils of our history continue to shape the present. But Faulkner also argued, equally accurately, that the past is “not even past” because what happens in the present changes the way we remember the past.
Thanks, Heather for alerting us to the importance of this historical moment. I'm hoping it is not the beginning of the end of history.
Like most people who are even dimly aware of current events, I am horrified and saddened by the truly reckless and gratuitous war Putin has decided to wage against Ukraine, but I am also thrilled and uplifted by the Ukrainians’ courageous defense of their country and of their right to live in a peaceful democracy.
I have even become a fan of President Zelenskyy who, despite earlier being roundly dismissed as a neophyte and a lightweight by many commentators, has clearly mastered the fine art of true leadership under the most trying of circumstances in less than one week. Whatever it is he’s got, it’s extremely rare, and I will be devastated if/when the Russians finely manage to kill him. Putin is such a shit.
I agree with Biden’s calm and firm way of dealing with what he surely saw from the beginning as a crossroads in history and a moment of extreme danger for all of humanity.
And, I am also impressed with how quickly most of the world’s leaders have rallied around to support Ukraine and NATO and apply sanctions to Russia, even though they know that these will greatly complicate their attempts to solve all the other problems they already have on their over-filled plates. They understand that our continued existence as a species is at stake and that Putin’s behavior cannot go unpunished. And normally at this point in my rant, I would say, “Of course, global warming is the real elephant in the room.”
But, no. The elephant, the really big one, is the world’s collective failure to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons in the 77 years since our -- and the world's -- first and last use of atomic bombs in anger. I read today that the USA and Russia still have something like 12,000 nuclear weapons between them, with many more belonging to China, India, Great Britain, France, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea and perhaps Iran by now. Did I leave anyone out? My apologies.
Am I wrong, or hadn’t we all pretty much decided that once the Berlin Wall had fallen and some Russians had discovered how much fun capitalism could be, we could just not worry about nukes as much as we used to back in the good old days of duck-and-cover and Dr. Strangelove? Does everyone realize how close we all are to human extinction as a bitter, twisted, frustrated and possibly mad-as-a-hatter Putin ups the ante day by day, coyly hinting that we may soon see something extraordinary and unimaginable if we continue to torment him with threats of sanctions as he rapes his peaceful, hopeful democratic neighbor?
Now, as if to make amends for his coyness, he has put his nuclear defense forces on “alert”. And after the alert, what is there, a loud warning of some sort? Sirens, perhaps? Or are we totally depending on some senior Russian minister or general to be Putin’s “adult in the room” when the great would-be tsar and judo champion stands on the button while blowing out his own brains? Will he leave the “recall” codes scribbled on his long desk? Does hair-trigger nuclear readiness even allow for recall codes anymore?
I think if we – all of us – survive this Ukraine crisis, and Putin is given a graceful way to back down while blaming all the anguish on us, which is to say everyone, and some wiser heads in the Kremlin can push him into early retirement or make him "disappear" by other means, sooner rather than later, then our first order of business -- after downing something sternly alcoholic and taking to our beds for a week – should be to somehow gather all the world’s leaders together and convince them to agree to universal nuclear disarmament.
No. MAD has kept reasonably sane US and Russian leaders from destroying our world, but it has not led to our creation of a better world in which war is never the answer. No. Limits are not good enough. No country or individual can be trusted with nukes. Ban. Eliminate.
If we, as a species, wish to continue to exist – at least for a while -- we just have to get this done.
We are still here. Kyiv is not surrounded. Kharkiv has not fallen neither has Mariopel. Munitions coming in from Europe. Special ops veterans from America and Britain coming to join the Foreign battalion. Tanya says the French Foreign Legion Ukrainians are on their way. Those guys fight like Chechens. Russians really pouring it on today, now targeting civilians more and more.
We have been on blackout here two nights. I mean black. No light of any kind. I learned I cannot find my ass with both hands in the dark
I certainly hope that Lardo Lardass, Jefe of Mar A Lardo, continues to support his buddy Putin. The attack ads this fall write themselves, and there he is, on tape, committing his treason. If I was the GOP I would think now that victory in November for our fascist fuckwits might be as elusive in the US as victory in February is in Ukraine for the Russian version. Get the tape of MTG this past weekend at the Nuremberg rally, with the Nazis shoulding for Putin, and play that - "Is this who you want running our country?"
I am calling it Putin´s war rather than Russia´s war. Here where I live, Russians and Ukrainians created a Ukrainian flag in support of Ukraine and walked together. If more of Russia's military would lay down arms, what a beginning for a new possible world. And, once again, I encourage everyone to repost this letter to all their social media. And one more thing, in yesterday´s NYT a headline was something about Democracy becoming weak and Authoritarianism strong. I am going to write to the NYT and let them know that I will cancel my subscription if they keep having non fact based headlines like this.
Welcome to 1984. The Republicans have really stuck their foot in it this time. I didn't think they could get this dumb but now they are praising tRUMP for providing aid to Ukraine apparently forgetting that he was impeached for withholding $400 million in aid to Ukraine to get them to smear Biden and his son. There's no limit to Republicans stupidity fortunately for us.
Social media has given us a great window into the horrific as well as the honorable acts in Ukraine. A woman threatening a Russian soldier telling him he should be ashamed of what he is doing, said she’s going to give him seeds so flowers will grow where he dies. A woman driving a stranger’s children to their mother and safety, when the father wasn’t allowed to leave the country. The soldiers telling the Russian attack on their island to F**k off. A woman said she’s not leaving because she was going to stay and fight for her country. Talk about courageous strong willed people! I don’t know a single one of them but I’m so proud and impressed by them! They make my daily struggle so insignificant!
One thing about liberal democracies; in the interest of protecting the concept of freedom, they trip all over themselves when it comes to naming and combatting certain kinds of criminal behavior. Perhaps it's the fact that capitalism runs rampant in many liberal societies and swift justice for white-collar crime isn't acceptable. Look at the excruciating difficulty of holding our own corporate cultures to high standards of conduct in this complex, tangled world of international business. The modern Russian oligarchy would not have been possible without the mechanisms in place and places all too willing to accept massive boluses of dirty money and wash it lillywhite through shell corporations, legitimate businesses and the like in international capitals of business around the world. The same easy fluidity that we treasure when we plan our dream vacations in exotic parts of the world enables every manner of criminal behavior in a laissez faire world. Notice how we carefully choose the word "freeze" over the word "seize" when it comes to the assets of the ultra-wealthy. To "seize" would smack of authoritarian tactics, whereas simply freezing suggests that under the right conditions, criminals can keep the spoils of their crimes. Indeed, if all we did were to force the assets out into the open and ship them back to Russia, then the Russian populace could decide how it wants to deal with its leaders, who apparently have robbed the country blind of the majority of its economic lifeblood. What would we do with all those seized super-yachts anyway??? We'd have to face the profound inequality in our own society, where executive paychecks a hundred-fold higher than the average worker aren't nearly enough, so international tax lawyers, offshore holdings, foreign subsidiaries are deployed to manage the assets using the same tactics as the Russian guy whose G5 is parked adjacent at the regional airport in the Hamptons. In many regards we are every bit as corrupt, if somewhat less blatant than those under scrutiny at the moment. Still, our targets for military adventurism have at least had features like cruel dictators, doomsday weapons, opium poppy fields, mass oppression of minorities and the like to justify our modern crusade rhetoric and campaigns. Nevermind that those justifications have often been based on bad intelligence or haven't been sufficiently appreciated by the "liberated" recipients of our benevolent bombings. Ukraine is guilty of...Nazi-ism? Genocide?
There's no such thing as a just war, only a certain nobility in those who resist the aggressor.
Who's the guy that never apologizes? No, I don't mean Putin. Remember the guy that used to be President of the United States? You know, the one that keeps telling everyone that he won the … Oh, never mind. How much do you want him back in the White House again? If Orange Spectra got in there again, you know he'd do more than flush official government documents down the toilet.
'Former president Donald Trump gave his strongest indication yet that he intends to run in 2024 during a nearly 90-minute speech to supporters on Saturday night that also included continued praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.'
“We did it twice, and we’ll do it again,” Trump told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, falsely claiming again that he won the 2020 election. “We’re going to be doing it again a third time.”
'The former president condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine without denigrating Putin directly, saying it’s “appalling and it’s an outrage and an atrocity that should never have been allowed to occur.” Trump mocked President Biden and NATO allies for punishing Russia with sanctions, saying Putin was “playing Biden like a drum.” He bragged that Putin did not invade any countries during his term and said this invasion would never have happened “if our election was not rigged” — a reference to his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.' (WashingtonPost)
I have been begging for some positive news and you certainly brought it to the table tonight. Thank you! Knowing that Putin and his pals are being squeezed financially and mentally is delightful. The EU’s commitment to supply Ukraine with whatever it takes to bring the dictator to his knees is a welcomed sight. Let this be a strong lesson to Republicans who sang such obnoxious praise for this madman because there are those of us citizens who are willing to fight them. We will not be silent.
As another indication of democracy finally getting the upper hand, British journalist Carole Cadwalla did an expose on Russian elitist oligarch's investments in Great Britain that connect dots between Putin, Trump, and GOP. In reaction, she was dragged through a libel suit. At last she is receiving kudos for her reporting.
ENABLERS like pompeo, trump, lindsey graham, marjorie taylor greene, bobbert…essentially ANY trump/maga republican needs to sit under scrutiny to account for their misplaced allegiance(s). Be they public or private citizens all bad and unscrupulous actors should be called upon for their words and deeds.
My point being…****United States citizens**** should be entirely held accountable for their pro-putin sentiments as expressed in their sycophantic adoration for trump. It’s not foreigners only, but and especially citizens of America who need a lesson in citizenship.
Thanks, Heather for alerting us to the importance of this historical moment. I'm hoping it is not the beginning of the end of history.
Like most people who are even dimly aware of current events, I am horrified and saddened by the truly reckless and gratuitous war Putin has decided to wage against Ukraine, but I am also thrilled and uplifted by the Ukrainians’ courageous defense of their country and of their right to live in a peaceful democracy.
I have even become a fan of President Zelenskyy who, despite earlier being roundly dismissed as a neophyte and a lightweight by many commentators, has clearly mastered the fine art of true leadership under the most trying of circumstances in less than one week. Whatever it is he’s got, it’s extremely rare, and I will be devastated if/when the Russians finely manage to kill him. Putin is such a shit.
I agree with Biden’s calm and firm way of dealing with what he surely saw from the beginning as a crossroads in history and a moment of extreme danger for all of humanity.
And, I am also impressed with how quickly most of the world’s leaders have rallied around to support Ukraine and NATO and apply sanctions to Russia, even though they know that these will greatly complicate their attempts to solve all the other problems they already have on their over-filled plates. They understand that our continued existence as a species is at stake and that Putin’s behavior cannot go unpunished. And normally at this point in my rant, I would say, “Of course, global warming is the real elephant in the room.”
But, no. The elephant, the really big one, is the world’s collective failure to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons in the 77 years since our -- and the world's -- first and last use of atomic bombs in anger. I read today that the USA and Russia still have something like 12,000 nuclear weapons between them, with many more belonging to China, India, Great Britain, France, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea and perhaps Iran by now. Did I leave anyone out? My apologies.
Am I wrong, or hadn’t we all pretty much decided that once the Berlin Wall had fallen and some Russians had discovered how much fun capitalism could be, we could just not worry about nukes as much as we used to back in the good old days of duck-and-cover and Dr. Strangelove? Does everyone realize how close we all are to human extinction as a bitter, twisted, frustrated and possibly mad-as-a-hatter Putin ups the ante day by day, coyly hinting that we may soon see something extraordinary and unimaginable if we continue to torment him with threats of sanctions as he rapes his peaceful, hopeful democratic neighbor?
Now, as if to make amends for his coyness, he has put his nuclear defense forces on “alert”. And after the alert, what is there, a loud warning of some sort? Sirens, perhaps? Or are we totally depending on some senior Russian minister or general to be Putin’s “adult in the room” when the great would-be tsar and judo champion stands on the button while blowing out his own brains? Will he leave the “recall” codes scribbled on his long desk? Does hair-trigger nuclear readiness even allow for recall codes anymore?
I think if we – all of us – survive this Ukraine crisis, and Putin is given a graceful way to back down while blaming all the anguish on us, which is to say everyone, and some wiser heads in the Kremlin can push him into early retirement or make him "disappear" by other means, sooner rather than later, then our first order of business -- after downing something sternly alcoholic and taking to our beds for a week – should be to somehow gather all the world’s leaders together and convince them to agree to universal nuclear disarmament.
No. MAD has kept reasonably sane US and Russian leaders from destroying our world, but it has not led to our creation of a better world in which war is never the answer. No. Limits are not good enough. No country or individual can be trusted with nukes. Ban. Eliminate.
If we, as a species, wish to continue to exist – at least for a while -- we just have to get this done.
We are still here. Kyiv is not surrounded. Kharkiv has not fallen neither has Mariopel. Munitions coming in from Europe. Special ops veterans from America and Britain coming to join the Foreign battalion. Tanya says the French Foreign Legion Ukrainians are on their way. Those guys fight like Chechens. Russians really pouring it on today, now targeting civilians more and more.
We have been on blackout here two nights. I mean black. No light of any kind. I learned I cannot find my ass with both hands in the dark
I certainly hope that Lardo Lardass, Jefe of Mar A Lardo, continues to support his buddy Putin. The attack ads this fall write themselves, and there he is, on tape, committing his treason. If I was the GOP I would think now that victory in November for our fascist fuckwits might be as elusive in the US as victory in February is in Ukraine for the Russian version. Get the tape of MTG this past weekend at the Nuremberg rally, with the Nazis shoulding for Putin, and play that - "Is this who you want running our country?"
"We fired our guns and the Russians kept a-comin'
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they begin to runnin'
On down the Dnieper River to the Village of Bocharovo"
I am calling it Putin´s war rather than Russia´s war. Here where I live, Russians and Ukrainians created a Ukrainian flag in support of Ukraine and walked together. If more of Russia's military would lay down arms, what a beginning for a new possible world. And, once again, I encourage everyone to repost this letter to all their social media. And one more thing, in yesterday´s NYT a headline was something about Democracy becoming weak and Authoritarianism strong. I am going to write to the NYT and let them know that I will cancel my subscription if they keep having non fact based headlines like this.
Welcome to 1984. The Republicans have really stuck their foot in it this time. I didn't think they could get this dumb but now they are praising tRUMP for providing aid to Ukraine apparently forgetting that he was impeached for withholding $400 million in aid to Ukraine to get them to smear Biden and his son. There's no limit to Republicans stupidity fortunately for us.
Through the fog of war, it will be important for world media always to keep a spotlight focused on one man: Aleksei Navalny.
And HCR has not forgotten him.
The risk is that, with all attention turning to the assault on Ukraine, the Russian regime could use the opportunity to murder him.
Social media has given us a great window into the horrific as well as the honorable acts in Ukraine. A woman threatening a Russian soldier telling him he should be ashamed of what he is doing, said she’s going to give him seeds so flowers will grow where he dies. A woman driving a stranger’s children to their mother and safety, when the father wasn’t allowed to leave the country. The soldiers telling the Russian attack on their island to F**k off. A woman said she’s not leaving because she was going to stay and fight for her country. Talk about courageous strong willed people! I don’t know a single one of them but I’m so proud and impressed by them! They make my daily struggle so insignificant!
Indeed this blood is on Putin’s hands!
One thing about liberal democracies; in the interest of protecting the concept of freedom, they trip all over themselves when it comes to naming and combatting certain kinds of criminal behavior. Perhaps it's the fact that capitalism runs rampant in many liberal societies and swift justice for white-collar crime isn't acceptable. Look at the excruciating difficulty of holding our own corporate cultures to high standards of conduct in this complex, tangled world of international business. The modern Russian oligarchy would not have been possible without the mechanisms in place and places all too willing to accept massive boluses of dirty money and wash it lillywhite through shell corporations, legitimate businesses and the like in international capitals of business around the world. The same easy fluidity that we treasure when we plan our dream vacations in exotic parts of the world enables every manner of criminal behavior in a laissez faire world. Notice how we carefully choose the word "freeze" over the word "seize" when it comes to the assets of the ultra-wealthy. To "seize" would smack of authoritarian tactics, whereas simply freezing suggests that under the right conditions, criminals can keep the spoils of their crimes. Indeed, if all we did were to force the assets out into the open and ship them back to Russia, then the Russian populace could decide how it wants to deal with its leaders, who apparently have robbed the country blind of the majority of its economic lifeblood. What would we do with all those seized super-yachts anyway??? We'd have to face the profound inequality in our own society, where executive paychecks a hundred-fold higher than the average worker aren't nearly enough, so international tax lawyers, offshore holdings, foreign subsidiaries are deployed to manage the assets using the same tactics as the Russian guy whose G5 is parked adjacent at the regional airport in the Hamptons. In many regards we are every bit as corrupt, if somewhat less blatant than those under scrutiny at the moment. Still, our targets for military adventurism have at least had features like cruel dictators, doomsday weapons, opium poppy fields, mass oppression of minorities and the like to justify our modern crusade rhetoric and campaigns. Nevermind that those justifications have often been based on bad intelligence or haven't been sufficiently appreciated by the "liberated" recipients of our benevolent bombings. Ukraine is guilty of...Nazi-ism? Genocide?
There's no such thing as a just war, only a certain nobility in those who resist the aggressor.
Who's the guy that never apologizes? No, I don't mean Putin. Remember the guy that used to be President of the United States? You know, the one that keeps telling everyone that he won the … Oh, never mind. How much do you want him back in the White House again? If Orange Spectra got in there again, you know he'd do more than flush official government documents down the toilet.
'Former president Donald Trump gave his strongest indication yet that he intends to run in 2024 during a nearly 90-minute speech to supporters on Saturday night that also included continued praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.'
“We did it twice, and we’ll do it again,” Trump told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, falsely claiming again that he won the 2020 election. “We’re going to be doing it again a third time.”
'The former president condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine without denigrating Putin directly, saying it’s “appalling and it’s an outrage and an atrocity that should never have been allowed to occur.” Trump mocked President Biden and NATO allies for punishing Russia with sanctions, saying Putin was “playing Biden like a drum.” He bragged that Putin did not invade any countries during his term and said this invasion would never have happened “if our election was not rigged” — a reference to his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.' (WashingtonPost)
Had enough of that? Me, too.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/26/trump-2024/
I have been begging for some positive news and you certainly brought it to the table tonight. Thank you! Knowing that Putin and his pals are being squeezed financially and mentally is delightful. The EU’s commitment to supply Ukraine with whatever it takes to bring the dictator to his knees is a welcomed sight. Let this be a strong lesson to Republicans who sang such obnoxious praise for this madman because there are those of us citizens who are willing to fight them. We will not be silent.
I do not think those who support authoritarianism understand what their lives would be like if their "wishes" came true.
Some Belarusian Spetsnats are taking of their uniforms and refusing to go to Ukraine. One of their generals told troops to disobey Russian orders
As another indication of democracy finally getting the upper hand, British journalist Carole Cadwalla did an expose on Russian elitist oligarch's investments in Great Britain that connect dots between Putin, Trump, and GOP. In reaction, she was dragged through a libel suit. At last she is receiving kudos for her reporting.
https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1497602436298461184?s=20&t=N4ymv8x6DKC4qx-hdJgv-w
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1497193505801781248?s=20&t=N4ymv8x6DKC4qx-hdJgv-w
As we are quite saturated with news, enjoy these witty take down expressions of democracy over autocracy, of decent people over bullies!
https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/status/1497975994015227907?s=20&t=N4ymv8x6DKC4qx-hdJgv-w
https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1498016340728332292?s=20&t=N4ymv8x6DKC4qx-hdJgv-w
ENABLERS like pompeo, trump, lindsey graham, marjorie taylor greene, bobbert…essentially ANY trump/maga republican needs to sit under scrutiny to account for their misplaced allegiance(s). Be they public or private citizens all bad and unscrupulous actors should be called upon for their words and deeds.
My point being…****United States citizens**** should be entirely held accountable for their pro-putin sentiments as expressed in their sycophantic adoration for trump. It’s not foreigners only, but and especially citizens of America who need a lesson in citizenship.
It’s about time!
Such an intelligent and sobering essay. Just hoping people supporting tyranny kleptocracy oligarchy will read your insights AND LEARN!