TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2022 - WAR

 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2022 - WAR 

One discussion point is that Vladimir Putin of Russia wants to restore the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (much better known as the USSR).  

“In late 1991, the leaders of three of the Union's founding and largest republics (the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Byelorussian SSR) declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed, and 11 more republics joined them shortly thereafter. Gorbachev had to resign his office as president and what was left of the parliament to formally acknowledge the Union's collapse as a fait accompli.”

Gorbachev was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party at that time.  He (and other moderates) were trying to reform the county.  

Wikipedia says, “ It was an unintended result of General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's effort to reform the Soviet political and economic system, in an attempt to end the Era of Stagnation.”

In a huge ‘empire-like’ country - there were eleven time zones. “The USSR was a multilingual state, with around 130 languages spoken natively. Discrimination based on language was illegal under the Soviet Constitution.” (Wikipedia) “Moscow is located fairly far west and Vladivostok is the best-known city in the far east, located in a natural harbor in the Sea of Japan. Driving across Russia from Moscow to Vladivostok will take at least 11 days on the road.”  (It is about 6000 miles - if you drive 600 miles in a day, it would be 10 days, but some of the roads are challenging (my term)).

Some of the older “hard-line” Russian politicians (like Putin) do remember the “glory days” (my term) of the Soviet Union - the first satellite (Sputnik), the space race, and even the Cold War.  The reason that Gorbachev was “too soft” and too willing to break the Soviet Union apart along traditional states.  “Build us back - better and stronger” might be their thought. 

So, Russias plan to ‘invade’ Ukraine fits well with the sentiment of the hard-line leaders.  And, in my reading, a minority (but a large enough minority) of Ukrainians also remember those “glory days”.  

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But, again in my reading and understanding, most Ukrainians like being separated from Moscow's (aka “Russia”) rule.  

An invasion will probably bring deaths.  I am not a proponent of hatred and deaths in the name of political unity.  But, I also hate to see the United States send military forces to stop such an event. 

To me, the world would be better if we stopped and listened to each other.  An old list suggests not to covet your neighbor's things (including farms, fields, and factories).  Can an alliance be made that will satisfy Putin?  Can Putin and Russia realize that the old Soviet Union has dissolved and “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put Humpty Dumpty (or the Soviet Union) together again?”

War is not a solution in most cases.  The view of a justified war might have fit for World War II (not World War I).  Vietnam might not have been justified (I am not an expert), but Korea might have been justified.  

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Around the globe war, civil war, disagreements, fighting still occur.  Famine and drought are killing thousands in Ethiopia.  Religious skirmishes are hurting Nigeria and other places.  Hatred of the “infidels” (or hating the refugees, or hating the liberals or hating the conservatives, or hating blacks or Asians or Jews or <you name it> still exits.  

I have shared this story before.

Now about 10 years ago, four professors met at one of their houses for dinner.  The group had an American and a Russian; a Hindu and a Muslim from the Indian subcontinent. 

The American (me) and the Russian (Andrei) were pawns in the Cold War - we were each indoctrinated that the other side was evil.  

The Indian (Ramesh) and Bangelishi (Mohammed) were part of the great split of the Indian nation into India, East and West Pakistan (and East Pakistan is now Bangladesh).  We had a delightful evening together - sometimes sharing stories of the world as we knew it.  

Ramesh recalled with some horror how people he knew (Hindis) shot at the trains carrying the Muslims to their new nation.  I recalled the Cold War bomb drills in school where we huddled in the basements of schools or under our desks.  

Robert Frost, American Poet Laurate wrote:

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Maybe I (as a Pollyanna and idealist) am hoping that the world will not end, but people can join hand-in-hand and learn to love one another.  As my spiritual upbringing says “We are all made in the image and likeness of God.’

Love Wins!!

Karen

February 1st, 2022