Saturday, March 12, 2022

Today's News: Let's call that hope

Some discouragement in the Russia Ukraine War today, but lets start with some beautiful things:
British Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has written a poem about this war: "Its war again. 
An air-raid siren can't fully mute the cathedral bells. 
Let's call that hope." 
My heart: Journalist Laura Rosen tweets about an interview with military analyst Michael Kofman about what went wrong: Here's some other interesting analyses today: (On a side note, isn't it too bad now that Canada doesn't have any way to organize its international grain sales this fall - a "Canadian Wheat Board", if you will - to help the world out of the coming shortages. What a concept! But I digress...) The more "DO SOMETHING!" hysteria I see, the more I realize what a difficult path Biden and Trudeau and NATO are trying to take here. Its been  2+ weeks since Russia invaded and honestly some of the reaction is reminding me of how we first reacted to Covid two years ato -- a sincere though naive desire to FINISH THIS NOW so we can declare it OVER! This, combined with increasing anger that the powers that be aren't wrapping this up; cynical reactions of "that'll never work!" and "they ain't doing it right!" to everything the West is doing; combined now with justifiable demonization of Putin, who could well be history's greatest monster. 
Here is a couple of negative reactions toward everything NATO is doing for Ukraine: This morning Biden apparently made some remarks warning Russia against trying any chemical or biological warfare false-flag attacks: And this immediately ratchetted up the war drumbeats here in the West to the point that Biden had to clamp it down severely this afternoon: Thus provoking more angry reaction from people who want more done: Maybe Vindman is right - he's certainly more expert than I am. But damn it, I don't want World War 3 to start over this either! I read a very interesting commentary sorting out some of these points by Markos at Daily Kos today:
The argument for doing more is predicated on the civilian carnage we’re seeing in Ukraine. Putin must be stopped, it is argued, to save civilian deaths. 
However, a wider war doesn’t mean fewer civilian deaths, it means more. 
If Russia’s modus operandi is to bombard its foes into submission, what makes anyone think that Russian bombs and missiles would stop falling on population centers? What’s more likely is that they’ll start falling on more population centers. 
Suddenly, capital cities like Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga, Tallin, Bucharest, and Sofia would be in range of Russia-based missile systems, and many more in range via Russian naval and strategic air assets in the Mediterranean, North, and Baltic seas. And that’s not including the Belorussian and Russian civilians who would die on the other side of the line (in case anyone cares). Even if we take nuclear weapons off the table, what’s stopping a desperate Putin from dropping chemical weapons on population centers across the region? 
Are we willing to put tens of millions of new civilians at risk, to feel better about the millions currently at risk? I know this sounds heartless, and especially so to those currently trapped in Russia’s line of fire. But adding a broader international profile to the casualty list doesn’t bring back the victims of Russian aggression. It just adds to them. 
We are doing a lot. We’ve armed Ukraine with modern weapons systems that have allowed it to fight a vastly superior enemy to a standstill. It is that effectiveness that has unleashed death on Ukrainian civilians. Ironically, if “saving civilians” was really the moral imperative, we never should’ve armed Ukraine. 
But of course, that’s not what we’re all fighting for. We’re fighting for freedom and democracy and the right of self-determination, and Ukrainians knew the stakes, and they decided to fight. Our job is to support them in that fight, and make sure they get the most effective equipment for the job. (So not fighter jets, because they’re difficult to maintain and easy to destroy, but new air defense systems that can reach higher altitudes than the man-portable ones currently used so effectively by Ukrainian forces, to name one example.) 
It’s okay to be frustrated and want there to be more to do. But remember, actions have consequences, and in this case, additional civilian deaths. And so we need to manage the situation as carefully as President Joe Biden has thus far. 
Now on to some Canadian stuff:
With the CPC leadership campaign is starting up, here's some good advice that I really hope the party ignores -- because I hope the Liberals can continue their string of victories over the Conservatives and if the Cons select an experienced leader who won't knuckle under to knuckle-draggers this time, then Trudeau will likely have a real fight on his hands to keep those suburban Toronto and Quebec ridings that the Liberals need to maintain their government:
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1 comment:

lungta said...

Lots of noise in the echo chamber.
One Ukranian mayor saying everything is cool
The next screaming genocide as 0.0092% has been killed (0.002% if only civilians).
It is really a shame corporations have no conscience when increasing profits.
Ukrainians will pay Russians will pay, you and I will pay.

2:28 pm

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