We all go about our lives living in our
own reality. We see things and understand things through lenses
fogged by information sources that may be less than accurate. What
is truth, what is a lie? What is propaganda? With Russia's war on
Ukraine we seem to be seeing the results of years of propaganda at
work.
This fellow is a Russian, currently
outside of his country, who has a YouTube channel covering varying
topics on his country. This one is about how Russian's see us. Or
at least his take on that. I found it interesting. The first 28
minutes is his “message” and the rest is Q & A.
Propaganda is a very dangerous thing.
If not checked it can have disastrous results. We are seeing that in
Ukraine.
Possibly a different reality than seen
in Russia. This fellow is a Ukrainian YouTuber.
But what happens if someone starts
believing his own propaganda? Perhaps a dose of reality for Mr.
Putin?
Russia decided to conduct referendums
in the occupied territories of Ukraine, asking if they want to become
part of Russia. Like so many people I suspect that the outcome has
been preordained. But if one looks a little closer it is possible to
see the real verdict.
In Ukraine:
But there is another kind of referendum
going on, this one in Russia itself. This fellow gives a nice
overview of what is actually happening and an honest and blunt
reaction.
This past weekend I was trying to think
of something for a new post. I had thought about climate change and
the dangers it poses to our future. But I have done quite a few
posts on that, so I gave it a pass. For now, anyway. Then today I
heard those words, in my title, and I just found what I wanted to
write about.
As you know I support Ukraine in the
war that Russia has imposed on them. But with those words of
Vladimir Putin's I, for a moment, felt pity for a people that are so
not valued by their own government. Yes those words were part of
remarks that Putin was giving in reference to the economic
consequences of Russia's war on Ukraine. But they still starkly show
how little Putin really cares about the sacrifices of ordinary
Russians. They show what is really important to him.
Here is a clip of that:
The brutality and indifference of the Russians to suffering
in Ukraine is echoed in the lack of value placed on their own
soldiers. Their loss is of no concern to Vladimir Putin.
“We have not lost anything in the actions in Ukraine...” Vladimir Putin
Really?
9/11 Update:
I know I usually do a 9/11 post on the anniversary, but I felt the current state of affairs in Ukraine still deserved our attention. For while the US may not declare Russia a terrorist state, I do feel that their actions are terrorism. On a scale that dwarfs even 9/11.
Sleight of hand, a shell game, a lie.
They are all one and the same and we are seeing them acted out in
Ukraine and in our own country. Let's start with Ukraine.
On July 29 there was an explosion and
fire at Olenivka detention center in Ukraine, killing 50 detained
Ukrainian soldiers. These soldiers were some of those who had
surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. According to
Russia the explosion was caused by Ukraine using HIMARS. Ukraine
says, no, it wasn't a strike by them, it was Russia.
Here is a nice in depth article from
CNN on who may really have killed the Ukrainian POW's. The evidence
seems to point to an internal explosion, not the result of any
outside missile strike.
If the Russians ordered these men
killed to cover up abuses or to intentionally eliminate hated
prisoners they have committed a war crime, one among many. And they
are lying.
Now we come to my country, the United
States. We are still mired in the lies and massive con that our
former Dear Leader Donald Trump foisted on us with his attempt to
steal the presidential election. Yes, you heard that here, it was
not the Democrats but the Republican supporters of Donald Trump who tried some sleight of hand
to overthrow a legitimate election. And when that didn't work they
tried violence in the guise of the January 6th
insurrection. But if you have been paying attention you already know
this.
Now we have an FBI raid of Donald
Trump's Florida residence in search of documents the former president
removed from the White House illegally. None of those documents
should have been removed and some may have national security
implications. One has to question why Trump took them in the first
place. Yet we have many Republicans who are frothing at the mouth in
support of Trump.
I in no way think that the Republican
party has stooped to the level of barbarity of the Russian
government. I like to believe there are still some in that party who do have integrity. However, the lying to cover up illegal actions is
exactly the same. The lying to promote themselves is exactly the
same. The lying that impacts our futures is the same.
Listen up and start acting like adults,
because this matters. Why did Trump have those kinds of documents at
Mar-A-Lago?
I am sure you have heard this term
before, prepping. It is a catchall term used for being prepared for
whatever may come that disrupts our normal lives. As we deal with
the war in Ukraine and the extreme weather events that seem to be
more frequent and, well, extreme, I thought it might be of the moment
to look at this idea. I work with someone who has been stockpiling
food in preparation for some kind of disaster. And I will tell you
that some of that stuff is really unpalatable. But the basic idea of
being prepared is important.
I ran across a couple of videos on
YouTube about prepping. One was by a farmer in the United States who
was warning about a food crisis in the making. With the danger of
drought in the southwest and flooding in other areas of the country
we are seeing farmers pressed to get crops to market. Many ranchers
in Texas are selling off cattle because they cannot feed them. In my
state of Minnesota we are also seeing drought conditions. That,
coupled with high temperatures, make for challenging conditions to
keep crops healthy.
This video comes from the U.S. This is
climate change. It is here and she is right, we need to prepare as
best we can. You may want to read some of the comments, as she has
people from other countries commenting on their own situations.
There are some conspiracy theorists among them, just ignore them.
But listen to the others. They show the global depth of what is
happening.
This second video actually comes from
Sweden. I ran across it by accident, possibly because of the types
of search I was doing. But it is prepping of a different nature. In
this case they are preparing for a possible invasion by Russia.
Their time frame for what is needed to be stockpiled is much less
than in the first video, but nonetheless they are preparing for the
worst. It appears they have been doing so for years.
From where I am I don't fear an
invasion by Russia. But I am concerned, as you know from previous
posts, about climate change. But climate change and the invasion of
Ukraine are inexorably linked. Putin has not only murdered thousands
of innocent people, destroyed the economy of a country, and blocked needed food for the world, he has
diverted critical resources at a time when those resources should be
focused on global climate change. His legacy will not be one of
greatness but one of complete and utter waste and stupidity.
It is July 4th today. I
used to look at this holiday with pride, understanding that many who
came before me had fought and died for a liberty in my country that
so many other people can only hope to achieve. Sadly, I have come
to wonder if many in my country are now letting that slip away.
We now have people who follow a venal,
self-serving man in the person of Donald Trump. We have a slow waning of the protections of individual rights, starting with the rights of
women, in the overturning of Roe v Wade. This by a Supreme Court that
is packed with politically motivated justices who have shown they
were willing to lie about their stances on “settled law' in order
to be approved as a Justice for the Supreme Court.
All of this has been at the
machinations of politicians like Mitch McConnell who are willing to
put their own political agenda before the will and well-being of the
American people. They have even been called out by one of their own,
Liz Cheney.
Here are a few clips of her commentary:
At the Reagan Library, on the danger
that Donald Trump poses to our democracy:
At the Jan. 6th Commission
hearings, on witness tampering:
At the Jan, 6th Commission
hearings, on dishonor:
Even as we celebrate this July 4th
the Supreme Court is contemplating taking up a case that will decide
who has the power of election oversight, the state courts or the
state legislature. The majority of state legislatures are controlled
by Republicans.
We are watching our civil rights and liberties being
slowly eroded by a party controlled by a demagogue.
Contrast this to words from our
Declaration of Independence:
“And
for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of divine Providence, we
mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred
Honor. “
I fear that the type of people who
wrote that Declaration are no longer living here in the United
States. I wonder, do we value our liberty as much as the
Ukrainians value theirs? Are we willing to stand up and be heard this November and in 2024?
In my wanderings through comments
sections attached to Ukraine war news I have come across two things
that I think need to be addressed and so I am putting both in a post.
The first is a belief and the second is a question. They are very
much related.
I think like most Americans I have not
really understood the make up of the Russian Federation. I found
this rather informative video on some of the Republics that are part of it. If you read through the comments you may
notice that I stole my title from one. Take a few minutes to view
it, it is not long.
So that brings me to the belief that I
keep running across. That is that there is no difference between the
war in Iraq initiated by the US and the war in Ukraine initiated by
Vladimir Putin. There is no doubt that war in and of itself brings
death, injuries, destruction and ruined lives for so many. But there
is one type of war that is so profoundly destructive that it
destroys a people. That is the war of conquest to acquire territory,
which in the process erases the identity of those who live there.
When the United States invaded Iraq its purpose was not to make that
country part of the United States. It never intended to erase Iraq's
identity or its sovereignty. We never forced anyone in Iraq to
acquire a US passport or to become a citizen of the US. That,
however, is what Russia is doing to Ukraine. As far as Vladimir
Putin is concerned Ukraine as a country doesn't exist, it is part of
Russia.
I believe the majority of Ukrainians beg to differ. That
leads me to the question I have seen posed in comments sections.
What would victory mean for Ukraine? The implication is that if they
were to force Russia to withdraw there would be such a large loss of
life and infrastructure that the fight would not have been worth it.
Especially if Russia were to use a tactical nuclear weapon. The
answer to this question is actually quite simple. Victory for
Ukrainians means keeping their identity. Lives cannot be brought
back, but the future can be made possible for future generations.
The vision of Putin is one of empire.
He will use any means to make his vision come true. We have seen his
use of energy to blackmail Europe. We see the same in his theft of
Ukraine's grain and his blockade of Ukraine's ports, at the expense of the poorer countries in the world, to try to force the West to lift sanctions.
The person who called the Russian
Federation a prison of nations was spot on. Does the world really
want to become vassal states of Putin's Russia?