Bearing witness to an unfolding unjust war

From my small little corner of the world, I have always been worried about what Putin would do--and this was even before his evil schemes that helped TFG win the election in 2016.

In her Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich wrote about how the collapse of the Soviet system not only shattered the structure of the everyday life that people lived, but it also eviscerated the ideas about Russia and its place in the world and, along with that, their own place in this world. 

The Russians who talked with her were pissed off at how their lives had been ruined.  They loved Putin, who, as an effective demagogue, know well how to tap into this anger and frustration.

Svetlana Alexievich's comment about Putin made a deep impression on me.  She said:

“In the West, people demonize Putin,” Ms. Alexievich, who turns 68 later this month, said in a recent interview here, speaking Russian through a translator after a conference on her work at the University of Gothenburg. “They do not understand that there is a collective Putin, consisting of some millions of people who do not want to be humiliated by the West, ” she added. “There is a little piece of Putin in everyone.”

How unfortunate that there is a little piece of Putin in everyone, instead of a little piece of Mikhail Gorbachev in everyone!

(Alexievich had to flee to Germany, after the rigged Belarusian election of 2020 handed the Putin-loyalist a "mandate" for another term in office.)

But then even Gorbachev was unhappy with the condescension towards Russia.  In the context of the Russia-Georgia war, he wrote in 2008:

Russia has long been told to simply accept the facts. Here’s the independence of Kosovo for you. Here’s the abrogation of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty, and the American decision to place missile defenses in neighboring countries. Here’s the unending expansion of NATO. All of these moves have been set against the backdrop of sweet talk about partnership. Why would anyone put up with such a charade?

There is much talk now in the United States about rethinking relations with Russia. One thing that should definitely be rethought: the habit of talking to Russia in a condescending way, without regard for its positions and interests.

For once, Thomas Friedmann was on the mark when he also wrote in the same context in 2008:

Russia would be wise to reconsider Putin’s Georgia gambit. If it does, we would be wise to reconsider where our NATO/Russia policy is taking us — and whether we really want to spend the 21st century containing Russia the same way we spent much of the 20th containing the Soviet Union.

I worry about Putin's aggression, which reflects the godawful desire of millions of Russians to Make Russia Great Again.

I worry about Ukrainians and their children, like the few who have been here and whom I have shared dinners and laughs.  Is there anything else that I can do from my little corner of the world?

Ukraine wants peace but won't give up its land to Russia, president says https://t.co/9FeTJkCAaD pic.twitter.com/njT0C1wYi2

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 22, 2022