Is this for real?

Is it for real? Ukraine is actually pushing back the Russian military? I don’t want to use the word “winning” because it’s too early to declare any kind of victory.

But it is a remarkable progress Ukraine has made over the past year.

I haven’t written on this topic in a while because when Russia pulled back from Kiev to concentrate its military might on the eastern and maybe the southern part of Ukraine, I feared such concentration would allow Russia to make inroads into Ukraine and capture large parts of the country. And then, once the eastern and southern were secured, direct the concentrated mass of its military across Ukraine in a step-by-step fashion, eating up and conquering the country rather than trying to conquer by spreading out its armies.

It hasn’t happened that way.

Hallelujah!

It is an amazing accomplishment the Ukrainians have done. I fear even writing this down in case I jinx it. The picture is getting brighter such that the Ukrainian government is even talking about taking back ALL of Ukraine, including the eastern part and Crimea. I am not ready to go there but I am very happy to hear that Ukraine is feeling more positive nowadays.

Now, Putin is talking about “partial” mobilization and is threatening the use of nuclear. I have to say, as a cornered beast, we are probably in a very dangerous period due to this cornered beast using whatever tool in his arsenal to win this war. If he is not ready to go there, and I hope he is not, then we are much closer to the day where he will contemplate such action.

I hope he doesn’t contemplate that because once he unleashes such tools, there is NO turning back. I’m pretty sure he will have signed his death warrant and no amount of negotiation will win him his life. And probably Russians will go down in the rest of the world as the most hated group of people.

Now, this “partial” mobilization has aroused new protests and I feel for those people who have to face the stronger and more capable Ukrainians. It could very well mean a certain death for a lot of the populace being sent to fight – needless kinds of death. Those poor guys being sent to the front to fight for a wealthy guy who needs to assuage his ego with victory – I think I read that somewhere.

It remains to be seen how long those protests will last.

Side note: We have a lot of disturbance going on around the world. In Iran, there are lots of protests over the prison death of a young female jailed for some kind of morality crime. Then Italy just voted in for the first time since WWII or since Mussolini, a far-right fascist. What’s wrong with Italy? Why have they voted in such a person? India has their hardline nationalist and Brazil’s far-right Bolsonaro is fighting to retain his leadership. For some reason, in this time period, we have a lot of far-right nationalistic types making a lot of noise. It seems the pandemic has worsened people’s capability to manage their emotions and well-being during the crisis so we’re coming out of it in an angry mood.

Russia’s failure in taking over Ukraine seems to illustrate what happens when you have corruption seeming into the government. At least, that is how I understand it. My readings seem to indicate that Russia is very corrupt, and it is that corruption that has left the Russian army ill-equipped to fight the war. The money had been going toward the pockets of the wealthy rather than towards training and military equipment. And then there are the stories that no one could tell Putin the truth of what was truly going on on the ground.

So, with that in mind, why would anybody want to be like Russia? They are being beaten handily by the Ukrainian despite Russian army being described as the second most advanced military in the world. You really want to keep corruption out of the government and business.

Look at Russia as what NOT to do. If I understand correctly, Russia is a prime example of what happens when corruption runs rampant through the country. So, anybody who wants to emulate Putin or Russia should be looked at with a jaundiced eye. Do not vote that person in!