The Ongoing Depravity

It’s time for me to process the world events going on. The news coming out of Ukraine about cities being razed, citizens being deliberately tortured and shot down, children dying, is just horrible. The Russian military – the leaders, not the conscripts – come across as psychotic. There is no need to kill citizens.

But then last week, I read news that military depots within Russia were being attacked. I must say, that was gratifying news, even though it is not a nice thing to say. The only thing I can say is the Ukrainians need to defend themselves and destroying the military supplies that are being used to kill them is a way of defending themselves. Destroy the military weapons before they can reach Ukraine.

The trick is going to be not letting those firing missiles expand into Russian living spaces, where normal citizens live. In war, hatred can build, and the Russian military are doing a masterful job of creating Ukrainian’s enmity against the Russians as a whole with the senseless wholesale destruction of cities and killings and tortures. I know I have to remind myself that the regular Russians currently have one source of news which is basically all lies about the war. Some may suspect but they can’t say anything. We have to give the Russian people the benefit of the doubt…for the time being.

I do want the Ukrainians to lob weapons at the military depots in Russia to destroy the Russian’s supply of weapons. But also, to cause a frisson of fear in the Russians. We need to break through that wall of lies that there is no war, just a little military operation. No! There is a war going on and maybe lobbing those missiles will break through to the Russians.

But the Ukrainians cannot attack the Russian citizens. Not just because it is illegal per some war rules (I think the Geneva convention has some war rules and one of them is don’t attack regular citizens), but also, because we don’t want to lend credence to the lies that the Ukrainian military and leadership are the ones destroying their own cities and killing their own people. If we can get the Russian people to note that the missile attacks are pinpointing strictly military areas and not involving citizen’s area, then maybe they will question the dissonance between avoiding killing the Russians and killing their own people. We need to break through that wall of lies that Ukrainians are killing and raping their own people. It is hard to believe the Russians would believe those lies, especially those who have relatives and speak to their relatives in Ukraine, but we’re in that space of insanity. (Personally, I think there are some denials going on and they really know that it is not the Ukraine causing all of that damage.)

So, I hate to say it, but I am happy the Ukrainians are attacking the military depots in Russia.

I do wonder what will happen on the day the Russians have to face the truth. Will they face it head on and realize their own military caused all of that needless death and destruction and compare against what the Ukrainians are currently doing, or will they deny and construct a different story? I don’t know but the atrocity being done in their name is so horrendous that the Russians may not be able to face that truth: that their own people are the ones acting like the Germans of WWII. The military is just full of murderers.

So, the Americans who are supportive of Putin or the war (Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Marjorie Taylor Green, Madison Cawthorn, the far right and the far left), I don’t know what is going through their minds because, unlike the Russians, they have access to various sources of news and know what the real story is. History will note that these people are not good people because they do have a choice. They are just choosing bad behavior.

Lastly, on a side note, I’ve seen a few news about Putin’s seeming ill health, something about him having Parkinson or some kind of cancer. I don’t see those kinds of articles in what is generally regarded as US mainstream media so the sources may be questionable. I will say this though, the photo of Putin with his minister of defense guy Shoigu does look odd – Putin does look sick in that photo and not his usual macho posturing self.

He could be looking sick because the stress of the situation is getting to him. The war isn’t going as he has hoped: the war was supposed to last 3 or 4 days, with Ukrainian government capitulating to him and the people welcoming them with open arms. Instead, we are now in month three with the Russian military suffering more deaths than they did in the Afghanistan war. How is Putin going to explain those deaths? The sanctions appear to be having an effect on the oligarchs. How long will they support Putin if they lose their wealth?

So, yeah, the situation has got to be very stressful, enough to make him look ill. He could be entering the stage of life and death for him: if the war keeps dragging on, and the people start getting restive, someone may take his life.

Also, as the war drags on, I do worry that the Russians will get very desperate and start to deploy weapons that we all rather they not use. It feels like we are getting closer and closer to that decision point. Do the West know what to do if the Russians do decide to deploy those weapons? I hope the West has a plan, even if the outcome is uncertain.

Okay, enough about the weighty stuff. Glad to get this off my mind.