I cannot tell you how painful it is to watch, to live through anything like this, let alone to continue living your normal life, keeping up with work and other responsibilities, having a normal personal life... The trauma Russian aggression towards Ukraine is causing to a great number of people will be felt for many years to come. The feeling of powerlessness in facing a blatant lie and abominable injustice, a flagrant violation of all imaginable human rights in bright daylight and in all visibility to the entire world is creating all sorts of ground for the victimization discourse in the future, for right-wing nationalism and revanchism, for a return to the world of hatred and separation... Worst of all, it kills any belief in justice and truth, it glorifies force and violence as the only effective measures of protecting your own integrity. It is marking the end of humanist beliefs for many, many people in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world. A dark hour for democracy in the world, for the part of humanity that subscribes to values of equality, rule of law, meritocracy, and to basic democratic rights and freedoms... Can someone share the secret how to stay sane and productive when news like the following ones come in about what is going on in your country that you love and care about? What is going on in Ukraine is leading to a mass displacement of local population which by definition is a genocide. A mass exodus of those who cannot imagine living in fear for their lives has already begun. The following news highlight these and other such developments: 1) Continuous attacks on military bases, snipers killing soldiers who refuse to respond to fire as to not provoke a bloodshed on both sides 2) Besieging of key services of naval navigation, forceful eviction and mutilation of workers of those services 3) Distribution of passports of a foreign country, declaration of all citizens of the region the citizens of that foreign country 4) Fleeing of many locals to other regions, taking their children and abandoning their property (cars, apartments, etc.) they worked to obtain for many years 5) Constant information about abductions, tortures, xenophobia towards those who think differently and do not want to accept the rule of force 6) Inspections of bomb shelters in other cities of your home country, testing their readiness in case of a full-blown war and air strikes 7) Storming of military ships whose crew declares their loyalty to their home country, blockade and cutting off of supplies such as water and provision 8) Closing of bank accounts in your countrys currency, forceful introduction of the foreign currency and law pertaining to all spheres of life 9) Occupation and appropriation by a foreign state of all railroad and highway infrastructure and equipment, sea ports, recreational resorts and hotels, airports, schools, universities, gas stations, offshore drilling stations, and even churches of the Kyiv patriarchate subordination 10) At the same time, laughable sanctions of the West, unwillingness to impose severe trade and financial restrictions on the aggressor, hesitation in offering a Marshall-like plan for development and integration of your home country...
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 17:23:21 +0000