The Edge of Yesterday and Bye, Bye Moskva

The world got hotter today, and riskier, as Russia told the United States: “Hands off Ukraine.” That is to say, Vladimir Putin said there will be grave consequences if the US continues to help Ukraine whip Russia’s butt. Let’s remember, at this point in time Putin is Russia. He’s furious at Ukraine for having no part in the sinking of the Russian Fleet Flagship Moskva (ex-Slava). Slava means glory — she garnered little of it in her long but undistinguished life.

Putin’s diplomatic lackey delivered a strong diplomatic note to the US State Department today implying that the western logistics pipeline to Ukraine would shortly be a target if it continued to flow arms to the upstart non-nation that refuses to roll over to his troops, air force, and ballistic missiles.

My advice to Joe Biden and those fools, Blinken and Sullivan, who are presumably advising him? Get a spine. Tell Putin that any attack on any US forces, wherever they may be located, is an act of war, including if they happen to be in the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Why? Because it’s finally time for Putin to not be the only one issuing threats in this operation. It’s not brinkmanship, it’s statesmanship If we continue to let a wider war frighten us, we'll gradually get one whether we like it or not.

Close The United Nations

Turn that futile debating society into a park, and send those freeloading bureaucrats home. If there is a single worthless entity in this world, it is the United Nations. It has been worthless for years, but in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the full moral bankruptcy of the UN is on display. Six weeks ago, the current chair of the Security Council invaded a neighboring country on a pretext even thinner than that used by the United States to invade Iraq, and unlike the United States, Russia intends to absorb Ukraine as its very own. The fact that the UN is incapable of dealing with such a fundamental challenge to the peaceful international order portrays its complete uselessness.

Sure, Russia’s war crimes will be alleged for years, perhaps forever, given the epoxy that carefully lubricates the international legal system. But the evidence has been paraded before the world. It’s unreal only to Russia, where it is, in Soviet speak, a grave provocation, and in China and India, two of Russia cheer leaders.

If you’d like a cherry atop this morally bankrupt international cake, I present the UN Human Rights Council, where Human Rights are discussed by the likes of North Korea, Venezuela, China, and Somalia. Israel and Taiwan, two actual, not pretend democracies need not apply.

The Strollers of Ukraine

The following was written by my wife, Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob. It appears as her column in the Culpeper (Virginia) Star-Exponent on Friday, 25 March

We are four weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine initiated by Vladimir Putin. An estimated five to seven thousand Russian soldiers have died. Millions are displaced within Ukraine, without food, water, shelter or medical care. Cities have been bombed back to the stone age. An exodus of over four million Ukrainians has fled to neighboring countries, most escaping with only the shirts on their backs. And, as part of this parallel universe we are inhabiting, we are also only a few weeks shy of observing the Jewish Holiday of Passover which commemorates another exodus, that of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. The Israelite’s also left in a hurry to escape the wrath of another enraged despot, Pharaoh.

The story of God’s redemption of the Israelites from bondage is told each year at a communal meal called the Seder, (the same communal meal known to Christians as “The Last Supper”). The narrative is told in great detail, through readings and song, of how we were slaves to Pharaoh and now we are free men and women. We tell of how God rescued us “with a strong hand and a mighty arm, with signs and with wonders,” including the ten terrible plagues set upon Egypt in an attempt to persuade Pharaoh to “Let My People Go!” It is a lively telling, with children actively involved. Jews are instructed to pass the story from generation to generation through our children, and our children’s children. The telling is brought vividly to life, and for just an evening, we, ourselves are transported to our collective past, as we conduct the Seder as if we, ourselves, were being brought out of Egypt.

God sent ten plagues to afflict the Egyptians. Among which were; Frogs, Locust, Cattle Disease, Boils. After each, Moses asked Pharaoh to “let my people go.” Pharaoh had every opportunity to stop the misery but didn’t relent until the tenth plague, Death of the First Born Egyptians, including the death of his own son.

The exodus from Ukraine we are now experiencing is on an unfathomable scale. We watch the news and see crumbled cities, the dead lying buried in the rubble, the lines of people walking, clutching their few belongings and their pets. Cars creep toward the border, and women and children wait desperately at the train station for a chance to leave.

Desperate to get out amid the bombardments and non-stop destruction, Ukrainian mothers are grabbing their strollers, their children, their pets, and a few plastic bags of food, and either driving or walking toward the border, abandoning their last few possessions along the way. If they are fortunate enough they will get a ticket for a departing train. To make room for just a few more mothers, a few more children, these women abandon their strollers on the platform. As the train departs the station, one can see a sea of strollers left behind.

But unknown to them, their plight is being watched in Poland and Germany by women who have their own children. Instinctively, these mothers have begun appearing at train station platforms on the receiving end. They have been bringing Hundreds and hundreds of baby strollers to be left on platforms for those arriving empty-handed in an unknown place. A basic maternal connection is made, and day after day, more strollers arrive. Video I’ve seen show these young Ukrainian mothers in tears, weeping at this compassionate gesture from one mother to another. A show of simple kind-heartedness and humanity to lift the spirit and acknowledge the pluck and bravery that was needed to evacuate at a moment’s notice.

The departure from Egypt took a great deal of courage and faith as well as self-confident leaders with vision, but it also took those who simply put one foot in front of the other, as God parted the waters. As we recall the Exodus story this Passover and Easter season, let us keep in our hearts this newest migration, the largest and fastest exodus in history. Bless them with courage, faith and leadership.

May God watch over these women and children and keep them safe. May God watch over their loved ones left behind, and give courage to those under siege. May we see a quick resolution to the fighting and, in the meantime, do all we can to act as God’s partners in providing for the needs of this afflicted nation.

Ukraine, One of My Great Grandparents' Homes, Remains on My Mind

The Ukrainian Cherry Tree

The pink march of cherry trees

Outside my window,

Gives hope that winter’s fade

Is real.

In Ukraine boys and men,

Fight yet through snow,

Their blood-red country wonders,

If their cherry trees will bloom at all.

Ukraine on My Mind

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Via: Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Mar. 16—GROZNY — Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s signing of the independence documents of the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as his launch of a “military operation” in Ukraine.

He hailed Putin’s signing of the independence documents of Donetsk and Luhansk as a historic decision that will put an end to the bloodshed and violence that 4 million people have been subjected to in the two provinces for eight years.

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My thoughts:

It's a curious thing that the Chechen Head of State should meet with Vladimir Putin to express support for the rape of Ukraine. It's curious and ironic. From the 90s through the early 00s Russian leaders turned Chechnya into an ash heap of rubble as the Chechens struggled for independence from the Russian Federation, while Russia remained doggedly determined to keep the republic from breaking free.

Chechnya had never been a good fit. Chechens had a reputation as gangsters and criminals within the Soviet Union, and very few of them had risen in the ranks of the Communist Party. In the course of three wars for independence in the Post Soviet Era, Soviet bombers and artillery flattened most significant Chechen cities, including the capital, Grozny (three times); Russia was done with devolution. The Russians are good at this. In the 19th century they massacred the Circassians, driving the survivors to the shores of the Black Sea, leaving them to die. Those hardy souls eventually made their way to Ottoman Palestine, where they founded their own village that still exists, along with some very long memories. They live side by side with Israelis, in a country populated by survivors of many a massacre.

Now, at this remarkable point in history, we have Russia as a belligerent on the western front in Europe, busy adjusting an external border by force. This is something we thought the founding of the UN meant would never happen again in our time. We’re topping it off with praise for this barbaric act by a man who heads the ‘republic’ that Russia had last practiced this bit of rampant destruction on.

If one were penning a cartoon of the present situation, it might involve the Russian Bear carving up its prey with one hand while holding off the western world with a handful of nukes. But reality is that if this is the case, Russia can carve up anything it wishes while holding off the rest of the world with a quiver of nukes. Best to take the risk and push back with a double dare now; find out if Vladimir Putin really thinks that conquest is worth nuclear annihilation. The future of western civilization may be at stake. Whether or not it is won’t be clear until it’s too late. Weak men must not be permitted to shoulder a burden they cannot carry.

Apropos My Most Recent Post

From today's New York Times:

Contrary to the claim that Putin’s behavior is a result of Western provocation — like refusing to absolutely rule out eventual NATO membership for Ukraine — the West has mainly spent 22 years placating Putin through a long cycle of resets and wrist slaps. The devastation of Ukraine is the fruit of this appeasement.

— Bret Stephens

A Situation Like No Other in History

Never before has a nuclear power invaded another country for the purpose of annexing it. The Russian invasion of Ukraine places the western world in quick sand. Should the west attempt to aid Ukraine too much, perhaps to the point where the Ukrainians appear capable if preserving their sovereignty, a desperate Russia, a desperate Vladimir Putin, knowing that his life may depend on the success of his venture, might find the nuclear option irresistible. Where might that option end? During the Cold War we spoke of a “fire break.” In the event that a war on the central front went nuclear, what might enable the belligerents to create a stopping point before things accelerated too far? In the case of Ukraine, if Russia, apparently controlled by a single despot, adopted the nuclear option in a desperate effort to salvage a disastrous adventure, where would the fire break be? Would Putin expect that the simple use of a nuke would create a pause on the part of all other parties out of fear that things might further escalate? Or would the west see nuclear escalation as the only course to prevent the emasculation of NATO? My guess is the former; NATO would back down, and we would see a generation of Russian domination of Europe under their nuclear umbrella. That would also make the US deterrent worthless. One suspects President Biden is not up to this task, but it’s impossible to tell until the situation fully unfolds. The best possible outcome is an early fall of Putin by dissatisfied oligarchs. Getting the best out of this won’t be easy.