On the morning of Thursday, February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine. This was not unexpected given the military buildup and incursions that had been occurring over the past month or so. Despite this, I still found it shocking when I heard the news on the radio first thing on Thursday morning. I also find it saddening and disappointing that Ukraine will likely be absorbed back into the Russian empire (or would it be more accurate to describe this as the "neo-Russian empire"?). Although I am of only partial Ukrainian ancestry and am generations removed from the old country, it was great that a separate and unique Ukrainian identity had emerged over the past thirty years. That appears to be over now.
I am also concerned about the rhetoric coming out of Vladimir Putin - threatening nuclear attack if anyone intervenes. This type of threat hasn't been made on the world stage for a long time (at least as far back as I can remember). Was it perhaps Nikita Khrushchev's famous "We will bury you..." statement from over fifty years ago that a threat like this was made? I'm also concerned and saddened about how complacent and weak the Western / democratic countries have appeared. I fear that we in the West have become so greedy and addicted to money and goods from places in the world that are anti-democratic that we're now unwilling to sacrifice (just look at the situation in the U.K., and London specifically, for evidence of this). We've also seemingly lost our ability to identify and deal with propaganda.
On the other hand, perhaps this turn of events is the wake up call that the Western world needs. I hope that we can collectively put away the divisiveness and petty bickering and "culture wars" that have been toxic in our societies for many years now. We've somehow had the luxury of worrying and fighting about things that are far and away from the life and death situations that are now facing the people of Ukraine. It's sad that it will likely take a European conflict to get us focused on more critical and important things.
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