? זאָג, פון אוקראינע װאס זיינט איר אװעק —

[sovay]

Quite apart from events on the world stage, every day this week has contained some additional stressor, of which the latest example was spatch needing to spend the day at the ER for what turned out to be diverticulitis. He is home now with antibiotics and enjoying some well-deserved soup. My ability to do very much this week beyond work has been somewhat frustrated. Someday, statistically, someone I care for or even just know socially will catch a break and it will be awesome.

In terms of ongoing resources for Ukaine, Razom seems to have the bases covered. I found myself saying elsenet that I don't think I'm old enough to blame it on the failure of historical memory, but I keep catching takes from people who seem to have forgotten that the Yugoslav Wars—Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo—even happened and it is very strange. I understand the significance of the eight-decade mark since one stable sovereign nation in Europe invaded another. But it's not as though we haven't seen sieges and airstrikes in places that didn't look sufficiently (there are not enough scare quotes in the world) foreign as to feel safely distant since then.

Courtesy of a friend who is not on DW: mir zaynen do, af Ukraynish.

Comments

[moon_custafer]

This is probably just my personal obsessions talking, but the war this is beginning to remind me of is not WWII or the Cold War, but the Russian-Japanese War at the dawn of the 20th century, which ultimately ended up showing the cracks in the Tsarist regime (and arguably was the domino that triggered a lot of the better-known subsequent conflicts, so maybe let’s hope I’m wrong).

[sovay]

the Russian-Japanese War at the dawn of the 20th century, which ultimately ended up showing the cracks in the Tsarist regime

On the theory of rhyming rather than repeating, we could have the regime crack without the subsequent aftershocks. .דאַלוי סאַמעדערזשאַוויעץ וו׳ראַסיי

[moon_custafer]

From your lips to God’s ears.

The other analogy, one that struck me tonight on my way home, is one I’d hesitate to air on someplace like Twitter because people would think I’m being flippant— but I trust people here to understand that when I suggest life is currently imitating Duck Soup (1933), I am fully aware of how terrifying that scenario is.

[davidgillon]

Interesting. I might suggest the Winter War vs Finland as an alternative, which is another case of Russia invading a neighbouring country after making unreasonable demands and finding the opposition was a lot stronger than it expected.

[moon_custafer]

The worrying thing about that comparison is that despite Finland punching well above their weight class, they still weren’t in Russia’s weight class.

I think the only hope here is that Putin’s willingness to sacrifice as many Russians as it takes won’t fly, given that they’re invading their neighbours as opposed to defending themselves against Hitler or Napoleon.

[davidgillon]

That's a fair point on Finland.

And an interesting thought on Russian willingness to die in expansionary wars. Wasn't an awful lot of the historic eastward expansion done using the Cossacks rather than Russian regulars?