It’s been a long time since my last post, and I hadn’t intended my first one of the new year to be about Ukraine. Up until this morning I had already half written three posts, none of which included politics or international conflicts. I was writing with CNN playing in the background and I was only half listening to the talking heads on the screen. They were of course covering the situation in Ukraine and had brought in several policy experts on Russia and the area. Then suddenly there were two gentlemen on the screen, and they were asked the stereotypical question, “What do you want the U.S. and the west to do?” And instead of asking for military troops, they said they wanted the international community to block Russia from SWIFT banking, severe sanctions and arms to make it a fair fight. They were willing to fight their own battles but wanted help and support to make it an even playing field. I can still see their faces and the resolve. And when asked what they were going to do next, they said they planned to go home and fight for their country. These were not soldiers or police or any type of security type individuals. This was a political analyst and a man running a nonprofit foundation in Ukraine. For some reason that hit home. It became clear. I needed to learn more about Ukraine.

Ukraine declared independence from Russia in 1991. However, the history between the two countries goes back much further. CBS News posted an article that detailed the conflict between them that goes back hundreds of years. As I read and understood the history, the more I understood the conflict of today. Ukraine became part of the Russian empire officially in 1793. And while they were controlled by Russia, they were still their own people. And in 1922 they tried and failed to claim independence on what was then the USSR. However, they had their own language and never fell in line with USSR rhetoric. In an effort to squash any more thoughts of independence Stalin decided to put pressure on the Ukraine people by taking their land and giving it to the state. To stop the opposition, he began to starve the people. Known as the ‘Holodomor’ which basically means to exterminate the people from hunger. Soviet activists went from house to house and confiscated food. “Between 1932 and 1933, some four million Ukrainians starved to death.” Elimination of the people was meant to end any idea that Ukraine was unique or a separate state. It didn’t work.

When Ukraine declared independence from Russia in 1991, it was met with skepticism. Putin has never fully acknowledged Ukraine as a separate country which is reminiscent of the China/Taiwan situation. Then in 2013 things came to a boiling point. There is a documentary on Netflix, “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” that is focused on the 2013 revolution and March of Millions. The Ukraine people had been pushing their leaders to join the European Union. They felt their future was with Europe and the West rather than the East. November of 2013, they thought their dreams were about to come true. The president was meeting with the EU and expected to sign an agreement for Ukraine to become a member. Instead, the president left the meeting without signing and said that he had negotiated a deal instead with Russia. This was not well received, and people took to the streets to protest. As one woman put it, they had 23 years of independence on paper, and it was time for real independence. It started as peaceful demonstrations in the capital city of Kyiv. Unfortunately, the president reacted as a military state would. State police escalated the fight by using tear gas, beating protestors and eventually the use of real bullets. The people battled back with rocks and wooden clubs. They fought and were willing to die for their freedom. As one man put it, Ukraine was a European country with European values – freedom and human dignity. For 93 days there was a standoff between the people and the state police. “If we don’t want to be afraid tomorrow, we have to fight for freedom today.” The harder the crackdown, the more resolved that people became. Until one night after a day of increased killings, a former military soldier stood in front of the crowd and demanded the president resign the next day or face a full-blown assault on the capital. And their demands were only that there be a release of political prisoners, establish a well-balanced government (President and Parliament have equal power) and early presidential elections. The president at the time snuck out of the country and took asylum in Russia as a guest of Vladimir Putin. If you want to watch a modern-day revolution and see the faces of true patriotism, I highly recommend viewing the documentary.

In 2015, Putin annexed the Crimea which some say was in retaliation for the uprising in 2013. It certainly indicated that he was not going to let go of Ukraine easily. Fast forward to today and you see a country fighting for its right to exist. How does this not compare to the American Revolution? They want to be in charge of their own destiny. They are willing to fight and die for their country. And are only asking for a little support from the international community. We did exactly the same thing. People came to this country for a better future. They wanted to get away from religious persecution and the poverty that came from being a part of the English caste system. They were a people willing to work hard and forge their own way in a country that was uncivilized and unknown. And when the King decided to take advantage and press for more, the people decided to fight back. And like King George, I suspect that Putin underestimated the will of the people to fight for the country they believed in and a future they dreamed about. And like Ukraine today, American revolutionaries needed help. Help in the form of the French whose boats cutoff the British and created an even playing field for the Americans.

How can we not support Ukraine in their fight for freedom? They are us and we are them. Had we not received help, we’d still be subjugated by the British government. And no one knows how that would have changed the world we live in today. We cannot let Putin win this war. He wants to go back and reclaim the glory of the Soviet Union. A time when people were oppressed and lived in fear. If we allow it to happen in Ukraine, then what’s to stop China from doing the same to Tibet and Taiwan? And where does it end?

If we are going to allow them to reverse time, then what about those at home that want to go back to a time period when women weren’t allowed in the workplace and LGBQT had to hide? Or when schools were segregated, and people were openly treated as lessor human beings? Do we go all the way back to slavery? How far do we allow those who fight change to reverse time?

There seems to be no reason for Putin to have invaded Ukraine. And I struggled with the why like many others. And there is only one valid reason that I have fixated on and that’s NATO. It is not in Russia’s best interest to allow Ukraine to become a member of NATO. It’s tantamount to having the United States in their backyard. I think this is also a small part of why China is seemingly supporting Russia and trying to blame the U.S. for the conflict. We cannot claim to be innocent. We had the same thought when Russia put missiles in Cuba. We did not want the Soviet Union in our backyard. And while we didn’t invade Cuba, we can’t say that we didn’t come close. It’s still the closest known time that we have come to nuclear war. As a member of NATO, Ukraine would have the right to call on NATO members to provide military support or to allow a military base on their lands for “strategic” reasons. It’s not a surprise that Putin reacted badly. Add this threat to his dream of the return of a Russian empire and the invasion is not as much of a shock.

War isn’t pretty and it’s not glamorous. It’s destructive and brutal. Reuters posted the pictures of the war in Ukraine, and it was hard to view. It’s difficult to believe that today, we still have to resort to killing each other in order to live free. I shouldn’t be surprised at the lengths to which mankind will go to hurt each other. It seems as if it’s ingrained into the DNA that we all share. The need for power, money, status or whatever the motivation we seem to have no qualms about hurting each other to fill the need.

Putin is a bully. And like all bullies, he will push until pushed back. It’s time the world said enough was enough. It’s time to tell the bullies of the world that we are done letting them permeate the world with hate and negativity. Put the world on notice – we need real leaders. Bullies and small-minded thinkers need not apply.

Music Memories

Ukraine’s national anthem has become the theme song for this invasion. It made me think about our national anthem, which I happen to like by the way. I’m not a proponent for changing to “America the Beautiful” like so many others. Yes, it’s hard to sing and yes, it’s a battle song. The music though is powerful and commands attention which is what I think you want from a national anthem.