Things are getting really bad in Ukraine. I mean, REALLY bad. I can’t take in the news any longer but every time I do catch a snippet of a news digest from Ukraine in my blog roll, all I want to do is crawl into a corner and wail, loudly and unproductively.
Two Ukrainian officers blew themselves up with a grenade to avoid being captured by the Russians. Because they know what the Russians do with POWs.
People in Mariupol are digging trenches around their city. Because they know Putin wants them. In fucking 2014 they are digging trenches.
The Russian journalist who reported on the burials of Russian soldiers killed in combat in Ukraine was viciously beaten up in Russia. The families of the fallen Russian soldiers are eagerly agreeing bit to mourn the dead in exchange for some miserable handout.
The Ukrainian army could fight the terrorists. And it did, and it was winning. But now that the regular troops of the Russian army have crossed the border in massive numbers, it’s all useless. All Russia has is the army. And it’s enormous.
And who’s to say that if Putin is frustrated any more than he’s been in Ukraine that he won’t order a nuclear strike against the Western part of Ukraine?
In the meanwhile, Obama still can’t even bring himself to refer to what Russia is doing as war and invasion. That’s all anybody is asking of him at this point, but even this small relief is not to be granted to Ukrainians.
Clarissa's Blog 
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“In the meanwhile, Obama still can’t even bring himself to refer to what Russia is doing as war and invasion. That’s all anybody is asking of him at this point, but even this small relief is not to be granted to Ukrainians.”
Do you ever notice that the spirit dominating Western sensibilities (apart from consumerism) is a distortion of the Eastern wisdom for bringing up a child, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” But my Japanese acquaintances tell me that this is advice for child-rearing, to allow children a period of grace when they can mature in an environment that doesn’t disturb their growing minds with the question of evil doing.
In any case, you really can’t expect people from Western culture to actually do anything. There is something perverse about the way they are brought up. Sometimes even doing something small can make all the difference to somebody in a jam, but the Westerner is driven by a cultural motivation to not see evil.
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So this maxim was intended for child rearing??? I had absolutely no idea. Wow. These would be dream parents.
How profound. And how completely alien to the way children of any age are treated in my culture.
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My hope is that the US is providing intel and clandestine help to Ukraine. Not helping Ukraine right now would be akin to when the world turned a blind eye when Ethiopia was invaded by fascist Italy in WW2.
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It is such a d-d shame.
Inability to “see evil,” I don’t know that that is germane although I do think it applies to several English speaking Protestant cultures (which I think is generally what musteryou is describing when she says “Western”) — and (Lutheran) Scandinavia too, come to think of it.
My bet is that Obama knows US has done things like this and may want to again any time, and is more interested in not upsetting Putin than in doing anything for Ukraine.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/bnai-brith-ceo-to-nominate-harper-for-nobel-peace-prize/article20286246/
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Obama still can’t even bring himself to refer to what Russia is doing as war and invasion. That’s all anybody is asking of him at this point, but even this small relief is not to be granted to Ukrainians.
– I have to wonder what national interests are being served by him not stating the obvious.
As an aside, I wanted to tell you that my knowledge of Russia and Ukraine is extremely limited, so when I read your posts it’s always in 100% receiving-mode. I just don’t have anything to add. Just grateful to read your insights on the subject. I suspect many other readers feel the same way, so if you see fewer posts on this topic please don’t assume readers are not concerned about the plight of Ukrainians. For me, there isn’t even any controversy here. It’s trivially obvious what Russia is doing and is flat-out evil, and no decent person would argue otherwise.
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“I have to wonder what national interests are being served by him not stating the obvious”
Obama is not into serving national interests, he’s way too post-nation-state for that.
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The interests Obama is serving are clear: he hopes to pretend nothing is happening until the problem hoes away. Very little children sometimes close their eyes and believe nobody sees them. This is that sort of game.
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Clarissa, do you really think … hmmm … I’d have ascribed more awareness to him, and said what cliff arroyo said, but … hmmm …
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I like Obama, I supported him both times, and I’m still happy he won and not his opponent whose name I don’t even want to mention. But I do believe that Obama is irritated with the Ukraine-Russia conflict and just wants it to go away.
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Well that is kinder, I guess, than assuming as I do that he is actually serving interests that are served by US not opposing Putin.
Not wanting to deal with it. I can see this. Like university administrators wanting problems to go away. Me unsure about speaking out once again due to fear of retaliation. Me paralyzed or avoidant about certain things that nonetheless really need to be done.
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I don’t want to believe this. I want to believe that he’s an essentially good guy who is simply not interested in this issue and doesn’t see why it’s important.
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Oh, I am sure he is an essentially good guy. I just disagree with a lot of what he does and I have come to believe that at least some of what he does and does not do, he does and does not do out of conviction. Perhaps on this he just cannot see his way out of the forest.
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Well, I am now being told it is Terribly Tricky situation and O. does see the importance but is trying to make sure that whatever he does, does not make things worse or have bad effect in one of many possible ways in US. I do not know what to think, me. I am also wringing hands once again over fact of G W Bush having gone into Iraq. Such a bad idea.
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To clarify what I mean
1) I don’t think Obama is interested in “national interests” in any way shape or form. I assume he thinks the entire concept is wrongheaded and crude (if not evil).
2) He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Ukraine one way or the other. All of Europe is a blank hole on the map for him. I think he’s sort of interested in the middle east and that’s about it in terms of foreign policy (though his middle eastern policy seems in stasis since he can’t apologize for former US policy at the moment).
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I get the feeling that Obama doesn’t have any interest in the foreign policy at all. Doesn’t have a vision or a plan at all. And yes, he does seem to have a problem with defining what is in the country’s interests and pursuing that.
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Thank you, my friend! I value the support. I are my role here as sharing what I know with my readers because there is literally nothing interesting or insightful on the subject in the American and EU media. This way I can bring real value to my readers.
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Do you have anything to say about the natural gas variable? Just read that
“Russia shut off supplies to Ukraine. […] Ukraine has so far managed by tapping stored reserves and importing gas from other European countries, but winter is coming. […] more than a third of the EU’s natural gas transits Ukraine, which puts the entire bloc’s supply in danger.”
http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/08/30/moscow-and-kiev-cant-reach-a-gas-deal/
Probably, Ukraine will suffer from horrible gas shortages this winter, while enabling the continuing gas flow to EU and letting Gazprom / Russia get richer. I suppose had Ukraine said “till we’re at war with Russia, we’ll stop the gas”, Russia would have attacked with its full power. Would it have caused EU and USA to react at last, admit it’s a war and call for Russia to stop?
I possibly sounded insane above, but it would’ve been kind of cosmic justice. EU pretends nothing is happening to get the gas and thinks only Russia can cut it off, thus Ukraine can be ignored and told to take it.
\\ an essentially good guy who is simply not interested in this issue and doesn’t see why it’s important.
I am sure “who is…” part is 100% wrong. I think Obama does his best to escape announcing to Americans “we’re in conflict with Russia again.” EU too is extremely against America doing anything, which influences USA. Whether Obama is “essentially good guy” as a private person doesn’t matter. I don’t understand how he could help Ukraine now, except being ready to send US and EU troops.
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USA and EU are already worried about Russian attacks:
“Russian hackers attacked the U.S. financial system in mid-August […] The attack resulted in the loss of gigabytes of sensitive data […] Authorities are investigating whether recent infiltrations of major European banks using a similar vulnerability are also linked to the attack.”
http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/08/28/fbi-investigating-russian-cyber-attacks-on-us-banks/
“the FT reports that Moscow is now mulling over further counter-sanctions, including a ban on European and American flights over Russian airspace and restrictions on industrial trade.”
Do you think Russia will go there and ban the flights?
\\ And who’s to say that if Putin is frustrated any more than he’s been in Ukraine that he won’t order a nuclear strike against the Western part of Ukraine?
You exaggerate here. When I talked about Israel \ nuclear Iran, people said fear and propaganda made me think so. May be, may be not. Here you imagine super-horrible things because of being worried. Putin isn’t insane and he has numerous methods to attack Ukraine and the West without going nuclear.
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“Here you imagine super-horrible things because of being worried. ”
– Yesterday I talked to a scholar who specializes in the politics of Eastern Europe who said the same thing verbatim without any prompting on my side. Even a year ago, if I had outlined on this blog a scenario where Russia invades Ukraine, annexes Crimea, shoots peaceful airplanes out of the skies, and the world cheers on, I would have been told that I’m insane. And here is where we are today.
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