Clarissa's Blog

Israel has been horrid during the war (have they done anything in response to the bombing of Babyn Yar, at least?), but the Jewish people of Ukraine are (and have been since the war started in 2014) a rock of Ukrainian resistance.

A huge snowstorm is moving towards the Eastern part of Ukraine. Up to 20 cm of snow and icy winds up to 50 km per hour. I don’t have the energy to do inches and miles right now but it’s a serious winter storm.

In 1941, the Nazi advance on the USSR ran into serious trouble because of record-low temperatures and deep snow.

In positive news, I’ve been able to force half an apple down my throat and it didn’t come back up, so that’s good. After work, I’ll head over to the grocery store to get some of those applesauce pouches. They’ve got to be easier to get down.

I haven’t been able to eat since the bombing of the Freedom Square in Kharkiv. The only other times in my whole life when I had this problem was when I gave birth to Klara and when I had COVID. Even in the midst of a gallbladder attack I was hungry.

I’m fairly certain that I neither gave birth yesterday nor have COVID (weekly testing). So it’s on the Russians.

Russian bombs hit downtown Kharkiv. My university in Kharkiv is burning.

And this is a small city near Kyiv:

In positive, heart-warming news, there’s this:

Six thousand Russian soldiers are dead so far. Of course, Putin is happy because he deeply dislikes ethnic Russians. But almost no ethnic Russians have managed to notice it in the past 22 years, so it’s on them.

The countries that supported Russia at the Human Rights Council of the UN are Cuba, Venezuela, China, and Eritrea. I know nothing about Eritrea but the other three are faithful lapdogs of Russia. Venezuela’s Maduro called Putin on the phone to express undying support for the invasion.

Again, aside from Eritrea, please observe the shared ideology of the Russia supporters. In Spain, only a few politicians refuse to condemn the war. As far as I’ve been able to ascertain up to now, they are all far-left. I’ll keep investigating but for now the picture is clear.

Russian protesters:

Ukrainian protesters:

It has always been this way. We used to joke about this but now this stuff of jokes has led to serious consequences.

The only real, serious protests against Putin were those of the Russian nationalists in 2005. Since then, bupkes. They come, wave white baloons, and scooch away feeling proud of themselves.

Of course, it’s disgusting that Biden, Trudeau, and all the rest of them are hiding their egregious failures and crimes behind the bodies of dead Ukrainians. It makes me want to vomit but I can’t because I don’t eat anymore. (This solved all of the challenges of the Great Lent for me.) I’ll never forget these mealy-mouthed woke bastards for what they did to us. I’m now even angrier at them than before. And don’t even start me on Obama because without him we wouldn’t be here in many different ways.

None of this makes what’s happening in Ukraine “not a war.” None of this excuses the Russians.

This is not a difficult view to hold. It’s proving impossible for some people but I don’t know why. The invasion of Iraq by the US was wrong. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is wrong. See? Easy.

(I’m not arguing with anybody on this blog. Everybody on here has been amazing, and I’m forever grateful. I’m responding to some painful conversations I’ve had elsewhere. I swear, if I hear once again “but the US invaded Iraq, was that OK?” I have been against that since day 1. I’ve been very outspoken on the subject. I marched, I protested, I spoke out. And the destruction of Libya by Obama was absolutely wrong, too. I’m for peaceful civilians not being slaughtered anywhere. Why is that so hard to process?)

First, the Dean and now the Provost are offering me paid vacation time, a reduction in teaching and service loads, administrative help, all sorts of things. This is very kind. I’m grateful that people understand the state I’m in. (They are offering the same help to the only other Ukrainian professors on campus, so it’s not me personally.)

I’m not going to take the offer because if I sit at home alone, I’m going to go nuts. At work, at least, there are people, things to do. But it means a lot that nobody expects one to remain unaffected and continue working like a robot.

There’s a purposeful, methodical targeting of helpless, innocent civilians.

I have already seen people claim that the images of the Russian bombing of Kharkiv are actually from the Donbass in 2014. Apparently, the BBC or whatever posted something.

I have no idea what the BBC said but I spent my entire childhood and youth in Kharkiv and Donetsk. What are the chances I wouldn’t recognize the buildings I saw every day of my life for 20 years?

Yes, Kharkiv is being bombed. Two days in a row with no end in sight.