From Kyiv: The Who, Delegations Visiting, Israel, A Binary Choice, Song Of The Day
From the rock group The Who: “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” ~ Howard Zinn
“We stand by the people of Ukraine at this particularly harrowing time as we will stand for all who's freedoms are violated.” ~ Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend
This morning, the raindrops sound like bullets. The rain then transitions to a light snow before transitioning again to rain.
The song of the day from the speaker outside of the closed Salateira is “My Guy” sung in 1964 by Mary Wells for the Detroit, Michigan-based Motown label. Only one person is my candidate.
At 12:24 pm today there is no line of customers waiting to enter the supermarket. This is strange. Have citizens residing in this area already provisioned? Are they not stocking-up for fear that electricity might be interrupted? Have more people departed Kyiv for other areas inside Ukraine or outside of Ukraine. Inside the supermarket there are customers filling carts and totes. There are products. Some items are being replenished- particularly frozen items. At small 7-Eleven type store three blocks from the supermarket, the shelves are quite full of product, including Barilla pasta and shampoo.
Absurd rumor of the day is Victor Fedorovych Yanukovych, President of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014 when he abandoned the office, is preparing to travel from Belarus to Ukraine aboard a boat traveling south on the Dnieper River with the ultimate destination the city of Kyiv. Suggesting a re-enactment of the 26/26 December 1776 crossing of the Delaware River by General George Washington. Yes, absurd…. But, so is what the world is now watching and Ukrainians are now experiencing.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveling tomorrow to Europe and will tour countries bordering Ukraine. He should travel to Kyiv. Perhaps, he will.
Discussions within some capitals include a proposal for delegations of senior-level government officials traveling (by air or rail) to Kyiv and then disperse throughout the city, which is an essential component of the proposal. Then daring the Russian Federation to harm them. There is an increasing belief that large delegations of senior leadership from European Union (EU) member countries (and perhaps others) would require the Russian Federation to pause military activities. Ponder the optics of motorcades carrying foreign ministers traversing the city of Ukraine- with the Russian Federation military planners not knowing where they would be from moment to moment. And, the motorcades of media representatives following along…It’s a high risk, high reward proposition and an optically effective strategy.
The position of the State of Israel to not support unequivocally Ukraine and oppose the decisions by the Russian Federation is appalling. It’s hypocritical. When any country or non-state actor does anything to a citizen of the State of Israel no matter where in the world, the government in Tel Aviv will unleash relentless, aggressive behavior seeking support from others for their position- often seeking retribution, atonement. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is of the Jewish faith.
Today, at least the State of Israel voted in support of a United Nations resolution deploring the actions of the Russian Federation.
The State is Israel receives more United States taxpayer funds than any other country. It receives from the United States almost every piece of military hardware it seeks.
Think about this: The Federal Republic of Germany- the executive producer of WWI and WWII, director of the murder of millions of individuals of the Jewish faith has changed its policies to permit the export of lethal military materials to Ukraine. Leadership in Bonn, Germany, is saying more and doing more than the government in Tel Aviv to protect a country under attack. Astonishing.
Today, the Chancellor of Germany is visiting the Prime Minister of Israel- where the Prime Minister would not reference the Russian Federation. Surreal.
When on 1 March 2022 a location in Kyiv of historical significance to people of the Jewish faith, thus one would suppose also to the State of Israel, is subject to damage from an attack on a communications tower by the Russian Federation- a missile that murdered a reported five citizens of Ukraine, the State of Israel nevertheless continues restraint from wholeheartedly condemning the actions of the Russian Federation for attacking Ukraine in the first place.
The State of Israel is more concerned about a potential change in behavior by the Russian Federation relating to Syria and Iran than what the Russian Federation has already done in Ukraine.
From The Wall Street Journal (2 March 2022): “Even Israel, the U.S.’s closest ally in the region, has refused a Ukrainian request for weapons and other military equipment, such as helmets and protective vests, according to Ukraine’s ambassador, Yevgen Korniychuk. Israel fears that choosing sides too openly against Moscow could prompt Russian forces in Syria to respond by interfering with its long-running air campaign against Iranian-backed militias there, Israeli officials said.”
From The New York Times (2 March 2022): Jewish groups and institutions around the world condemned a strike in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, in the area of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, where tens of thousands of Jews were killed by the Nazis in a two-day massacre during World War II. It was not clear to what extent the memorial was damaged by the strike. The memorial is close to Kyiv’s main radio and television tower in Kyiv, which was hit by a projectile. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said at least five people were killed in the area. Mr. Zelensky, who is Jewish, also alluded to the site’s history, saying on Twitter, “What is the point of saying ‘never again’ for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar?” On Facebook, the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center said that Russian forces had struck the site but did not describe whether there was damage. Natan Sharansky, the chair of the memorial’s advisory board and a former Soviet dissident, said in the statement that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had sought “to distort and manipulate the Holocaust to justify an illegal invasion of a sovereign democratic country” and called the move “utterly abhorrent.” Mr. Sharansky added: “It is symbolic that he starts attacking Kyiv by bombing the site of the Babyn Yar, the biggest of Nazi massacre.” In remarks last week, Mr. Putin said the Russian military operation would aim for the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine,” and called Ukraine’s leaders “neo-Nazis.” More than 33,000 Jews were killed at the site over a two-day period according to historians. In addition, mass shootings, including of Roma people and Soviet prisoners of war, took place there throughout the war. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum in Israel, called for the site to be preserved, saying it had “irreplaceable value for research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust.” “Rather than being subjected to blatant violence, sacred sites like Babi Yar must be protected,” it said in a statement. Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister, said on Twitter that the country would help with repairing damage to the memorial. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum said it was outraged at “the damage inflicted on the Babyn Yar memorial by Russia’s attack today.” The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, a British charity, said it was “horrified” to learn of the strike. “I’m beyond devastated,” said Karyn Grossman Gershon, the chief executive of Project Kesher, a nonprofit that aims to build Jewish community by empowering women leaders. The massacre at Babyn Yar, also known as Babi Yar, took place in late September 1941. Soon after the German army entered Kyiv, the city’s Jews were told to gather near a train station in order to be resettled. Crowds were forced to undress and gather in a ravine, where they were shot. The Nazis wiped out nearly the entire Jewish population of Kyiv over the course of the war. Last year, on the 80th anniversary, Mr. Zelensky unveiled a modern art installation at the site. Peter Hayes, a professor emeritus of Holocaust studies at Northwestern University, said that it only started to become a more formally recognized landmark since Ukrainian independence in 1991. “The Soviets for a long time did not want to acknowledge that the victims were almost exclusively Jewish, and rather kept referring to it as a place where Soviet citizens had been massacred and so forth,” he said.”
Note to China, Cuba, India, Nicaragua, and Venezuela among others that governments who remain nuanced in their public statements about the attack upon Ukraine, the now war by the Russian Federation upon Ukraine, are not well served by their leadership.
The choice is binary- Support Ukraine or support the Russian Federation. Hiding behind issues relating to the boundaries of members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is hiding behind a transparent shower curtain- and everything that is thought to be hidden will be in full, and likely unappealing view. What is happening in Ukraine has resonance because it is easily relatable to all ages, to all genders, to all ethnicities, to all religions.
The rule is there are generally at least two sides to every issue. Not today. There is a Help Wanted sign hanging around Ukraine. There is also a sign that says No Nuance Here.
Lyrics For “My Guy”
Nothing you could say could tear me away from my guy,
(My guy)
Nothing you could do 'cause I'm stuck like glue to my guy.
(My guy)
I'm sticking to my guy like a stamp to a letter,
Like birds of a feather we stick together,
I'm tellin' you from the start I can't be torn apart from my guy.
Nothing you could do could make me untrue to my guy,
(My guy)
Nothing you could buy could make me tell a lie to my guy.
(My guy)
I gave my guy my word of honor to be faithful, and I'm gonna,
You best be believing I won't be deceiving my guy.
As a matter of opinion I think he's tops,
My opinion is he's the cream of the crop;
As a matter of taste to be exact he's my ideal as a matter of fact.
No muscle-bound man could take my hand from my guy.
(My guy)
No handsome face could ever take the place of my guy.
(My guy)
He may not be a movie star, but when it comes to bein' happy we are.
There's not a man today who could take me away from my guy.
No muscle-bound man could take my hand from my guy.
(My guy)
No handsome face could ever take the place of my guy.
(My guy)
He may not be a movie star, but when it comes to bein' happy we are.
There's not a man today who could take me away from my guy.
(What you say, Tell me more)
No muscle-bound man could take my hand from my guy.
(My guy)
No handsome face could ever take the place of my guy.
(My guy)
He may not be a movie star, but when it comes to bein' happy we are.