UKRAINE: Lessons Still to Learn
Nearly seven decades after they were written, the repeated lines at the end of each verse of Pete Pete Seeger’s great political song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”, pose what may be the defining question for some of the ways the world is dealing with the war in Ukraine: “When will they ever learn?”. The answer seems to be: “not yet”.
Every reason Putin gave for his invasion twisted history and violated international law, to say nothing of the norms of what we are pleased to call civilised behaviour. The UN should have taken a forceful stand immediately. It’s not as though there haven’t been enough precedents.
When the war began, however, the body to which the world should be able to turn for help and guidance in times of strife, couldn’t pass a resolution condemning it. Russia not only has a veto, at that point it also held the rotating chair as head of the Security Council.
It seems reasonable to speculate that the timing of the war was no coincidence.
Whatever the case, in the view of David Smith, who spent a decade as an adviser to former Secretary-General Kofi Anan: “You couldn’t make up such a nightmare, the war machine taking control of the peace forum.”
The world’s two most populous nations, China and India, chose to abstain. There’s a phrase for that: craven self-interest.
SANCTIONS AND POSTURES
And then there are sanctions. Those leveed on Russia are the most extensive and potentially hard-hitting ever approved. They are designed to cripple the country and hurt its wealthiest citizens. Their effectiveness will take months, if not years to assess, but they are proof that a large segment of the world can unite in common cause. How long they are willing to pay the price of doing so should be a significant entry when the balance sheet of accountability is audited.
Using sanctions as justification for a knee jerk blanket punishment of Russians outside the country who are reticent to express public condemnation of Vladimir Putin, however, seems unnecessarily harsh.
What Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at state-controlled Channel 1 did by bursting on air, live, to denounce the war, defines courageous principle and defies the logic of self-preservation. But people like her are understandably few and far between.
If you’re a Russian artist, athlete or public figure outside of the country, whether or not to denounce Putin comes down to a choice between being on “the right side of history” — which risks the possibility of up to fifteen years in jail — or being free to go home safely to family and friends. But even those who take the risk are being penalised.
A simple example is Russian filmmaker Kirill Sokolov, whose latest work was banned from the Glasgow film festival. Organisers deemed it “inappropriate to proceed as normal with the screenings while the assault on the Ukrainian people continues,” because the movie received some Russian government funding. Apparently, the fact that Sokolov’s family is half Ukrainian doesn’t count. Nor does him having signed two petitions against the war, which carries the probability that if he returns to Moscow, he will be punished by the regime that sanctions are supposed to hurt. How, it is fair to ask, does ‘double jeopardy’ serve any worthwhile purpose, other than raising the stakes on a game show for entertainment value?
EMPTY GESTURES VS ACTION
A principled stand is one thing. Smug — and safe — self-righteousness is quite another.
Gestures like pouring what you think is Russian vodka down the drain serve no useful purpose, unless you count posting the act on social media to showcase “commitment” or whatever.
Far better to direct effort into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s exhortation: “All American companies must leave Russia. … Leave their market immediately, because it is flooded with our blood.”
One notable refusenik is the Koch organisation. According to the website “Popular Information”: “Koch Industries, the conglomerate run by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch, has numerous ongoing business operations in Russia. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Koch Industries has given no indications that those business operations have been suspended. On the contrary, the limited public comments made by Koch subsidiaries operating in Russia indicate that their business activities have continued.”
But then, in the 2019–2020 election cycle, Koch did give nearly $1.5 million dollars to Republicans, none of whom could restrain themselves from cheap politics by refusing to applaud when during his speech to a joint session of Congress, Zelenskyy thanked President Joe Biden for help his help so far.
However, don’t be surprised if a few members — from both parties — start showing up in dark green tee shirts as a show of “support” (translation: trying to ride on his coattails).
Playing Pete Seeger’s song once an hour on every radio show might not be a bad idea…
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5 thoughts on “UKRAINE: Lessons Still to Learn”
Holier than thou gestures against all Russians are not helpful, cluster bombs were used by the US as well, as for invasions and obliterating civilian lives we don’t have to look eastwards for that kind of behaviour. It’s all sad and infuriating and it needs to stop asap.
i am geographically challenged by the phrase
“don’t have to look eastward”…from what
starting point are we gazing?…
Closing line is very appropriate. It’s time that song is revived.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6B08wNMWY7MXesRREYPZoR?si=_2vOCe3hTJCuldiY-p-nZw
Great anti-war playlist.
A long-term solution might involve removing Russia from most maps.