Day 779
The slosh and tosh of bullshit
And now as to the question of recruiting. This is pressing, because it is not enough for Ukraine to win: we and not international mischief-makers must be the decisive factor in the victory, or Putin will not be fairly beaten and punished. We shall be only rescued by our own. We must have the best army in Europe, but we will not get it under the new forced conscription arrangement.
Actually, no. Zaluzhny did not said this, Z did. And if I am not mistaken, Zaluzhny actually said he did not say this.
We have long passed out of the first stages of the war fever, in which men took up arms by instinct, by the desire to “live free or die,” not by pity excited by the labors of CNN’s Clarissa Ward, but by a clear sense of duty inculcated since the Orange Revolution, the Revolution of Dignity, the illegal annexation of Crimea and invasion of Donbas in 2014, the atrocities committed by invaders and so forth.
The difficulty begins when all the men and women susceptible to this inducement have already volunteered, served and are worn out. Now we have to draw on the solid, sceptical, pragmatic residuum who know the value of their lives and services and liberties, and will not give them up except on substantial and honorable conditions.
These people know that it is one thing to fight for your country, and quite another to let the establishment enrich themselves in the rear. They also know that it is one thing to wipe out invaders and another to let that sacred mission be made an excuse for subjecting yourself to populist idiotarians. We cannot disregard the decision to ignore months of warnings of imminent invasion1, nor the wagnergate-cia op2, or the scandalous imprisonment of Roman Chervinsky on trumped up charges3.
The controversy between men of peace as to the merits, demerits, causes, and possible results of total war is becoming almost as dangerous and almost as noisy than the real conflict now being waged in Ukraine. The only difference between the two conflicts is that combatants on the zero line strive to kill the body, while populists aim to capitalize on emotions and annihilate common sense.
The business of the appeal to the nation for new recruits and international partners for enormous sums of money has failed to decide the question whether the slosh and tosh of bullshit that has been making us sick for months is accidental or deliberate.
On the USA jacket, this.
No one is going to negotiate with Russia, which has no (zero) plans to negotiate. “They gotta sit down a negotiate” is ridiculous.
“You cannot negotiate peace with someone who has come to kill you.” — Golda Meir
Meir’s wisdom extends further:
“You cannot negotiate peace with somebody who occupies your home and your land and refuses to give it back.”
Correction: yesterday I wrote Russia blew up Trypilska thermal power plant with a Kinzhal (Dagger) missile. Wrong. X-69 cruise missiles.
Lost in Translation. Imminent Inevitability in Ukraine's Underpants (February 4, 2022)
Setting the Plate Clear. Subjectivizing Ukraine (September 6, 2021)
Червінський Роман Григорович (Wikipedia)