The fog of war over Russian military metal and men pouring in to surround Ukraine’s border by land and sea approached a crescendo over the last couple weeks. Heightened rhetoric and whispers about sanctions and a cutoff from SWIFT were reported on a daily basis in the mainstream media, as leadership in the U.S., NATO, Europe, Russia, and Ukraine’s President Zelensky appear to not be on the same page. Tensions are high, and the U.S. and U.K. are withdrawing nonessential staff and family from Ukraine, but the European Union is staying put. The White House also announced that U.S. citizens in Ukraine “should leave now” and emphasized that no organized evacuation effort is planned if Russia invades.
The Canadian media is certainly not on the same page as truckers in the “Freedom Convoy” that arrived in Ottawa this weekend to protest pandemic mandates because the CBC allowed a guest to frame it as Russian collusion. In the meantime, young men are sweating bullets and hardened warriors are wondering what’s next as they dig in along Ukraine’s borders and eastern trenches of the Dombas War front.
If you have a conversation with a Ukrainian veteran or expat in Poland, you’ll likely be reminded that “this war, it’s been going on for eighty years. Nothing has changed.” The core underlying issue before the 2014 invasion was not Russia’s little green men and separatists in Dombas and Crimea that now occupy a large chunk of eastern Ukraine, and it was not NATO’s existence. This conflict is about missile placements and capability. Putin pointed out that fact on numerous occasions. Here is an excerpt from Part 1 in Apr. 2021 (Twitter thread):
“NATO membership encroaching upon Russia’s sovereign border is precisely the reason for Putin’s support of separatists in 2014, and his fury originates over the deployment of new U.S. missile defense systems in Europe. When discussions came to light in 2018 about Ukraine and Georgia seeking NATO membership, Putin’s stance was clear and he