Аво́сь да как-нибу́дь до добра́ не доведу́т.
I remember that time , closing in on one year, visiting friends in Simferopol, meeting new friends, people asked what it was like on the Maidan, since I don't speak Ukrainian, I could only give my rough impression of what I was hearing being said and things like that: People were nice towards me.
In general, it came across to me as unbelievable, an unparalleled situation. In all, I had no right to any opinion, just impressions of it, sharing photos and so forth. My friends in Crimea go back many years, and I am open to some dialogue about the pragmatic aspects of the CIS, in all it felt useless to speak in any detail about anything with them relating to politics. Of course, I find politics in Ukraine vastly more interesting than USA, I am often thinking how , not trivial, but near sighted people get caught up on issues, friends, family. Not to detract from what they see as important. Ukraine did not ask for 8 million of it's people to be killed in the Second World War. My family did it's small part in the fight against the Nazi juggernaut, no reason to outline specifics herein.
I remember Crimea felt spooky, the streets at night very dark, no lights on in most of the homes, buildings, lots of snow, few cars, no one in the hotel Ukraina, and they avoided me in the dining room : the obvious foreigner. And not much of a New year's Fireworks exhibition.
As I had a minor personal connection with the Police Chief in Simferopol, : I felt reasonably safe cruising around without a date, a buddy, a guide or minder. For a number of reasons, I really like the feeling of Simferopol, it's size and layout. A couple of the most well known street musicians I count among my most favorite people, really they are the ones, even now I miss. I sure hope they are OK.
A Tatarski friend of mine, his uncle has a place in Feodisia, hotel or something. I spoke with him not long ago, he said "it's safe here"
All of this advent of war, annexation by Russian Federation. It did not need some convoluted reference to Nostradamus, there were writers in Ukraine and Crimea who were talking about these ambitions to take Crimea for years. It did not require some star analyst to determine the Russians were itching to "pull a number" and recapture some sort of glory they associate with their history. Sevastopol is one of those mystery cities, with ghosts and weird historical overlaps. Was it possible for Ukraine, in this vacuum where the president was unaccounted for, to call in help from NATO, the USA ? No, not really, not at all. Romney as president, no difference in my mind as to outcome.(those rules and procedures within NATO are so definitive, it was simply a matter of knowing what they could not do) It was a smart , yet perhaps banal Ploy, well dialed in on the options white board at the Kremlin. To say that OBAMA is green and Putin eager to school him, sure why not ? But McCain ? would the State Department under McCain have found better options ? No sense being a Monday Morning quarterback about it now. What an ugly, useless war. It is hard for me to escape a mild depression about it. Seriously.
What I can say about this depressing, unfortunate war, is that is has created pairings of people, unusual pairings, East And West, North and South, South East and Northwest
All these people I know who chose to fight for how they perceive their freedom is best suited, they did choose what they think is the more open path of Ukraine, where there is more room for bottom up change, rather than top down control as espoused by the Kremlin. Men from these occupied areas who can not communicate with friends, family, for fear of their safety, they may have zero Love for USA, they may have mixed opinions, at best about Europe and it's role or lack there of in all this conflict.
A friend of mine recently compared something here to "Narnia", that Christian based fantasy, yet beyond Christianity, the struggle to define what one feels most true and important, and to defend it, fight for it at any cost and any risk. Russian society was formed by the Bolshevik revolution, the last time I checked, it was workers and every day people revolting against a lame Aristocratic hierarchy. The question is, is there a Western Aristocracy, aiming to line it's pockets, reposition it's lines of supply and wealth generation ? These new Titans of Internet wealth, they are too fresh in the game to play geopolitics, or to cautious. It is still a clash of old school game player, all the expertise and experience of such vaunted stars of the past as Doctor Kissinger... I hope no more people will get hurt.
Every day, I hope the hurting of people in Ukraine will stop, that mercenary, sadistic, crazy actions, stupid ______. All such bad things will stop.
The mood on the KYIV Metro, is that this is our new normal. We are at war, but our new government is working, we can complain about stuff small and bigger, we are a pluralistic democracy and can hope the government will decide things, as it seems most pragmatic. Not everybody likes Poroshenko, but he's not nearly the worst man to steer the ship out of troubled waters.
About the thought that The Kremlin will pull a ghastly stunt and try to take the land bridge to Crimea,
logistically it may be possible, but politically, economically, it seems not even a remote chance, but nobody trusts what they are going to do anymore, that is the problem. Yet I am sure they have it ready in their contingency plans, they may only be waiting for a reason to justify it politically.
As to the whole conspiracy thing, that this mess in Ukraine was all planned. I can't bite on that just now. A lot of truthers have rethought the 9-11 stuff, and I came across a couple linked articles I liked this week : I like the every day guy perspective of Donte Stallworth's thinking.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/02/donte-stallworth-911-conspiracy_
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/the-bush-white-house-was-deaf-to-9-11-warnings.html
I remember Crimea felt spooky, the streets at night very dark, no lights on in most of the homes, buildings, lots of snow, few cars, no one in the hotel Ukraina, and they avoided me in the dining room : the obvious foreigner. And not much of a New year's Fireworks exhibition.
As I had a minor personal connection with the Police Chief in Simferopol, : I felt reasonably safe cruising around without a date, a buddy, a guide or minder. For a number of reasons, I really like the feeling of Simferopol, it's size and layout. A couple of the most well known street musicians I count among my most favorite people, really they are the ones, even now I miss. I sure hope they are OK.
A Tatarski friend of mine, his uncle has a place in Feodisia, hotel or something. I spoke with him not long ago, he said "it's safe here"
All of this advent of war, annexation by Russian Federation. It did not need some convoluted reference to Nostradamus, there were writers in Ukraine and Crimea who were talking about these ambitions to take Crimea for years. It did not require some star analyst to determine the Russians were itching to "pull a number" and recapture some sort of glory they associate with their history. Sevastopol is one of those mystery cities, with ghosts and weird historical overlaps. Was it possible for Ukraine, in this vacuum where the president was unaccounted for, to call in help from NATO, the USA ? No, not really, not at all. Romney as president, no difference in my mind as to outcome.(those rules and procedures within NATO are so definitive, it was simply a matter of knowing what they could not do) It was a smart , yet perhaps banal Ploy, well dialed in on the options white board at the Kremlin. To say that OBAMA is green and Putin eager to school him, sure why not ? But McCain ? would the State Department under McCain have found better options ? No sense being a Monday Morning quarterback about it now. What an ugly, useless war. It is hard for me to escape a mild depression about it. Seriously.
What I can say about this depressing, unfortunate war, is that is has created pairings of people, unusual pairings, East And West, North and South, South East and Northwest
All these people I know who chose to fight for how they perceive their freedom is best suited, they did choose what they think is the more open path of Ukraine, where there is more room for bottom up change, rather than top down control as espoused by the Kremlin. Men from these occupied areas who can not communicate with friends, family, for fear of their safety, they may have zero Love for USA, they may have mixed opinions, at best about Europe and it's role or lack there of in all this conflict.
A friend of mine recently compared something here to "Narnia", that Christian based fantasy, yet beyond Christianity, the struggle to define what one feels most true and important, and to defend it, fight for it at any cost and any risk. Russian society was formed by the Bolshevik revolution, the last time I checked, it was workers and every day people revolting against a lame Aristocratic hierarchy. The question is, is there a Western Aristocracy, aiming to line it's pockets, reposition it's lines of supply and wealth generation ? These new Titans of Internet wealth, they are too fresh in the game to play geopolitics, or to cautious. It is still a clash of old school game player, all the expertise and experience of such vaunted stars of the past as Doctor Kissinger... I hope no more people will get hurt.
Every day, I hope the hurting of people in Ukraine will stop, that mercenary, sadistic, crazy actions, stupid ______. All such bad things will stop.
The mood on the KYIV Metro, is that this is our new normal. We are at war, but our new government is working, we can complain about stuff small and bigger, we are a pluralistic democracy and can hope the government will decide things, as it seems most pragmatic. Not everybody likes Poroshenko, but he's not nearly the worst man to steer the ship out of troubled waters.
About the thought that The Kremlin will pull a ghastly stunt and try to take the land bridge to Crimea,
logistically it may be possible, but politically, economically, it seems not even a remote chance, but nobody trusts what they are going to do anymore, that is the problem. Yet I am sure they have it ready in their contingency plans, they may only be waiting for a reason to justify it politically.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/02/donte-stallworth-911-conspiracy_
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/the-bush-white-house-was-deaf-to-9-11-warnings.html
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