Kick the dog!

 

I have noted some pathetic attempts in various media to validate Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. This unprovoked war has led to the murders of thousands of civilians in Ukraine including women and children plus serious instability worldwide.

Apart from creeping international inflation caused by the disruption and increases in oil prices, the war has also had serious repercussions in poor, drought ridden countries, where starvation is now rampant. They had previously been able to buy basic foods such as wheat and corn from fertile Ukraine, but the disruptions caused by the war, have driven up the prices of these products where they are available.

If it wasn’t so serious, it would be hilarious to see and listen to the excuses by the apologists whose reasoning seems steeped in nothing but the ‘kick the dog’ philosophy!

For those who are not familiar, the kick the dog reaction is most often used by cowards. For when one cannot confront the real source of their displeasure or hurt, they find the weakest thing to abuse and take out their anger.

Often this is a harmless dog lying around at home!

This philosophy shines clearly throughout the writings and reasoning of most who have come out in support of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The latest attempt at justification was written by one Maxim Artemyev, a so-called journalist at the state-run media empire in Russia called RT. His piece published on 9th September, is entitled “The West took advantage of Russian weakness in the 1990s and is unable to understand the trauma it unleashed.”

It begins “A series of articles published in the Washington Post in August about the events leading up to Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, and its first stage of operation, raise a significant question. “How realistically and objectively do people in the West perceive the situation?”

In putting forward his justification for the illegal invasion of Ukraine, Artemyev spouts a series of injuries/indignities he claims Russia suffered since 1985-1991, when Mikhail Gorbachev pulled the USSR out of the arms race and ended the Cold War.

In the long diatribe which wreaks with self-pity (as a Russian), he itemizes the various indignities, financial and reputational losses Russia has suffered since 1985. While doing so, he pointed an accusing finger at many in the west and NATO but reading it through carefully, I could find nowhere that the Ukrainians were the villains.

Clearly by his own admission, Ukraine is just the dog!

And he knows that too, since he places the blame squarely where it should fall, writing; “The collapse of historical Russia was the result of Gorbachev’s remarkably weak leadership and Yeltsin’s personal ambition, as the latter tried to consolidate power even if only over a smaller state.”

So, Mr. Artemyev, if the Russian empire disintegrated as a result of poor leadership in Russia, how does that justify the murder of thousands next door?

Maybe this article was intended to be a salve for those Russian readers who wondered why their brothers and sisters in Ukraine were being murdered by Russian soldiers and not for an international audience.

What is clear though is that Russia had expected the dog to run away whimpering, but instead, it is biting back!

So, the carnage and war crimes continue.

Ukraine is different!

"When elephants fight it is the grass that gets trampled." African proverb

There has never been a truer word, and lest we are inclined to forget, the recent events in Ukraine have brought this wise proverb center page.

Although many of us never heard of Ukraine until February 2022, that country cannot be categorized as an 'elephant,' in world affairs. But, this war is really being fought by the USA, the European Union (EU) and Russia.... real big league!

Anyway, as the African proverb said, its the grass or the less wealthy countries that are suffering the most.

For while the price of energy is skyrocketing because of the war, wealthy countries are better able to deal with such spikes. And since energy costs affect most things, crippling inflation will be on the rise almost everywhere.

Ukraine has also been a very fertile agricultural country, producing significant amounts of sunflower oil, barley, corn and other basic foods.

Just think of our and other poor countries dependence on corn meal as a basic staple! Either it will soon be priced out of our reach or there will be a chronic shortage soon. When corn and other basics are no longer produced by in large quantities by Ukraine, starvation and famine will surely escalate in poor dependent countries.

Let me state up front though that I support the USA and EU getting involved in the Ukraine situation, as the concept of a larger well-armed country invading a neighbor cannot be tolerated in civilized society.

It should never have happened in Iraq in 2003 when the powerful USA, supported by Poland, Great Britain invaded that little country on a false pretext.

It should never have happened in Panama either when the powerful USA invaded to take out their leader Manuel Noreiga who had stopped colluding with the CIA.  Some records say some 15,000 Panamanian were killed in that exercise.

So yes, modern history is replete with stories of big bullies invading less powerful countries on spurious grounds. 

What we are seeing today though is the level of racism existing in many influential media houses in the western world. 

For never before have innocent war victims been so deservedly humanized as have the Ukrainians,  from where the suffering of ordinary people been brought into our homes so graphically and regularly.

Each time I see a report out of Ukraine, I have to ask myself what makes the pain and suffering of the Ukrainian people at the hands of the blood thirsty Putin worse than the pain and suffering of Afghan, Iraqi children in the past at the hands of the USA? 

But they are still just a small sample of the innocent women and children who have been forced to flee their homes daily, often with just the clothes on their backs, in the face of bloodthirsty dictators worldwide..

According to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, (UNCHR), there are today over twenty million refugees worldwide. Watching western television however, one would never get that impression, as no other race of innocent victims is being humanized anywhere. 

Only the Ukrainians need world sympathy and assistance one could easily conclude!

And are there really more Russian war criminals around than in other countries where innocent civilians are being wiped out ad infinitum?

Quite frankly, the only difference I am seeing every night is that its white Europeans who are suffering in Ukraine whereas in other conflicts it is 'people from shithole countries or as some may say "children of a lesser god."

As to the matter of international justice and punishing war crimes, Russia is one of the 144 countries that are members of the International Court of Justice, (an organ of the United Nations that deals with those matters) but neither the USA nor China are. 

KARURA FOREST, A VERY SPECIAL PLACE

I think my special attachment to the Karura forest, stems from the fact that on a recent visit to Kenya, that was my first exposure to their great outdoors.

This 1063 hectare (2627 acres) open space, is right in the middle of a residential area in Nairobi and is a dream location for residents.

A section of the forest

Luckily, I became a 'resident' for a while and this healthy, open, green space was virtually next door to where I was staying with my hosts Kelly and Denis. So on my very first day, we went on a 7 km hike.

Nothing could beat the welcome we received from a family of friendly Sykes monkeys that my 'guide' Denis had never seen before, despite his many visits to the area.

I don't know why this family was so welcoming, since we did see others when we continued the trek and they fled immediately at the sound of our footsteps.

Apart from the natural beauty of the area, this forest is a place for all sorts of activities and on the very day we were leaving, we returned there for a yoga session.

Our hosts at lunch

As it was also Mothers day and there were three mothers in our group, we headed to their lovely restaurant for a delicious mothers day lunch followed by a muddy hike to the  Karuru waterfall. 

I am happy that I was loaned a pair of water boots, though heavy, to do that trek through the mud, as it had rained all night.

Apart from the waterfall we saw some of the caves in which Mau Mau rebels (the resistance lasted from 1952-1960) hid out from the British in their struggle to liberate their country from those oppressive colonialists. 

With friends in front of one of the caves

For the benefit of those not familiar with that struggle, it occurred, because under British rule, the invaders grabbed the best lands, took away the rights of the Kenyan people who they used their superior arms to dominate in their quest for cheap labor. 

(Visitors to Kenya should visit the Nairobi National Museum where through photographs and paintings, they graphically display the murder of civilians and the brutal slaughter of the Kenyan freedom fighters during that period.)

The savagery of the British  (including at the Chuka and Hola massacres) however, only motivated more Kenyan people to put their lives on the line to gain their freedom. 

This determination to die for liberty and the condemnation the murderers received from the international community, so ratted the well armed British, that in 1963 they had to agree to give independence to the Kenyan people.

Walking through this scenic gorge, brought back memories of a hike I did along our own Cuna Cuna trail in Jamaica, where National Hero, Nanny, and her freedom fighters, hid out in the caves as they waged their own guerilla war for freedom against the same savage colonizers.                                         

They too, as home grown strategists, caused the well-armed bullies to give them the concessions they fought for.  

It was therefore a personal pleasure for me to take in the natural beauty of this side of the Karura forest while recalling the struggle of the Kenyan people for freedom. 

However, while in Jamaica, we are accustomed to waterfalls and rivers in which we can swim and frolic, as the mighty Nairobi River raged through the area, there was no swimming allowed. For although the water is 'clean,' the recent heavy rains had caused it to take on the red color of the soil. 

Anyway,  that raging river did look a tad too dangerous for me to to frolic in, even during the dry season.