I am still alive. And as in the rumours and rumblings of war, so it is when a mothballed writer feels that stirring. Has it been a has been? A failure? A dream? And the research even more inaccessible than ever - the madness of brother against brother in Ukraine and and Russia. It is said these are only brothers when passed out on the floor. Feel the past gobbling us up, generations flashing past like Yaniv train carriages. Our memories lost as vapour from the last cup of tea. Even more the need, urgent need, to cast these glimpses of before to record. But, as Ecclesiastes holds, is it all vanity? |
An article everyone should read Kyivan-Rus - Why the invasion of Ukraine matters to us all and our freedom everywhere https://www.facebook.com/676168863/posts/10159751691183864/?d=n The article seems to be behind a paywall. So.... here is an excerpt Students of Russian and Ukrainian literature could have seen Putin coming Russian Slavophile ideology continues to confront Westernization. By Debra Romanick Baldwin 1:30 AM on Mar 6, 2022 Many people might be watching the horrific news from Ukraine and wondering: Why? Why would Putin gratuitously invade an independent country and its capital Kyiv in the face of a united world condemning his actions — actions that, even if he is militarily successful, will result in the ruin of his economy, the strengthening of the opposition within his own country, and the universal condemnation by all decent countries and people of the world? No one believes his claim that Russia, a nuclear power, is actually threatened by Ukraine, a peaceful country that openly and deliberately gave up its own nuclear arms for peace. Here is where reading 19th-century literature and grasping one historical fact can offer insights that political commentary and news coverage alone cannot. There is a paradox at the center of this region’s long and complicated history: the principality of Kyiv, or “Kyivan Rus’,” was a separate state founded in the 10th century, well before the creation of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1283. Yet it was Moscow that later appropriated the name, changing “Rus” into “Russia,” and expanding across Eurasia to create the Russian Empire. The Russian Empire took the city of Kyiv by force in the late 17th century. Kyiv, one of the largest and most cultured cities in 10th century Europe, was also the cradle of Christianity in the region when its Grand Prince Vladimir I converted in 988. It holds a unique importance for the Eastern Christian Churches — Ukrainian Catholic, Ukrainian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox and others. That fact is important when we turn to a 19th-century writer to help make sense of Putin’s seemingly irrational war: Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky was a leading proponent, or as some called him, the prophet, of the Russian Slavophile movement. The Slavophiles were Russian nationalists hostile to “Europeanism,” as Dostoevsky referred to it, seeking instead to strengthen Russian… See link for full article or refer to publication The Dallas Morning News |
If you’ve puzzled with how to help people in desperate need in Ukraine, then here’s a way… I know these people, they are trustworthy; they run (up until the invasion at least) the best guided tours of the Chornobyl and Pripyat areas in Northern Ukraine. Here’s the link. Please share the Facebook link if you would like to. https://www.facebook.com/676168863/posts/10159745788763864/?d=n |
I feel compelled to share this international plea. I stand with Ukraine. My novel The Influence Gene edited by Winnie is on this very theme of force versus choice, with the frontier set in Ukraine, and Chornobyl. Even now Chernobyl is being over run by the invaders. How can we help? https://www.facebook.com/100003753366872/posts/2470977519704003/?d=n |
We were warned but it's still a shock. There could be a full-scale war by tomorrow and the US involved by March 2nd. Personally I think Pres. Biden should do a virtual State-of-the-Union on March 1st to avoid any violence. All countries need to be wary of hometown efforts to overthrow their governments. I know I'm sounding negative but the world is a box of tinder and the spark has just been lit. |
and have stated their neutrality and with all due respect this IS another European War. And very much a Christian War (The Ukrainian Orthodox split from the Russian Patriarchy in 2019) that in some ways does not involve those of us who are not Christian.
The War in Ukraine though does upend stability and although isolationists (like here in Montana) oppose any involvement the globalization of knowledge (google), social media (facebook etc), markets, travel, cellphones (eyewitness updates) does not allow anyone anywhere to remain unaffected (untouched) by current events.
At risk: the right to a national identity. In the US this applies to Hawai'i and Puerto Rico, in Spain to Catalonia, in the Balkans to Kosovo, in Morroco to the Sahrawi, in Asia to Taiwan. These conflicts are uneffected (not settled).
Thanks for posting on the Newsfeed, Sparky.