Wars are different, I was told, by my father-in-law. He was a forward observer in WWII, he did the calculations & called in the coordinates for the artillery. He never spoke much about the war until our son came along & asked questions... then it was like the floodgates opened. One of the most memorable things he told the boy (now a grown man) was that it was either shoot that guy rushing toward his foxhole, or get shot. Him or the German. No calculation was necessary at the time, not if he wanted to go home.
He would be horrified by what's happening today. He opposed the invasion of Iraq, although he thought Afghanistan was righteous. He opposed Libya, and passed before we got to Syria, Yemen, and the like. He frequently told our son, though, that he fought in Europe to show the world that it couldn't keep happening. He died not liking Germans very much, and detesting the Japanese. He would be appalled that the world has allowed this nightmare to continue. If they survive as a country, will Ukraine have a new "greatest generation?"
Most of all, what I REALLY wonder, is why people don't see the parallels between what's happening in Ukraine and what has happened in Iraq, Yemen, and Syria. You & I both know why it is... boils down to pure racism, doesn't it? I think that's the part that frustrates me most of all about all this 'rah rah Ukraine' (FYI I am supporting the Ukrainians as much as I have supported the Syrians) stuff. If the Yemenis, Syrians, and Iraqis had been white & blond & blue-eyed, would we have handled it differently? If the people dying most often at the hands of cops were fair-skinned & blond, would there be a rush to reform? I fear I already know the answers.
Wars are different, I was told, by my father-in-law. He was a forward observer in WWII, he did the calculations & called in the coordinates for the artillery. He never spoke much about the war until our son came along & asked questions... then it was like the floodgates opened. One of the most memorable things he told the boy (now a grown man) was that it was either shoot that guy rushing toward his foxhole, or get shot. Him or the German. No calculation was necessary at the time, not if he wanted to go home.
He would be horrified by what's happening today. He opposed the invasion of Iraq, although he thought Afghanistan was righteous. He opposed Libya, and passed before we got to Syria, Yemen, and the like. He frequently told our son, though, that he fought in Europe to show the world that it couldn't keep happening. He died not liking Germans very much, and detesting the Japanese. He would be appalled that the world has allowed this nightmare to continue. If they survive as a country, will Ukraine have a new "greatest generation?"
Most of all, what I REALLY wonder, is why people don't see the parallels between what's happening in Ukraine and what has happened in Iraq, Yemen, and Syria. You & I both know why it is... boils down to pure racism, doesn't it? I think that's the part that frustrates me most of all about all this 'rah rah Ukraine' (FYI I am supporting the Ukrainians as much as I have supported the Syrians) stuff. If the Yemenis, Syrians, and Iraqis had been white & blond & blue-eyed, would we have handled it differently? If the people dying most often at the hands of cops were fair-skinned & blond, would there be a rush to reform? I fear I already know the answers.
Sheesh. But…appropriate for the times.