Raining Fire

The Davros-like Henry Kissinger has declared from Davos that Ukraine must give Russia territory (archived) and that the West must “stop trying to inflict a crushing defeat on Russian forces in Ukraine, [as] it would have disastrous consequences for the long term stability of Europe”.† President Zelenskyy’s response was masterly, as always:

Mr. Kissinger emerges from the deep past and says that a piece of Ukraine should be given to Russia. So that there is no alienation of Russia from Europe. It seems that Mr. Kissinger’s calendar is not 2022, but 1938, and he thought he was talking to an audience not in Davos, but in Munich of that time. By the way, in the real year 1938, when Mr. Kissinger’s family was fleeing Nazi Germany, he was 15 years old, and he understood everything perfectly. And nobody heard from him then that it was necessary to adapt to the Nazis instead of fleeing them or fighting them. … “Great geopoliticians” are always unwilling to see ordinary people. Ordinary Ukrainians. Millions of those who actually live in the territory they propose to exchange for the illusion of peace. You must always see people. And remember that values are not just a word. … We must do everything possible for the world to get a permanent habit of taking Ukraine into account. So that the interests of Ukrainians are not overlapped by the interests of those who are in a hurry for another meeting with the dictator.

Three months into the war, Kissinger isn’t the only one trying on Neville Chamberlain’s shoes for size: an open letter to Noam Chomsky on the Russia-Ukraine war.

Meanwhile, the object of this appeasement is raining fire on Ukrainian positions with thermite weapons (no people in shot, but it’s horrifying enough without them) and committing genocide in Kherson. [Edit: last tweet unlinked as the source is problematic, although others support the basic claim.]

One family’s experience of the invasion in Hostomel.

A Ukrainian father’s terrifying journey to a Russian prison and back.

The photographs of Orest, the eyes of Azovstal, now a prisoner of Russia.

Timothy Snyder on Putin’s fascism and Russia’s fascist war (archived). Fifty Russian books inciting hatred against Ukrainians published in recent years.

How the war in Ukraine appears to Russians. Not all are convinced by the Kremlin’s narrative (archived).

How Ukraine uses obsolete Soviet grenades to destroy tanks from above.

†Counterpoint: Russia must give Ukraine back every inch of stolen territory. Inflicting a crushing defeat on Russian forces in Ukraine is essential for the long term stability of Europe. Humiliation is the very least that Putin and his supporters deserve.

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