La guerre est déclarée!
- Feb 27, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 13, 2023
As a huge basketball fan, I'm aware 2/24 is dedicated to celebrating Gianna & Kobe Bryant's lives. Never in a zillion years would I've thought this date would coincide with that of war. Who would've thought? I guess Putin saw it coming!
In the early hours of February 24th, 2022, after nearly 9 hours of sleep, I woke up to the news that Russia had "declared war" (at 6 AM, local time) on Ukraine - just like the rest of the world. I even had brief conversations on that topic with a few of my friends, the morning of. My mind REFUSED to believe it! How could a country's leader have the sanity to do that in the 21st century (yes, that's what every news reporter's saying, too)?! Putin OBVIOUSLY hasn't learned anything from the 2 previous world wars!
The thing I couldn't wrap my mind around (still can't) is: why would Putin, a tsar (he's not a President in my eyes) who's at the head of the transcontinental & largest country in the world, want to invade Ukraine - a country that's 28 times smaller than Russia?! I'm well aware of Ukraine's geostrategic position; but, other than that, I just don't seem to grasp it!
Just like when Western families were fixated on their TVs during WW2, my family's been doing the same thing, ever since the first Russian bomb/missile was dropped on Ukraine. My Mom made a statement while watching BBC News: "This looks like a war movie! Just like WW2 with Hitler!". You've seen the images - Ukrainians, refugees in their own country, sheltering either in their basement or at underground subway stations; apartments/town-houses in ruins; Ukrainians, with their personal belongings, fleeing on foot to neighboring countries; the list goes on! Soldiers & tanks everywhere!
The image that struck me the most was that of a fallen soldier on the side of the road & whose face was fully covered with blood & unrecognizable. The magnitude of this war hadn't set in with me until I saw that. Civilians & soldiers have fallen. Hundreds of casualties have been accounted for. Many more will, unfortunately, pay with their lives.
Слава Україні! Героям слава! 🇺🇦
[English translation: "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!"]
"Peace, like war, can succeed only where there is a will to enforce it, and where there is available power to enforce it." - Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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Song: Dropkick Murphys - "The Green Fields of France (No Man's Land)"
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