From Kyiv on Mother’s Day

May 12th 2024 The Washington Post

by Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine

Below is the link to the piece, but I will include the text here as well, the message is worth it.

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The mothers of Ukraine need you

Every Ukrainian mom today is a part of a great wall holding off Russian aggression against the world.

Six-year-old Renat and 10-year-old Varvara were living in Mariupol — the city wiped from the face of the Earth by Russian bombing — when they were sent to an orphanage in Russia. They were torn from their mother, who had been taken prisoner.

Desperate, Renat and Varvara’s grandmother knocked on every door, searched every inch of land to find her missing loved ones. While their mother was eventually brought back to Ukraine via a prisoner swap, it took nine months and the assistance of the Ukrainian authorities for the grandmother to bring back her grandchildren. She even crossed enemy lines to rescue them.

What did their mom feel during those months? What did the children feel, as the grandmother persevered to reunite the family?

This is the story of women of Ukraine right now. More than 19,000 of our children are being held captive in Russia. Their families are tormented by uncertainty.

Since the beginning of Russia’s brutal full-scale invasion, the mothers of Ukraine have — as caregivers, first responders, medics, soldiers and breadwinners — fought for the survival of their families and their country. They are part of a fight for the survival of the democratic world order.

It is a fitting story to tell on Mother’s Day, when there is an important message I am ready to scream out loud: We need the help of the whole world to set these children free. One Ukrainian mother may be powerless, but thousands and millions of us standing together can succeed.

Some mothers in Ukraine have turned their pain into action. When Natalya Makovetska’s son was killed on the front line, she joined the army herself. There are more than 60,000 women in the Ukrainian army, even though enlisting is voluntary for women.

Other mothers are widening their families to protect children who have lost their own parents and homes. Tetiana Yurychko has fostered 10 children, including 3-year-old Bohdan. It is not easy being a foster mother during a time of war. It’s not easy to take so many children to the bomb shelter every time the air-raid sirens wail.

But as Tetiana told me, “Every child should have a family.” That’s why the Olena Zelenska Foundation is building homes for such large foster families. So that all children can have a home, a family, a mother.

Another story that comes to mind as I write to you from Kyiv is about another side of this war for mothers but ends less happily.

Two months ago, the bodies of two neighbors — friends — were recovered by rescuers in the aftermath of a Russian strike on their home in the strategic port city of Odessa.

The first responders found Anna Gaidarzhy and Tetiana Kravets cradling their newborns in their arms. They had tried to use their bodies to shield 7-month-old Liza and 4-month-old Timofey from the deadly blow of a Russian missile. Their older, surviving children are orphaned now.

One of the most difficult challenges for parents in Ukraine today is the feeling of being powerless. Of not being able to protect your children physically or emotionally.

Now in Ukraine, every mother must steel themselves against the question, “Mom, are we going to die today?” when the air-raid alarm sounds in their city, sometimes multiple times a day. What can a mom do when she can do nothing? When she scared herself? How can you talk to your child about the threat so that they grow up without trauma?

We are trying to fight this growing mental health crisis. The program “Are you okay?” was created to enable a future where, hopefully, both parents and children can one day honestly answer that question with: “I'm okay.” It's aimed at preventing children from remaining “children of war” for the rest of their lives.

Just like most moms in Ukraine, I have an air-raid app on my phone that makes haunting sounds when the alarm goes off. And like all moms, I am worried that only a part of Ukraine’s children go to schools because of the attacks, and even those children at school frequently must study in underground bomb shelters.

Talking about myself is the hardest thing to do. But my only recipe for being a mom during the war is to be sincere and an example of love and care. It is to teach my children the need to care for others because that is why we are all holding on to through the war. It is about hoping that the war will remain just an episode in the lives of our children. That they will enjoy normal lives after it to erase that trauma.

And so my request today is that you remember these stories. Share them. Demand our children be returned to Ukraine.

Every Ukrainian mom today is a part of a great wall holding off Russian aggression against the world.

There are missile fragments and bullets in their hearts, and there are children behind their backs — and not just their own children.

That’s because, in a civilized world, there are no other people’s children.

Brexit for Flowers

May 4th 2024 The Guardian

UK flower industry thrown into chaos by new Brexit border checks

As we all know, the shelf life of cut flowers is not very long, so, of course, the new Brexit border checks that started on April 30th, resulted in lorries waiting for hours, and missing their deliveries.

“Don’t worry dear, your wedding looks just as good without the flowers. And you can throw this Brexit rule book to the Bridesmaids.”

Apart from a new computer system missing names of some flowers, one of the reasons for the delays is that the names have to be in Latin. I did not know you had to be Oxbridge educated to work in customs.

I guess, Brexit does not work in Latin either. Maybe we need to reclassify Brexit Officinalis to Brexit Vulgare.

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Or, maybe I got this all wrong, maybe this is a Brexit Opportunity? A golden opportunity to return education to the glory days of the Empire, and bring back the Classics and Latin to primary schools?

No-pain vaccination

Apr 30th 2024 The BBC

Patch to protect against measles in children shows promise

Vaccinations with no needle and no pain, and it is safe, effective and fast.

Actually this new technology includes a lot of needles, but they are microscopic, and in a patch the size of a normal plaster.

The patch is attached to skin and the microneedles deliver the vaccine through skin.

In a trial with 200 toddlers, the effectiveness of measles vaccine was over 90%, and 100% for rubella; after just one dose.

The patch is easy to use, and can be applied with minimal training, and best of all, especially for developing countries, it does not need cold storage in transportation or storage.

And if and when the next pandemic arrives, this tech will help with the vaccinations, and takes some pressure off from doctors and nurses.

Aid for Ukraine

Apr 21st 2024 The BBC

The House of Representatives finally approved new US military aid for Ukraine.

Ukraine Russia war: US House passes crucial aid deal worth $61bn

The aid stalled in the House for six months, thanks to the Russia-friendly Republicans, and though the bill passed with overwhelming support, 112 Republicans still voted against it. That is a quarter of the House.

They voted against the bill, in spite of the fact that roughly two thirds of this aid to Ukraine, will actually go to US companies; out of the $60.7 billion $38,8 billion will be spent in the US. Maybe they should have named it “Aid to the US and Ukraine”, it might have passed sooner.

This bill should have been passed six months ago. Delaying this bill was just about petty politics by spineless politicians, who will all end up on the wrong side of history.

Appeal - Russian style

Apr 3rd 2024 The Washington Post

The Russian Supreme Court will consider an appeal against the sentence of Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced to 25 years, for five public statements he made against the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Kara-Murza is being held in Prison Colony No. 7 in Omsk, and was blocked from taking part in the hearing via video link. (This is Russia, what did you expect.)

Instead, he sent the court a written statement.

I am proud to have spoken out against Putin’s crimes in Ukraine

Sweden joins Nato

March 7th 2024

After months of delays, thanks to Türkiye and Hungary, on March 7th, 2024, Sweden became the 32nd member of NATO.

Sweden had been neutral since the Napoleonic wars, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prompted it to apply to join NATO. (Finland applied at the same time, and joined the alliance in April 2023.)

Sweden had stayed neutral for over 200 years, through both World Wars, but decided to join NATO now. That should say something about the gravity of the situation in Europe.

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One of Putin’s stated reasons for invading Ukraine, was preventing the enlargement of NATO. Well, since both Finland and Sweden joined the alliance, NATO not only got two new members, but the Baltic Sea, in all practical terms, became a NATO sea.

St. Petersburg is squeezed at the eastern end of the relatively narrow Gulf of Finland, and the exclave of Kaliningrad (which used to be called Königsberg until 1946) is sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, which are both NATO members, like all the rest of the countries bordering the Baltic Sea.

Strategically this is not the best result for Russia, and probably not the one Putin had in mind.

Alexei Navalny R.I.P.

Feb 16 2024

Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, has died in the Russian arctic prison were he was being held.

Requiescat In Pace - Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny

There will no doubt be multiple obituaries and articles by much better informed writers than me, no point in me dabbling in that.

I will only point out that, as tragic and profoundly sad as hearing the news of his death is, it is unfortunately not surprising and was to be expected. After all, he had been poisoned before, and his imprisonment was clearly political.

The other issue here is that he was not the only jailed Russian opposition member, and not the only one who has been poisoned.

The question is, who will be next?

Brexit open for business

Jan 21st 2024 The Guardian

Brexit cost the UK the only good thing Margaret Thatcher ever did

In the annual Davos World Economic Forum last week Britain was proclaimed “open to business”.

There is one line in this piece that sums up this “open to business” statement well.

These mundane statements of the obvious reminded me of the character in one of Michael Frayn’s ­novels who had an open mind – “open at the front and open at the back”.

Pint-sized Brexit

Jan 7th 2024 The Guardian

Brexit’s pint-sized ‘benefits’ are a measure of its failure

A line from a Brexiter minister, when referring to the putative appearance of the pint-sized wine bottle:

“Our exit from the EU was all about moments just like this.”

The benefits of Brexit!

Back to Afghanistan

Jan 4th 2024 The New York Times

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul is empty, and has been since the withdrawal in 2021.

Washington still provides a lot of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, but also upholds sanctions, and has no representation in the country.

Does that sound a bit odd, or is it just me?

Here is a good piece from someone who has been in the region for much longer than me.

It’s Time for America to Go Back to Afghanistan

Poll on Brexit

Dec 30th 2023 The Guardian

Brexit has completely failed for UK, say clear majority of Britons – poll

According to a poll to mark the third anniversary of the UK leaving the EU single market and customs union: only one in 10 feel leaving the EU has helped their finances.

The other numbers from this poll are equally depressing.

Immigrants Poisoning the Blood

Nov 13th 2023 The New York Times

No, Immigrants Aren’t ‘Poisoning the Blood of Our Country’

This is by Paul Krugman, and I do not really have anything to add to his arguments, after all he knows much more about the US economy than I do.

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I’ll just raise a few points that this piece brought to my mind.

Here is a short quiz:

Question 1: Who said “poisoning the blood”:
Donald Trump or Adolf Hitler?
-The right answer is, of course, Trump, Hitler said it in German.

Question 2: Who used the term “vermin” to describe people he did not like:
Donald Trump or the Hutu paramilitary during the Rwandan genocide?
-Trump again, the Hutus used the term “cockroach”.

Question 3: Who described his political opposition as “enemies of the people”:
Donald Trump or Joseph Stalin?
-This was a trick question, the right answer is: both of them.

Eradicating Hamas

Nov 7th 2023 The Guardian

Israel’s attempt to destroy Hamas will breed more radicalisation, UN expert says

A fact: Hamas attacked Israel.

Another fact: Of course Israel has the right to defend itself, everyone has.

And another fact: Israel can kill a lot of fighters, probably even everyone in Hamas, but killing on that scale would breed more radicalisation, and create many more fighters. And the idea of resistance and a Palestinian state would still live on.

“Half the infrastructure of Gaza has been destroyed. 9,000 people have been killed, 3,500 of them are reported to be children, over 1,000 of them are still under the rubble. How on earth is that going to lead to peace?”

What this looks like to me, is sowing the seeds of the next war.

"Peace for our time"

Sep 17 2023

About 85 years ago, on Sep 30th 1938, Neville Chamberlain came back to the UK from negotiations with Hitler on the Czechoslovakian problem, and uttered the famous words: “Peace for our time”.

As we all know, it did not quite turn out that way. Appeasement did not work, it only showed that brute force works.

The war in Ukraine has now been going on for 18 months, and it looks like the war will not end anytime soon. Some people in the West are urging Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, and are talking about ceding territory in exchange for peace.

Appeasement did not work in 1938, what is so different this time? Maybe people do not know history, or are in denial, or are just thinking about short term political gains and the next election. I do not know.

What I do know, is that this is not the time to negotiate a half-hearted peace deal. Russia will not stop at Ukraine if it can hold on to some gains achieved by brute force. The question, after a compromise peace deal, will not be how to make that agreement work; it will be “who’s next”.

Russia can not win this war. Europe and the world can not afford that. We should give Ukraine what it needs to fight and win this war, and we should give it now.

Politicians talking about negotiations with Russia would be wise to remember that when facing brute force, appeasement does not work.

And, if they do not want to be remembered for another “peace for our time” declaration, for being ‘the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st century’, they should get their act together, and make sure that Ukraine has the weapons to win this war, and the security guarantees to live in peace afterwards.

The Observer view on the Biden-Zelenskiy talks: now is no time to reduce support for Ukraine

Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

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Sep 18 2023 David Miliband in The Guardian

Ukraine needs help on all fronts: military, civilian and humanitarian. Our will cannot waver