In general, I try to keep my newsletter on topic (about Substack, newsletters, and people interacting with them).
I’d planned to write a follow-up to my previous two posts (about embeds and attachments on Substack). And I will soon.
But the world again intervenes.
We aren't robots creating or reacting to newsletters. (Though that would be interesting…) We are people affected by everyday circumstances and broader events.
For me, like many, the pandemic has intervened at times.
Now, it's Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (For me, this is news, and not experience or closeness to the situation. But it's not so distant for everyone.)
I feel it's more important than anything else I can do today on Substack to ask how you’re feeling about events in Ukraine.1
After you've had a chance to post your comments, I'll leave a comment too.
My first reaction was a little surprise that the invasion happened and was so large in scale. I thought Putin was trying to get a deal from Europe and the US. But apparently he wants to control Ukraine or at least make sure it can't be a threat.
My subsequent reactions have been sorrow for the deaths, injuries, and other suffering, and growing concern that Putin might do something drastic towards Europe and the US.
I'm not an expert on any of this. I'm reading and listening to news and analysis to get a handle on the situation.
I write about life as an expat/immigrant on substack. I replaced the scheduled post on “getting a mortgage in Portugal” to how it feels (as an American) when war is not an ocean away. I have shared the final 2 paragraphs below.
Between writing and proofreading this post I took a walk. I always listen to podcasts when walking alone…this time, History this Week. I learned that it was 98 years ago, this week, that Adolf Hitler stood trial for his first attempt to seize power. He was given an unusually light sentence and would later say that this failure was “perhaps the greatest good fortune of my life?” I ask again, how can sanctions be enough?
If you are a long-time reader you know that my undergraduate degree was in Religion. I recall, quite vividly, reading the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer … a German ethicist who wrote that responsible people were called to action in the face of evil. (Dumbing it down: it was okay to shoot Hitler.) He not only wrote, but he also conspired to overthrow Hitler’s regime. Where is Bonhoeffer when you need him?
I follow a woman on IG who makes dollhouse miniatures and she now has stories up of her neighborhood overrun with the sound of artillery. A recent story was her showing her bags packed and her terrified dog.
War displaces, traumatizes, and deeply hurts the people more than anyone. The upheaval and fear on top of pandemic is unthinkable. That’s who I worry for and think about. A military strike is not a game of battleship, but a conflict that plays out on streets where people get coffee or ride their bikes. The casualties are the ways of life getting destroyed. It’s very upsetting.
I worry mainly because this puts a lot of moving parts dangerously close to doing one tiny thing wrong and that tiny thing could snowball. Like a missile landing on the wrong side of a border, or media contingents being targeted on purpose or accidentally and things will just escalate from there. This is Russia daring people to call. I worry this also might be a test of Europe's Resolve in terms of Russian Expansion. Which is also a balancing act. Push back too hard and you risk galvanizing a divided Russian populace. Do too little, or look weak and Russia might take that as a cue to move just a little further. Which will then lead to an actual possibly worse military conflict if that is the plan. All the responses are a gamble right now and how you view it probably says more about where you're coming from than it does about the situation.
Whichever way it goes unless Russia has a very good exit strategy I don't see how this doesn't devolve into at least a few NATO skirmishes over the period of the occupation especially with people fleeing said occupation. Which is just going to lead to war crimes which will be un-ignorable to at least some of the rest of the world. Which again will just lead to some sort of conflict.
So conflict is coming the only real question is how big and when. At an unlikely minimum a very tense stand off of accumulated forces.
A couple points: first, I have a number of coworkers in Ukraine and I’m very worried about their safety. Second, be very careful what media you’re consuming. There is A LOT of pro-Russian disinformation out there. Russia is trying to cast all of this as them versus Nazis, which is ridiculous. And unfortunately, a good number of members in the GOP in the US are pro Russia right now. That is a problem.
Thanks for saying the word, for being brave, for standing out! This is not small local conflict. This is attack against the civilized world. I'm not from Ukraine, I'm from Lithuania and here we feel and know the threat from our big neighbor.
Today all news suddenly become irrelevant and unimportant.
My heart breaks for the Ukrainian people. Russia attacked without provocation.
One thing I'm concerned about is the US response. For years, US has gone back and forth on the issue of "Arming Ukrainian Militias." While we tend to think of these groups as "feedom fighters," they're actually vicious Nazis. (Azov battalion and Right Sector) Wi worry that if we give them weapons, we'll be repeating the mistakes we made in 1980s Afghanistan, which lead to the War. I wrote about this here: https://joewrote.substack.com/p/arming-ukrainian-militias-is-afghanistan
I'd urge any Westerner considering supporting Ukrainian forces to ensure their aid doesn't end up in groups that could do more harm than good.
My first reaction was a little surprise that the invasion happened and was so large in scale. I thought Putin was trying to get a deal from Europe and the US. But apparently he wants to control Ukraine or at least make sure it can't be a threat.
My subsequent reactions have been sorrow for the deaths, injuries, and other suffering, and growing concern that Putin might do something drastic towards Europe and the US.
I'm not an expert on any of this. I'm reading and listening to news and analysis to get a handle on the situation.
I just wrote an article about I think Russia's invasion of Ukraine is going to change everything. Have a read...
https://colinsims.substack.com/p/playtime-is-over-russia-just-killed?utm_source=url
I write about life as an expat/immigrant on substack. I replaced the scheduled post on “getting a mortgage in Portugal” to how it feels (as an American) when war is not an ocean away. I have shared the final 2 paragraphs below.
Between writing and proofreading this post I took a walk. I always listen to podcasts when walking alone…this time, History this Week. I learned that it was 98 years ago, this week, that Adolf Hitler stood trial for his first attempt to seize power. He was given an unusually light sentence and would later say that this failure was “perhaps the greatest good fortune of my life?” I ask again, how can sanctions be enough?
If you are a long-time reader you know that my undergraduate degree was in Religion. I recall, quite vividly, reading the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer … a German ethicist who wrote that responsible people were called to action in the face of evil. (Dumbing it down: it was okay to shoot Hitler.) He not only wrote, but he also conspired to overthrow Hitler’s regime. Where is Bonhoeffer when you need him?
Nancy Whiteman
Expatinportugal.substack.com
I follow a woman on IG who makes dollhouse miniatures and she now has stories up of her neighborhood overrun with the sound of artillery. A recent story was her showing her bags packed and her terrified dog.
War displaces, traumatizes, and deeply hurts the people more than anyone. The upheaval and fear on top of pandemic is unthinkable. That’s who I worry for and think about. A military strike is not a game of battleship, but a conflict that plays out on streets where people get coffee or ride their bikes. The casualties are the ways of life getting destroyed. It’s very upsetting.
I worry mainly because this puts a lot of moving parts dangerously close to doing one tiny thing wrong and that tiny thing could snowball. Like a missile landing on the wrong side of a border, or media contingents being targeted on purpose or accidentally and things will just escalate from there. This is Russia daring people to call. I worry this also might be a test of Europe's Resolve in terms of Russian Expansion. Which is also a balancing act. Push back too hard and you risk galvanizing a divided Russian populace. Do too little, or look weak and Russia might take that as a cue to move just a little further. Which will then lead to an actual possibly worse military conflict if that is the plan. All the responses are a gamble right now and how you view it probably says more about where you're coming from than it does about the situation.
Whichever way it goes unless Russia has a very good exit strategy I don't see how this doesn't devolve into at least a few NATO skirmishes over the period of the occupation especially with people fleeing said occupation. Which is just going to lead to war crimes which will be un-ignorable to at least some of the rest of the world. Which again will just lead to some sort of conflict.
So conflict is coming the only real question is how big and when. At an unlikely minimum a very tense stand off of accumulated forces.
A couple points: first, I have a number of coworkers in Ukraine and I’m very worried about their safety. Second, be very careful what media you’re consuming. There is A LOT of pro-Russian disinformation out there. Russia is trying to cast all of this as them versus Nazis, which is ridiculous. And unfortunately, a good number of members in the GOP in the US are pro Russia right now. That is a problem.
Thanks for saying the word, for being brave, for standing out! This is not small local conflict. This is attack against the civilized world. I'm not from Ukraine, I'm from Lithuania and here we feel and know the threat from our big neighbor.
Today all news suddenly become irrelevant and unimportant.
Slava Ukraini, gerojam Slava!
My heart breaks for the Ukrainian people. Russia attacked without provocation.
One thing I'm concerned about is the US response. For years, US has gone back and forth on the issue of "Arming Ukrainian Militias." While we tend to think of these groups as "feedom fighters," they're actually vicious Nazis. (Azov battalion and Right Sector) Wi worry that if we give them weapons, we'll be repeating the mistakes we made in 1980s Afghanistan, which lead to the War. I wrote about this here: https://joewrote.substack.com/p/arming-ukrainian-militias-is-afghanistan
I'd urge any Westerner considering supporting Ukrainian forces to ensure their aid doesn't end up in groups that could do more harm than good.