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“Remember kids, nobody brave or honest believes anything the Kremlin says… Unlike the Russians, even the boy who cried wolf at least told the truth once.”
Today, I quote someone with more soul than I. He was in the peacetime German army, when Germany was a democracy, and later fought for Kosovo’s freedom against Serbian fascism in the turbulence of the former Yugoslavia. Now, as a civilian volunteer, he coordinates supplies for Ukraine with his boots on the ground in that most distressful country.
Roland Bartetzko
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Lives in Ukraine (2022–present)Tue
What did you learn from the Russia-Ukraine war?
This following is the most interesting thing that I’ve learned so far:
When it comes to the relations between different countries and between their people this war has completely reshuffled the deck.
The common goal, to help Ukraine to win this war, has united many folks that never particularly liked each other before.
I support a unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with equipment and work with volunteers from dozens of nations. If someone had told me only six months ago that I would talk with Greeks and Romanians how to map out a new logistics route to Ukraine or get help from Serbian citizens to buy thermal imaging devices (to more effectiveness kill the Russians), I would have declared them insane.
Now it has almost become routine. I work a lot with my new Polish friends who are not only the nicest people in the world but also extremely effective. For me, Poland is the big winner of this war. Certainly not financially or economically (they are under a lot of strain because of all the things they do for Ukraine) but morally.
The Polish people really showed character when help was needed and I highly respect this. Czechs, Slovaks, Romanians and Moldavians and many other smaller countries also helped a lot and gained a lot of prestige.
On the other hand, there are Germany, France, and Italy, the big old European countries. While the citizens of these countries mobilized and sent thousands of tons of humanitarian aid to the war zones, their governments’ reactions were quite lame. All these three countries could do a lot more for Ukraine than they do now.
There will be a day of reckoning for everyone when this war is over, not unlike after the fall of Nazi Germany. Every nation and every individual citizen have to ask themselves: “where were you when Ukraine needed your help? Where did you stand and what did you do?”
For some folks, these questions will be difficult to answer.
If you want to help me support Ukrainian volunteers (civilian and military, foreigners and locals), please use the contact email in my profile description.
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Sean Crawford
Sleeping unsteadily while others fight
City (“town”) of Camrose,
Alberta,
August 2022
Source: The (e-mailed to me) social media site, Quora.
Head quote: Ya, I made that one up.
Blog note: Today I wrote less; I am trying to cut down on blogging.
