Mariupol
The officer, who had once begged us to show the world his dying city, now pleaded with us to go. He nudged us toward the thousands of battered cars preparing to leave Mariupol.
The deaths came fast. On Feb. 27, we watched as a doctor tried to save a little girl hit by shrapnel. She died.
A second child died, then a third. Ambulances stopped picking up the wounded because people couldn’t call them without a signal, and they couldn’t navigate the bombed-out streets.
We went up to the 7th floor to send the video from the tenuous Internet link. From there, I watched as tank after tank rolled up alongside the hospital compound, each marked with the letter Z that had become the Russian emblem for the war.
We were surrounded: Dozens of doctors, hundreds of patients, and us.
— excerpt 20 Days in Mariupol: The Team that Documented the city’s agony by Mstyslav Chernov
This is one of the most difficult posts that I have made in three or four years of writing. The death of a city is described in vivid detail by two AP journalists. To read the entire article CLICK HERE.
Why in the name of heaven and of the earth do we Americans not allow the Poles to open a second front to relieve the crushing Russian assault on Ukrainian cities? The New York Times reports this morning, “The U.S. opposes Poland’s idea of sending troops into Ukraine. Biden will travel to Brussels tomorrow for a NATO meeting.”
Do we not care nearly enough to “go all in” if necessary to prevent the dismemberment of Ukraine? Or are we too afraid of Russia? Neither, it seems to me, is a worthy reason for remaining on the sidelines as we pretend to “see how this shakes out.”
4 thoughts on “Mariupol”
Here is my two cents worth. To go in or not to go in is a balancing act between our instinct to do good and the right thing on the one hand and on the other hand the Instinct of self-preservation I’m not getting involved and being harmed there by. It is a difficult decision I don’t say that to justify inaction. I don’t know what else to say.
Many possible viewpoints, hypotheticals. It is a difficult decision, until it isn’t. Then one does what is necessary for “survival,” – the word is meant in the broadest sense. How long will we in the west remain hemmed in by CYA anxiety?
The situation in Ukraine is a terrible tragedy. I’m going to have to agree with Peter on this one. If I could predict the future exactly, I wouldn’t need to waffle. But I cannot. And as for knowledgeable insights into international policy between near-peer rivels, and military action, I have less knowledge than even idiot Sean Hannity. Fact is, in this my opinion simply does not count.
I do feel it is unfair to characterize the perceived inaction by the West as CYA or cowardness. First of all, us dumb schmucks on the street have no idea what our State Department and military are doing behind the scenes. Some things while they are happening must be secrete. One can hope that aid is being provided to Ukraine, and pressure on Russia, through channels we cannot observe; one can also hope that nothing stupid is being done.
People have suggested things we can do: charity , boycott and otherwise put pressure on Western companies doing business with Russia, ridiculing and silencing Sean Hannity and Fox News at every opportunity, lobby Congress for streamlining entrance visas for refugees.
Why would U.S. policy strongly oppose sending advanced weapons to Ukraine? They don’t know how to use them. We’d need to send trainers. Maybe we are; not a good idea to broadcast such plans. Why not encourage Poland to invade on their own? Poland is part of NATO; it would be a NATO invasion.
Aside from the nuclear elephant in the room, NATO and Russia raining conventional weapons on each other would quickly expand the conflict area in Ukraine, increasing harm to the Ukraine people. And it would spread to the rest of Europe. [Ya, NATO’s rolling thunder could flatten the Russians in Ukraine in about two weeks! Where have I heard this story before?]
A thoughtful offering. Thanks Michael.
After several hours to ruminate upon your observations and judgments I would offer this response:
1. We’ve never credibly predicted the future, though in our romantic obsession with probability and gaming we seem to imagine that we can. News reports are replete with speculation about the future, likely making up almost all “reporting.” Our inability to “see” the future has never caused us to waffle, to hesitate to “make a move” when we thought that courage would create opportunity.
2. We know what will happen if something unforeseen, unanticipated is not injected into the war against Ukraine. The Russians will grind down the cities one by one, to powder, with thousands of civilians entombed in their bomb shelters. That is Russian military doctrine as seen in Syria. Brutality, total devastation is the go-to strategy when the opposition does not fold. We know this will occur.
3. Granted, you and I do not have insight from the NSA and other spy agencies. That does not mean that our opinion is pointless or worthless. We can imagine what it would mean to have our birth family or our home town obliterated. Will the war upon Ukraine spread if American advisors “volunteers” are covertly injected into the conflict…….? Even so, if there is the bare possibility that will shift the Russian assault to spare thousands of Ukrainian lives, I am for it.
4. Is it unfair to suggest that the motivation behind the current policy of no direct intervention is CYA? Possibly. Fair or unfair is always relative to who benefits and to who loses. I offer the summary judgment that I see CYA thinking because that is standard procedure for a capitalist society. Look around, CYA practices are all over the place.
5. I have no doubt that we are covertly training Ukrainians in Poland 24×7. “They don’t know how to use our sophisticated weapons…” The learning curve tends to flatten when survival is at stake.
6. Poland=NATO=U.S.A Everyone understands that, particularly the Russians. They are counting on our absolute refusal to risk any use of nuclear weapons. (But not necessarily chemical or biological) This is their insurance policy for victory in some form in Ukraine. Unless we are to expect future occasions of nuclear blackmail, we must call their bluff. It is not enough to fire salvos of words to counter their devastation of Ukrainian cities… They tighten their belts against our sanctions and keep doing what they are doing. No peoples have as much experience with suffering as do the Russian people.