Ukraine

[Tony Summerfield]

I know this has always been a non political website which is probably why nobody wants to post about this, but as it is currently dominating all news coverage in this country I thought as the owner of this website it was my job to say something and anyway, I don't use any other internet website. In my travelling days I actually visited Kiev (as it was then) and it is a beautiful city. I drove into Ukraine from Bucharest in Romania and went to Odessa and from there I drove up to Kiev on my way to Moscow.

To see all the current images is very sad and I feel desperately sorry for the people who are having to leave their country because of the actions of a seriously deranged individual. I just hope that when they return these great cities will not just be a pile of rubble.

If anybody objects to me making this post I will remove it, but I felt that somebody should say something.

[Jomo]

I think we’re probably all feeling much the same. Let’s hope we can help end this terrible thing soon.
Today I got a text message from UNHCR which I have donated to before this:
“Hi Jo, it's Naomi Steer, National Director of Australia for UNHCR. I'm urgently appealing for your help. UNHCR is on the ground in Ukraine and in neighbouring countries providing support, however with thousands displaced - we are dealing with a major humanitarian crisis. Please donate today.
I understand Medicin Sans Frontieres is mobilising to help with the influx of wounded, so well worth supporting.

https://www.msf.org/msf-prepares-emerge ... es-ukraine

Or appeals by Red Cross
Within my limited means it’s the best I can do.

[Aussie Sue]

Tony, it is unbelievably sad. That Putin craves more power so badly he is prepared to kill families and destroy another country is impossible to comprehend.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I think many are appalled at what is happening at the moment. I just hope the folk of Russia are not too suppressed and get to hear about what their leader is doing at this very moment, breaking all rules and causing this devastation of folk having to leave their home land and loss of lives, in the Ukraine. How they could ever support such an individual is beyond belief. I just pray that the sanctions imposed are enough and this madman realizes just how the rest of the world are seeing him for what he really is, and an end can be put to all this unnecessary aggression and loss of innocent lives. Words fail me and I'm sure they fail a lot of people as we sit and watch what is enfolding in the 21st century.

[pete9012S]

Thank you for your post Tony.
I stay out of politics and religion online and offline, but the whole Ukraine situation is making me feel incredibly sad.

There is so much fake new around too which is deplorable.

I have found NEXTA TV on twitter to be very up to date in it's coverage - but I would stress it is a news site strictly for those over 18 or adults only:


https://twitter.com/nexta_tv

[Boodi 2]

Thanks Tony! I refrained from passing comment as I felt it was better to avoid politics and such like on the forum. However, the situation is dreadful, especially as I really thought we had moved on since 1989, so it was a shock to discover that it was not the case. I pray that the sanctions will be effective, that a resolution will be found sooner rather than later and that a majority of the Russian people will finally see Putin for what he really is...

[Lucky Star]

Well done Tony. I had thought about starting a thread on this subject but refrained as I was unsure how it would go down.

The situation in Ukraine is appalling. I have had a fairly neutral stance on Putin over the years believing that, although clearly an autocrat, he was a reasonable and clever leader. No more. The man is clearly the nearest thing to Hitler that we have seen since, well, Hitler!!! I devoutly hope that he is punished mercilessly with sanctions and that the Ukrainian army, contrary to all expectations, manage to win this war.

The saddest thing is to see the refugees moving across Europe again. I hope all countries in Europe open their doors to them. I worked for many years with staff from Ukraine National Airways and they were lovely people. I hope they are all ok.

[Katharine]

I have no objection to you starting this post Tony.

I don't really have anything much to add to what has already been said, other than obviously I hope very much that the situation is brought to a swift, and peaceful end.

[Anita Bensoussane]

What's happening in Ukraine is shocking and very upsetting. It's disgusting at any time for a power-crazy individual to cause such devastation - but especially at a time when the countries of the world should be working together to tackle Covid and climate-related issues. My thoughts are with the people of Ukraine and I very much hope that a resolution will be found.

[Judith Crabb]

Deeply saddening. I live not too far from the coastal Fort Glanville, built in the 1880s to save us South Australians from Russian invasion. Fortunately it was never put to the test and our wonderful Westminster system rolled on regardless. Here's hoping it stays that way.

[Boatbuilder]

In line with what others have said, I also wasn't sure whether or not it was wise to start a thread on this forum on Ukraine, so I was glad to see it was Tony who started it. I can only add that I am on the same wavelength as everybody else on here and don't have much else to add at this point in time apart from hoping that the whole thing can be brought to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible, and that hopefully the madman behind it can be brought to justice for war crimes, like others before him in other conflicts. Also, as already mentioned, hopefully the Russian people will see him for what he really is, which will bring him down.

[Wolfgang]

Who knows how things had turned out if the EU and NATO had had a real interest in Russia becoming part of the systems as discussed in the 90s, but that's pure speculation. Unfortunately there's no way for Putin to retreat without losing his face, and of course it's not possible to grant Putin's wishes to reward his ambitions, so it's quite possible for worse things to come. Let's hope it won't happen.

[Jomo]

Agreed - it’s been a tough couple of years but it seems that there are possibly some more challenging times ahead. In another arena, an emboldened China may make a move. The timing is not coincidental.

[timv]

I haven't commented until now as I was not sure if this was the right place to do it and we tend to avoid politics, but I am glad that Tony has brought it up. I have studied Russian and Ukrainian history on and off and written on it from time to time, and come from a family with generations of interest and engagement in world affairs so all these distressing goings-on are perhaps not a complete shock. Russian rulers before and after the 1917 Revolution have long acted like this to their neighbours and paid little attention to the human cost, and Ukraine has been caught in the middle for centuries. .

But I find it very depressing that we now seem to be reverting to the worst sort of Cold War behaviour and paranoia, even if a small group in the Russian elite are dragging the rest along with them, and that we see scenes of refugees reminiscent of the worst of the 1940s (or perhaps the invasion of Hungary in 1956). I really hoped that we had put such things behind us in the new century, and can only hope that sanity somehow starts to prevail.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

I put this together for the Enid Blyton at War day, at Corfe Castle

Russia invaded Finland at the end of November 1939. North of the Arctic Circle, nearly half a million people fled their homes in the depth of winter. EB was horrified, and did what she could to help by appealing in her column for knitted squares to make blankets for the refugees.

Amalgamation 28 Feb 1940 and 27 March 1940

Blankets are still coming in from you – simply marvelous, some of them! I cannot think how you have thought out your splendid edgings, joining’s and, in some cases, linings. We have now reached the 200th - the number is 207 - I believe. You would be very pleased if you knew how these blankets of yours have been admired. Every one of them goes to somewhere where it is badly needed.

We have sent a large collection to Finland each week, and others go to where I hear there is any need – to missions, homes, hospitals, crèches – and sometimes to odd cases such as an old woman with no blankets on her bed, a poor mother with 5 children and one ragged blanket between them, a small, ill baby with no warm rug to roll him in. Everyone is so very grateful and wonders at the beautiful knitting you have done and the kindness that made you do it.

The latest batch (9 fine gay blankets) went to Finland, and you can imagine how pleased the poor little children there will be with them. They have had to leave their homes in a hurry, and in this bitter cold there are not enough blankets to go around.

So, if some of you children who have so carefully knitted your squares suddenly get a warm feeling you will know that some Finnish mother is wrapping her cold child in your blanket, and blessing the clever little fingers that knitted the squares – your fingers!

How lucky we are to belong to a nation whose kindness goes out to others in all sorts of ways instead of one whose only thought is cruelty and injustice.