Ukraine: AP reported President Volodymyr Zelensky’s words at a ceremony commemorating the massacre at Babyn Yar in Kyiv of nearly 34,000 Jews during 48 hours in the 1941 Nazi occupation: “Babyn Yar is vivid proof of the atrocities that regimes are capable of when led by leaders who rely on intimidation and violence. At any time, they are no different,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. “But the world’s response should be different. This is the lesson the world should have learned. We must guard humanity, life, and justice.”
Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Iran, Syria: IDF warfare responding to Hamas’s attack on Israel of October 7, 2023 with pile-on attacks by Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and regional Shiite militias is termed mostly in Arab media as “Israeli aggression.” In free nation media outlets Israel’s warfare decisions are described as “escalations.” By the plain dictionary meaning of the words, IDF’s campaign is aggressive escalation, yet in context it is deterrent escalation to ameliorate the large membership organizations that criminally aggressed against Israel’s people, to cut future attacks and recruiting. On escalation: Hamas attacked with all it had, going to the top of its escalatory choices on day one, hence we do not hear of Hamas ‘escalation.’ Yet by Hamas’s elaborate underground preparations and first strike, aggressive intent was clear. Collateral damage is a separate issue. The scope, breadth, and necessity of risk taken with civilian life in combatant warfare decisions can be challenged and litigated. Yet the collateral, non-combatant casualty figures are subject to biased sources in the fog of war, such as the Hamas ‘Health Ministry’ or the IDF. Collateral damage brings claims of disproportionate response, and those claims can be vetted in international tribunals with evidence-based hearings. However, given that the U.N.’s lassitude in screening Hamas members from its ranks, maybe a new tribunal of free nations that are serious about evidence and ethics will be formed.
Alliances: America Must Be Good, or You Can Kiss Great Goodbye: As Russian leader Vladimir Putin ramps up conscription in a single-minded gambler’s intent to drive genocide across Ukraine if necessary to grab territory, China and Iran are ‘playing the House’ issuing him credit for the imperial dream. Ukraine has never been well stewarded under Moscow as the illogic of overextension fits the old Soviet-Communist empire methodology. There is no other way to say it: the U.S. failed as an ally to Afghans, and must not fail as an ally to Ukrainians or else no future nation state will fail to join China and Russia. By dragging feet in equalizing the battlefield out of appeasement for Putin’s threats, the U.S. is signaling to Georgia and other countries that they had better give-in or they will be subject to the same fate as the U.S. appears to be allowing to Ukraine.
