Have people stopped weeping over war?
For the sake of keeping life’s daily travails in the UK and other wealthy nations in perspective, the savagery against and colossal damage to Ukraine and individual Ukrainians inflicted by Putin’s criminal war perhaps should be the “thought for the day” every day. Yes, in the Western world it is reasonable for those truly suffering serious hardship due to financial pressures and the rising cost of living to be concerned and require assistance. Getting the NHS to perform its duties is a proper ambition and necessary to minimise the impact of cancer and other of life’s natural perils. However, is there today too much fretting and navel-gazing on subjects which, in the scheme of suffering which is part of normal life, are of third or fourth tier consequence, and which is arguably weakening the resilient core which every nation requires to succeed. Is now really the time to magnify public angst over whether a civil servant is hurt by being shouted at? The Ukrainian plight surely puts daily UK worries into perspective.
It is natural that each individual looks at their own circumstances and should seek to improve them. But is that right if it is to the detriment of unity which is so fundamental to defeating the likes of Putin and other despots who do not hesitate to spread destruction? Remembering the realities of life destruction for Ukrainians may make people think again about the level of endurance currently required. Reflecting on the catastrophes of war might just be good for resilience.
SYSTEMATIC WIPE OUT
Ukrainian life support systems are being systematically and unrelentingly bombed into nothingness. And so, the lives of Ukrainian people are changed beyond recognition. Arguably each destruction of a house or power supply or school or train station is a war crime: military targets are no longer a focus, as Putin and cronies seek to make Ukrainians live in constant fear not just of death or maiming through shelling or missiles but of the freezing ravages of winter.
As of August this year some 14 million Ukrainians have fled their homes and their livelihoods, knowing not what or where the future may exist. In October the UN had listed 7.6 million Ukrainians as refugees across the rest of Europe. Of those a great number have been forcibly uprooted, kidnapped and transported to somewhere in Russia, dumped perhaps in dire circumstances, cut off from the world they knew. Torture, rape and execution by Russians are reported to be common treatment in occupied Ukraine, brought to light especially when the Russian military retreat. What about those exported to Russia itself? Does this evoke shades of the worst of Nazi behaviour? Freedom stolen, is the likely fate of these unwilling immigrants to Russia to be paid-for hotels, and access to the best medical treatment at the expense of the Putin regime? Should the British media and those who concern themselves with human rights be raising questions here with a similar enthusiasm as they advocate the rights of the illegal immigrant from Albania arriving from across the Channel in a small boat?
GENOCIDAL AIMS?
War crimes aside, is the Putin approach genocidal? It seems at least a question to be asked. “KILL EVERYONE: Troops were told to cleanse Buccha” is a headline from an article of 5 November in the Daily Telegraph. It describes the alleged use of mass killings by the occupying Russian army. There was an investigation by Associated Press and PBS, which included intercepted calls by Russian soldiers to people back home, evidencing the headline’s message. Mass graves were found as they have commonly been after Russian soldiers have withdrawn from the towns they criminally bombarded and occupied. These graves are the resting place not just of dead military but civilians. Roadside bodies with hands tied behind backs are commonly reported. Is the war crime the normal method of Russian tactical warfare? The Times of 16 November reported supposedly overwhelming evidence of rape, torture and murder of civilians, and the deportation of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including children taken from parents. As Ukraine makes military progress in Eastern regions, rather than seeking to advance, the emphasis of Russian aggression is aerial bombardment of cities and towns throughout Ukraine. When military targets cease to be relevant, what is the motive and objective of civilian bombing? Presumably it is to cause death and destruction for its own sake, to ensure that, even if Russia is driven away, it leaves behind a country on its knees, economically impotent.
ECONOMIC MURDER
Ukrainian property is being systematically stolen. Produce such as grain is stolen by Russians to be sold by Russia for itself. Looting of properties is normal. These are the types of things commonly reported. Ukraine’s economy is inevitably, due to Russian violence, being devastated. Western leaders and commentators fret over seeming financial Tsunami in Europe particularly, worrying over a few decimals or maybe a couple of percentage points of negative growth. In Ukraine in 2022 the economy is forecast to have shrunk by 35-45% depending on the source. The World Bank is forecasting at the top of that range. People whose wages have reduced in real terms in the UK are making choices they find difficult, with people perhaps having to work harder. At least they have choices. Poverty in the UK has a completely different shade of meaning compared to Ukraine. In addition, it is important to remember that much of the financial malaise is due to energy and food supply disruption caused by Putin’ crimes.
That the UK regards the financial strategy choices, such as a bit more tax and cuts in services in real terms, as eye-watering choices is pathetic in the extreme. There is no concept in the UK of a third of the populace being displaced, with no means of living at all. Ukraine aside, the hardships being caused by Putin’s war are monstrous in a number of developing countries such as in Central Asia. In the UK there is outrage at the very thought of electrical outage for a few hours. Putin’s bombs are thrusting swathes of Ukraine into darkness and icy cold, for not just hours but days. If there is any eye-watering, it should be tears for Ukrainians.
140,000 homes destroyed. 30-40% of power infrastructure bombed out. Roads, bridges, factories destroyed. Employment in producing things or food or services reduced to rubble. Families dissipated. Men have gone to fight. And the devastation continues. That is ignoring the dead and wounded from battle. One can only imagine the mental and emotional, let alone physical toll, on all Ukrainians.
Given the destruction of infrastructure and facilities, reconstruction cost in Ukraine could soon reach estimates of $1 trillion. Who will pay? The international community as well as Ukraine itself. Western taxpayers will be the wallets. For now, the USA is shouldering the lion’s share of the burden of financial support and weaponry. The whole of the EU provides less than 50% of the U.S. contribution. Of all European countries, the UK is by far the biggest financial and military supporter of Ukraine. Others in Europe need to step up.
It is good that EU officials have branded Russia a terrorist state, but less good that actions are not reflecting rhetoric. Perhaps too it should be appreciated that the impact of war is weakening the commitment to reducing carbon emissions and so the existential fight against climate change.
People talk of peace being negotiated. Unless the West is to be taken for fools again, as they commonly are due to weak leadership, if a negotiated peace deal with Russia is to be real, then it will surely have to include Russian reparations for the cost of repair to the wanton damage criminally caused to Ukraine itself, individual Ukrainians whose property has been stolen, and perhaps to nations consequentially thrown into deeper poverty. Have leaders got the stomach for that?
TIME TO REFLECT
The UK’s obsessive focus on mental health damage and unpleasant behaviours by the worst of British citizens, and the hurt people may feel surely needs to be denounced. Resilience and responsibility, and fighting spirits, these surely need to be the learning from the incredible ongoing toughness and determination of a Ukraine the suffering of which is not comprehensible or recognisable in the UK or across the Western world. Leaders, teachers and influencers need to halt the cultural degradation which is depleting so much of the values of the democratic world.
For example, in the UK, many sectors of public services are demanding pay rises in line with inflation or more, to be paid for ultimately by taxpayers getting no such rises themselves, threatening disruptive strike action and causing greater suffering to others. The suggestion that people delivering public services may have to be poorer for a while is met with incredulity in some quarters. Even respected journalists ask of Ministers why should people accept wage rises less than inflation and being in reality poorer, such as Laura Kuenssberg to Matt Harper, Transport Secretary of State, on 27 November. The simple answer is there is not enough money to meet such demands. Smaller pay rises, but rises nevertheless, are on offer. There are also suggestions that if productivity and working practices improved, in the hands of workers themselves, then there may be more cash for distribution. Arguably, if there was such money it might be more fairly directed to Ukrainians instead. Have people become so soft that they do not realise that life’s fortunes go up and down and sometimes a bit of misery needs endurance. Ukrainians fighting to survive teach us that.
Life in the West seems often to be conducted as if there was no existentially threatening war going on. The level of airtime, in all media, devoted to the issues of war is reducing perhaps. Maybe the Western public is tiring of the problem. However, it needs perhaps to be remembered that, until this war is won by Ukraine, the global problems and so the economic and potentially dreadful impacts will remain and worsen. In fact, should not far greater Western resources be directed to hastening that defeat of Putin as opposed to satisfying domestic demand for insurance by the State against all adversity. But is the public no longer weeping at the images and stories of Ukrainian misery?
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