Tear Down This Wall

 I've been reading up a little on Russia to understand why they might invade Ukraine.  I've come to the conclusion it has little to do with the perceived threat of Ukraine joining with NATO, although I can understand how that would sting a person like Putin, to think parts of what used to be his beloved Russia, are now joining with the west.  NATO is considered a western alliance to defend against threats to any member.  Threats from whom?   Well if Russia thinks they're the threat, then they would think in defense against them.  

The end of World War II spelled the beginning of a different kind of conflict, this time with Russia--the cold war.  

Berlin was parcelled off, with allies controlling various parts of the city including Russia, a communist country.   West Berlin became an enclave, surrounded by East Berlin and Russian control.  Eventually Russia built a wall around West Berlin, because of massive defection of East Berliners into West Berlin, which was free.  I read about the Berlin Airlift, when water and food was dropped into West Berlin, which had been cut off, by the Russians.

Two US Presidents made rousing speeches aimed more at Russia than anyone else, to try to free Berlin.  John Kennedy's "ich Bin Ein Berliner" was one of them.  The second, was made by Ronald Reagan--"Tear Down this Wall".   He addressed his remarks directly to Gorbachev.  Gorbachev, who came to power in 1985 in the USSR, was a progressive in the communist party and had introduced the concept of Glasnost (openness) and was very willing to work with the west to achieve nuclear safety.   The images of the wall being torn apart by Berliners became etched in my mind.

Gorbachev became a hero of mine.

Gorbachev resigned his position after the USSR was declared gone, after it split up.  He'd won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for bringing the cold war era to a close.  He had a hands off policy to Russian states who wanted to form their own governments and countries.  As late as 2021 when in his 90's, he said the west became arrogant after the break up of the Soviet Union and unwilling to work with Russia.

I can see how one might say this.  And Putin is no Gorbachev.  Not even close.

I also remember the Iraq war, when the US invaded a sovereign nation on the basis of a lie--the weapons of mass destruction that did not in fact exist. And upon other inuendos, to incite fear and justify invasion.

You can read about that here.

I don't have much knowledge of Russian history, or of Russian mentality.    I don't like war as a solution to any conflict.  I certainly remember the cold war days.   We had to do duck and cover exercises in grade school in case of nuclear attack (like that would help) and were taught to fear the Russians and the nuclear bomb like nothing else.   The Russians and their bombs became the chief characters of childrens nightmares, replacing Indians  (demonized, really, in western movies and even children's books)  and then Nazi Germans and Japanese, during and after the war.

It does not surprise me that China engages in helping Russia by buying its wheat.  Their government seems to me to react without emotion and without moral reservations on action, doing whatever is best for China no matter who is harmed elsewhere.   I don't know much about China either.   The US, as a country and democracy, is very new compared to China and Russia.  We can't really feel the weight of the histories of ancient cultures.  How could we.  We are a conglomeration of all of them.  We are often blamed for everything and expected to solve everything.   I don't understand why, really.  It's like asking a teenager in a room full of adults, various ages, to save them from a zombie apocolypse.  The teenager, full of confidence and of good brave heart, tries his or her best but nothing pleases any of them.

I can tell you what makes me sick.  Trump's praise of Putin.  I wish Trump would just move to Russia.  Right now.  Be gone.  Go.  You're a traitor, Mr. Trump, anti American, and a great divider.  Just go live in Russia with your idol.

I also have a message for Biden.  Impose the sanctions or whatever.  You know good and well other than that we're doing nothing.  So shut up.  You are making things worse otherwise.  You're poking the bear, which is what my knee doctor told me he didn't want to do with my locked up knee of last fall.  he said operating would poke the bear, and unleash who knows what.  Guess what, my knee is good now.

Recently, someone I helped with cats, confided to me that things are now so bad in this country, the end must be near.   I said "Really?"  Like what's so bad.   Do you need food?   Are people threatening to kill you or rape you?   What?  Because much of the world has suffered for centuries, with flood, famine, war, rape, imprisonment, you name it.  How is it so bad here suddenly?"  Well it was the mask mandate.  I wanted to laugh.  OMG, the pettiness, the childishness of thinking that some terrible affliction or hardship---the mask mandate.  Omg.  After I hung up, I broke into uncontrolled laughter.

When the Berlin wall fell, children of the world could sleep peacefully once again.

How did we blow all that progress?

Back to cats, next post.   I try to figure out world events that can't be understood really by someone like me.   I can't comprehend the use of massive explosive weapons that tear bodies and buildings to pieces in order to take possession of that land or the people left alive who have lived there.   You can't force people to want to live the way you do by killing their friends and family members, or to believe as you do through any means. 

 But over the eons, people have done this, from the crusaders to Christian missionaries of today, intent on changing heathen cultures to images of their beliefs.  I think it takes a lot of ego.   Or maybe war is still a hormonal issue, deeply ingrained genetically, to expand or take resources or territory or females for oneself or one's own tribe.

Like I say, back to cats, as this is the warring season for male cats and I try to create peace through surgical procedure.  I will stick to what I know.