The Land of the Brave

If any deserve solid support, it is the valiant Ukrainians

In memorium, and for all Ukrainian medics, fighters, civilians and foreign fighters & aid workers murdered in the fight against Russian terror, alone

The thing about bravery is it is not universal. In fact generally, it is not necessarily admired. Ukraine is the case in point.

For every one person who says Ukrainians have been terrifically brave, another 3 have said all my taxes go to that war, or those poor young Russian boys or Ukrainians are Nazis, or perhaps the worst; Ukrainians are the same as Russians. Come to think of it, nobody has ever told me, personally, they think Ukrainians have been brave. And the person who said Ukrainians were Nazis (a Swiss man) also informed me Zelenskiy was a Jew. A Jew! Imagine! Nazis and Jews working together, in this new theory.

Oh yeah, and in Austria, coming back from Ukraine a 2nd time there was the usual: it’s NATO’s fault.

NATO, in fact, is at fault for demonstrating Cowardice as a PR policy. Really. What other one word summary would ever go as near the self-vaunted world’s greatest military alliance? There is no other suitable word that springs to mind, even in an essay based on fact, not opinion. We have had pliant school teacher Jens Stoltenberg, who dressed smartly and kept his head down, for much too long. It would have been entirely normal for Kaja Kallas to replace him: she knows Russia, and is determined. So was Ben Wallace…