LETTER: Prayers for Ukraine
All Steelers fans have a warm spot in our hearts for the Steel Curtain the defense that brought Pittsburgh to the heights of pro football glory. What some may not realize is that it was a take-off of a term coined by Winston Churchill in a speech about post-war Europe in which he called the USSR’s domination of Eastern European countries the Iron Curtain.
In his op-eds about Ukraine, Patrick Buchanan tries to paint the current situation with Russia as though Ukraine, NATO, and the U.S. are the aggressors and poor Vladimir Putin and Russia are not. Anyone who has any knowledge of the last 80 years of European history will tell you that is crazy. (I wanted to use a stronger word here but I felt it would have been edited out).
Putin complains about how all of the former satellite states except Ukraine have joined NATO. Gee, I wonder why. After World War II Russia ruled these countries with an iron fist. Did anyone hear about Hungary in 1956? Does anyone know why Jaromir Jagr wears number 68 on his sweater? I’m sure if you talk to anyone who is from Eastern Germany, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Czechoslovakia, and other countries they can answer any questions about how wonderful it was to live in Eastern Europe back then. I personally had relatives who lived through that hell for decades.
Today Putin is trying to frame it that there are Russians living in Ukraine and he’s just looking out for them. Insert whatever expletive you want here. Anyone remember when Adolf Hitler used the same excuse to annex Austria, then the Sudetenland and then invade Poland? Putin already annexed the southern portion of Ukraine; now he’s coming for the rest. Even if he has to use a false flag operation to start it. Just like Hitler. Only Hitler didn’t have the internet to help grease the wheels.
So after Ukraine what next? I’m sure there are Russian people living in Poland or Romania as well as other places, including the U.S. And I am also sure that they don’t want to live under the rule of Putin. If they did they would have moved to Russia. Maybe it’s because round-trip tickets aren’t always available.
This has other motives for Putin too. He’s trying to show his fellow Communists that Russia hasn’t slipped on the world stage. That his economy isn’t sagging. That his vaccines weren’t inferior to those in other countries. That he wasn’t invited to the G7 conference because G15 or 20 doesn’t get invited. That he’s still a big dog like China, even though the Chinese laugh at the thought.
I hope President Biden, with the support of Congress, is able, along with NATO, to diffuse this issue. Word has it that Putin is waiting until after the Olympic games to placate China. Prayers for Ukraine.
J.L. Kribel
Amity