If the above phrase is somewhat familiar to you, its the final line of Boney M’s pretty terrific song “Rasputin”.
There is nothing humorous, however, about the invasion of Ukraine, which began in full yesterday.
Waking up this morning, I felt as if I hadn’t gotten enough sleep and, yes, felt the worry about how this invasion -something it seems Russian President Vladimir Putin was considering for a while now- would eventually play out.
Europe takes up a relatively small area and even now there are U.S. troops stationed, as one network noted, some 90 kilometers from the Ukranian border.
President Biden had it right all along, noting his awareness that Putin was planning this invasion. To Biden’s credit, he’s managed to solidify most of the world’s sentiment against Russia/Putin’s aggression and considerable sanctions are being imposed against the regime.
Will they work?
I hope so.
Naturally, the right wing media seems to want to present this situation in some alternate light. Ex-President Trump stated what Putin was doing was “genius”. Other talk show hosts, from Tucker Carlson to Laura Ingram -people who deserve IMHO the utmost contempt- are trying to either justify Putin’s actions or mock the Ukraine leader’s attempts to bring peace.
It’s really… disgusting.
Yeah, BEWARE POLITICS.
But… its also humanity. People are dying and, I would say, needlessly at this point. It seems Putin’s actions are little more than a whim on his part, a need to rattle his sword. I know there are economic advantages to having Ukraine under his belt but, truly, was it necessary to go this far?
Even more frightening is the fact that no one knows where this will all lead in the end.