Tom Friedman on Putin and Ukraine.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/0...-russia-ukraine.html

Zelenskiy shows his mettle.

quote:

The morning after Russian missiles rained down on Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the nation in his favourite style: the selfie video.

Unshaven, wearing a khaki jacket and flashing a smile, he told the nation that contrary to reports of him trying to flee, he was staying put in the capital.

"Good morning to all Ukrainians! Lately there has been a lot of fake information online that I am calling on our army to lay down their arms and to evacuate. Listen. I am here," he said, in a video that received 3 million views on Instagram in an hour.

quote:

Vyachslav Volodin, speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, asserted on Saturday without evidence that Zelenskiy had fled to the western city of Lviv and that his self-recorded video appearances were in fact pre-recorded.

There was heavy fighting in several parts of the country on Saturday including clashes in the capital, and there have been media reports of Zelenskiy declining offers from foreign governments to be evacuated.

Asked to comment on the reports, Zelenskiy's spokesman said: "The president stays in Kyiv, the president stays with his people. No one will run away or drop weapons."

https://www.reuters.com/world/...r-attack-2022-02-26/

That was a terrific article by Friedman.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
That was a terrific article by Friedman.

Agreed, thanks for posting it WTG.

I shared this on FB yesterday about my Friday class:

In my 4000-level Japanese class today we spent the lesson talking about what’s happening in Ukraine. I showed them some Japanese news sites and walked them through various vocab items needed to be able to talk about what is happening.

Then I added a few words we hadn’t got to yet. When I taught them the word 平和 “peace,” my eyes filled with tears and I couldn’t continue.

Friedman ALWAYS has a great in-depth perspective.

My fervent hope is that Russian domestic opinion will bring this to a halt. I also cannot help but wonder if his military thinks him insane.

So this precisely is what the Russians have been (so brilliantly) priming the pump for with their infiltration of Facebook and elsewhere. They even succeeded in targeting individuals according to their identified background opinions, with exquisite attention to detail. All those fake news items they planted (knowing the recipients would themselves spread the contagion)! Sorry to sound like Trump, but it's true.

Their campaign to sow divisiveness was brilliantly executed - and so inexpensively, they spammed the whole nation.

That's how they softened up our population's ability to act with resolve and as a unified country at all. Their blitz of the Social Media brought us to the brink of Civil War, all from within.

All they'd have to do at this point, is to lightly push the last domino in the set they've lined up, for the US to collapse all the way. Yes, it WAS "genius". They didn't even have to spend any lives, weaponry, or waste more than a few grains of ricin to win.

It was a careful campaign partnered by Mark Zuckerberg in particular. (Who cares if we're getting paid in rubles, right?)