Putin’s week-long conquest of Ukraine is heading into its tenth month. Ten months of war, of a valiant defence against a supremacist invasion on sovereign territory, and the horrors that follow.
Last week, an errant missile slipped away from the war zone to strike down on Polish soil, killing two civilians. Poland, which is a NATO member, and isn’t more involved in the fighting than anyone else sending lawyers, guns, and money toward Ukrainian independence. And in the wake of that errant missile, accusation abound, as is only natural.
Russia blames Ukraine (big surprise), and Ukraine blames Russia (bigger surprise). As it happens, the US, the largest supporter of Ukrainian independence for the time being, surprisingly came down on the conclusion that the errant missile had been fired by Ukraine as part of its missile defence program to shield itself from Russian terror bombings. And NATO’s Stoltenberg tried to smooth it all over saying that it was terribly unlikely that anyone meant for this to happen. As if that could make it not have happened…
War crimes have been a recurring headline throughout the invasion. From POW torture, civilian massacres like the one in Bucha, or just plainly civilian targetting, war crimes have been at the forefront of the propaganda war of both sides. Anything to muddy the simplistic narrative of either a valiant defender protecting its territory against a monstrous invasion, or purging a nation from neo-nazism.
Most of us are simple creatures. Most of us like simple narratives. Easily digestible stories of right and wrong, good and evil. So; lifting either Ukrainian war crimes or Russian ones to the forefront paints you as either a NATO lackey or a Putinist puppet. Apparently, it is too much nuance for the average Joe to realise that war turns even our heroes into villains eventually.
But there is one simple, easy, red thread one can follow through all the whataboutisms surrounding the defence of Ukraine. One banal baseline which you can fall back on when the powers involved seem fixed on muddying the blame-game for their political gain. And that is quite simply as follows: Ukraine didn’t send tanks and troops and bombs into Russia; Russia sent tanks and troops and bombs into Ukraine. Russia went abroad looking for trouble. Ukraine stayed at home and had trouble visited upon her. Easy and simple arithmetic.
I know not war. I’ve never taken cover under a rocket barrage. I may have seen death, but never from bullets or grenade shrapnel. I may have stared down the barrel of a gun, but never against the wall of a firing squad. I am privileged like that.
What I do know is anger, justified and otherwise. And if ever there was a silver lining or mitigating circumstance to torture, righteous rage unhinged, cold and deadly as rime, it would be against the creatures that came into your home to murder, rape, and pillage you and yours.
We know now that Russia has committed several war crimes, massacres, tortures of POWs, and targetting civilian installations and populations as part of their war of conquest. Credible reports have surfaced detailing Ukrainian war crimes, primarily in treatment of Russian POWs and the persecution of Russian collaborators in liberated territory. But if by counting sins you aim to assign blame for the conflict, you need look no further. No one would have been tortured, no one would have been massacred, no one in Poland would have been killed by an errant missile if only one thing wouldn’t have happened; namely, if Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine.
/Sebastian Lindberg 21/11-2022
WastedWords 