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America, conviction, freedom, history, peaceful protest, sacrifice, the future, Ukraine, war, Winter of Fire
The war in Ukraine is on everyone’s mind. How could it not be? The victims look so like us. So European. When victims are wrapped in head scarves, burkas, or turbans, we grieve, but when they look like the family down the street, we grieve more deeply. Perhaps the threat of nuclear winter contributes to our angst.
Like many Americans, I’ve been playing catch up to understand the ramifications of and the lead-up to this apparent assault on an innocent people. But if my lived history has taught me anything, it is to question my assumptions. From afar, it is easy to worship President Zelensky’s adroit camera persona, apparently incredible leadership, and the sheer determination of the Ukrainian people. But how many of us were duped into seeing righteousness in the Vietnam War (remember the domino theory?) or Operation Iraqi Freedom and Iraq’s amassed weapons of mass destruction?
The documentary, Winter of Fire, (available on Netflix & Youtube) is the story of Ukraine’s most recent (of many throughout history) attempts at freedom and sovereignty. In just 93 days, what started as peaceful student demonstrations in 2014 became a violent revolution. Watching the film unleashed a storm of questions.


How would this historical event have played out had someone like Ammon Bundy and his People’s Rights followers been there to organize his private militia to fight the Yanukovych (Russian) regime? What separates the passion of the student demonstrators in Ukraine in 2014 from the passion of Americans who are equally passionate about their vision of personal freedoms and legitimate governance? To my dismay I actually caught a glimpse of a rowdy Ukrainian demonstrator wearing a buffalo-horn hat, conjuring visions of our infamous January 6th uprising at the Capitol.
I reflected on America’s anti-war protests of the 1960s and 70s. This period of protest was divisive and threatened our national fabric. But in the final analysis, it contributed to America’s messy retreat from a misbegotten and poorly fought war. As played out in the documentary, Ukraine’s 2014 uprising was much like our youth-initiated anti-war protests. The stark difference was how casually the Yanukovych administration resorted to bloodshed and brutality against the peaceful protesters. Picture the Tiananmen Square Massacre lasting for three of the coldest months of the year. So far, the 1970 Kent State Massacre is perhaps the closest America has come to blatantly turning its military might against civilians. That event, in addition to focusing the spotlight on the democratic right of peaceful protest, has been credited with turning the tide of national opinion and pressuring the government to disengage from Vietnam. Yes, there have been other police state aggressions in America, the Black Wall Street Massacre is just one example. The birth of our nation was a long-term massacre from the beginning. We are far from a perfect union.
Might Russian aggression unify our polarized country? Is America past the point of reunification? Where we to experience, on our own soil, the degree of misery, displacement, and bloodshed that is happening today in Ukraine, (or for that matter in the Western Sahara, Ethiopia, Sudan, and other war-plagued African nations) how would this nation of molly-coddled, personal freedoms-oriented, “patriots” respond? How is peaceful protest possible amongst a nation of gun-slinging belligerents?
Ukraine has shown the world many times over the power of unity against a common enemy. In the spring of 2014, Ukrainian citizens set aside religious and philosophical differences. Ordianry people sacrificed their lives for the hopes of a better future for their nation. A new society was born of mutual respect. The conflict ended with Yanukovych fleeing to Russian. The Ukrainian Parliament scheduled an election in May. The new government signed the long-awaited agreement with the European Union.
History will reveal the right and wrong of today’s battles. Effecting change requires knowing and agreeing on what changes you want to see. This requires a degree of compromise. It is crucial to control emotions and act within the law. Could America rise to these challenges? Would we?
War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.
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!!
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The people of Ukraine are basing their actions on real tanks, shell, and bullets killing real people. Bundy’s cohort react to imagined infringement on their imagined rights. No comparison, really.
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I can’t help but agree. #BundyTheBully The only similarity that I see is the conviction that they are fighting for their very existence, which of course is a ludicrous comparison.
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Bundy is Z in this scenario. The equivalent would be one of the “separatists” in Donbas, joining the Russians as they invaded. He’s an authoritarian under a banner proclaiming “freedom”.
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Spot on. I’m sure he’d disagree wildly with this assessment, but freedom in his hands is a one way street. His freedom to do only that which he wants to do. He debauches the word freedom.
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It makes me anxious to think about where this might lead. I can see countries holding back to prevent WWlll but in the meantime people are being slaughtered. Hard choices.
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Exactly. I question my assumptions about right and wrong all the time. But clearly what Putin is doing right now is clearly beyond the pale.
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What a nightmare … almost unbelievable this could even happen. But seeing it unfold before our eyes and as you say to people looking like us makes it even more real. For me, more lost hope for a better world. 😦
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Such a waste and so sad. Ten years in Afghanistan and years in Syria, Iraq and over a million dead. Millions of refugees in tent cities as far as the eyes can see .
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Indeed. A waste of resources, human, financial, and natural. We keep making the same mistakes. Power hungry male leaders.
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The glaring discord in this country may lead us to a second Civil war. The revisionist March of Russia into Ukraine bears striking resemblance to Poland in and after WW2. God help us all if Russia steps into a NATO country. It will be dark if a third WW pulls the entire globe into Armageddon.
I feel like I have gone back in time…
It is frightening.
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I feel the same way. I almost feel that we’ve moved so far back in time that it is more my mother’s time than my own. In so many ways. Makes me ready to part. I never envisioned feeling that way.
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😞
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