Arms and Peace
However you look at it at this point, the situation has crystallized. Positions are settled. Yet, many are still trying to sow the seeds of doubt.
Sure, I always wondered why people in various corners of the world feel sudden urge to commit atrocities on themselves the very moment Russian Federation (RF) gets involved. From self-bombing with various kinds of nasty ammunition to individual self-torture and self-execution. Yeah, I know — false flags. False flags everywhere; don’t believe anything; always on guard!
Still, there is one undeniable fact. Up until 24. February 2022, RF claimed total and absolute non-involvement. And it was immensely hard, maybe even outright impossible, to prove otherwise. Now, it was the official RF army that crossed the borders of Ukraine from regions in RF and Belarus. Even without saying, this was an official declaration of war.
No matter what you think of Ukrainians and their society, their oligarchs, business sphere or infamous mafia, their homie neo-nazis, or the civil war that was ongoing in Eastern part of the country for several years prior to the events of today, it was, no doubt, RF who turned the everyday happy-go-lucky Ukrainian purgatory into straight-up hell of metal, fire, blood, and utter destruction causing pure suffering and death.
Logic says that the fastest way to end the horror is exactly that — make it last the shortest amount of time possible. RF propaganda already proclaimed that, left to their own devices, RF ideologues will continue with shaping the Ukraine (and beyond) in their image. Common sense tells me, then, that arming Ukrainians to the teeth is the only way possible to prevent RF’s repulsive imperial objectives and also end the hostilities.
First, because Ukrainians and other people close to the events say so themselves. To paraphrase, give us weapons and Ukraine will end it. Second, because Ukrainians have skill as well as confidence. When you consider how well they fare in (almost all but not only) fighting sports, but also when you look at the qualities of their war-tested IT sector, it’s no surprise. The faster, more effective, and to the point the military help, then, the shorter and less severe the bloodshed. Provided, blind revenge does not take hold of the whole battlefield. Then all bets are off.
Thus, when people rail against military support for Ukraine, they cannot “stand with” Ukraine. At best, they implicitly support a long and protracted war. However, Ukraine has no time to spare and the math is elementary — the longer the battle continues the more people die, the more of Ukraine gets destroyed. Alas, for a common audience, all talk of death feels banal and basically falls on deaf ears. Although they can deal with destruction to an extent, someone could say that these folks think they are personally immortal. I bet a lot of Ukrainians felt the same circa six weeks ago.
In any case, it’s far from an ideal choice. Then again, war is as far from ideal (conditions for life) as is possible. It’s obviously one of those contexts that demand all hands on deck. It’s one of those situations when time is precious and all what was hidden, up to people’s mindsets and characters, is revealed.
I would say, the implications are clear.
