Gongol.com Archives: February 2025
February 27, 2025
After three years of war in Ukraine, it's no surprise that a measure of fatigue has set in with some of the public looking on from abroad. But fatigue shouldn't obscure the fact that one side remains responsible for both initiating the war and perpetuating it in the most heinous of ways. ■ Only Russia is responsible for bombing hospitals. Only Russia is responsible for routinely terrorizing civilian populations with drone strikes. Only Russia is responsible for stealing children from their homes and taking them to a foreign land to deny them their very identities, with the express purpose of breaking their bonds with family and country. ■ All of these acts are plainly evil. There is no siding with evil without becoming evil yourself. But, even short of explicitly siding with evil, we should remember that despair and indifference are their own kinds of sin. ■ Impatience with victory is no substitute for staying with a long-term turn of events. No matter what happens in this war, any outcome still results in Ukraine having to exist with Russia as its neighbor. ■ Defeat may mean existing as a subjugated state or a beaten-down junior, unable to defend against the next wave of warfare. If we believe that self-determination is a human right -- which it most certainly is -- then we can't expect Ukraine to win overnight. The invasion was less like a broken leg to be re-set and quickly healed, and more like an aggressive form of blood cancer that must be healed with patient but determined medicine. ■ It is a long slog, period. Ukraine can either bend into submission or it can emerge as a recognizable victor standing up to the bullying of its abusive neighbor -- one that bombed a theater full of children. The right to self-determination means that Ukraine must take whatever time is required in order to achieve victory on terms it sets, rather than on terms set for it.
