Day 20

I had originally titled this post “Day 16,” but, regrettably it has sat in my draft folder for the past four days. I am being productive, but have a nagging feeling that I am probably not doing enough.

We are now almost in week four of the invasion, or as Russia continues to maintain, special military operation. In Russia, calling this an invasion or a war could result in a 15-year prison sentence. Thus is the power of the One State and the Great Benefactor. At any rate, to me, a special military operation is short term, a week or two, max. It is limited. Its focus cannot be decapitation of a democratically elected government. Further, if this operation is going so well, why turn off large and important swaths of the Internet. Instead, many Russians continue to enjoy TV programming from a well-oiled propaganda machine, fine tuned and honed over the past twenty years, to produce rather incredible results and sentiments. Apparently, Russian soldiers are still “denazifying” and “liberating” Ukraine, handing out bottled water and other humanitarian aid and being welcomed with open arms (no pun intended) by the locals.

Some more thoughts:

You can help even if you, like me, are more than 6,000 miles away from the conflict: https://johnpavolotsky.com/2022/03/07/how-to-help-ukraine/

Donate, volunteer, become and stayed involved.

I am still researching additional ways recent refugees can be helped, including by local and other governments.

Write to your elected officials and local newspapers, urging understanding, compassion, more military and humanitarian aid, stronger sanctions, etc. See below, the response from the White House and my letter to the editor of a local newspaper.

12 March 1999. Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic joined NATO on this date. More than a few refugees have made their way to Budapest (pictured above and below). We need to continue to support the people of countries welcoming Ukrainian refugees. No one is going home anytime too soon.

Last, but not least, there are many worthwhile causes. Traditionally, mine has been education, and in particular access to quality and comprehensive education. I remain committed to that, but Ukraine is (now) also on this list.

Comments welcomed.