The Wordle #274 game is quite fun...
Wordle 274 5/6
The Russian attack on Ukraine is still grinding on into Day 24. It's good to see Australia showing some spine in the sanction. UK has been active in the sanction area. Even former Eastern Bloc countries like Poland have been doing their part in advocating for Ukraine, as well as helping on the ground. Apart from seizing a yacht from a sanctioned Russian oligarch, and a few lip-service from Macron, what else has France done? Macron tried to be the diplomat, doing the go-between US and Russia, but after two volley of face-to-face meeting and then phone call, Putin has totally outfoxed Macron, rendering him a useless errand boy. Other go-between like Israel is nothing more than to tell Ukraine to just capitulate and surrender to whatever Russia demands of it, or mouthpiece by China to mouth more of the same-old-same-old propaganda that puts the blame on the West (US, in particular) in "provoking" Russia. What a farce and a fucking joke.
Since the passing of our parents, my siblings and I try to have weekly chat over WhatsApp to catch up. It's tough enough that we live in different continents and timezones, and every week requires some coordination and prior planning. We do try to make an effort, to stay connected. As we get older, we all realize that family is one thing that stays constant, and it's something we should treasure. The passing of our mother in 2020 was hard due to the Covid lockdown. Those of us not in the country were not able to say the final farewell to mom, though we were lucky enough to have two siblings in the country who were allowed to see her, on emergency visits, and who made funeral arrangement that we have to attend over Zoom. The grandkids made music recordings, playing the instruments that mom loved, and it's played on big screen before the service. Only a small handful of family friends made the efforts to attend the funeral in person, though we now know who the true friends are.
The chat this past weekend invariably turned to chats about current affairs and Ukraine. There's heated debate about whether Ukraine should stay and/or fight the Russian unprovoked invasion. Most of us are in agreement...except my brother. He would rather lead a life of a mouse, to run and hide. He asserts that self-preservation should be paramount, and that Zelenskyy is not fit as leader. Why? Because he believes that Zelenskyy knows Ukraine is no match to Russia's military power, so he's sending his people to the frontline to die. He further asserts that Zelenskyy and his people should simply capitulate, without a fight (again, all in the name of self-preservation). He even quoted ancient Chinese historic anecdotes like ζεΎδΈ» and εε as supporting evidence that capitulation is a "good" thing. He claims that just surviving is a good enough option, if only to bear witness of history (whatever the hell he really means).
The whole discussions made the rest of us siblings so fucking mad that I had to cut the WhatsApp call short, after more than two hours of heated back-and-forth.
His fixation on Blaming The Victim (Ukraine), with not a single word on the naked aggression from Putin. He continues to evade the question about Right and Wrong. When pushed, he blamed the West for provoking Russia, for acting like ι»η€Ύζ, for uniting in imposing sanctions against Russia, effectively turning Russia into a fucking victim (!). He claims ζεΎδΈ» did the right right, capitulating his fiefdom to the aggressor (in the name of avoiding collateral damage), accepting a ceremonial title and continue his good life, even though he lamented about the loss of his own land in countless poems, to the point that his new overlord decided that he must be plotting some revolution. He ended up being poisoned to death.
His so-called arguments sound all too familiar because these are all talking points from the propaganda machine from Putin and CCP. That's the same reason CCP keeps talking about "peaceful solution" (which is that Ukraine should let Russia annexes it without a fight), about "humanitarian aids" (though when you think of the world's second largest economy offers aids worth $790,000, that's like Germany initially offering to send 5000 fucking helmets to Ukraine, it's adding insult to injury). There is not a word about how wrong Russia's attack is, there is selective memory lapse to ignore the fact that Ukraine is a sovereign nation. The list goes on and on.
I have to admit, I'm so disappointed in my brother. He's an educated man, yet he chooses to be willfully blinded by propaganda, He claims to read both sides of the stories, yet he prefers to fixate on cowards like ζεΎδΈ» whose historical background was nothing comparable to the current event. What he could have just as easily done, is to use Churchill/Britain v. Hitler/Germany to compare with Zelenskyy/Ukraine v. Putin/Russia. But of course he would not want that comparison because Churchill chose to fight, even at great costs/loss at Dunkirk. The desperation of Churchill and the dire situation in Britain, is not unlike what Ukraine is facing now, and yet the Brits (Thank God for Their Perseverance) chose to fight which is exactly what Ukraine and Zelenskyy are doing now.
I've told my brother flat-out, that he would make a poor witness of history (even if he relishes living a life of a mouse). Thank goodness he doesn't have children (I'm sorry to say) or that he's not teacher. What kind of the children would grow up to be, unless the kind of "education" from such indoctrination? It's a good thing that our younger generations are all grown-ups now, and they are upstanding individuals. I advise him to not even trying to peddle his so-called self-preservation theory to the nephews and nieces because they would give a rebuttal far more in-your-face than what I or my other siblings had given him so far.
I have no doubt in my mind, that China is prepping its way to invade Taiwan, and the CCP propaganda machinery is simply honing its messaging and gauges how the world reacts. CCP succeeded in brainwashing one sibling in my family, and thank goodness, the rest of us are principled enough to beat him back.
Politics is seeping into social circles and families. In this increasingly polarizing world, it's getting harder to bring through to the other side. It's mentally exhausting, and I really hate it. But, there are things in life worth making a stand for. In the comfort of our own homes, thousands of miles away from the frontline in Ukraine, if we would refuse to even a stand, what good are we for? What does it say about our humanity?
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