On the sidelines of the horrors committed because Russia decided to do what the great countries do so well – ostentatious measurement of geostrategic seeds – there is courage, raw courage at the level of men and women.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
It’s an overused word, “courage.”
But there are plenty of them these days in Ukraine. It commands admiration.
First, there is this story that I thought was false, because it was too good to be true. She is, however1 : Two Russian warships approached Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea, a piece of rock belonging to Ukraine guarded by 13 Ukrainian border guards.
The cruiser therefore communicated with the Ukrainians who were watching over Serpents’ Island with these words: “I am a Russian warship. I ask you to lay down your arms and surrender to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and death. Otherwise, you will be bombarded. »
There was a silence. Then a response from Serpents’ Island: “Russian warship, fuck you. »
The cruiser Moskva used its 30 mm guns to fire on the island. All 13 Ukrainians are dead. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, posthumously decorated them with the title Hero of Ukraine.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
On the courage side, there is also President Zelensky himself. A few days ago the Americans sounded the alarm about a kill list – a list of Ukrainians to kill – which would be in the coffers of the Russians. It makes sense, in Putin’s worldview: it will cause less whining when Ukraine is subject to the will of the Kremlin.
On Thursday, Zelensky announced he was at the top of that list, according to Ukrainian intelligence. In second place: his family.
And yet, until now, he is still there, in Ukraine. There is no doubt that the president could have fled and no doubt that this leak would be understandable. France has publicly expressed concerns about its survival. Nothing indicates that the Ukrainian president will flee. And it was with dignity that he addressed the Russians (in Russian), the day before the invasion, urging them to say loud and clear their rejection of this aggression…
Of course, under the Russian dictatorship, President Zelensky’s video struggles to break through the iron curtain of censorship.
Then, on Friday, Zelensky asked Kyiv residents to start making Molotov cocktails in preparation for the siege. Here we are: encouraging citizens to defend themselves against one of the most powerful armies in the world with homemade weapons. It can’t end well.
No one has any illusions about the outcome of this war. Russia is too powerful not to overthrow the Ukrainian power, left without assistance by the democracies of the world. All Ukraine can hope for is to inflict enough damage on the Russians – kill enough soldiers – that Russian public opinion will begin to rebel against dictator Putin.
The Russian army is terrifyingly efficient, but the Ukrainian volunteers go to the front anyway, find weapons to make their contribution. They must be terrified. But they are going. We have seen the photos, we have seen the videos: there are thousands of them responding to the call for the mobilization of 18 to 60 year olds.
And on Friday, the Ukrainian state, which is probably living its last hours as a free state, launched an appeal to those 60 and over capable of taking up arms.
Was Ukraine a security threat to Russia?
I have trouble seeing how.
When you have to invent the Nazification of your neighbour, as Putin did, you are in fiction. On the spectrum of state lying, you’re next to the weapons of mass destruction (and fictitious) claimed by the United States in Iraq, 19 years ago.
The difference, of course, is that American citizens were able to say that Bush was a liar without risking being thrown off a fourth-floor balcony, without risking being poisoned or imprisoned, as is the case for the Russians who denounce Putin a little too loudly.
The Russian dictatorship has invaded its neighbour, a democratic state – Ukraine is an imperfect democracy, of course, in development, but a democracy nonetheless, especially compared to Russia.
I hear here and there a few indecent voices quibbling, even here, who say: “Yes, but…”, to justify the invasion, caveats that often look not like explanations, but justifications.
Have you noticed that those who supported the antisanitary occupiers of Ottawa tend to make excuses for Putin, to justify his aggression against a democracy?
Curious coincidence.
That will be for another column.
The word “courage” is overused, we use it all over the place in our peaceful societies. The word courage in Ukrainian is cміливість, which is pronounced smilyvist. Ukraine is currently desecrated, but there is a lot of courage per square meter among the resistance fighters, another overused word in our tropics…
There is courage also in Russia. Protesting is a dangerous sport in Russia. When you demonstrate in Moscow, you don’t have time to install an inflatable spa on Red Square when a cop is already pulling you by the hair towards the salad cart, while one of his colleagues is varging you in the legs with his truncheon…
In the demonstrations, in Russia, the arrests are not made after three weeks of party in the street, it’s more a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds. And it is a real risk to his safety and freedom. That’s how it is in dictatorships.
And yet, despite the media blackout, despite the risks, thousands of Russians braved the danger and demonstrated to express their rejection of this war of aggression waged by the dictatorship that rules their great country.
Thursday evening, there had already been 1800 arrests in Russia.
In Russian, the word courage is khrabrost’, xрабрость.
It’s an overused word, “courage.”
But not always.