Weaponized, © 2022 William L. Brown.
Victoria is out! She found a driver willing to take her from her village 64 kilometers (40 miles) to Mykoliav. Mykoliav isn’t much safer than her village where shells and rockets fly over, near and into. The Russians have been trying to advance through Mykoliav on their way to Odesa, and the Ukrainians have been holding them back, at cost. But, that’s the route Victoria needed to take.
See Victoria’s backstory in previous articles Off the Tracks, Madonna of the Train, May That Putin Be Cursed, and Gots.
They set out Sunday, March 27. They were in the car ten hours. To get to Mykoliav they had to pass Chornobiavka on the day that the Russian-held airfield was bombarded by Ukrainian forces the 11th time. The Russians keep landing and grouping their aircraft there, almost as a convenience to Ukrainian artillery.
It was not a good place to be driving that day, so they turned back. The next day they made it to Mykoliav. I think it was here they passed through a Russian checkpoint where a bribe was necessary. Then to Odessa and another 40 miles to the Moldovan border. Victoria is now in Germany. It suits her, she studied German and English and has a language-teaching degree.
Victoria is now one of ten-million displaced-Ukrainians, nearly four million of whom have left the country to seek refuge, most of them in Europe. There are so many that Poland has said they can’t cope with any more.
The last time Europe saw such a mass refugee crisis was the Syrian Civil War, beginning in 2011. Similar numbers of refugees fled to neighboring countries. Likewise, there was initial widespread sympathy for the refugees, and heartwarming volunteer efforts to care for them.
Then compassion-fatigue set in. The public and the media moved on to other stories. Problems arose. There wasn't' enough housing. Refugees were locked out of good jobs because they didn’t have the language or recognized degrees or credentials. Unemployment led to crime. Refugees became a political issue, giving rise to anti-immigrant, nationalist, populist groups all over Europe, such as in Sweden and Germany, and shoring up right-wing nationalist politicians in Hungary, Italy and Austria.
The Polish and Hungarian right-wing nationalist governments have been battling with the EU over what they say are offensive liberal EU policies such as LGTBQ+ rights, and becoming more authoritarian.
Western neighbors squabbling, a turn toward authoritarianism and the erosion of democratic institutions are Putin’s long term goals.
Undoubtedly, Russia observed the destabilizing effects refugees had on Europe’s democratic institutions. Last fall’s crisis on the Poland/Belarus border was clearly meant to add to the destabilization and squabbling. The west saw it for what it was and backed Poland’s refusal to let pass the refugees assembled by Belarus at Putin’s direction.
The west recognized it as a hybrid attack then, but choses to ignore it as a hybrid attack on NATO now. I hope they know what they are doing. If the war doesn’t end soon, if it ends badly for Ukraine and if millions of Ukrainians have to remain in western countries for years, there’s no telling what the long-term consequences will be for refugees, their host countries, and western democracy.
“Look, we live in a world in which brutal, vicious countries are seeking to conquer innocent neighbors. And it will make people wonder, ‘So why can't international organizations do something?' Maybe there's something wrong with them.’ Of course, there is something wrong with them, and it's time that we face up to that.”
—Anne Applebaum, staff writer for the Atlantic, PBS News Hour, March 6, 2022
I was interviewed again by Eric Bond for his March 27 Talk of Takoma radio show on Takoma Radio.
Here you can find an interview of my friend Larysa in Ukraine.
Ukraine Spring, © 2022 William L. Brown.