Where Have All the Peaceniks Gone

For John, BLUF:  Yes, the absence of the Peace Demonstrations are strange.  What have they bewen doing these last six months.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Known Knowns, Known Unknowns, Et Cetera

From Chicago Boyz, by Sgt. Mom, 19 October 2022.

Here is the lede plus foour:

So last week’s post regarding the paucity of lefty anti-war protesters regarding the Ukrainian war is still going strong with comments, reminding me once again of the great sage, Donald Rumsfeld, regarding what we know, and what we know that we don’t know … and what we really don’t know that we don’t know.

What do I know for sure about the war? I know that both sides are … parsimonious with the truth about everything that is happening in the zone of conflict, to the point where a truckload of salt is necessary when reading the headlines, no matter if it’s the established print media, or blogs.  What to believe?  Practically nothing, save that yes, indeed, there is a war and a pretty hot one, too.

I am pretty certain that Ukraine served basically as the Biden family’s ATM.  Corrupt government – yeah, that I do believe.  But as corrupt than Russia itself, Nigeria, Pakistan, Belarus, South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, Venezuela, and other frequent fliers on ‘most corrupt evah!’ list?

I do believe that Putin’s Russia apparently went into the Ukraine believing that it would be a one-two punch and settled to the advantage of Russia within a fortnight.  That the war has been going on without a resolution since February of this year argues that Putin and his generals did indeed bite off more than they could chew, seriously overestimating their own capabilities and the Ukrainian will to resist.

The modern Ukrainians are descended from the Cossacks, in culture if not in blood, who had for centuries a tradition of making war … enthusiastically.  They also, if I read my history right, still hold a grudge for being subjected to the Holodomor, the mass starvation under Stalin’s harsh rule in the 1930s.  And that has to cast a very long shadow, among survivors of that state-instituted horror and their descendants.

There is no doubt that Russia has gone back on its signature on the Budapest 1994 Memorandum.  There is no doubt that the United States signed on to iplement and ghuarantee the Budapest 1994 JMemorandum.  zthere is also no douobt thsat there is the danger the Russians could use nuclear weapons in this conflict.  That would not be fun.

What is not obvious is how we back out of this situstion, without Ukraine losing its independence and without falling into a World War I type debacle.  I would like to see a little more explortion of the Unknowns.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff