Don't Call Them Soldiers

Each time I get news from the war in Ukraine, and I read or hear the expression “Russian soldiers,” I want to puke. These guys aren’t soldiers; they aren’t part of an army but a gang. They are criminals, rapists, cowards, looters, stealers, hypocrites, dumb, and stupid, to name a few adjectives. They are everything but soldiers or, even worse, humans.

Smoke & Mirrors

If I summarize what we saw today from Moscow, it was a smoke & mirrors show. Even Putin’s speech was a letdown, and I felt uninspired. He used fake news to justify the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. He didn’t do what the West was afraid of declaring conscription or a full-out war with Ukraine. He didn’t because he probably knew that he couldn’t. Declaring a war would have been a sign of failure of the “special military ops”. Conscription wouldn’t bring combat-effective resources soon enough anyway. Russia is simply failing at so many levels.

Again, for me, and probably for many military pundits, Russia is showing a pale version of its past. We shouldn’t be afraid of them. And we must keep the pressure on them so that when they lose, they will remember their losses for a long time.

Giving

🇺🇦 Today, I gave 100 US$ to the just recently crowdfunding platform United24. I chose to donate to the defence and demining of Ukraine. This comes after giving 200 CAN$ in the first few weeks of the war. What did you do today? 🤔

On Returning on Telegram

I’m back on Telegram, after closing my account about a year ago. I wrote about the reasons why on my story published on Micro.blog. Since the start of the criminal invasion of Ukraine by the Russian, I found out quickly that a lot of information about the conflict is being published on Telegram. I decided to come back and open a new account.

I read on Mr. Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram. Some compare him to Elon Musk. He’s opinionated, just like Musk. He has his views on Apple and technology. He seems to advocate user privacy protection. Furthermore, he flew from Russia because he refused to cooperate with the government, which was asking to leak information from Telegram users.

A few words on Telegram, my usage, its design and the application. It’s available on most of the Apple platforms, including the Mac. I like its design a lot. I don’t use it for chatting, only to receive messages from channels where comments aren’t enabled.

Only fools don’t change their mind.

War Games

🇺🇦 It’s fascinating how the war in Ukraine makes me think about many video games. Let me explain. Looking at some Telegram channels feeding the results of attacks with anti-tank missiles or other means. You’ll find many short video clips with music and animation while a tank is destroyed. It makes things look like they aren’t real, only a game, which is far from the case for obvious reasons. Yet, there is the gamification of some aspects of what is filtering out of this ugly and devastating war. 😟

BTW, many tidbits flowing on Telegram are utterly disgusting. Is this the first war to feel so close to the action?

When the coalition attacked Iraq during the Gulf War, I remember people saying it was the first war to be televised. The war in Ukraine is probably the first one made public on social media.

Suddenly Missing Mikhail Gorbachev

This morning while reading the news, I suddenly remembered about Mikhail Gorbachev. He’s still alive, which I didn’t know. His birthday was March 2th. He’s 92. I vividly remember his presidency and what he brought to Russia and the world. One big and hard lesson we’re currently learning is that we cannot take anything for granted regarding democracy. Does he know what’s happening in Ukraine? What’s his take on all this shit? I would love to see him in an interview. He certainly wasn’t perfect, but Russia seemed to have a much more prevalent “human side” under his tenure. Under Putin, I just want to puke. 🤮

On West Europe Surprising Weak Stance

🧐⁉️ It’s surprising to see European countries’ weak stance against Russia and the dire situation in Ukraine. I mean, world war II is not that far in history after all. Doesn’t Germany remember anything from fascism or Hitler? What about Austria? Their inaction speaks for themselves. I would have thought they would be more proactive in supporting Ukraine and trying to prevent another European war, if not another world war. What will it take to make them change their action cadence? 😮

The Price To Pay

“(…) And we’re likely going to see skyrocketing prices if we did put a complete ban on oil.” — US treasury secretary

Well, what is the price of thousands and thousands of people dying, tortured, raped? I can live with rising energy prices. For fuck sake, support the oil and coal embargo against Russia NOW! We cannot escape any impact of this war without some form of sacrifice.