WILL THAULT: Family feud or canary in the mineshaft?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to take its bloody toll in lives, injuries and families torn apart. And Tanya, our unofficial Ukrainian correspondent, continues to tell her story on Instagram, even though she says, “I am not an analyst, not a journalist, not a politician. I am a Ukrainian with a sore soul. And I write about it — about my pain, my feelings, my impressions … my personal account.”

Over the course of this unprovoked attack on her country, she and her family first endured 12 days of siege on her hometown of Kyiv before finally seeking refuge, along with millions more evacuees, taking her daughter, but leaving behind her husband to fight in the resistance. Now that Tanya’s safely in Italy, we learn that her mom, grandma and brother with his family escaped from the shelling of Chernihiv, and are free of danger — for now.

In a speech at the NATO Summit last Thursday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy summed it all up: “The very first hours of the invasion meant brutal missile strikes for us. During the month of the war, Russia fired more than a thousand different missiles at our cities. Made hundreds of air raids … destroying all living things. Any objects — from houses to churches, from food warehouses to universities, from bridges to hospitals … cities where Russia is keeping hundreds of thousands of people hostage and artificially creating famine — no water, no food, nothing there.”

No contrast of leadership could be greater than that between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, principal adversaries in a conflict where, not since World War II, has good vs. evil been so clearly defined.

Zelenskyy’s political career began after becoming president of Ukraine in 2019. Before that, he was an award-winning actor, performer, script writer and producer. At the end of his inaugural address, he said, “Dear nation. All my life I tried to do all I could so that Ukrainians laughed. That was my mission. Now I will do all I can so that Ukrainians at least do not cry any more.” Little could he know how much tougher it was going to be to keep his word.

But this past month shows that he’s up to the task. He’s promised to remain in Kyiv regardless of personal danger, refused to yield to Russian aggression and launched an untiring appeal for aid and assistance from leaders of the free world as well as numerous global organizations. His bravery and brilliant rhetoric, along with the Ukrainian people’s resolve to fight in defense of their freedom, has helped galvanize the world in opposition to Putin’s atrocities.

Another aspect of his character was revealed during his inaugural speech, when he said, “I really do not want my pictures in your offices, for the president is not an icon, an idol or a portrait. Hang your kids’ photos instead, and look at them each time you are making a decision.”

Conversely, one-time KGB operative for the former USSR, Putin clearly longs for the return of the days of iron-fisted rule over his people and renewed dreams of world domination. In a recent national television address, he fumed, “Any people, and especially the Russian people, will always be able to distinguish the true patriots from the scum and the traitors, and just spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths.” This reference to self-cleansing is reminiscent of Stalin’s Great Purge of the 1930s.

Regardless of what the future holds, Putin expects blind loyalty and will do whatever it takes to get it.

But there’s an even more sinister and dangerous threat from this bully. At the beginning of the invasion Putin warned, “I would now like to say something very important for those who may be tempted to interfere in these developments from the outside. No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.”

So is this simply a family feud between two nations or something more like the proverbial canary in the mineshaft — a wake-up call to the inherent dangers of now or future nuclear weapons in the hands of unstable, hate-filled paranoids, power hungry egomaniacs, terrorist nation states or religious fanatics? Doubtless that any of these trigger-happy zealots has any inclination of hanging their kids’ photos on the wall or second thoughts about the fate of their people, when the ultimate retaliation comes.

The free countries of the world need a collaborative plan to contain these rogue nations before they reach the tipping point as in Russia’s case. A proactive approach is far more effective than a reactionary one. Let’s hope that this conflict comes to a peaceful conclusion soon with lessons of containment learned.

Last Tuesday night, Tanya put her 10-year-old daughter to bed: “She hugged me for a long time, asked me to stroke her back, her head, and then said, ‘Mommy, I’m so glad we don’t hear sirens and explosions here. And that we can just go outside in peace and not be afraid that now we will be killed by Russian soldiers.’

“And I cried … from the relief that my daughter can sleep peacefully. And from grief for those who now in my beautiful country listen to explosions, are afraid, have no light, water, food, sit in bomb shelters. But tonight, when my daughter thanked me for her peace of mind, I really felt useful. I am a mother, my first task is to take care of this child, to protect her.”

While our hearts and support go out to the Ukrainian people, let’s hold our families close tonight and, for the sake of peace, pray that our enemies love their children, too.

Special Photo via Instagram