4c25` Moscow Terror
(analysis by TS) Martin Curt [2024 c 25] Hope. Help. Donate. Pray.
From the publisher —
G’day cobbers!
In the 303rd year of Pyotr Romanov's empire, in the 526th week of Moscow's invasion, and on the 761st day of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Kyiv is in Ukrainian hands.
The hard-working staff at Just Peace Ukraine are about to have a break for Easter. Expect the next Ukraine Curt on about 22 April. In the meantime, you can look forward to guest publications by Hereticus on subjects which he reckons are not adequately covered by JPU, beginning with with the debate about the site of the main stadium for the Brisbane Olympic Games.
Today’s main stories
This short article by Tim. Snyder is quoted in full :—
☼Moscow Terror. A Chronology that Might Help Predict
1. US warns that Russia will invade Ukraine. General disbelief, daily Russian mockery. (December 3 2021-February 24 2022)
2. Russia invades Ukraine, kills tens of thousands of people, kidnaps tens of thousands of children, commits other ongoing war crimes (February 24 2022-present)
3. Russia blames US for Russia's invasion of Ukraine (March 2022-present)
4. US warns of terror attack in Moscow. Putin denies any risk and mocks the United States. (March 7 and March 19 2024).
[Caption to picture in article: Since Russia invaded Ukraine, its riot police and security forces have been tasked with terror measures in Ukraine and suppressing dissent in Russia.]
5. Terror attack near Moscow, ISIS takes responsibility, Russia meanwhile kills Ukrainian citizens with drones and missiles as it has for more than two years. (today, March 22 2024)
6. Russia's security apparatus, focused on bringing carnage to Ukraine, has failed in Moscow. Russia's leaders, focused on demonizing the US, did not protect Russians. What next? Where to direct the blame?
7. It would not be very surprising if the Kremlin blames Ukraine and the United States for terror in Moscow and uses the Moscow attack to justify continuing and future atrocities in Ukraine.
☼Moscow Terror (2) The claim and the blame
=
Adam Kinzinger, a moderate conservative, explains how DJ Trump beguiles his supporters.
¶Adam Kinzinger
☼Trump is Physically, Mentally, and Morally Weak. He Cosplays tough guy, and hopes we buy it.
=
Assessing future threats :—
¶Latika M Bourke and Mick Ryan
☼Analysing the latest Threat Assessments. On the latest threat assessment by the US and European Intelligence communities.
=
Chicagoland-born Canadian writer Diane Francis loves Ukraine and Ukrainians, so we’re partial to her. But loving Ukraine is compatible with being correct.
¶Diane Francis & Michael Judge
☼Why Russia Can’t Win. A conversation with Substack’s Diane Francis about her start in journalism, her love and respect for Ukraine, and why a Russian defeat is inevitable. [transcripts available]
☼Why Russia Can't Win, Part Two — A conversation with Substack’s Diane Francis about her start in journalism, her love and respect for Ukraine, and why a Russian defeat is inevitable.
Cheers,
Martin.
☼
☼
+... and in the Left corner ...+
(For everyone, but perhaps of special interest to Social Democrats, Bolshevik imperialists, and other lefties)
Texas National Security Review
Podcast: Fortifications, Manpower, and Munitions in Ukraine’s Daunting Year Ahead
+Wayfarers' Watch+
(For everyone, but especially for people interested in religion and theology)
☼¶ ☼_Crux_ (Glendale)
A priest who refused to stay silent still speaks to the world today
☼¶ ☼_Psephizo_
What strange new world are we now living in?
Laurie Clow offers this review of Carl Truman’s new book Strange New World (Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois: 2022)
In a time when the normative notion of selfhood is psychological, then to hate the sin is to hate the sinner
+Greensleeves+
(On the world-room and its conservation, but also a magazine of interesting matters which don’t fit into the earlier sections)
¶William Kristol and Andrew Egger
☼A Good President Can Still Lose
¶Amy S.F. Lutz
☼When Everything is Eugenics, Nothing Is. Preventing severe disability is a laudable goal. Crying eugenics renders the word meaningless.
¶David Bentley Hart
☼A Conversation with Philip Ball Chiefly about the life-sciences
¶Lawrence Freedman
☼Is Nuclear Deterrence Ethical and Legal?
+Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union+
(Mostly material from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group)
UN report demolishes Russia’s attempts to blame Ukrainian POWs for its atrocities in Mariupol
18.03.2024
The UN report on earlier civilian attacks and systematic torture coincided with Russia’s barbaric attack on Odesa, where the first Russian missile targeted residential buildings, the second – the medics and rescuers who sped to the scene
Russians abduct 18-year-old from occupied Nova Kakhovka and torture out ‘confession to spying’
18.03.2024
Kyrylo Rozumiey still bears the scars of the electric current torture that his Russian abductors used against a lad who was just 18 when seized
New textbook tells children in occupied Ukraine how Russia “restored peace with the help of tanks”
19.03.2024
Russia’s new textbook for occupied Ukraine aims to brainwash Ukrainian children into believing that Ukraine is the aggressor state and Russia the country they should want to ‘defend’ with their lives
Russia moves to ‘revoke’ Soviet decree recognizing Crimea as part of Ukraine
20.03.2024
Russia’s leaders will be “shooting themselves in the foot” with this pitiful attempt to rewrite history, one legal expert has noted, since the question must arise why they recognized Ukraine’s borders from 1991 until the invasion
21.03.2024
In an 8-minute ‘court hearing’ in Lutfiye Zudiyeva’s absence, the journalist and human rights defender was found ‘guilty’ of an absurd charge over a very old Facebook post
Russia tortures more Ukrainian POWs and sentences them en masse to 27 years for defending Ukraine
21.03.2024
+Toots &c.+
Podcast: Fortifications, Manpower, and Munitions in Ukraine’s Daunting Year Ahead
+Pi Jaws &c.+ | + Laughter, the best Medicine+
~ Plough
~ Plough
[No offence intended to people who are cautious about vaccination: I hope you find this funny —]
Continuing ‘Some Thoughts on the Examen of Consciousness’:
A. Ask God for light.
B. Give thanks. (Be thankful)
C. Review the day. (Consider the period under review)
D. Face your shortcomings. (Do a look in the mirror)
E. Look toward the day to come. (Enjoy the rest of your life)
===
As we develop a practice of discernment, we learn about intuition. Sometimes we experience a strong hunch or an underlying sense of certainty. How much can we trust those moments?
Intuition is a function of the human personality, just as imagination and reasoning are. Some people access their intuition quite naturally, but this doesn’t mean that their hunches are always right. Likewise, a person who is not used to working with intuition can learn how to access it and become more comfortable trusting it.
Reflecting daily on your experience is a good starting point for more intuitive work. When you pray the Examen—the prayer that helps you review the day—you can focus on your flashes of intuition. Intuition can feel emotional, or it can come through the intellect—a sudden thought about a situation. For example, when you had that conversation, what did you feel about it, deep down? When you had to choose among three options, did you have a sense that one was the best?
—From Small Simple Ways by Vinita Hampton Wright
The God that Ignatius got to know over the course of his life was a helping and encouraging God. Recall one image he shared in his autobiography: God worked with him as a teacher working with a pupil. The Exercises are built on the foundation that God communicates with us uniquely and personally. God wants to help us make good choices so that we can thrive and become the person God created us to be. God is rooting for us, not testing us or abandoning us if we make a wrong decision. God remains with us even when we take a detour, helping us get back on course.
—From Seeing with the Heart by Kevin O’Brien, SJ
By definition, discernment is all about prayer. If I am to discern well, I must have a prayer life. Having a prayer life involves more than simply praying every day. It is a core experience of my day-to-day life. Prayer does not necessarily take up a lot of my time, but it does take up a lot of my interior space, in terms of its impact on the whole of my life. I understand prayer as crucial to my well-being. When a companion sincerely asks, “How are you?” the state of my prayer life will be an important part of my answer. It is almost as if my prayer life were a person with whom I am in a loving relationship: I care for it, nurture it, and give my whole heart to it. My prayer life, in turn, nurtures me, grounds me, and gives me direction. Sad to say, I also neglect my prayer life. I get bored with it and tussle with it. Sometimes we just don’t get along. But I am always in relationship with it.
A prayer life doesn’t have to be mystical, beautiful, or inspirational. Even to seasoned pray‑ers this spiritual habit often seems quite ordinary and uneventful. What is crucial is the prayer’s importance to the one doing the praying. All that matters is that a person pray a little every day in order to grow closer to the God, who very dearly desires to grow closer to that person.
—
Prayer Exercise: Prayerful Brainstorming
So many times in life, we begin with the naive assumption that we have only options A and B. We choose one of these two without ever stopping to think that there might be an option C and D, and maybe even an option Q. Before going further in this decision-making process, then, we should spend several prayer times going over the situation again and again, thinking wild thoughts about crazy ways to respond. It just may be that there is some hidden, viable option…that will reveal itself in the midst of this holy brainstorming.
In your prayer, then, go back to the basic questions and ask them as though they have never been asked before.
What’s the problem or situation I’m dealing with here?
What are all of the opportunities?
Who are all of the people involved?
What is option C? option D? option Q?
Do not leave this line of questioning until you have come up with a thousand new ideas, 90 percent of them extreme and unworkable. Then take that one workable solution you had not previously thought of and bring it to the decision-making process.
—From God’s Voice Within by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ
+Publication Details+
Just Peace Ukraine is published by the Rvrd Martin Arnold
Abbe.Martincurt@gmail.com
who welcomes comments & suggestions and notification of typos.
For more information about Martin, go to
https://gravatar.com/martinoarnold
*_* Хай живе вільна Україна *_* L’Ukraine a toujours aspiré à être libre - Voltaire *_* Няхай жыве вольная Украіна *_* Larga vida a Ucrania libre *_* Да здравствует свободная Украина *_* Long live free Ukraine *_* 自由乌克兰万岁 *_* Bandera rossonera la trionferà!
*_* تحيا أوكرانيا حرة *_*
The rationale for Just Peace Ukraine is being revised. A new improved version will be unveiled at our earliest convenience. We expect that the new rationale will have headings —
The Russo-Ukrainian War is illegal
The Russo-Ukrainian War is immoral
The Russo-Ukrainian War is inexpedient
If you’d like to send in your own thoughts for any or all of these headings — or other material — feel free. We’ve been thinking about the rationale for so long that we find it hard to criticize our own prose.
+Tl;dr+
Samvydav Review for Just Peace Ukraine 2024
Scores of Substack and similar samvydav sites sifted by the strenuous staff at Just Peace Ukraine.
Some interesting or worthy items are marked with some combination of the banner with the strange device [|εξηλσιορ*ψ|] — ψ, the Greek letter ‘psi’, may denote matter especially relevant to the Russo-Ukrainian War and anti-imperialism.
(Mnemonic: ‘psi’ has the form of a trident, which is an ancient symbol for Ukrainian government. The symbol was used in the Greek settlements on the Black Sea (or Psi). Tim Snyder reminds us that Greeks and Jews have the longest recorded settlements in Ukraine, and capital psi Ψ looks like an infant menorah.)
Dispatches from —
¶Aaron Ross Powell
¶Adam Tooze
¶Adam Kinzinger
¶Ada Wordsworth
¶Addison Hodges Hart
¶Alessandra Hay, Oksana Ostapchuk, and Tim Mak
¶Alexander Vindman
¶Alex Massie
¶Amy S.F. Lutz
¶Andrew Levison
¶Berny Belvedere and Shikha Dalmia
¶Bryn Williams-Jones
¶Chris Arnade
¶Claire Berlinski
¶Clare Ashcraft
¶Damian Counsell
¶Daniel Baxter
¶Daniel W. Drezner
¶Dan Meyer
¶Dave Keating
¶David Bentley Hart
¶David Josef Volodzko
¶Dispatches from the Bruderhof
¶Diane Francis
¶Éamann Mac Donnchada
¶Eliot Wilson
¶Erin Cook
¶Fr Thomas Plant
¶Jim Swift
¶John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira
¶Jonn Elledge
¶Jonathan V. Last
¶Jordana Timerman
¶Katerina Sergatskova
¶Ken Opalo
¶Konstantin Kisin
¶Larissa Babij
¶Latika M Bourke
¶Lauren Wolfe
¶Lawrence Freedman
¶Margo Gontar
¶Mariam Memarsadeghi
¶Matt Osborn
¶Michael McFaul
¶Mick Ryan
¶Nils Karlson
¶No-self Help
¶N.S. Lyons
¶Pascal LTH
¶Paul Kingsnorth
¶Phillips P. OBrien
¶Peter Juul
¶Political.Tips by Sarah Ashton
¶Quico Toro
¶Radley Balko
¶Regina Doman
¶Sam Freedman
¶Sam Greene
¶Sam Kahn
¶Sarcastosaurus (Tom Cooper)
¶Sean McElwee
¶Solrunn Nes
¶Spencer Boyer
¶Stephen Bradford Long
¶Steven A. Cook
¶Thomas P.M. Barnett
¶Tim Mak, & al. Ross Pelekh, Myroslava Tanska-Vikulova
¶Timothy Garton Ash
¶Timothy Snyder
¶William Kristol and Andrew Egger
¶Yair Zivan
¶Yascha Mounk
¶Zaid Jilani
==
¶Aaron Ross Powell
☼Why AI is the New Sliced Bread — Artists who fight AI may need to look in the mirror
¶Adam Tooze
☼Gaza's famine, Malaysia's currency under pressure, PE impasse, pickles for millenials and Indonesian economic nationalism
☼China's vanishing statistics, Mexico's investment boom, why German carmakers don't want tariffs on Chinese EV & the Rangoon School
☼China's investment shifts gear, Sudan's refugee crisis spills over, southern African drought & America's history crisis
☼America's aging capital stock, Japan's trade union breakthrough, instant noodles taking over the world & the decline of hobbies.
☼Chartbook 270: How Russia makes missiles - an important report from Rhodus Intelligence
☼American protectionism, fossil fuel rearguard, Cuban protests, two visions of American transport - Chrysler vs Amtrak & how the Black Panthers mapped Yale.
☼The bleak future for Nigerian oil, why the US doesn't want Ukraine to attack Russian refineries, Putin's pensioner problem & the central heating revolution.
☼¶Adam Kinzinger
☼Sunny Joe vs. Darth Trump. Could it depend on the price of Cheerios?
☼Liar, Liar, Credibility on Fire. How the political class lost the public’s trust
☼Trump is Physically, Mentally, and Morally Weak. He Cosplays tough guy, and hopes we buy it.
¶Ada Wordsworth
☼March 2023: blackouts, Starlinks, and repairs
¶Addison Hodges Hart
☼Getting "faith" wrong...... and getting it right [excerpt]
☼Doing the work of remembrance
☼Paul and Jewish mysticism — Three recommended videos
☼Dante: Inferno to Paradise: Available online until March 24th For people in USA or dominions, or with VPN
¶Alexander Vindman
☼NATO Troops in Ukraine. Potential Roles for Limited Troops in Ukraine
☼The Kremlin's Projection: Propagandizing Ukraine's Nazism
¶Alex Massie
☼Why do so many people vote for the SNP? They have their reasons and they are not all illogical ones. This and other questions asked and answered...
☼The Trial of Henry Dundas — Why no history would be better than very, very, bad history
¶Amy S.F. Lutz
[|εξηλσιορ*ψ|]
☼When Everything is Eugenics, Nothing Is. Preventing severe disability is a laudable goal. Crying eugenics renders the word meaningless.
¶Andrew Levison
☼The Democratic Coalition Isn’t Really a Coalition — And why that’s actually a big problem.
¶Berny Belvedere and Shikha Dalmia
☼NATO: Foreign Entanglement or Effective Alliance? Berny Belvedere and Shikha Dalmia Debate. The UnPopulist editors assess whether this Cold War alliance is still helping buttress liberal democracy
¶Bryn Williams-Jones
☼Being a “Bioethicist” / Être un “bioéthicien”. It requires regularly reinventing yourself, in an ever-evolving, interdisciplinary domain
¶Chris Arnade
☼Walking the Netherlands: From Amsterdam to The Hague. Reaping the benefits of wanting to be good citizens
That emphasis on good citizenship is why the Netherlands is so remarkably clean and functional. Like Japan, it’s the eptiome of a high-trust society, and because of that it has nice things without worrying they’ll be trashed for fun, profit, or whatever selfish reasons people abuse public spaces.
The most obvious nice thing to a newcomer is the public transportation which is one of the best I’ve experienced.
¶Claire Berlinski
☼What's really going on with aid deliveries to Gaza? The UN and Israel can't both be telling the truth. Shouldn't our media be able to sort this out?
☼Responsible Retreat, Part I. A proposal for a new paradigm in American foreign policy
¶Clare Ashcraft
☼We Must Do Things That Are Not Enough \ The value of small progress
¶Damian Counsell
☼"Look What You Made Them Do!" Suicide As A Political Weapon
¶Daniel Baxter
☼Blowing up the nuclear family
¶Daniel W. Drezner
☼Where is the Median American Voter Right Now? A few thoughts on the state of the 2024 election.
☼Do Other Great Powers Have a Rooting Interest in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election? Some revealing stories about what China and Russia think about Biden vs. Trump
☼Drezner's World Is Going to the Balkans!
☼Jared Kushner Was Meant for the Balkans. Every time I think I've escaped a Trump story, Jared Kushner has to behave like Jared Kushner.
☼It's Funny How Immigration and Crime are Trending in Opposite Directions. Another "hill I will die on" post.
¶Dan Meyer
☼Five Differences Between Human and AI Tutors \ Chatbot tutors have not arrived and we should wonder if they ever will.
☼Teacher Spotlight: Let's Play a Game — The winners get to grow as teachers.
¶Dave Keating
☼Why do Europeans keep voting conservative? In one of this year's many elections, voters are expected to vote in the majority for a party that's been in power for two decades. Where is this strange democratic oddity? Right here in Europe.
☼The EU’s uncertain nuclear future. Half of EU countries, part of a "nuclear alliance", held a historic summit in Brussels yesterday. Are they right to say atomic energy can solve the union's climate and security woes?
¶David Bentley Hart
[|εξηλσιορ*ψ|]
☼A Conversation with Philip Ball Chiefly about the life-sciences
¶David Josef Volodzko
☼India and the Human Triumph. A letter exchange with Claire Berlinski on poverty in India
¶Dispatches from the Bruderhof
☼Middlemarch, Lent, and a raspberry patch — reflections on a faithful life
¶Diane Francis & Michael Judge
☼After Navalny Part 2. March 11, 2024
☼Macron's Manifesto. March 14, 2024
☼Why Russia Can’t Win. A conversation with Substack’s Diane Francis about her start in journalism, her love and respect for Ukraine, and why a Russian defeat is inevitable. [transcripts available]
☼Why Russia Can’t Win, Part Two — A conversation with Substack’s Diane Francis about her start in journalism, her love and respect for Ukraine, and why a Russian defeat is inevitable.
☼Restive Russia — March 21, 2024
¶Éamann Mac Donnchada
☼A Snap Election in Catalonia \ And a word on the amnesty law
☼Update on the Catalan election. And the FT is writing nonsense about Spain again
☼The (Catalan) Nativists are Getting Restless — While in Madrid the PP continues with its parliamentary hooliganism
¶Eliot Wilson
☼Sunday round-up: observations and recommendations 10 March 2024. Once again, a few facts which have passed through my mind recently, and some things you should watch or read
☼The church un-militant: Pope Francis waves a white flag. The head of the Catholic Church has urged Ukraine to concede to Russia's invasion simply to end the fighting, ignoring any concept of just war or self-defence: why?
As an isolated incident, [Francis recent remark] would be a clumsy, tactless and mendacious formulation, one which placed the onus on Ukraine, rather than the aggressor, Russia, to initiate an end to the conflict in the context of surrender. Taken as part of a pattern of behaviour stretching back to the very beginning of this phase of the conflict in February 2022, it is little short of disgraceful. ..\..
Pope Francis has got this badly wrong, and has been exposed as a fool or a knave. If he is simply overwhelmed by the scale of the death, then he has no business in the arena of international diplomacy, where hard choices need to be faced and actions have consequences. A well-meaning surrender by Ukraine now would represent a defeat for the Ukrainian people and expose them to further danger, as well as rewarding Russian aggression. If the pope cannot see that, he should confine himself to matters of religion. \ If, on the other hand, he knows what he is doing, and is pursuing a strategic agenda which favours Russia’s interests because Vladimir Putin is somehow a champion against Western imperialism, he has shown himself morally void. Not only is Putin an autocrat and a kleptocrat who has extinguished for the time being any embers of democracy in Russia, he regularly has political opponents murdered, oversaw a brutal war of repression in Chechnya which killed tens of thousands of civilians as well as military personnel and has systematically curtailed and abused human rights in Russia. If, as the pope presumably believes, there is a reckoning after this life, a decision to stand beside Vladimir Putin will require a great deal of explanation.