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To see a list of previous articles, enter “Ukraine” in the Search Box on the upper right, on The Trenchant Observer web site, and you will see a list in chronological order.
To understand the broad context within which current developments in Ukraine should be considered,see
“Ukraine War, October 26, 2022: The context for analysis of current developments; The “dirty bomb” as a Russian propaganda distraction from current war crimes,” The Trenchant Observer, October 26, 2022.
Dispatches
1) Marc Santora and Ben Hubbard, “Kyiv Planning for Total Evacuation if It Loses Electricity; The city is also establishing 1,000 heating centers for its 3 million residents, as Russia pounds away at civilian targets,” New York Times, November 5, 2022 (5:37 p.m. ET):
2) Missy Ryan, John Hudson, and Paul Sonne, “U.S. privately asks Ukraine to show it’s open to negotiate with Russia; The encouragement is aimed not at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table, but ensuring it maintains a moral high ground in the eyes of its international backers,” Washington Post, November 5, 2022 (6:29 p.m. EDT);
Analysis
One of the sad things about chronicling a war, following events closely day by day and writing about what seems salient and of lasting significance, is that you begin to see the future consequences of today’s events long before others who don’t follow things so closely begin to see them.
It helps to have a historian’s discerning eye to be able to focus on what is truly significant.
What is sad is that you recognize in the news of today, here that officials in Kyiv are thinking about evacuating the entire city of five million people if they have no electricity, the inevitable consequences of events such as the massive Russian targeting and attacks on Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure. These attacks began on October 10.
The consequences were inevitable only if NATO did nothing to stop them, or to counter Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats. NATO did nothing to stop them or to counter Putin’s nuclear threats.
These are the consequences of failing to respond to Putin’s military escalations.
Surely there are officials in the government who could foresee these consequenes of Russia’s military escalations under the cover of Putin’s military threats.
But none of them seem to have had the authority or influence to get President Joe Biden’s attention or that of his top advisers and to persuade them that they must act, that they must respond to Putin’s nuclear threats.
So the inevitable consequences, if Biden and NATO did not act to counter Putin’s escalations, have come to pass.
Maybe after the midterm elections in three days, on November 8, 2022, Democrats will take the time to examine both the successes and the failures of Biden’s foreign policy and his foreign policy team. It’s too late to do anything about Afghanistan.
But there may yet remain time and opportunities for course corrections in Ukraine. Democrats will have to overcome their deference to Biden. Republicans will have to establish that any criticisms they make are for the good of the country, and bot for partisan benefit. A tall order, to be sure.
Such course corrections and a strengthening of Biden’s foreign policy team are urgently required if we are to successfully defend the U.N. Charter and international law, and indeed our civilization based on reason and law, from the barbarism of Russia’s depraved army of war criminals
Indeed, Democrats and all civilized people, must now defend our civilation,which is based on reason and law, from the Russian barbarians who would rule the world, both at home and abroad, by pure brute force.
The way they are ruling the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
The Trenchant Observer
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