Ukraine invasion

[Ryujin]

The Canadian Red Cross is doing a campaign targeting support for Ukraine. I understand that people in the US will likely have a low opinion of The Red Cross in general, however, the Canadian Red Cross has consistently been effective and fiscally efficient, with $0.77 out of each dollar going directly to the stated cause.

Red Cross launches Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal - Canadian Red Cross

www.redcross.ca

 

[Thunderfoot]

I think the words of Martin Kimani (Kenya's UN ambassador) prior to the invasion really put this in perspective, and clearly show Russia's actions go against the spirit of the United Nations.


Hmm... I wonder if before the invasion, some third-party nation at the UN had said "These are serious and concerning allegations of what is happening inside Ukraine. But in the absence of evidence, I propose UN peacekeepers and observers (from a neutral nation) are sent to the Donbas to investigate ceasefire violations and see what is going on, reporting back in 30 days."

I doubt it would have changed anything, and it had the danger of giving a smidge of credence to Putin's lies, but I think it would have made Putin's justifications all the more flimsy when he rejected it.

Probably not, The security counsel would have had to vote on it before it went up to the general assembly. And Russia is one of the 5 permanent members, China would either have voted with or abstained and the other 2 or 4 members beyond the US, UK amd France can drop anywhere based on their current politics. That's the reason all the talk about NATO is so crucial. NATO can act outside of the UN auspices but not in defense of a non-NATO member unless their is an order of special protection in place, which wasn't because they were under an existing cease-fire and other reasons we can't discuss here.

 

[Zardnaar]

Big problem of the UN.

"How many divisions does the UN have"?.

Basically people put to much faith in it.

 

[Rabulias]

Probably not, The security counsel would have had to vote on it before it went up to the general assembly. And Russia is one of the 5 permanent members, China would either have voted with or abstained and the other 2 or 4 members beyond the US, UK amd France can drop anywhere based on their current politics.

True enough, but note there are 15 members of the UN Security Council. The five permanent members' veto power does dilute the power of the UN, IMO.

 

[Umbran]

I doubt it would have changed anything, and it had the danger of giving a smidge of credence to Putin's lies, but I think it would have made Putin's justifications all the more flimsy when he rejected it.

It isn't like anyone outside of Russia finds his justifications solid.

 

[Rabulias]

It isn't like anyone outside of Russia finds his justifications solid.

Oh there are a few. Not many, thankfully, but there are some. And just like it would not have changed events in the long run, it would not change the minds of most Putin supporters; they would just have to work a bit harder to come up with some new lie.

 

[Zardnaar]

It isn't like anyone outside of Russia finds his justifications solid.

It's the domestic audience though. I've seen anything from 30-70% support him.

The youth probably don't but there's not enough of them they weren't born in the 90's.

 

[Sacrosanct]

We need more stories like this.

 

[Zardnaar]

We need more stories like this.

It's always hard to know how genuine they are though. I saw that on Reddit. I remember that American airman being paraded in front of the cameras 1991.

One video thoy found the soldiers social media account in Russia and showed that.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The company I work at sent an email about something they are doing. We have a site in Poland, and during the last holiday season we had a lot of temp workers from the Ukraine. The people at the site are now working to contact the families of those workers (and reached some of them) to find them refuge in poland if required. They also plan to do some internal donation campaign, though there apparently still need to be some legal and tax details to be hammered out on that.

That was something that hammered home to me again how close things really are here in Europe and why this feels different from several of the wars in the last decades.

My sister seems to be particular hit by all of it. The whole corona situation already put in her in a... bad mood, worried about freedom and the future. And she's kinda taking it personal, maybe because she's also seeing a lot of objection (even with us, her family). She didn't expect Putin to attack and trusted several more Nato/West-critical opinion groups that are usually more Putin-friendly, too. She expects everything to get worse.
I kinda feel it might have taken down her self-esteem. Of course, her response today might be due to some temporary mood swing, but it isn't the first time we hear worrisome things like that. And I don't really know what I can do to help her.
My other sister generally has similar political opinions, but she doesn't seem to be hit quite as hard by all of it. Maybe it's because she and her husband also have two children (1.5 and 3 years now) and that just puts a different perspective on life.