Anne Applebaum makes parallels on how the Soviet Union used language to organize Famine genocide against Ukrainians with their genocide today in her column on The Atlantic. “Peasant front”, “kulak menace,” “village socialism” and “class resistance,” – these phrases were invented to avoid seeing the humanity in the people, whom Soviet brigades deprived of food and life. Memories about those times, even stories of former brigades’ members, have been public for a long time. However, they didnʼt make it impossible to repeat them. Russia’s ability to disguise reality from its citizens and dehumanize its enemies has grown stronger and more powerful than ever. It seems state-owned television can even do a better job than mass arrests, social media is more powerful than printed leaflets, and professional influencers can shape online discourse almost effortless compared to Stalin times. The Kremlin’s propaganda machine has been working for years to make sure Russians don’t feel pity for Ukraine, and words were the tools they used to hide the truth. “Special military operation” – is what they called invasion, mass murder is “protection of Donbas”, “de-Nazification” is murdering Ukrainian leadership, writes Applebaum. Apparently, Russians don’t learn from history – as they have never admitted guilt for the Holodomor or Gulag crimes, they just move on continuing to convince themselves that their enemies “are just not human beings”.
While almost everyone – including Putin and Western officials – expected Ukrainian leadership to fracture over the first days of the war, President Zelensky managed to demonstrate unity and efficiency, writes The New York Times. The Ukrainian success is also rooted in the government’s ability to operate smoothly and address wartime risks such as food shortages and the transport crisis. Another demonstration of unity was a truce with former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, who has been a long-time political rival of Zelensky. The outlet writes that partly the speed of reforms and responses of the current Ukrainian leadership is possible that the Parliament, the Government, and President’s Office people are one big team. The decision to combine six television newsrooms into one channel casting unified messages about war, is the one most controversial, writes NYT. This move received criticism for the government suppressing dissent. Transparency in the Parliament has also been a casualty of war – to make sure decisions are made quickly, the MPs do not debate bills publicly. Hopefully, when the war ends, Ukraine is able to bounce back to democratic and pluralistic political culture.
As Ukrainian battlefield commanders are struggling to endure Russian artillery and rocket fire, the West is rushing heavy weaponry to Ukraine, writes Politico. US, France and Canada are rapidly increasing their aid to Ukraine in recognition of the upcoming artillery dominated fights and tank battles on the flat fields of eastern Ukraine. Politico talked to a leitenant Ivan Skuratovsky, serving in the 25th Airborne Brigade120 km from besieged Mariupol. He says the situation is desperate and there is an urgent need for help, specifically drones for air support. As the Russian forces are appearing to launch the pincer movement from the north and south cutting at least 30,000 of Ukrainian troops from resupply, counter attacking from distance might be a key to Ukrainian success. What the West is able to send and how quickly it gets there would likely be a key factor in whether Ukraine is able to free their trapped troops from the strategic city of Mariupol and succeed in the next phase of the war.
Japan is angry at Ukraine following a post on the official Ukrainian government Twitter account showing a picture of Japanese wartime Emperor Hirohito alongside Hitler and Mussolini, informs Bloomberg. While Ukrainian officials have apologized and removed Emperor’s picture from the post, the damage has been done as the tweet has been circulating widely over the weekend. So far, Japan has been publicly supporting Ukraine by sending non-lethal military equipment and opening borders for a few hundred refugees.