War

March 4, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

William Gralnick. Photo courtesy of William Gralnick

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I’ve seen the scars of war on my uncle. I’ve watched two wars on television. I’ve lived through the Cold War. Never have I felt a World War could be on our doorstep. It is scary — very. Yet we are still protected somewhat by an ocean. Imagine the people in Europe, those who lived through WWII or those who lived through, or didn’t, the Balkan Wars.

“War, what is is good for? Absolutely nothin’! (Strong and Whitfield, writers. Sony/ATV publishing).

Remember that one. As I write this Putin and his thugs are invading Ukraine. People, men, women, and children have already died. So too soldiers and airmen. This is the real McCoy. Intelligence tells us Putin is on his way to Kiev and intelligence hasn’t been wrong yet. Thus along with the battle and the deaths will come a massive emigration/immigration deluge. People are already sleeping in subway stations and subway cars. This is just the beginning. For the Ukrainians the truth is Muhammed Ali’s. “No place to run. No place to hide.”

“War, I despise

‘Cause it means destruction of innocent lives

War means tears to thousands of mother’s eyes

When their sons go off to fight

And lose their lives.”

It is said that Putin is crazy, deranged, and several other adjectives I’ve heard on the news. So what? How much good did it do when panels of psychiatrists said the same about then President Trump? The real worry then, and now, is sane or not, one can’t ignore the nuclear codes and the trigger finger that goes with them.

So, what do we do? Sanctions are levied and will continue to be levied. They may be effective, but not tomorrow. In the weeks and months of sanctions and those to follow them, hundreds, maybe thousands will die and be displaced. If Putin’s troops head to Kiev and break through as they ultimately must, the Ukrainian president will have to flee. Pundits are talking about a government in exile. Except in France during the second world war, that strategy hasn’t proven to mean much although for those who tried it. However, for Putin the sanctions might make running a government in Ukraine near impossible. It would require a permanent occupation force. ‘very expensive.

“It ain’t nothing but a heart-breaker Friend only to the Undertaker …war has shattered many a young man’s dreams and made him disable, bitter and mean. Life is much too short and precious to spend fighting war. War can’t give life, it can only take it away.

The British have battleships and battlecruisers outfitted for modern day war. Shouldn’t they set sail and come up behind the Russian ships in the Black Sea? I say yes. Should blockades we set up to interdict any ships delivering things to Russia? Should NATO set up air blockades to interdict resupply flight? Yes. Shouldn’t an espionage network be set up to assassinate Putin. “Thanks illegal, you say.” You’re right. But so is Putin’s war.

I’ve heard but one positive thing said about this mess. It was proffered by Col. Alexander Vindman (US Army ret.) It stems from what his boss, Gen. Colin Powell, told his boss, the President before we attacked. “If you break it. You own it.” Vindman said this war is such a major miscalculation he sees it as the end of the run for Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump and their followers. Vindman, himself born in the Ukraine, pointed to the stunning statements by both Carlson and Trump in support of Putin. Add to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who painfully tried to draw a verbal line by proclaiming that Putin was a genius, a crafty statement. (Interesting since Pompeo’s predecessor called Trump an idiot.) Pompeo then said that was a political statement not one in support of this war. OMG. Vindman said as the bodies pile up and the chaos of disruption begins to grip Europe, when we see body bags, we see exploded schools, dead and horribly wounded children, hospitals with gory patients in hallways and on the lawns because the hospitals are overflowing then Carlson and Trump will be left holding their verbal body bags.

“But Lord knows there must be a better way.

“War…what is it good for?

To quote Chester A. Reilly of the popular ’50’s TV comedy “The Life of Reilly: “What a revoltin’ development this is!” And it is–at least from my perspective.