PAGBABAGO
Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid
Ten days ago, the invasion of Ukraine, described as perhaps the largest refugee crisis in this century, started. Should the second round of diplomatic talks between the two countries fail, we could expect this conflict to escalate into the largest war in Europe since World War II.
US President Joe Biden in his State of the Union Address, promised that the US would stand by Ukraine and threatens to punish Putin, saying that his attack was “premeditated and unprovoked.” A few days ago, the 40-mile long Russian convoy started its artillery assault with airstrikes on a government office, a military hospital, the main TV tower in cities Kyiv and Khargkiv, and with little regard to collateral damage as it targeted the civilian population as well. CNN reports showed civilians trying to gear themselves with homemade instruments – wine bottles, Molotov cocktails, and hand guns as they prepared for the imminent battle. UN reports that about 750 civilians had been killed to date. Already on Day seven, according to the UN, a million had fled to Poland, Hungary and nearby countries. In an emotional address met with standing ovation at the European Union Parliament, President Zelensky said, “We are fighting to be equal members of Europe Nobody is going to break us. Life will win over death,” as he called for investigation into Russian war crimes. Russians are now beginning to feel the impact of economic sanctions from countries of Europe and other regions. And the prices of the oil and energy all over the world had dramatically increased. Here is a comparison between the two protagonists of this brutal assault, with the same first names even if spelt differently – Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. Except for that and the fact that both had studied law, they are different in so many ways. Putin is 16 years older, and is the second longest serving European president and prime minister. His father was with the Soviet Navy, and later, with the army, and his mother, a factory worker. After working as a KGB for 16 years, he turned politician by joining Boris Yeltsin. He shifted to authoritarianism , jailed political opponents, suppressed free press and the conduct of fair elections. He tried to destabilize democracies by interfering in elections in the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. He had imprisoned journalists and protesters and had rejected diplomatic moves. Zelensky is the current and sixth president of Ukraine. His father was a professor of cybernetics and his mother, an architect. A former actor and comedian, he was also a producer of films, cartoons, and TV shows. He played the title role of president, in “Servant of the People.” In 2018, he led a successful, almost entirely a virtual presidential campaign and won with 73.2 percent of the vote. In the campaign, he promoted himself as an anti-establishment and anti-corruption figure. One of his aspirations is to develop the economy and attract investments through a reform of the judicial system and restoring confidence through tax amnesty, saying that if people would notice that his government works honestly from the first day, they would pay their taxes. How the war would play out, and whether this would be a protracted conflict that would end with much damage to humanity, we cannot tell. But those of us who are in a position to do something either through participation in the growing sanctions against Russia, help promote the flow of information and the independence of the media, or such other means to bring about peaceful resolution, should do so.My email, [email protected]