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Monday, December 6, 2021

Ukraine, As It Faces Down a Hundred Thousand Russian Soldiers Right Now

  Ukraine, As It Faces Down a Hundred Thousand Russian Soldiers in 2021

Nadene Goldfoot                          
The fate of Ukraine is hanging today at a Tuesday meeting.   
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the US President Joe Biden will have a videoconference on Tuesday, RIA Novosti news agency has reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.  Can they hold out without shooting until tomorrow's meeting? President of Ukraiane,  Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky,  is a Ukrainian comedian and politician who is the 6th and current president of Ukraine since 20 May 2019. 
  • Tens of thousands of Russian troops have reportedly gathered at the border with Ukraine.  Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, a part of Ukraine, in 2014.
At this moment, Russian troops massing at Ukraine's border
                                               
    Crimea also had a Jewish history.  From the 7th century to 1117, easter Crimea was controlled by the KHAZARS.  A large Karaite population lived there from the 12th century.  Many Jews had to become Moslemss under Tatar rule.  The Genoese, rulers in 15th century, protested Jews.  Turks ruled from 1475 to 1783 and Chufut-Kale was the Jewish center.  Russians conquered Crimea in 1783.  In late 1920's, thousands of jews were settled in Crimea so as to have an autonomous Jewish agricultural center.  blky 1939, the Jewish population numbered 50,000 including 40,000 Ashkeneazim, 6,000 Krimchaks, and 4,000 Karaiatees.  They were mostly wiped out by the Germans by 1941.  In 1980, the Jewish population was 25,614.                                                
Service members of the Russian airborne forces line up before boarding Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes during drills at a military aerodrome in the Azov Sea port of Taganrog, Russia April 22, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Stringer

Orthodox Jewish pilgrims prayed near the tomb of Rabbi Nachman while celebrating Rosh Hashanah in Uman, about 200 km South of Kyiv, Ukraine, on 5 October 2016. Every year, thousands of Orthodox Bratslav Hasidic Jews from different countries gather in Uman to mark Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, near the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, a great grandson of the founder of Hasidism. (Photo by Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto)(Maxym Marusenko / Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto/Sipa USA)

According to the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish community in Ukraine constitutes the third-largest Jewish community in Europe and the fifth-largest in the world.

As of 2012, Ukraine had the fifth-largest Jewish community in Europe and the twelfth-largest Jewish community in the world, behind South Africa and ahead of Mexico. The majority of Ukrainian Jews live in four large cities: Kyiv (about half of all Jews living in Ukraine), Dnipro, Kharkiv and Odessa.

There is a growing trend among some Israelis to visit Ukraine on a "roots trip" to follow the footsteps of Jewish life there. Among the places of interest Kyiv is usually mentioned, where it is possible to trace the paths of Sholem Aleichem and Golda Meir; Zhytomyr and Korostyshiv, where one can follow the steps of Haim Nahman Bialik; Berdychiv, where one can trace the life of Mendele Mocher Sforim; Rivne, where one can follow the course of Amos Oz; Buchach – the path of S.Y. Agnon; Drohobych – the place of Maurycy Gottlieb and Bruno Schulz.

In 1989, a Soviet census counted 487,000 Jews living in Ukraine. Although discrimination by the state all but halted very soon after Ukrainian independence in 1991, Jews were still discriminated against in Ukraine during the 1990s. For instance, Jews were not allowed to attend some educational institutions. Antisemitism has since declined. According to the European Jewish Congress, as of 2014, there are 360,000–400,000 Jews in Ukraine.  

During the 1990s, some 266,300 Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel as part of a wave of mass emigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union to Israel in the 1990s. The 2001 Ukrainian Census counted 106,600 Jews living in Ukraine (the number of Jews also dropped due to a negative birthrate. According to the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister of Israel, early 2012 there were 250,000 Jews in Ukraine, half of them living in Kyiv.

In the westernmost area of Ukraine, Jews were mentioned for the first time in 1030. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising between 1648 and 1657, an army of Cossacks and Crimean Tatars massacred and took into captivity large numbers of Jews, Roman Catholics and Uniate Christians. Recent estimates range from 15,000 to 30,000 Jews killed or taken captive, and 300 Jewish communities completely destroyed. During the 1821 anti-Jewish riots in Odessa following the death of the Greek Orthodox patriarch in Constantinople, 14 Jews were killed. Some sources claim this episode as the first pogrom. At the start of 20th century, anti-Jewish pogroms continued to occur. When part of the Russian Empireantisemitic attitudes can be seen in the number of blood libel cases between 1911 and 1913. In 1915, the government expelled thousands of Jews from the Empire's border areas.

Many of my DNA matches have ancestors from Ukraine.  It was in time of war that Jews were pushed into Ukraine from Poland and Lithuania.  Ukraine was not the religious center of Jewry like Lithuania was.  
                                                 

KYIV, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Jewish,  has said there are nearly 100,000 Russian soldiers near Ukraine's border and that Western countries had shared information about active Russian troop movements with Kyiv.  - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said there are nearly 100,000 Russian soldiers near Ukraine's border and that Western countries had shared information about active Russian troop movements with Kyiv.

Three days ago it was reported that Russia is planning massive military offensive against Ukraine involving 175,000 troops, U.S. intelligence warns.  They have observed military planning, personnel movements, artillery and equipment all at the ready.  

The Kremlin has been moving troops toward the border with Ukraine while demanding Washington guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO and that the alliance will refrain from certain military activities in and around Ukrainian territory. The crisis has provoked fears of a renewed war on European soil and comes ahead of a planned virtual meeting next week between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.


Zelensky was born 25 January 1978 in Kryvyi RihUkrainian SSRSoviet Union to Jewish parents.

 His grandfather, Semyon (Simon) Ivanovych Zelensky, served in the Red Army (in the 57th Guards Motor Rifle Division) during World War II; Semyon's father and three brothers were killed in the Holocaust. Semyon was lucky to live through it.  

Volodymyr's father, Oleksandr Zelensky [uk], is a professor and head of Department of Cybernetics and Computing Hardware at the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics; his mother, Rymma Zelenska, used to work as an engineer. Prior to starting elementary school, he lived for four years in Mongolia in the city of Erdenet where his father worked. At age 16, he passed the TOEFL and received an education grant to study in Israel, but his father did not allow him to study there.

Zelensky earned a law degree from the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics, then a department of Kyiv National Economic University and now part of Kryvyi Rih National Universitybut has not worked professionally in the legal field. He speaks UkrainianRussian and English

“The Russian plans call for a military offensive against Ukraine as soon as early 2022 with a scale of forces twice what we saw this past spring during Russia’s snap exercise near Ukraine’s borders,” said an administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. “The plans involve extensive movement of 100 battalion tactical groups with an estimated 175,000 personnel, along with armor, artillery and equipment.”  It seems they're ahead of schedule.  

The head of Nato has urged Russia to be transparent about its military plans after an increase in the numbers of troops on its border with Ukraine.

Jens Stoltenberg said a "large and unusual" build-up of Russian forces had been spotted on the border in recent weeks.

"He spoke amid speculation Russia could be planning to invade Ukraine".  Do you think?  

Moscow has dismissed such fears as "alarmist" and complained of increasing Nato activities in the region.  Of course, they are the one alarming everyone !  

Speaking after talks with Ukraine's foreign minister in Brussels, Mr Stoltenberg said the important thing was to stop tensions from spiralling out of control. He warned Russia against taking any "aggressive actions".  All those men with arms, everything they need to act aggressively...are they tense besides?  

                                        

                        Russian units have been on exercises in Crimea

Mr Stoltenberg said: "We see an unusual concentration of troops, and we know that Russia has been willing to use these types of military capabilities before to conduct aggressive actions against Ukraine." Are NATO's troops ready?  


June 14, 2021: 69.         We reiterate the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process; we reaffirm all elements of that decision, as well as subsequent decisions, including that each partner will be judged on its own merits.  We stand firm in our support for Ukraine’s right to decide its own future and foreign policy course free from outside interference.  The Annual National Programmes under the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) remain the mechanism by which Ukraine takes forward the reforms pertaining to its aspiration for NATO membership.  Ukraine should make full use of all instruments available under the NUC to reach its objective of implementing NATO principles and standards.  The success of wide-ranging, sustainable, and irreversible reforms, including combating corruption, promoting an inclusive political process, and decentralisation reform, based on democratic values, respect for human rights, minorities, and the rule of law, will be crucial in laying the groundwork for a prosperous and peaceful Ukraine. 


  • Update: 12/6/21"Many European leaders do not seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation.... Ukraine has a gun to its head, but the German government only seems worried about the survival of its pipeline.... This is just the kind of poor judgement that enables Russian military aggression." — Gustav Gressel. Gatestone Institute


Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Ukraine   (huge article)
Dallas Morning News:  Ukraine Jews Have a Little Hanukkah Miracle of their own going on
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-russia-has-nearly-100000-troops-near-its-border-2021-11-13/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelensky
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/russia-ukraine-invasion/2021/12/03/98a3760e-546b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59288181
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_185000.htm
https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/154288 Gatestone Institute

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