Nadene Goldfoot
Ukraine is one of those eastern European countries where Jews lived. They fled here from Khazaria, the Caliphate, and Byzantinium between the 9th and 12th centuries, and then from Central Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries. Jews also fled here from Poland in the 16th to 17th centuries. Jews died here in severe massacres during 17th to 18th centuries. It's a country that was always an anti-Semitic center. By 1905 through 1920, many pogroms happened here. Why any of our ancestors kept trying to live here is beyond my imagination.
I never thought I'd live to see the president of Ukraine be a Jewish man, a comedian at that. You'd have to be a comedian to be Jewish and be the president here to see the humor in life. Zelensky is young and vibrant. He's not alone. Though most Jews have already moved to Israel, some, like his family, are still there.
For three seasons, the 41-year-old Jewish comedian starred as President Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko on his show “Servant of the People.” When Zelensky, who has no prior political experience, launched his bid for president last year, he named his party after the popular series and ran with a populist, anti-corruption platform that largely matched that of his character.
In 1914, World War I happened, ending in 1918. In the aftermath of World War I and the revolutionary upheavals that followed, Ukrainian territories were divided among four states. Bukovina was annexed to Romania. Transcarpathia was joined to the new country of Czechoslovakia.
WWII started in 1939 in Europe and ended in 1945. After World War II, the western part of Ukraine merged into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the whole country became a part of the Soviet Union. Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Ukraine officially declared itself an independent country on 24 August 1991, when the communist Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Ukraine proclaimed that Ukraine would no longer follow the laws of USSR and only the laws of the Ukrainian SSR, de facto declaring Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union.
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Protests originally erupted in November 2013 after President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union at a meeting of the Eastern Partnership in Vilnius, Lithuania, choosing closer ties with Russia instead. (oh ho...)
Here we are again with 127,000 Russians are at the border of Ukraine according to the UN's latest figures, daring a move to let them say that Ukraine started the war, and they will enter and take it back. Evidently they are out to create the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) all over again. From the border, it's a fast 140 miles down a newly paved highway to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, but only a few troops stand guard.
We know Russia's playbook,” the US ambassador said.“We know it includes measures beyond overt military action. It often starts with cyber attacks, paramilitary activity, disinformation campaigns intended to obscure the facts and create a pretext for their own aggression, and other efforts to destabilize their target." (I think we're past that phase. They're there, at the border. They're brought in more troops. I don't see any UN troops). “We have an obligation to protect our staff," she continued. "And we've been very, very clear that we see the situation deteriorating, and we want to make sure that we put our staff in a place where they feel protected,” she said. (I guess 127,000 troops on the border isn't that scary, just to me).
Ukraine sees that Russia is adding to their arsenal of personnel and weaponry as each day passes.
President Joe Biden has decided to send 5,000 troops, battleships, bombers and interception planes to the Baltic region and East Europe in response to the Russian military buildup on the Ukraine border. What is 5,000 versus over 100,000? A drop in the bucket. Is this going to play out like when the UN forces were asked by Egypt to leave and they did when Israel was in the same position?
Moscow: We will respond appropriately. Biden’s decision came out of a top-level conference with Pentagon and military officials at Camp David on Saturday, Jan. 22.
How did you think Moscow would react? They're the ones aggressively lined up at the border. Why? What did he think the rest of the world would react? Did he forget how Russia felt when Germany invaded Poland? Remember, Russia and Germany fought each other in WWII. Now Russia is acting just like Germany did in 1939.
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://forward.com/culture/423025/ukraine-president-volodymyr-zelensky-jewish-comedian-trump-impeachment/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Crimea_by_the_Russian_Federation#:~:text=In%20February%20and%20March%202014,the%20wider%20Russo%2DUkrainian%20conflict.
https://www.rferl.org/a/satellite-photos-russia-ukraine-troop-buildup/31662944.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/15/heres-what-we-know-about-russias-military-buildup-near-ukraine/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ukraine
