Thoughts About Ukraine Now: A Beginning

 

The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV 

by Ilya Repin

 

 I have waited perhaps too long to write about the current Russo-Ukrainian War.  This has been for several reasons, not the least of which have been personal.  In the meantime, there have been comments by ever so many persons -- Noam Chomsky, the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and his foreign affairs minister, and of course the President of the United States.  

Yet none of these has seemed to have the whole truth in mind.  Chomsxky comes close in some ways, fails in others.  I am left somewhat with the feeling had about World War I, that there was no clear "good guy."  

But it is not easy to let the matter rest there.  For circumstances call out for understanding. However, underdstanding cannot come without knowledge, without background.  

So, I set about to do some research.  First I kept up with the astonisheing developments on the ground  and in the air. Then I began to seek out reasoned voices, the sounds of which were difficult to discern. Finally, I went to my encyclopedia to look up the article on (The) Ukraine.  All of these have been helpful.  None, however, did much to allay my concerns about the propagandistic tenor of the American news media.  For it is not the passions of the moment which interest me, but rather the deep-seated causes.

A theory I learned in graduate school has returned to me:  Just War Theory.  This theory propounds the belief that there is such a thing as a just war, but that certain specific criteria must be met.  (I will review this material and write more about it later.)  

It happens that I am not a strict pacifist.  If America were attacked today, I would feel compelled to support my country.  At the same time, I am inspired by the warnings of Our Founding Fathers to avoid any foreign entanglements.  In the post-war world this has been unlikely to the point of being unworkable.  And yet I see it as important to preserve something of the spirit of their wise admonition.  Is there a way we can be horrifed by the human tragedy in Ukraine, and minister to the needs of the people there as best we can without resorrting to hurtful histrionics?  

Let this be a beginning of deeper thought about the tortured and tragic land of Ukraine.