Today’s fun fact: the word for the irrational fear of long words is ironically:
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.
It is also one of the longest words in the dictionary. You need a big mouth to get your tongue round that..
Tuesday 29 March 2022
Sunday 6 March 2022
UKRAINE
Thanks to Postcrossing and blogging I have made acquaintances and friends in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia over the last fifteen years or so. It is horrifying and sickening to think of the violent invasion of Ukraine by Russia, supported by Belarus.
I made the acquaintance of one Ukranian family in 2012 and even then there was part of their country that the Russians controlled and fears that Russia would extend that area. That is the stage at which countries like the UK should have been imposing sanctions on Russia and making it clear that its behaviour was not acceptable. Now, as rockets are landing, houses being bombed, nuclear plants attacked by tanks and people dying and displaced, is far too late.
If a country decided to invade the UK we tend to assume that the USA or some neighbours of ours would come to our aid. Obviously nowadays such an expectation is naïve. (Especially since, by a tiny majority, the UK made it plain it didn't want to be part of Europe).
Meanwhile, what about my Russian friends. Should I be blaming them for the actions of their government? Surely not.
I made the acquaintance of one Ukranian family in 2012 and even then there was part of their country that the Russians controlled and fears that Russia would extend that area. That is the stage at which countries like the UK should have been imposing sanctions on Russia and making it clear that its behaviour was not acceptable. Now, as rockets are landing, houses being bombed, nuclear plants attacked by tanks and people dying and displaced, is far too late.
If a country decided to invade the UK we tend to assume that the USA or some neighbours of ours would come to our aid. Obviously nowadays such an expectation is naïve. (Especially since, by a tiny majority, the UK made it plain it didn't want to be part of Europe).
Meanwhile, what about my Russian friends. Should I be blaming them for the actions of their government? Surely not.
My Friend-über-special in the USA didn't vote for Donald Trump or support his policies. Nor did most of my other American friends. Similarly, I didn't vote for Brexit. I don't believe my Russian friends in St Petersburg endorse the idea of their government going to war and violently invading Ukraine. Nor does my good friend in Belarus support her government's home or foreign policies.
It is all such a mess.
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