Putin is leading literal massacres to "de-Nazify and demilitarize" Ukraine. If only this were a true uprooting of white supremacist, fascist, ethnocentric, xenophobic, genocidal sociopolitical movements! Instead, it is giving them new life. Putin is deadset to "un"make a Ukraine of his own invention. To restore a glorious mythology, he aims to decimate, decapitate, destroy it beyond recognition, nothing short.
Dispatch from Far Afield 6: Still Alive
As the situation deteriorated in their hometown since I first wrote about them, Lena's three sisters have had to split up. One stayed in Zhytomir with her family, refusing to leave; the other two went toward L'viv, close to Ukraine's border with Poland. The area is currently flooded by people running for their lives like them.
Dispatch from Far Afield 5: What He Wants and Whether He’s Mad
Debating whether or not a certain brand of crazy fits Putin is reductive and irrelevant. It also obscures the catastrophe and does nothing to stop it... Meanwhile, he is orchestrating a new world order...
Dispatch from Far Afield 4: [Untitled for Now]
Taking liberties with the structure, this means "take it, my beauty, like it or not." In Russian, "beauty" is gendered feminine and the sections before and after the dash rhyme, as if the rape joke delivered by a maniacal strongman weren't sinister enough.
Dispatch from Far Afield 3: Taking Flight
It's fraught but critical to note that not all refugees are created equal... Also giving these Ukrainians the upper hand over the people fleeing war and turmoil in, say, Yemen or Syria is the assurance of an open door.
Dispatch from Far Afield 2: Trip Back Home
Air raid sirens. Tremors from explosions. Rubble and debris, remnants of destruction. People in fear and fight or flight. Inconceivable is my mother's word for it.
Dispatch from Far Afield 1: Awake to War
Big war, it's called in Russian, when physical military aggression is taken. Большая война. The warmonger in charge got his war.
SeeknSea 