In Kyiv you live under the sword of Damocles. Every day: what if Russia starts bombing using jets, what if they nuke, what if they invade from Belarus. It is very difficult to live under those conditions. If you don’t have milk or eggs you go out to the store to buy them. If youContinue reading “On the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”
Author Archives: fancypencilhand
Against Expanding Tweed
It’s the 21st century. After centuries of struggle and scientific advances in medicine — of one painful step forward followed by numerous staggering steps back — we’ve arrived at a moment in history where we know in detail the things that can hurt a person, and how, if not always why. We know the various ways thatContinue reading “Against Expanding Tweed”
On War Films and National Unification, or Why Ukraine Deserves a National Epic
Ukraine has been occupied by many countries for years, decades, and even (Russia) nearly two centuries, in some places. Accustomed to being represented in other nations’ epics and stories, the time has come for Ukraine to create a story of its own, to fit its national history.
Hybrid War Comes to America
The actions on Capitol Hill January 6th suggest that Hybrid War (as defined by the author) could be coming to America or is already here.
Thoughts on the partisan attack on Congress, and Euromaidan
In the winter of 2014, protestors filled Independence Square in Kyiv. Upset that Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, had refused to open the country further to European trade and commerce, hundreds, then thousands, and ultimately millions of people converged on Kyiv and rose up throughout the country, battling police and military units to have their voicesContinue reading “Thoughts on the partisan attack on Congress, and Euromaidan”
The Battles of Zelenopillya: Part 1 of 2
A battle in the Russo-Ukrainian war has been profoundly influential within American and western military circles. There is evidence, however, that it did not happen the way it’s been reported and repeated in doctrine.
Value’s steep price
An essay about the closure of several sites dedicated to military journalism and to the closure of a small local farm, and the logic that shaped those closures.
It’s time to get scared
Ukraine waited to confront reactionary paramilitaries funded and supported by Russia until it was too late. In the US, it’s not too late to act decisively to prevent that outcome
Russia and the “Nazi Collaborator Narrative”
There is an insidious story about WWII that concerns the Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian identities. The story has a few moving pieces, but basically goes like this: (1) the USSR did so badly in when Hitler invaded the USSR because traitors in Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus collaborated with the invading Nazis. (2) Those same anti-Soviet,Continue reading “Russia and the “Nazi Collaborator Narrative””
Ukraine on the eve of the Zelensky election
Mystery and romance are at the heart of Ukraine’s society. While Ukrainians themselves dislike the name “borderlands,” as it sets them down as a referential, defined only in terms of something else (their neighbors), they also own their status to being in-between place, a space where fortunate meetings and collisions occur without scripting.
The Local Blind Spot 