Tao, the ancient Chinese road to wisdom. The value of wisdom has been overrun by the global digital rush for heaven on earth right here and right now, but Ukraine reminds the world of near-200 countries that the timeline of history does matter.
The nuclear bomb that decided the outcome of WWII is still very much in play as WWII questions simmer and boil unresolved. Imperialism was supposedly over, there would be no more invasions or subjugations of others. Rules for the conduct of war were set out, protection of civilians was ptoclaimed paramount and the United Nations was established as a forum for resolving differenes in views. All those mevhanisms underwent a stress test when Rnvaded Ukraine. They are at a breaking point in the Mideast without the Ukraine lead.
History matters. So does the wisdom of knowing what to take forward and what to leave behind.
Straddling the world, Russia has a history of wanting it all to the point of defeaing lesser contenders like Napoleon by an inhumane outlay of human resources archived simply as patriotism. The Soviet experiment of spreading that austerity worldwide came to an end with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union due to a corruption still vibrant throughout the former Eurasian captives struggling to free themselves. In large part due to democratic dynamics, Ukraine led the drive for freedom from the Soviet yoke and became its bete noire, it’s worst nightmare.
Russia wants nothing more than to rule the world and have it run its own way with a supreme ruler with the reach to throw opponents out high-rise wibdows if they step out of line. Still shaken by 40 year after the horrors of bombing in WWII, most Eurasians lay low as they inched toward freedom, but Ukraine was in the perfect spot to light the fuse to freedom for all the world of near-200 countries.
“I need ammo, not a ride,” Ukraine President Zelensky responded when the West offered him security in wake of a Russian walk-over. The saucy audacity caught the fance of the world-leading US still shell-shocked by a near coup fomented by one of its own, The stand-off between marauding Russia and Ukraine defending itself with the help of staunch allies is a paradigm for how global development can most swiftly explode with the Ukraine path.
Ukraine has charmed the world with its defense against brutal Russian aggression by making appeals to allies with the wisw mix of honest admission of need and pride in its ability to use it smartly enough to defy expectations. The Ukraine path is a sharp contrast to the Israeli heavy-handed response to a brutal attack that has done nothing but fan the flames of historic hostilities to a global level.
Geographically and historically, Ukraine is the hero underdog who succeeds because of cultural dexterity. Grounded in the richness of learning from its past, Ukraine reaches confidently to the tools of the present leading into the future. That is an art form to be lerned by many whose national roots are still to fragile to withstand stress-tests.
There was no Israel before the holocaust of WWII and there was no Palestine during the historic era of colonialization. There was no Pakistan separate from India, no Eritrea separate from Ethiopia and few African or South American countries liberated from post-WWII dictator trade-offs. In short, the world is in major flux and Ukraine shows the way.
Plopped down in the midst of hostile Arab countries while still suffering post-WWII PTSG, it is small wonder that historically ostracized Jewish people would overreact to a horrific attack. But given the fact that the Palestinian people are vulnerable since they’ve never had a homeland, it seems that some Ukraine charm on either or both sides would go further than bombing each other to smithereens.
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