One question that often occurs to me is how on earth the Russian pilots who're relentlessly bombing buildings and innocent civilians can justify what they're doing. How do they live with themselves? How do they carry on, knowing they're killing and wounding more and more people, continually adding to the carnage and suffering?
One captured pilot, Maksim Kryshtop, said he was just following orders. He said he could have refused to obey the orders, but this would have shown weakness and cowardice.
No doubt if pilots refused to fly the bombing missions and deserted, they would face heavy penalties. In World War Two, 158,000 Russian troops were executed for desertion.
But the pilots must somehow have become entirely detached from the human beings they're bombing, and totally oblivious to the pain and misery they're causing. They simply see people on the ground as targets to be obliterated.
Presumably also they've swallowed the crazy propaganda that Putin has been spreading for years - that Ukraine is run by neo-nazis, drug barons and terrorists and that the invasion is liberating the Ukrainian people.
They were told the Ukrainians would welcome them with open arms, relieved at the prospect of their evil leaders being toppled. They're astonished when far from being welcomed they're greeted with hostility and told they weren't wanted and should return home before they were killed.
I have a simple request to Russian bomber pilots - just say no.
Pic: Maksim Kryshtop
It's a difficult question. When the RAF bombed Dresden in Feb. 1945 (6 members of my family , aunt, oncle and 4 cousins of the age 2 month to 6 years were killed ). In Dresden lived at that time only civilians . One other aunt survived and has suffered of a life long trauma. War is irrational, cruel abd completely useless, I suppose the Russian pilots are brain washed , often under drugs as it was usual already during the war in Tschetchenien and as it is still in Syria etc. Putin will destroy the Ukraine and we can negociate , but he will not care. I despair.
ReplyDeleteHannah
Hannah: The Dresden bombing was appalling. Losing six people is shocking. It's very likely that the pilots are using drugs. Drug use was very common among troops in the Vietnam war, to blot out the reality of what they were doing.
DeleteEasier said than done in the armed forces.
ReplyDeleteRamana: I'm sure it is. There's so much pressure to be "patriotic" and not be denounced as a traitor or a coward.
DeleteGood one!
ReplyDeleteColette: Thank you. I felt it was about time I stopped ignoring the elephant in the room.
DeleteIt’s no different than any other war, is it? I do often wonder if there’s more evil in the world than good. Nothing has changed since the beginning of mankind in regards to how people treat each other.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: There's something badly wrong with the human brain that in so many individuals it produces so much hatred and contempt and aggression.
DeleteTraining, duty, detachment from scene would be my guess. One thing people of military training usually recognize is that you never want to be on the losing side of a war. Either way, Putin is a bigger monster than I thought. I think his name may be right up there with Hitler in the coming years.
ReplyDeleteAnn: I guess you have to learn to see people as "the enemy" rather than other humans with the same hopes and aspirations as yourself. Yes, Putin certainly resembles Hitler in his aim to annex all the former Soviet countries. Thank heaven unlike Hitler he hasn't decided that some bunch of people is impure and needs to be got rid of.
DeleteThere is a depth of depravity that Hitler reached beyond Putin's actions. My anger is all those handicapped people who will be trapped. I take care of several family members. It would have been the end of us if we were bombed. I could not evacuate all of them. Plus the fear these folks would have is something I could never assuage.
DeleteAnn: Indeed, anyone who's disabled or mentally confused or whatever is in serious trouble if they're bombed. And yes, I can't imagine the sheer all-consuming terror some people are experiencing at what might lie ahead.
DeleteNike, like yourself, I have thought about writing something to say about not just the sad events in Ukraine, but many other world issues. And, I agree with your statement of what can I write that hasn't been said many times and in so many places from the relentless news accounts and repeated comments on social media. I wonder how some in the military can have a conscience when told to comment such terrible acts, but apparently many can and do without question.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: Indeed, where is their conscience? Where is their simple sense of decency and kindness?
DeleteIt simply must end.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: Goodness knows how though. Russia is already so deep into Ukraine, getting them out could be a very lengthy business.
DeleteI kinda figured if they refused to carry out their orders they would be punished or killed.
ReplyDeleteMary: Very likely. They'd have to disappear. They'd have to slip quietly out of Russia.
Deletebravo Nick for even Attempting to understand any of it.
ReplyDeletewe have apparently learned Nothing in all our years on this warring and forsaken planet.
the Hitlers and the Putins of this world always think they'll win. and yet in the end they don't. but look at the human and animal and natural cost. it's just unfathomable and inexcusable.
Tammy: The sheer scale of destruction to buildings, the death and injury of thousands of innocent citizens, and the enforced separation of thousands of families, is absolutely horrifying. I sincerely hope Ukraine manages to outwit the Russians and turn the invasion into an utter failure.
Delete