Not much to write about at this time, but two names to conjour with - one, a person who was pivotal in saving the world from nuclear war in 1962, and one who through sheer charisma may be saving us in 2022.
The first, a Russian ... Vasily Arkhipov, who arguably prevented the commander of the Soviet submarine, B-59, from firing a nuclear torpedo on October 27, 1962.
The second, a Ukrainian ... we know his name - Volodymyr Zelensky.
As for the UK PM ... everyone's going soft on him at the moment, despite the fact that he is not leading the West's response to Putin, notwithstanding his propaganda, ... the oligarchs are escaping with their billions while Ukrainian refugees are being turned back from Calais, as they need visas and our consular officials are based in Paris or Brussels. As I write, 1.5 million Ukrainians are refugees from Putin's invasion; 50 have been accepted into the UK.
I was brought up with the concept of sanctuary embedded in me. Later in life, I found out that my dentist was one of the Windermere children.
Update from 13/03, six days after writing the above. From the Guardian newspaper:
"Even judged against the Home Office’s recent standards, the mix of incompetence, hard-heartedness and sheer dishonesty in response to the invasion of Ukraine has, for many observers, set a new precedent. Last week started with the admission that 50 UK visas had been granted since Russia invaded Ukraine – or one for every 28,000 people given sanctuary by the EU at the same time.
Home secretary Priti Patel then claimed she was considering a new route for refugees, but it did not materialise. Later, she announced a visa application centre had been established in Calais, but this was also untrue. By Wednesday, the Home Office said it was actually in Lille, but would not reveal where. A day later it became clear why: there wasn’t one.
Those
helping Ukrainian arrivals in northern France confirm that the Home
Office is more focused on media management than assisting vulnerable
refugees."
Nikki -
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding people of Vasily Arkhipov's involvement in preserving peace. It's something that we in the West (especially the USA) don't hear about that often.
We need more people as brave as Zelensky.
M
Thank you for those reminders. You could add the German and Russian military staff who quietly saved us from accidentally blundering into war in 1983. As for the UK and its current attitudes, well ... Sue x
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