Ukraine Bleak Christmas

February 24 is regarded as the date when Russia invaded Ukraine, since 2014. We’ll work with that date for now because we don’t speak or read active languages in the two countries.

Moscow. Brussels. Kyiv. Washington. There’s no need for war, not in 2022 when Russians and Ukrainians follow each other on Twitter, Instagram and other social media. Some even fall in love and visit each other.

Russia says it is protecting its borders from Brussels, where NATO has its  headquarters. It’s no secret that the U.S. controls NATO because it pays the bills. It goes back to what we learned in college about how the U.S. saved Europe during World War 2.

Who is right, Russia or Ukraine and its NATO friends? What we know is that a few men in Moscow, Brussels, Kyiv and Washington decided that blood must be shed for the land. Like in all wars, it’s  working class folks that die for ideologies perpetuated by men in parliaments and congress.

Christmas will be bleak for ordinary Ukrainians, while men who approve budgets for the war prepare for the holidays.

1. Buy the Christmas tree and red poinsettias.

2. Trudge through shopping malls looking for gifts.

3. Wrap them and put under the tree.

4. Sit around the table and pray before carving the turkey. That’s normal, people who kill in the name of foreign policy, pray in their homes.

5. Jump for joy when snowflakes knock on the window.

Ukrainian working class families hide under tables or basements when bombs crack windows.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.