On the homepage today, we publish a piece called “The End of Illusions.” It is about Ukraine and Russia, and what the war has made clear, or should have. I draw on a number of experiences over the years, and a number of interviews I have conducted.
When I say “illusions,” what am I talking about? You know: Ukraine is not a real country. Ukrainians are basically Russians, with a funny accent. They’re Nazis, too. Ukraine is born to be ruled by Moscow. Every democratic effort in Ukraine is a CIA operation. Ukrainians have no will or desires of their own (except maybe for Nazism). NATO is obsolete. Also, it’s a threat to Russia’s security. Putin is merely looking out for his country. He is a patriot, who loves Russia. He is a guardian and champion of Christian civilization. If you don’t poke the bear, the bear will be peaceful. We should pivot to China, where the real action is. Russia and Europe are relatively insignificant. They are not connected to the great and growing challenge.
Etc., etc.
(By the way, no one is more interested in Ukraine’s fate than the Taiwanese.)
Illusions never die altogether. They are merely reduced, or suspended for a while. But that is better than nothing. Churchill wrote his history of World War II in six volumes, and he assigned each volume a theme. The theme of the first is: “How the English-speaking peoples, through their unwisdom, carelessness and good nature, allowed the wicked to rearm.” And the theme of the last: “How the great democracies triumphed, and so were able to resume the follies which had so nearly cost them their life.”
“Terrifying videos have surfaced from Kyiv’s suburb of Bucha,” writes Oleksiy Sorokin, a Ukrainian journalist. Yes. Here is a headline from the Times of London: “Bodies of mutilated children among horrors the Russians left behind.” The article is very hard to read.
“This is very hard to watch,” writes Jonah Goldberg, “but you should.” Yes. Rick Berke writes, “So hard to watch but vital that this war on civilians is documented.” Yes.
All of these war crimes must be documented, meticulously. They will be denied later. Or they will be fogged up — by all the people with an interest in fogging them up. You can hear them now: “Anti-Russian propaganda. Russophobes. Neocons. Globalists. Warmongers. Yes, some bad things happened, but war is hell, and atrocities were committed by both sides. We need to move on. What, do you want a world war?” All that.
Putin apologists — apologists for dictatorship and aggression — we will always have with us. But we can make their job harder, with documentation. With resolute, unflinching truth-telling.
Simon Schama — who has seen and studied a lot — had a reaction to the news and images out of Ukraine: “Hardened as we are by Russian atrocities, reports coming in from liberated towns around Kyiv document acts of horrifying, inhuman cruelty and evil, coaches of children used as human shields; corpses left on streets of civilians with hands tied behind back, many shot in head.”
Even now, there are people in free and comfortable countries who sneer at the Ukrainians — invaded, battered, mutilated, slaughtered Ukrainians — and defend or excuse Putin and his forces. There is nothing you can do about the more committed types. They are not persuadable. But you can reach people who are merely misled. Who are victims, if you will, of lies.
I say: Fight the fog, to the fullest extent possible.