Wtf is happening in Ukraine (a whole history lesson in under 10mins)

and what happens next.

For a long time the word Ukraine has just been a word for me.

And figuring out how to even understand what’s going on in that region of the world today has seemed until this moment (as I begin to dictate this post into my notes app) to be a task larger than possible for my brain. I just didn’t have the energy to investigate it. 

However I just stumbled upon a video that in under 10 minutes offers up a mostly non-biased view of the history of Ukraine and Russia‘s relationship and why they (and we) find ourselves in the state of conflict that currently exists.

Rather than try and explain it, I refer you to this video that in under 10 minutes can do that heavy lifting -

More Geography Lessons

My biggest take away personally is probably another geography lesson much as the events in Canada have recently offered me to see Canada and it’s boundary lines and some of the internal disagreements between provinces etc., this video has a map that starts centuries ago and begins to outline the way that current day attitudes have come to pass.

The Budapest Memorandum 

Reading the comments on that video has unearthed some other goodies - not the least of which is a mention of The Budapest Memorandum (as I type that I recognize it could sound as if I knew anything about the topic before reading this article a few minutes ago, I didn’t).

Included below are a couple of screenshots of considerations left out of the reporting and an opinion piece that ends with perhaps too many “shoulds” but does a decent job of expanding on what and why the US, the UK and Russia each have some (just over 30 year old) commitments made to Ukraine that Russia is clearly no longer interested in and the US hasn’t the current leadership to sustain in any sort of strong way. 

No clue about the UK, my personal investigation into this didn’t carry me that far, maybe someone else can fill in. 

Here are the two comments that caught my eye off the bat (there’s over 9k comments - this is one case where I DO know when enough is enough … for this rabbit hole anyway)

Here are the 3 comments that caught my attention …

There’s more to the story -

I agree that the analogies the reporter used weren’t really on point. Interesting maybe to also consider her own lens here - related to British colonialism - 

Again - important to remember that there’s always more to the story internally that can’t be grokked from this outside peeking in position -

And here’s the opinion piece linked again with details about the Budapest Memorandum & all sorts of “shoulds” at the end (I basically skipped the last paragraph entirely - preferring to come to my own conclusions, even if some might ultimately align):

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/12/05/why-care-about-ukraine-and-the-budapest-memorandum/

So there. 

Drink in those things and you’re caught up same as I am. 

Or don’t :)

For me it’s enough for now. 

Though, just as I finished writing that last sentence, a notification on my phone popped up from the Triggernometry Locals Community -

“War in the Ukraine & What’s Next …” - it was a Livestream on YT (sound issues until 20:06) posted a couple of hours ago as of this moment:

Those guys are in the UK (one is born there and is 1/2 Venezuelan, one is from Russia) and will certainly have some insight for that which I didn’t dig into and possibly won’t any further. 

(how cool is it that in waiting the missing pieces arrive anyway, eh?)