Guest Editorial by D.E. Steward
Rus
He invaded a large contingent country
His war with atrocities is cast and it will not be a pleasant world now
It is his plan
Russkiy Mir
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus as one united civilization flowing from the tenth century baptism of the Slavic tribes in Kyiv, then the quiddity of Rus
He is killing those he claims are Russian
Targeting apartment blocks deliberately
Scorching cities
Planting landmines in anger at civilians, wielding missiles and fléchettes to terrorize
In Great Russia’s name
He began with probes in moderate forceAnticipative of a collapse and Zelensky’s exit to exile
Then ballistic and hypersonic missiles and high altitude bombing
Targeting civilians with cluster and thermobaric missiles
Next tactics of retaliatory response in frustration and confusion at the impasse, and in revenge for Russian losses
His delusional volition ego has no option but to commit
His obduracy boundless and terrifying
The more he looses the less he gains
He is our present’s 1939
Urban bombing as it was in last century’s wars
The dead, the hopelessness, the wasted dead
Their agonies
“Lament and weep, stretched out upon the ground.” (Michelangelo, Complete Poems)
More months of it multiplying the many tens of thousands already killed
“When this war is over, Europe will no longer be defined by the history of the Second World War. The next era of European history, whenever it begins, will be the aftermath of the war in Ukraine.” (Masha Gessen)
Zeitenwende
Documented with the deluge of refugees
A family’s life is in an apartment block pinpointed for rocket attack or shelling from distant howitzers
If a barrage begins, death from concussion or by fire under rubble
If they survive they are refugeesTo leave with what they carry into the gaping oblivion immediately their future
Five million and more shift westward now across broad bloodlands
The men remaining to fight
“Leaning on the lathes of death” (Osip Mandelstam)