there are three types of battle. you can win. you can walk away. or you can be an idiot. that’s not my viewpoint in particular, though i agree with it. it’s one of the most significant advances in military thought of the past five-thousand years. you’ll find it as one of the basic principles of sun tzu’s art of war. where you won’t find it, however, is in the thought processes of the modern west. and this is sad. because it is leading to the meaningless death of hundreds, thousands, perhaps eventually millions of innocent people. in the second world war, ignoring this basic principle of survival was the main reason so many people died. and now i look at the news every day and see blatant stupidity reigning again. i never thought of the ukrainian people as being particularly unintelligent. and i’m sure they’re not. so why has ukraine turned into a country of blithering idiocy in the face of russian invasion? and why has the western world lost its senses and decided to support them in their foolishness?
in a word, heroism. they say the world needs more heroes. but the world doesn’t need any such thing. the world needs more saviors. and more cowards. to be a hero in the classical sense, you generally have to have been two things. successful and dead. it’s an odd combination. but the idea is that you have saved a bunch of innocent people around you by sacrificing your life. when they talk about heroes in modern war, though, they mean something completely different. what is being done in the ukraine isn’t heroic in the least.
fighting a battle you can’t win isn’t brave. it’s unintelligent. and if you think a ukrainian popular force of hastily-constructed street gangs and the remnants of a minimal military with light weapons can hold off an all-out assault by one of the most powerful militaries in the world you haven’t just been drinking but chasing the dragon. so president zelenskyy is one of two things. either he’s too stupid to realize he’s already lost the war or he’s unwilling to save his people by surrendering so no more of them have to die. i’m not sure which it is.
but it would be nice if he would simply step aside and do the smart thing. no, invasion isn’t right. the consummate murder of ukrainians is a war crime and russia, specifically its leadership, should be punished for it. but there is no need for more civilians to die. if a bully walks up to you, pulls out a knife and demands your purse, you give it to them then report it to the police. unless you’re a blithering moron, you don’t fight back. you just let it happen and deal with the consequences later. because your life isn’t worth losing for it.
dear people of the ukraine, walk away from the fight. it’s better to live under russian occupation than let your children die. because russia isn’t going to back down. the result will be the same with one exception — more dead innocent ukrainian civilians. you’re fighting for no purpose except to kill more of your people. your leadership is wrong. peace is good. war is bad for everyone. and you can’t possibly win.
someone needs to translate sun tzu into ukrainian. then personally deliver it to the mock-heroic leadership committing its civilians to unnecessary death. i cry for the people dying for nothing being applauded by the world for “bravery”, just another word for mindless self-sacrifice with no impact on the outcome.
it makes me sad. i suspect it makes you sad, too. dead children. dead children for nothing. think about that for a minute. thank you.
