It’s cold in the house. I let the fire die down too far and need to build it up. But before I do that I must address the fire which has almost died out in America. Led many to give up on America. I am going to go Old Testament on you. And, please, remember the Psalm: “Do no harm to my prophets.”
A prediction hides its admonitions. A prophesy’s admonitions stare you in the face. When I predicted last year that the present de facto borders of Russia and Ukraine will remain so for the near future, I also included some admonitions to the government in Kyiv and NATO. Kyiv should accept negotiations which accept these borders, much as South Korea accepted their present borders in the 1953, but never ended their state of war against the Northern aggression.
If I had been a little more alert, I would have been very happy at that 1953 conclusion; It brought my father home. So, the Ukrainian and American people should be happy at this conclusion which keeps more of my Ukrainian friends’ children and brothers from being killed.
Included in last years’ more-admonition-than-prediction was that NATO should expand to include Ukraine. Then Polish and German and American and Latvian pilots and trainers should be installed in bases right on the Russian border. Ukraine’s young men should not bear the sole burden of defending Europe from Russian aggression. This need not be a public agreement, but probably should be. given the history of Western promises made to Ukraine, such as: give up your nuclear weapons and we will defend you.
In 2010, I spent many happy months in Eastern Ukraine at a University now totally under control of the Russians. I hate what has happened to the people and towns of eastern Ukraine. But all of us must recognize that Eastern Ukraine did chafe under pressure from Kyiv to be more Ukrainian and less Russian. Russian was the lingua franca of all the Eastern Oblasts. Professors at my University in Melitopol did not want to be forced to teach and publish in Ukrainian. Many families spoke only Russian in their homes. They were as Russian as those living a few miles across the border.
In fact, that border was only established in 1954. Before that Crimea was part of Russia and had been since the Ottomans were driven out around the time of the American Revolution. All Ukraine East of the Dnieper River had been mostly Russian territory since the Poles and Lithuanians were driven out in 1686. Russians have been acting like Russians in Eastern Ukraine since before the Caddo Indians were driven from my part of Arkansas by the Osage.
Therefore, the last admonition is that Ukrainian should accept a territory which is more Russian than Ukrainian in the Eastern Oblasts. This doesn’t not mean giving up any more ground to reform the previous Oblast borders. Just keep the borders as they are now, with some refinements such as the nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia.
In sum, the prediction/prophesy/admonition has three main parts:
- Ceasefire along the present battle lines;
- Ukraine west of the lines becomes a part of NATO, including brining in planes and troops from Europe and the US, though mainly Poland, Lithuania and Germany;
- Ukraine and NATO recognizes the Russian-ness of far Eastern Ukraine, including the Crimea and recognizes an independent state.
I wish I had a long Solzhenitsyn beard and could bellow like Jeremiah and Isaiah, then maybe I would have the standing to push this prophecy on Kyiv, Moscow and the nations. Because the prophecy does include a fourth component which is all important: the West must admit that Russia is right about the decadence of the West. First undermining Ukrainian democracy with the color revolution, then using Ukrainian boys to fight a proxy war in Ukraine is just one of many signs of the West’s declining adherence to traditional Christian values. Doing so with borrowed money is a further sign of American decline.
Here in early 2024, there is some hope that a devout Christian Speaker will enable at least part of this prophecy by withholding money for Ukraine until the border is straightened out. But that’s another topic for another late-night screed. Right now, I need to put another log on the fire.
Resilience 