Art Works: The Last Supper (1999)

An evocative photograph of Israeli soldiers at chow, by Israeli photographer and gay veteran Adi Nes, that says something about the uncertainties of human life.  To appreciate the details, click on the picture to see a large-size version.

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Waitin' for the Weekend

Thank a veteran today.

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On the Other Hand

Captured Russian soldiers in Ukraine - via The Mirror (U.K.), 11 March 2022.

Notice the helpless position they have been restrained in:  hands cuffed behind their backs, outer coats peeled back, outer pants pulled down to their ankles.  Any statement made under such a state of duress is, predictably, going to be what the interrogators want to hear.  There are numerous such videotaped confessions posted online by the Ukrainian authorities.

Your Head Trucker has refrained from mentioning his reservations about the war in Ukraine up till now - but today's story of Ukrainian soldiers executing Russian prisoners of war, is sufficient cause for me to speak up.

There can be no doubt whatsoever that Putin launched an unprovoked war on Ukraine, invading large swathes of territory, raining death and destruction all across Ukraine, deliberately and horrifically targeting civilians in homes, schools, hospitals, and all manner of non-military places.  The world has already seen indisputable evidence of Russian brutality and war crimes, deliberately and mercilessly done.  Russia's transparent lies and two-faced denials of these atrocities are so obvious that they are almost laughable.

Nevertheless - there are disturbing reports of Ukrainian brutality and war crimes too.  We don't want to hear those things, of course, because we want the good guys to be totally good, as in the movies.  But has there ever been a war in the long, bloody annals of recorded history in which neither side violated the rules of war, and of common decency?

This story came up in my news feed today - a manifest violation of the Geneva Conventions.  (Have you ever read them?)  I wonder how much continuing coverage it will get in mainstream Western media.

• The Guardian reports:
  

Ukrainian soldiers killing captured Russian prisoner of war

(video not yet available on YouTube)

• NBC published this report on March 29th:

U.N. urges investigation into videos of alleged POW abuse by Russia and Ukraine

• The Journal.ie (Ireland) published this report on March 12th:

How Ukraine is dealing with Russian POWs - and how they are supposed to be treated by law

Not long after the start of the war, I was alarmed by the sight of Russian POW's with their hands obviously tied behind their backs giving video confessions to their Ukrainian captors, which they promptly broadcast to the world - again, most definitely a violation of the Geneva Conventions (forced confessions, and publicizing prisoner's identities for propaganda purposes).  From the American broadcaster Radio Free Europe on February 27, the fourth day of the war:

As my recent posts have shown, I understand and deeply sympathize with the fact that the Ukrainians are fighting for their lives, and using all possible means to prevent the destruction of their nation.  In such a state of desperate warfare, misdeeds are often made by individuals, and by national leaders, in a fit of fury.  War is a bad business, even when fighting for a good cause.

That does NOT justify war crimes, however, no matter who commits them.  Two wrongs do NOT make a right, in peace or in war.  The powers that be will, I hope, be recording and investigating all such crimes by both sides in what is, to some degree, very like a civil war - which because of its fratricidal nature is often the most vicious kind.

Western policymakers should also take the long view into consideration:  what will it mean for Europe and America if Zelensky achieves his goal of making Ukraine a "big Israel" - in a perpetual state of armed alert, if not actual war with its neighbors?  Think about it.  I do not say that would be good or bad - I merely say it is a possible outcome of this present war, which will not likely end with a nice, neat peace treaty anytime soon.

For the Record:  I do not hesitate to admit that we Americans have sometimes been myopic about atrocities committed by our own armed forces, I am very sorry to say.  From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, and at other times and places, American soldiers have shown they are not always the fighting saints we would like them to be.  And that is a very sad thing that the world has rightly condemned.

But I hope my overseas truckbuddies will understand, and my American truckbuddies will agree, that such crimes have never been embraced by the American public or remained immune to prosecution afterwards.  Though I frankly don't know what to say about Guantanamo, which somehow is still operating.  All these things are great black marks on our record, and I, for one, am deeply ashamed of them.  

On the other hand, Americans have sacrificed themselves, expending their time, talents, and treasure, individually and collectively, many times in many places to maintain the peace and stability of the world for the last 80 years; alongside our faults and failings, history will record our nobler deeds in golden letters for the admiration of ages to come.  And no matter what any lame-brain politician or demagogue or fanatic might say now or in the future, crimes against humanity are most definitely not the American way.  

The number of good and decent Americans, people with sound moral values, humility, and a conscience, far outnumber the bad ones.  Our way is the path of liberty and justice for all - when we stray from it, we try to learn from our mistakes, and do better as we continue the upward journey.  Despite our flaws and failings, we are the leaders of the free world, proud to be a force for good in a troubled world, and I hope we will always be.

At least, that is the view of this old, obsolete American with no power or influence beyond this obscure little blog.

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Soldier and Son

The Farewell of Hector to Andromaque and Astyanax
by Carl Friedrich Deckler, via Wikipedia.
Click to enlarge.

 

This video of a Ukrainian soldier bidding goodbye to his wife and baby son is a striking reminder of a scene in the Iliad, a poignant moment set during the Trojan War, 1200 years before Christ - a scene which no doubt has been repeated in real life times without number in all the centuries since.

Homer, like Shakespeare and all the other great writers of the past three millennia, had the divine gift of capturing the telling moment that reveals the humanity of his characters, in common with us all.  We moderns are not different creatures from our Bronze Age ancestors, whoever they were - fashions of dress, art, music, and speech may ebb and flow, but human nature does not change.

Hector, eldest son of King Priam, was the crown prince of Troy.  His wife was Andromache, and their little son was called Astyanax.  The scene opens with Hector suited up in his shiny bronze armor and helmet, ready to lead the Trojan army into battle against the Greeks, encamped before the city.  

Before departing, he goes to his house, within the walls of Troy, to say goodbye to his wife and son - an excerpt from Book 6 of the Iliad, in the lucid translation by Robert Fagles (1990):

A flash of his helmet

and off he strode and quickly reached his sturdy,

well-built house. But white-armed Andromache--

Hector could not find her in the halls.

She and the boy and a servant finely gowned

were standing watch on the tower, sobbing, grieving.

When Hector saw no sign of his loyal wife inside

he went to the doorway, stopped and asked the servants,

"Come, please, tell me the truth now, women.

Where's Andromache gone? To my sisters' house?

To my brothers' wives with their long flowing robes?

Or Athena's shrine where the noble Trojan women 

gather to win the great grim goddess over?"

A busy, willing servant answered quickly,

"Hector, seeing you want to know the truth,

she hasn't gone to your sisters, brothers' wives

or Athena's shrine where the noble Trojan women

gather to win the great grim goddess over.

Up to the huge gate-tower of Troy she's gone

because she heard our men are so hard-pressed,

the Achaean fighters coming on in so much force.

She sped to the wall in panic, like a madwoman –

the nurse went with her, carrying your child."

At that, Hector spun and rushed from his house,

back by the same way down the wide, well-paved streets

throughout the city until he reached the Scaean Gates,

the last point he would pass to gain the field of battle.

There his warm, generous wife came running up to meet him,

Andromache the daughter of gallant-hearted Eetion . . .

She joined him now, and following in her steps

a servant holding the boy against her breast,

in the first flush of life, only a baby,

Hector's son, the darling of his eyes

and radiant as a star . . . 

Hector would always call the boy Scamandrius,

townsmen called him Astyanax. Lord of the City,

since Hector was the lone defense of Troy.

The great man of war breaking into a broad smile,

his gaze fixed on his son, in silence. Andromache, 

pressing close beside him and weeping freely now,

clung to his hand, urged him, called him: "Reckless one,

my Hector - your own fiery courage will destroy you!

Have you no pity for him, our helpless son? Or me,

and the destiny that weighs me down, your widow,

now so soon?" 

And tall Hector nodded, his helmet flashing:

"All this weighs on my mind too, dear woman.

But I would die of shame to face the men of Trpy

and the Trojan women trailing their long robes

if I would shrink from battle now. a coward.

Nor does the spirit urge me on that way.

I've learned it all too well. To stand up bravely,

always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers."

In the same breath, shining Hector reached down

for his son - but the boy recoiled,

cringing against his nurse's full breast,

screaming out at the sight of his own father,

terrified by the flashing bronze, the horsehair crest, 

the great ridge of the helmet nodding, bristling terror

so it struck his eyes. And his loving father laughed,

his mother laughed as well, and glorious Hector,

quickly lifting the helmet from his head,

set it down on the ground, fiery in the sunlight,

and raising his son he kissed him, tossed him in his arms,

lifting a prayer to Zeus and the other deathless gods:

"Zeus, all you immortals! Grant this boy, my son,

may be like me, first in glory among the Trojans,

strong and brave like me, and rule all Troy in power 

and one day let them say, 'He is a better man than his father'.

So Hector prayed

and placed his son in the arms of his loving wife.

Andromache pressed the child to her scented breast,

smiling through her tears.

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"Mama, this is so hard" - A Soldier's Last Words

In an emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly today, Ukraine's ambassador reads texts from a Russian soldier to his mother shortly before he was killed - dying for a monstrous lie.

My heart aches for the Russian parents who are already losing their children in this vicious and appalling war, just as it aches for the civilians and the people of Ukraine. But when it comes to the Russian leadership that chose this path of violence, and I stress chose, this path of violence and aggression, there can be no possible excuse.

Never in all my study, my memory, of politics and international affairs have I seen so clear a distinction between right and wrong, between good and evil, between light and dark. And that is the real reason why Ukraine is our neighbour today.

And by the way, I say to all the countries around the world who may only just be waking up to the horror of what is going on – I say to everybody around the world, that is why Ukraine should be your neighbour, too.

--British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in an address at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in London yesterday. 

Cf. the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

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Biting the Hand That Protects You

 

For a whole day it seemed that the world was really becoming a better place.  But how silly of me.  It's just the same old world with the same mixed-up people in it after all, as an egg flipped over is still the same old egg in the same old skillet.  Here is ingratitude, defined:

Politico reports (emphasis mine):

Thousands of National Guardsmen were forced to vacate congressional grounds on Thursday and are now taking their rest breaks outside and in nearby parking garages, after two weeks of sleepless nights protecting the nation’s capital in the wake of the violent Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

One unit, which had been resting in the Dirksen Senate Office building, was abruptly told to vacate the facility on Thursday, according to one Guardsman. The group was forced to rest in a nearby parking garage without internet reception, with just one electrical outlet, and one bathroom with two stalls for 5,000 troops, the person said. . . .

Guard leadership did not make the decision and are “doing their best to provide rest shelter for troops who are still on 12-hour shifts protecting the Capitol and congressional grounds,” the second Guardsman said.

“There really may be an important reason for us to vacate and it just hasn’t been well communicated yet,” the second Guardsman said.

I suppose some prissy bitch, of either gender, decided they were offended by all those smelly troops sleeping on the floors of Congress.  So send them to sit in a garage, they're only soldiers.  How fucking stupid - and ungrateful.  Makes me furious.  But I'll stop right there.

Update, 1/22/21, 8:30 a.m.:

Apparently, lawmakers in Congress were as outraged last night as your Head Trucker was, and according to this report the troops have now been allowed back into the Capitol.  

 

However, other reports say some outraged state governors have already ordered their troops to return home. Your Head Trucker says the leadership of the Capitol Police needs to be shaken up and tossed out if they don't have any more damn sense than to pull a stunt like this. Police leaders also dropped the ball big fucking time by allowing the attackers to even get close to the doors of the Capitol on January 6. Some heads have rolled already, and this incident indicates to me that others need to follow.

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