In accord with the intended context of this essay, we would request the reader, to momentarily, put aside his natural feelings of dismay and horror, regarding the unjust bloody war of aggression, initiated by Russia’s aggressive, autocratic, President, Volodymir Putin, against the sovereign Nation of Ukraine,(led by its democratically, elected, courageous, President, Volodymir Zelensky.) We would further ask that, during such elective moments of “time out,” he might, metaphysically, observe the fact that, were the subject events portrayed in contemporary literature or theater, it would be observably, analogous, in form and content, to a secular form of classic, medieval morality (or, “Everyman”) play.
The eternally, contending forces, of good and evil, are respectively, represented and evident in the protagonists, viz., Putin (aggressor-sin) and Zelensky (innocent victim-virtue). The moral challenge waged is, eternal and is waged between the two, morally contrasting leaders (protagonists); in this case, mutually, named “Volodymir,” in lieu, perhaps, of the age-old, traditional, “Everyman.” In this context, we would describe Putin’s persona and appearance as unsmiling, ferret-like, menacing, and with the expenditure of little eye contact during an interaction. We would, by contrast, describe, Volodymir Zelensky, the elected President of Ukraine, as oval-faced, light-bearded, warm and amiable.
Putin, the evil and ambitious autocrat and titular President of the globally, immense, Russian Nation, evinces a veritable, Napoleonic desire for power and conquest, and little inclination for empathy. He (sinfully), unlawfully and absent provocation, deploys Russia’s immense military forces to violently and unmercifully, overwhelm and, swallow up the weaker, innocent Nation of Ukraine. Putin is reported to have boasted that it was his expectation to take Kviv in no more than one week, install a personal lackey as President, and put an end to any European Union, NATO or any Western cultural expansion. His avaricious dream was to increase his power, as well as that of the former, fascistic, Soviet Union.
Putin, accurately and pragmatically, described as Russia’s dictator, may also be identified as its richest and most corrupt, oligarch. Following the (predictable), economic, failure of Marx’s “Scientific Socialism” [Communism] in Russia, (a subject, of utility, it appears, only for late evening, coffee house debate) the Russian Nation, by degrees, clumsily, morphed into an entity, politically and economically, controlled by corrupt, billionaire, business oligarchs, under the sovereign authority, of its richest, most powerful and singularly, corrupt, “President,” Putin; the latter, a power-hungry autocrat, and former KGB, master at manipulating informers and suppressing information.
As universally, reported in the World and National media, it was the megalomaniac, Putin, alone (and not on behalf of Russia) who desired and implemented the Ukrainian adventure,
Putin has defensively, expressed several spurious reasons, for his declaration of war on Ukraine. Among his publically, declared, (faux) justifications was his tactical (and false) assertion that Ukraine was under Nazi influence” and, thus, posed a continuing, existential threat to peace. Of all his falsely stated “justifications,” this, may constitute the most empirically, and historically, ludicrous. It should require no supporting argument, to declare that Jews, have eternally been the singularly, despised objects of Nazi hatred, pathologically, deemed by them, to be fit only for the WW2 death camps. The falsity of Putin’s assertion of the presence of Ukrainian, Nazi influence, is empirically, revealed by the democratic election to the office of Ukrainian President, (the “virtuous” Volodymir, in our analogy to medieval morality plays) and, additionally, the Nation’s Prime Minister, both popularly, known, to be Jewish. In sad fact, the grandparents of our virtuous, protagonist, were killed in the holocaust. At this point in the writing, we would seek the reader’s indulgence for a brief, but relevant, digression.
The reader may recall several of our earlier writings, based upon our various recollections, as first-generation Americans, residing in the 1930-40’s ambiance of the old-fashioned, Jewish, Brooklyn neighborhood. Our experiences now reveal an interesting and curious phenomenon, relative to certain observations made in the present writing.
In the early days of our Brooklyn childhood, it was not uncommon to hear, in English or Yiddish, observations made by European immigrants, to the effect that the Ukrainians were the most implacable and cruel haters of the Jews; that, as such, Ukrainian military personnel were usefully, and preferentially, assigned to Jewish Death Camps. It was, indeed, many decades ago, that we had heard narratives, of cruel, anti-Jewish, Ukrainian and Polish abuse. The current situation, as above related, hopefully, may enable the empirical conclusion, that atavistic prejudices can, in time, be eliminated.
Returning to our contextual analogy to the medieval morality play, it is our sincere belief and expectation, that Good will soon triumph over Evil, and that the virtuous, Volodymir, will doubtlessly, prevail.
-p.
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