Its the anniversary of the war in Ukraine. Sorry, the ‘special military action, NOT WAR’, war in Ukraine. Depending on which side of the Donbas you sit. Or really, which side of Putin’s mind you sit. Because if you’re inside it (and good luck with that, holy shit!!!), you’re defending your country from the hostile and aggressive forces of Western Imperialism and their severe threat to the people of Russia. If you’re anywhere else, Putin’s a warmongering muthafucka who invaded a neighbouring country for no good reason then levelled it to the ground.

He amassed an army 200,000 strong and sent his tanks and missiles into a forrin country. How is that not ‘war’. He did it, apparently, because Ukraine threatened to join NATO and Putin fears having such a NATO-affiliated country so close. So thought it best just to destroy the entire country, all the buildings, power stations, bridges and anything else useful, plus killing as many civilians as his missiles could reach.

He has lost an estimated 50,000 soldiers. But that doesn’t really bother him, Russia has always fought its wars by throwing its population at the problem, and worry about the lack of men around later down the line. Men who might possibly work, procreate, hold up a shelf? Phah, who needs ’em?

He’s also spent countless billions. Which probably bothers him more. But only in as far as it might stop his not-war from continuing. Cruise missiles: million quid a ‘pop’, albeit quite a loud ‘pop’. Hundreds of tanks destroyed (by MY anti-tank missiles wot I paid for with MY taxes), at least 500 at a quarter million a tank. Bullets, food, lots and lots of bandages, say another few billion quid. And all for a nation sanctioned out of profit by export bans and with income streams severely reduced.

And I’m aware that Ukraine, as a nation, didn’t have the most appealing history, going back to some other ‘wars’ which were actually accepted by all as ‘wars’, but I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to all those who are truly ‘innocent’ civilians, just normal people trying to live ‘normal’, peaceful lives. Because what a year they’ve had. It makes Chelsea’s look almost trivial.

Happy Anniversary

A xxxx