What on earth is going on?

I’ve been somewhat lacking in inspiration this week, which given the events in Ukraine over the past 10 days, is not really surprising. In their regular weekly round-up, veteran bloggers, Boak & Bailey, said pretty much the same thing, stating that, “It feels like a strange time to be thinking about beer with the Russian invasion of Ukraine still underway.” It certainly does, and it’s almost as if by allowing a despot and a tyrant to flourish in Russia, we have failed to learn the lessons of history.  

As a person who was born just 10 years after the end of the most devastating and cataclysmic war the world had ever seen, recent events are not only deeply disturbing, but they are also of major concern. I was seven years old when the United States and the Soviet Union faced each other in a tense stand-off over missiles, equipped with nuclear warheads, stationed in Cuba – just 90 miles from the coast of Florida. I was too young of course, to know what was going on, but I’m sure it must have been a worrying time for my parents, along with the rest of the world.

We now have a situation where the paranoia of one increasingly isolated and unstable man, is allowing the totally unwarranted attack and full-scale invasion of a neighbouring state. A country which has no quarrel with Russia, and one which poses no threat to it either. Instead, Ukraine is facing death and destruction on a scale not seen in Europe since the Second World War, and all because of the insecurity and gross miscalculations of one man.

How on earth did we come to this, especially following hot on the heels of Covid? Hasn’t the world suffered enough Mr Putin, without you inflicting yet more misery on the planet? Fortunately, Putin’s crazed aggression has been met with a concerted, and almost unprecedented show of unity by the rest of the world, with even China – the Kremlin's new-found ally, holding back any support for Russia.

Feeling the need to do our bit, and show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, Mrs PBT’s and I, joined the “Stand in Unison with Ukraine” event, held at Tonbridge Castle. On a cold and damp March midday, we stood in a circle, with a hundred or so fellow Tonbridge residents, listening to stories from people forced to flee their homes, and from others with loved ones, still trapped in Ukraine and desperately worried about their safety.

A small effort perhaps, and some might say a token one, but for those attending it was important, and it meant something. I don’t know where we go from here, apart from saying that as someone who grew up during a time when memories of the previous devastating conflict were still fresh in people’s minds, I never expected to be seeing war breaking out, once again on the European mainland.