For our purposes at CCI, the Biden administration’s recent escalation of the war in Ukraine is enormously disturbing. With the greenlight given to the Zelensky government to use US-supplied long-range missiles against Russian territory, President Putin has announced that as far as Russia is concerned, the West, especially the United States, has declared war on Russia. Our friends in Russia tell us this new reality spread across the country immediately following Mr. Putin’s speeches of November 21 and 22. A good friend in Sergiev Posad tells us she and her colleagues at work discuss the strain of anticipating a missile strike on Moscow, a mere 70 kilometers away, constantly. She also tells us that church attendance is way up with parents now insisting their children attend – something quite unusual in recent years.
The fact that officials in our government insist we are not at war with Russia is irrelevant to the Russians when American made and American guided weapons fall on Russian cities. One must ask: how many Americans appreciate this situation – that ‘reality’ for Russian citizens is not whatever comes out of the mouths of American officials? ‘Reality’ for Russians is what is physically ‘real’, a matter of what happens on their soil.
--- CCI (Center for Citizen Initiatives) newsletter, 2024-12-03
