“Let’s call Vladimir Vladimirovich,” the man says with a laugh, as he opens the case and slowly uncoils a wire. Vitaliy Alseryuk can see the TA field telephone and he knows what’s coming. He knows, having served in communications in the army, that the machine carries hundreds of volts. He knows that the wire is about to be connected to his fingers, toes or perhaps his genitals. He knows the pain will be excruciating.
I don’t know how true this article is, and while the headline is prejudical and assumptive, I felt that it would be wrong not to share it. I’ve posted a lot on the Ukraine conflict and most of that has argued that the Russian invasion was provoked and even made inevitable by the actions of NATO and the Ukraine government. It might be assumed that I am ‘on the Russian side’, that’s not true but I have attempted to ‘put the Russian side’ in the face of a one-sided presentation, in our mainstream media, of the conflict as an unprovoked aggression by an imperialist Russia. But in war, any war, there are atrocities committed on both sides. War itself is an atrocity and within that there are intentional and personal cruelties that go beyond ‘animalistic’ to straight ‘demonic’.
“The Minstrel Boy will return we pray
When we hear the news we all will cheer it,
The minstrel boy will return one day,
Torn perhaps in body, not in spirit.
Then may he play on his harp in peace,
In a world such as heaven intended,
For all the bitterness of man must cease,
And ev’ry battle must be ended.”
