The Russians are still going at it in Ukraine today. It is interesting of course, but it is being played out in levels ranging from abrupt and brutal violence through several levels of expertise and interpretation. That naturally depends on the volume of the crowd closest to your hearing. We are jarred at the news of callous cold. In this week at The Farm, we breathed warmer air and felt the slumbering earth begin to stir again. The return of the chill gray breeze laden with moisture had a profound impact.

Today? Gray and steel cold just above freezing. In keeping with The Current Conflict being conducted an ocean away under similar meteorologic conditions is interspersed with bright flashes, whizzing shrapnel and smoke. There were reports of fighting in the Chernobyl Nuclear Zone for drama. Discussions of the Battle of Snake Island, and the profane welcome to the visiting Russians issued by Ukrainian defenders. By report, they are all currently dead. It is of a piece with the chill, but you can understand why the circle responded differently.

We have former military professionals on the Writer’s Section staff. They are familiar with the machines built to wage war, and the human interface that operates them. Interests varied, depending on which parts of the systems of war in which they have experience. Some were interested in the Russian attack on an airfield just west of the capital of Kyiv. There was talk about whether that event meant something in terms of campaign objective. Some felt the Donbas enclaves to the east and a pathway to Crimea would suffice for a limited Russian objective. Others felt a drive to the broad banks of the Dnper River might be the point of what is the first armored invasion force seen in motion in Europe since 1945.

There was a report of a Turkish ship, NATO ally, being struck near Odessa. There are complications to that, but we do not understand the full dimensions of the struggle yet. We do have personal experience with many of the components yet. And they strike home.

That is the most curious part. For the first time, some of us have drawn back. As former instruments in similar machines there is compelling attraction. but old habits of consequence management are hard to break. The fact that there are nukes in the hands of at least one of the active participants presents the possibility that something significant might need managing.

So there is that. We are just spectators, not collaborators or victims. Spectators, out in the country.

++++++++++++++++++++++

That is what amplifies the unsettled and surreal aspect of this war. As spectators, what are we to expect? Buck pushed his mortarboard hat back nearly to full vertical and explained the numbers. “Oil is already above a hundred buck a barrel, and this war will spike it up big time. Our market, already jittery, is going to crash and make old farts like us on fixed incomes hurt. The cascade of things in motion across the world in trade and supply are under stress now. But this will cause some of the chains to break.”

Rocket stirred. “The Russian Army is not the Soviet Army we knew. Some of the tanks and jets they are using are more than thirty years old. The ability to make them work as designed is going to be a real challenge over time.”

Melissa frowned. “You mean like the B-52s we flew to Europe? They made the last one of those fifty years ago.”

It was a jolt of reality. It was enough that Splash mentioned we might want to have a reliable stockpile of pharmaceutical products at The Farm in case of disruption. Others suggested other rapidly consumable products might be added to that list. There will doubtless be others added to that list as this mess grinds on.

Anyway, that is just what is on the plate on this morning in wartime. It is curious that a thing so far away is so immediate. And so painfully personal.

Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com