They say Mr. Putin, also known by his nick-name “Vlad the Impaler” is headed to Brussels to talk to some people in the European Union and assure them that despite an open, armored force invasion of a country right next door, everything is fine and to just relax a little.

We are apparently at a tipping point in this conflict. It is hard to be accurate in our assessment. We are, in large part, former senior Intelligence Officials. We contemplated putting a letter together and saying that while we haven’t seen any evidence, we still think it might be Russian disinformation. Then we could find 50-or-so former colleagues to sign it and then circulate it widely as a justification to either do something or not do something. We were at a tipping point on that part, and the Attorney looked at us sternly.

Splash was behind it, and for goodness sake, it was a joke and we do not think it merits an internal investigation. We would be willing to sign a letter to that effect, but the Attorney took away all our pens. The production meeting was a little uneasy. In government service, we used to do something called “strategic messaging,” which was a means to keep our story straight in communications with the public. We have been through three declared wars- Cold, Gulf and Terror- and a host of other operations. They have included imposition of “No Fly” zones, ground combat with armored forces, sanctions enforcement and counter-terrorist operations. Which is to say, many of the elements of the current conflict in Ukraine.

It is an unusual thing, since for people who used to know what was going on with some degree of objective truth, we now have two different sources of information. One is Ukrainian and the other is Russian. Each is intended to affect our opinion on things like support to a valiant nation attempting to oppose naked and violent aggression. The other narrative is not aimed directly at us, but rather at the Russian people. They are being encouraged to fight crypto-Nazis from some other war who are threatening the Homeland and must be contained.

Both narratives seem to be effective at the target audiences. We are opposed to the murder of civilians, particularly women and children, and the Ukrainian messaging has been both dramatic and effective. President Zelenskyy has addressed several target audiences with pleas of support. He Zoomed a presentation to the US Congress and the Japanese Diet among others. Talk in that stream has included claims of heavy Russian casualties, massive destruction of Ukrainian cities, and imminent collapse of financial systems due to sanctions. The other stream of information doesn’t include a denial of the deaths of several high-ranking Russian officers in combat, which is a curious source of confirmation.

As a group, we are old enough to recall the concept once known as “Fragging.” That was the unfortunate use of fragmentation grenades against officers who insisted on placing troops in avoidable danger. Like everything else in this conflict, we don’t know. We know how we feel, and there was a brief discussion of the only use of atomic weapons in the history of warfare, and how to judge the plainly stated possibility of their use again.
Our Attorney was taking notes, so we made sure to include the obligatory footnote: “we are generally opposed to armored invasions of any nation, unless it was us doing it for justified reasons. We are totally opposed to the deaths of civilians, particularly those of women and children. We generally hope for peace everywhere.”

That seemed to placate the Attorney, but led to a quick side-bar conversation about the military airfields the Chinese have built on uninhabited little isles in the South China Sea. They had previously claimed they wouldn’t do what they did, but that is a third narrative that seems to be changing a bit as the Russian aggression has stalled in bloody horror and mass artillery use against apartment buildings.

So there it is on this day in this new Spring. There may be a tipping point in Brussels this week. Russian forces might withdraw, if face-saving means for a senior official can be arranged and the dead forgotten. As a group, we have experience that our own Legal staff is telling us not to discuss in public. We have to base our opinions on manufactured narratives intended to cause effect rather than provide objective truth.

In that context, the Ukrainians are providing an effective and emotional stream of information. It does not include pre-war information about widespread corruption provided by the New York Times, which we acknowledge may be news, but also seems to be an optimized stream of data intended to do something else. And our President is headed for Brussels, capital of the European Union, and may run into a real or virtual Mr. Zelenskyy and Mr. Putin, in person.

We checked with the Attorney. We are permitted to:

Be in favor of a just peace.
Horrified at the destruction wrought by a brutal invasion.

After those two points, things get a little complicated. We would prefer not to have our nation dragged into a conflict involving use of any of the spectrum of weapons of mass destruction. That runs against the grain, since as a group we have actually felt it appropriate to go do something about things that seemed wrong.

We are pleased to be old enough that no one is likely to make us personally go and do something about this. But in terms of memory we are unified in sympathy for the kids who will be told to go, wherever they were born.

Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com