dealing with dark events

[Meh]

On one hand people talk about failed negotiations with Putin.

On the other hand he is under investigation for war crimes.

So, is it even reasonable to negotiate with the mob, with Hitler, with a serial murderer. People are still calling him Mr. Putin in the media because it's the proper protocol.

Strange how the context of war is set apart like an alternative reality. All of a sudden murder is no longer murder.

What if Ukraine had not handed their nuclear weapons over to Russia - they handed them over with treaties that they would somehow be supported in the case of a nuclear attack... but NOT apparently in the case of Russia bombing Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

Quietly commerce continues..

https://www.airlive.net/a-russian-ilyushin-il-76-carrying-nuclear-fuel-was-granted-special-permission-to-enter-european-unions-airspace/

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/icc-prosecutor-advance-team-has-left-begin-work-ukraine-investigation-2022-03-03/

[Hopalong]

Good to hear you, Mouse.

I found this body language experts' panel about Putin pretty fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCXGQzuaNic

[lighter]

I watched body language thing on Putin last night.  It's the most interesting one so far, imo

Dark days, Hops.  Dark days.

Lighter

[Hopalong]

Yes.
We can be sure the highest levels of intelligence are scrutinizing his every twitch. Hopefully, strategies to keep him off the ledge may protect us all. But worrying is rational.

Ai yi yi.

I'm deliberately trying to shake it off several times a day and do more present-focused things. Another ginormous pot of cabbage soup is underway, smelling divine, and I've tweaked the recipe to be a bit less HOT HOT HOT, so neighbors won't have smoke coming out their ears. Makes me happy to do this.

Crows do too. Here's a fun one 7 minutes of charm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzIo15zDSEk

Looks like I may need to invest in a "scraper tool" --- LOL.

hugs and peace,
Hops

[Meh]

Yuri Dmitriev

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/yuri-dmitriev-sandarmoh/

https://dmitrievaffair.com/yu-a-dmitriev/

https://khpg.org/en/1601401206

[Meh]

There are war videos of people dying. There are photos of real horror. It’s not on MSM news.

It is a horror movie come to life. Bickering politicians and celebrities means nothing at all.

There are photos of dead soldiers, there are maimed civilians slowly dying on the ground.

There are people blown up and they look like hamburger. It’s terrible.

[Hopalong]

The images don't leave my mind, Mouse. Thank you for expressing
the anguished rage. It's right.

I know what is happening, as much as an ordinary person can.
Just not the outcome. I'm calibrating how much horror/heartbreak I can take in daily. Need to maintain mental health and sanity as best I can. The big forces aren't
worrying about that; we're on our own for our own equilibrium.

I don't pretend or go lalalaaaa. I'm not in denial. I truly do fear
for civilization and the future, but while I can, I'll still grasp on
to small human affirmative moments. Crows (animals), friends, and
kindness. These are things that can't be taken away. And in the short
term, I use distraction to calm myself.

Victor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning, is helpful now.

hugs
Hops

PS  How are you doing and how are you coping with what's happening?

[Meh]

I just get the feeling that Americans aren't totally realizing how messed up this stuff is. How China is linked.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10579901/Pro-Putin-politicians-influencers-wear-clothes-bearing-letter-Z.html

I'm sorry to say it but a scholar/ fellow on Human Rights and Conflict Resolution has posted information that are basically genocide spreadsheets. Russians have lists of people to kill who are their opposition. I know you know that but it's very surreal to be following all of this.

Putin sees this war as a war against 'The West' not just about Ukraine.

I think it's horrifying.

[Meh]

I'm just absolutely fucking horrified.

I sent one photo to a friend that had some deaths in it not too explicit but it was clear.

She said: I much prefer the cute Japan picture. This one is horrific but it really makes you realize people are dying over there. 

[Hopalong]

Me too, Mouse. Also horrified.
I was beginning to unravel around the edges, that's the only reason I retreated to watching escapist stuff. I dip in to the latest atrocities, dip out to distraction again. No other way.

I am not made of the mighty courage so many have. I am too sensitive to face it all, all at once. Unfortunately.

Russia's kill lists are par for the course. Glad they've escaped into the daylight so maybe some of his targets can evade the ... polonium umbrellas? Hit squads?

I will put my fear into the soil, which can absorb and process it. Then I'll plant sunflowers in the nutritious soil circle my dead tree left behind. Seeds are on their way.

hugs
Hops

[Meh]

The killings are getting worse. Reports from people in Ukraine say areas are being "razed to the ground"

all I can say is I didn't fully comprehend the true meaning of blood bath

there are videos of people in mass pools of blood

I can't look away from what is happening

It's Putin's Reign of Terror

[Meh]

In Ireland a man rams the Russian embassy so he can distribute photos of bomb victims inside.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2022/0307/1284925-embassy/

[Hopalong]

Mouse, for your sake I'd like to challenge this:

I can't look away from what is happening

You and only you can calibrate how much witnessing you can take, or need to in order to feel compassion and solidarity. (I'm also preaching to myself, daily.)

Sacrificing your own mental stability by filling your mind with nothing else won't help. It won't stop their suffering. It is horror. And human minds aren't designed to take in endless volumes of it. When they do, it changes not just soldiers but observers forever.

Be careful. Recognize all this for what it is. Truth is cleansing but too much exposure to evil is sickening. Don't become sick.

Just...balance. Use distraction when you feel it rising high enough to flood you.

I'm working at that too and it is difficult.

hugs
Hops

[Hopalong]

Thank you, CB.

The Sibelius made we weep...in a good way.

One Tweet below said, "The human voice is a powerful weapon against war."

[Meh]

Phones being systematically checked in Moscow by police. Police beating protestors with billy clubs.

A report that the Ukrainian staff at the Chernobyl are now being tortured - I assume it's true but I don't know how to verify it at the moment.

The Wagner Group is known for torture.