Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

There is a perceptible dissonance in the narrative about the latest iteration of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

There are those voices that assert that the russian führer putin, or russia or a combination of both are to blame. Then there are those that claim that russia has significantly changed since its red days so the war is a product of russia’s current aberrant leadership and putin’s megalomaniacal belligerent behavior. And then there are those that say the war is a figment of the anti-russian imagination of Kyiv, the United States and NATO.

Enough intellectual excuses, misinterpretations, explanations and diplomatic gobbledygook.

We have emphatically proclaimed that the Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-23 is another chapter in the historical continuum of Russia’s millennial hatred of Ukraine and Ukrainians extending back to 1169 when the muscovite ruler Andrey Bogoliubskiy sacked Kyiv. It is another bloody chapter in russia’s never ending desire to invade, conquer, subjugate and destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Hard to believe for today’s politicians that such animosity by one faux nation against Ukrainians can impact national, regional and global politics and relations for so long. A Ukrainian victory against Russia or the sudden departure to the afterworld of putin will be a temporary reprieve. The long-term solution will come when what is popularly called Russia or The Russian Federation is decolonized and broken up into independent, individual national or ethnic states.

I recently came across a short poem of four stanzas by Ivan Franko, one of the triumvirate of Ukrainian patriotic poets of the 19th-early 20th centuries who understood who russians actually are. Franko together with Taras Shevchenko and Lesya Ukrayinka promoted Ukrainian national identity and awareness, and warned their brethren about the everlasting mortal dangers of russia, which with weapons, deceit or lies will always seek to achieve its depraved goal.

In his pithy, caustic, acerbic verses written in 1893, Franko presented a genuine rendition of russia’s malicious behavior toward Ukraine and Ukrainians for all times.

Titled “The Rotten Quag,” here is my translation of Franko’s poem.

 

The putrid quag that fills eastern Europe,

covered with thick, green scum,

a petri dish of irrational, stagnant people,

Oh, russia! Wherever you step with your foot –

 

Extortion, lies and tears slither behind you.

Living death blossoms like mold on a wall.

You squeeze and yell “I am bringing freedom!”

You skin us while declaring “I’m bringing culture.”

 

If you’re not flogging us, beating us, exiling us to Siberia,

Then you’re sucking blood from our hearts,

Your quag is choking our hearts and souls.

 

Only snakes and slime grow and strengthen inside of you.

The free spirit must either escape

Or be buried alive in your grave.

 

Check recent newspapers, newsreels and webstreams about Ukraine and russia to confirm Franko’s bitter words, denunciations, predictions and anger written 130 years ago.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.