We arrived at our watering hole just in time to snag two happy hour beers before the price doubled. It was hazy due to the fire in Squamish, a harbinger of the fire season yet to happen. According to forecasts it will be a bad one. Less rain, less snowpack, more drought and a long hot summer.
‘Have you noticed that every country is arming up; Europe, to reduce dependence on the US, and even Canada which just pledged to meet the NATO’s target of 2 percent of GDP, just before they suggest to up the ante to 5 percent. What gives Camp?’
‘We’re back into a global arms race, from Switzerland to Canada, Russia to China, Poland to Taiwan. And not just countries who are at war like Israel, Ukraine and Russia. Arms manufacturers are also supplying conflict zones that don’t have their own arms manufacturing but also no money but hey, credit for fighter jets or tanks is easily obtained. It keeps the arms industry humming along. India and Pakistan will spend billions more on arms and Israel just attacked Iran.’
‘Despite the new U.S. aid package for Ukraine, peace or the end of the war is still far from being in sight,’ I said to Camp who was looking out at the lovely view from our pub on the harbour. ‘The US finally approved a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine. This means that Ukraine at least has another chance to defend itself against the overpowering opponent from the east.’
‘It’s hopefully not too late. But there is no reason for euphoria. Russia’s economy seems to be resilient despite sanctions; thanks to Chinese and Indian electronics for their war machine and third-party importers for everything else, all paid for with oil shipped out with their dark and rusty ghost fleet. Then there are the casualties on both sides of the war. About 100,000 soldiers are said to have died so far, two-thirds of them on the Russian side. In addition, more than 10,000 civilians were also killed. Second, there are no signs at all that the war, which has been going on for two years now, will end in the foreseeable future.’
Camp, Muriel, Clare and I went for a walk in the woods yesterday and the two guys soon separated from the girls. We both had seen the news and I wanted Camp’s opinion. ‘Do you think the Russians and Iranians helped Hamas to stage and execute their assault on Israel yesterday?’
‘It doesn’t matter what I think but the fact is that now the eyes of the world have shifted to the middle-east and away from Ukraine. This cannot be good for their cause. Maybe this was the plan all along because this senseless attack will do no good for the Palestinians.’
We walked in silence but not for long. We looked behind us but Muriel and Clare were just as immersed talking to each other.
‘We cannot let our support for Ukraine slip into complacency,’ Camp said. ‘We all know what happened. Putin’s Russia invaded their cousins – Ukraine – unprovoked and without cause. The special military operation – the euphemism used by Russia – was supposed to be over in a couple of weeks but then that didn’t happen. The Ukrainians, under the leadership of their newly elected prime minister Zelensky fought back and destroyed the 20km long column of tanks and armoured vehicles who were driving toward Kiev in order to take over the city, the government and the country. Ukraine and the rest of the western world woke up to this horror show and condemned it unanimously. Support for the assaulted sovereign country was swift and immediate – from all the NATO countries as well as many others around the globe. On 7th April 2022, the UN General Assembly passed resolution ES-11/4 demanding Moscow to completely, immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine. The vote was 143 in favour, 5 against and 35 abstaining.’
‘Yes, I realize that now, a year and a half later, the unrelenting assault of Russian troops with the help of the mercenary Wagner group is ongoing and is wasting thousands of young lives on both sides of the conflict.’
‘Let me count the offences of Putin’s special operation,’ Camp said.
‘Millions of Ukrainian citizens displaced and uprooted. According to the UN, some
18 million people need humanitarian aid and protection. In addition to the more than 6 million refugees outside Ukraine, an estimated 5.9 people have been displaced within the besieged nation.
Thousands of hectares of arable land destroyed and mined, making it unhabitable for decades. According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the Russian war in Ukraine has created a minefield of 250,000 square kilometers in size in his country making it the largest minefield in the world.
Cities and ports destroyed. According to estimates by the Ukrainian authorities, over 350’000 facilities and millions of square meters of residential, educational, medical and sports infrastructures have been destroyed and thousands of km of roads and railways along with airports, ports and generating-stations have been destroyed or damaged.
Grain exports disrupted. Since Russia cancelled the grain deal which allowed Ukraine to ship grain from Odessa to the Bosporus Strait in Turkey across the Black Sea it is now shipping the grain along the Danube into and through Romania. Russia has stolen 6 million tons of grain from the occupied territories of Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion and war. Since March 2022, Canada has provided temporary asylum to over 166’000 Ukrainians.’
‘Let’s not forget the thousands of Ukrainian children abducted and relocated into Russia,’ I added. ‘In fact, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Ms Maria Lvova-Belova along with her boss Putin is accused of crimes against humanity by the International criminal court. They were charged with being responsible for the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia — a war crime under international legislation.’
‘Yes, Ms Belova herself said that over 700’000 children have been taken into Russia since the beginning of the war.’
‘The well documented destruction and theft of Ukrainian cultural icons and artifacts from museums and galleries is one aspect of the war that is overlooked. It is a genocidal policy to deny the Ukrainians their separate identity, language and culture and the imprisonment of academics across universities and cultural institutions.’
Let’s be clear,’ Camp doubled down, ‘Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine the victim. Putin, the chief kleptocrat of the kleptocracy that is modern Russia is the villain. We need to keep supporting the victims and try and restrict, sanction, disrupt and destroy the warmongers in Moscow.’
We were looking around for our wives who were somewhere behind us. We were quiet because of the steep steps leading up to Soames hill.
‘Is it possible for Ukraine to win this war?’ I said.
‘Probably not in the long run but we cannot give up our support just because the war is too long, too expensive and too disruptive. Let’s face it, one man and one word could end this catastrophe.’
We finally reached the top and below us spread the glorious and beautiful view of Howe Sound, Gibsons harbour and the islands: Keats, the Pasleys and the long blue band of Vancouver Island in the distance. Above us the blue sky and a couple of eagles soaring, unperturbed by all the trouble in the world.
As the war in the Ukraine continues unabated, there are two facets of this horrific and unnecessary conflict that stand out for me. I voiced my concerns to Camp over a pint of beer, looking out at the peaceful paradise of Howe Sound and the picturesque harbour of Gibsons. So far removed from all the hurt and wars and yet, thanks to our up-to-the-minute coverage of all that goes on in this world, unable to escape the fact that we are all connected.
‘The first thing that strikes me is, while the Ukrainian economy is being devastated and its infrastructure demolished, Russia’s cities and industries have not been bombed and attacked, and despite sanctions, are able to stumble along. Families are ripped apart and uprooted and the remaining 35mil Ukrainians are traumatized and face a potential famine because they cannot plant, harvest and process their wheat and crops. Secondly, while more and more heavy arms flow from the west into the Ukraine, Russia finds itself in a war not against NATO but against the west’s military and arms industry and capability, including leading technology and advanced systems which have not been used in the theater of war before. The kind of war Russia was not prepared for and is certainly loath to be up against.’
Camp nodded. ‘In 1994, Ukraine gave up all its nuclear weapons. In return it received solemn ‘assurances’ in the Budapest Memorandum that Russia, the UK and the US would refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. How did that turn out?’
I walked into the pub and saw Vicky polishing glasses at the bar. ‘I hear you had the covid,’ I said. ‘Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. A couple of days of headaches and congestion. It scared me though but I soon got over it. Troy, my son, probably brought it home from daycare. He never had any symptoms though. I now have two jabs and one recovery. Should be good for a while.’
Everything seems so normal here: The pub, the lovely view, the beer. Meanwhile Europe is at war and the death, destruction and lasting impact on the world, the environment and the crippling psychological impact and devastation of Putin’s brutal war are ongoing. Ukraine is suddenly Aleppo or Srebrenica or worse.
When Camp walked and sat down, I knew that the war in Ukraine was the elephant in the room. No way we could not talk about that catastrophe. He plunked down his newspaper, I think it was the Globe and Mail, and sighed. ‘It doesn’t look good,’ he said.
It was a cold and clear sunny day, with a faint promise of spring in the crisp air but reluctant to let go of the hand of old man winter. At the top of my agenda, indeed what kept me awake most of the night, is the bully-war, presently under way in the Ukraine. It’s not a pleasant topic but one that needs discussing, even though mine and Camp’s opinion feel so futile and inconsequential and yet I had to get it off my chest. Camp was already seated when I walked in. I took off my mask and sat down just as Vicky placed a frosty mug in front of me.
‘You want to talk about Putin’s invasion, don’t you?’ Camp said before I could utter a world. ‘It’s what he has always wanted, to be master of the universe and to bring back the USSR.’
Bruno's point of view 