A thousand and more years ago, “Kievan Rus” was centered in Ukraine’s broad wheat fields, forming an uneasy line between western cultures and the deeps of eastern Asia. A strong man emerged from one of many scattered tribal bands which bred horses, hunted with eagles, raided rivals and entertained themselves with tales of brutal warfare. Groups of rival tribesmen, recognizing an emerging war leader, formed up behind this chief: Timujin, orphaned son of a murdered leader.
A vast army of skilled, dedicated mounted killers was born. Not for nothing was Genghis Khan’s assault force known as the Golden Horde. As more tribes accepted his leadership, he took aim for conquest of rich lands to the west, and was successful. There seemed no end to the number of skilled archers and close combat fighters following him, stretching in a wide swathe across the steppes.
Using severe and brutal discipline, the warriors of Genghis Khan streamed west as a mobile, maneuverable, mounted mass of terror. Fighting as one, thundering across the wild spaces from Samarkand into eastern Germany, Poland and as far removed as southern France.
Their ponies were light, fast and hardy enough to exist on tufts of grass and outrun the heavy battle chargers of European kingdoms. Western civilization, for many years, hung in a balance. The hardy “Rus” – Vikings, Swedes, Slavs, Norse, Celts, Magyars, Cossacks, Tartars, Uzbeks and Byzantine Greeks who formed early Russia and Ukraine stood directly in the crosshairs of conflict. There was nowhere to run.
The history of this period and place makes a frightening read, if half the exploits attributed to the Khan and his successors are true. For several hundred years, as the Mongol Khans raided and assaulted even the Chinese great wall, they were unstoppable. Then, like many ancient battle cultures, they faded away, absorbed into the genetics of each region like a mysterious sign that they could return, and do worse damage.
That return has now begun, and it is ravenous. I did not expect to see such a stark display of cruelty on one side, and selfless heroism on the other. It is not simple reasoning, given the fact that most of the young Russian conscripts seek the first train out of town and away from Ukraine, to assign to the schemers hidden in the Muscovite Kremlin the foulest of motives .
They do not see people, only power and money; all else is irrelevant. Their longtime leader, Vladimir Putin, desires to capture, dominate and destroy as much individual Ukrainian identity as he can.
He now is disastrously culling 300,000 unwilling Russian men to feed the weaponized meat ginders of the Ukraine war, only so he may remain in power. His chances are shrinking daily. Putin dreams with his reluctant Asian ally, the Chinese government, of “leading the world” with both nations supreme, vanquishing the free west and specifically the free United States. HIMARS (High Mobility Rocket Artillery Systems) sent by the U.S. to Ukraine have put an end to those dreams, as the tide of war sweeps backward to the unguarded Russian border. Deserving much more of our support, Ukrainian patriots have decisively proven three core principles of war: 1) deception is always possible in conflict, 2) precision strikes increase depth of penetration of the enemy, terrorizing and producing cascading effects, and 3) war is always an option in political negotiation. For deranged, autocratic states, war is preferred. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has fled to his palatial dacha in the countryside, equipped with numerous bedrooms, pool, spa, shooting range, and a Middle Eastern-themed room decked out with pillows and a pole for dancing. One swings between horror at his cruelty and ridiculing laughter at his comical attempts to recreate the worst of the Ottoman pashas’ excesses. Putin boasts of being a self-made man, no longer a penniless peasant but a hero of the Russian state. He is accomplishing his own, and Russia’s undoing……..
Linda Berry is a Northsider.
