Basia Korzeniowska A very concise and well worth reading account of the fortunes of Kherson – we know so little, but this writer shares his knowledge and reasoned thoughts very succinctly. I don’t share all his posts but they are all well worth reading.
For an American, the war in Ukraine is difficult to comprehend. Though the United States has often been involved in wars, the experience of warfare on American soil has been extremely limited. The last large conflict to be fought on United States territory was the American Civil War, which ended over a century and a half ago. Much is made in geopolitical literature about American exceptionalism. This is particularly true when it comes to warfare within the United States’ current borders. For instance, in both World Wars I & II, where the United States was heavily involved in the fighting, Americans managed to sidestep the visceral and violent experience of having their land torn asunder by fighting on home soil with all the attendant horrors that come from invasion and occupation. That is why so many Americans, this author included, find the violence inflicted upon Ukraine by Russia difficult to…
View original post 989 more words
Originally posted on Europe Between East And West:
For an American, the war in Ukraine is difficult to comprehend. Though the United States has often been involved in wars, the experience of warfare on American soil has been extremely limited. The last large conflict to be fought on United States territory was the American Civil…
This was Mother Mary Austen’s catchphrase. Oh, how we laughed at her. One of the most ancient of nuns in my convent school, she was big, ungainly and ripe for teasing at all times. Her innocence was immense. She had entered the convent before the first world war, and once admitted to us she had […]Read Post ›
I just found this book on my shelf after many years and was enchanted all over again by the sweetness of the cover. The illustrator is Margery Gill. The back cover is no less delightful. I received this book for Christmas when I was ten. I remember choosing it with the woman who gave it […]Read Post ›
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Amos6:1a, 4-7 Those who sprawl and those who bawl will be exiled The almighty Lord says this: “Woe to those ensconced so snugly in Zion and to those who feel so safe on the mountain of Samaria. Lying on ivory beds and sprawling on their divans, they […]Read Post ›
On Monday and Tuesday of this past week, the Kremlin announced a series of escalatory measures in Russia’s war with Ukraine. These included … Desperate Measures – Putin Escalates The War (The Russian Invasion of Ukraine #196)
Soixante -neuf. I see you internally giggle. But don’t. Yesterday was my sixty-ninth birthday. The beginning of my seventieth year. My three score and ten is almost up. This was brought home to me recently when I opened an official looking envelope which contained the message that my life insurance payments would soon cease as […]Read Post ›
A date for reflections of all kinds. For a lot of people it will be memories of nine eleven. Here in England that memory is I suppose slightly eclipsed by the death of Queen Elizabeth and the excitement of having a King Or a man queen as I read somewhere. Yet for me the memories […]Read Post ›
Thirty years ago my stepfather died very suddenly. He was sixty one. 14 years later my mother followed him. In this photo they are in front of Sheffield City Hall just after my graduation in 1976. He is forty five. My mother is 47. He is the slimmest he’s ever been. That day was one […]Read Post ›
Finally the sofa came. I am sitting on it now. I am trying to use the laptop so I can write more easily than on my phone. But I can’t connect to the internet. I don’t know why. Jacek is of course fast asleep, and I haven’t the heart, or the courage, to wake him. […]Read Post ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 