Author: Joey deVilla

This is Stepan, a cat with an amusing Instagram account (@loveyoustepan). Under normal circumstances, he lives in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Here’s Stepan’s most recent post:

Мы живы! 🇺🇦❤️ Люди, остановите войну! Российская армия продолжает бомбить мирное население Украины! #stopwar
#ukraine #uaразом #kharkov мой город😭😭💔

Translation (courtesy of Google Translate):
We are alive! 🇺🇦❤️ People, stop the war! The Russian army continues to bomb the civilian population of Ukraine! #stopwar
#ukraine # uarazom #kharkov my city😭😭💔

I’ll close with a couple more photos. Click them to see the originals:

Russia has a “burn book”!

Okay, it’s more of an “enemies list”, but I choose to view it as a “burn book” as seen in the 2004 film Mean Girls.

The more formal name for it is a list of countries that have committed “unfriendly actions” against “Russia, Russian companies and citizens”. If you’re a Russian national or organization doing business in one of the countries in the burn book, you’ll need to get special authorization first. Putin is the Regina George of geopolitics, and you can’t hang with anyone s/he has declared a “fugly bitch!”

San Marino made it into the burn book!

The burn book has all the usual countries/regions you’d expect: United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and so on.

But also on the list is San Marino. We’re talking about the city-state more formally known as Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino (“The Most Serene Republic of San Marino”), population enough to half-fill Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, fifth-smallest country in the world, and LARPer paradise.

It’s been on my “places to visit” list for a little while. Anyhow, San Marino’s inclusion took me by surprise for a couple of reasons:

1. I didn’t know it was still considered its own nation. I thought it was just a town or county and was always under the impression that their nationhood was kind of tongue-in-cheek micronation, in the same way that Florida’s Key West supposedly seceded from the U.S. and became the “Conch Republic”. But apparently it’s an honest-to-goodness microstate.
2. If they’re taking action against Russia, I have no idea with what. Tourism is their bread and butter, and I suspect that any sanctions they could impose would have anything more than a symbolic effect.They did have some of the most advanced weapons in the world — in the 13th century:
   Even when they became available, the Crossbow Corps never updated their gear to muskets. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi and the lightsaber, they stuck with the crossbow, “an elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.”The Crossbow Corps are still active, and they’re one the reasons — along with that gorgeous castle — that I’ve always wanted to visit.But they’re definitely not sending crossbows to Ukraine.

Want to know more about San Marino? Check out these videos:

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include their Eurovision song entry:

A moment of brightness in a dark time.

Thanks to Tony Pierce for the find!

The reportage of the Ukrainian refugee crisis has unearthed some ugly truths that are worth discussing.

Accidentally saying the quiet part out loud

Here’s CBS News’ Charlie D’Agata reporting from Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion:

Here’s how he described Ukraine:

“…a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European – I have to choose those words carefully, too – city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.”

It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating: What the hell would he have said if he wasn’t choosing his words carefully?

You don’t really need to wonder, as NBC News’ Kelly Cobiella eagerly said the quiet part out loud:

Here’s what she said:

“…just to put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria; these are refugees from neighboring Ukraine. Quite frankly, it is part of it. These are Christians, they’re white, they’re very similar to people who live in Poland [where she was reporting from]…”

She’s not even falling back on the weasel-word phrase “Judeo-Christian” — just Christian. She doesn’t sound all that different from Republican candidate Lauren Witzke, who identifies with the Christian values of Ukraine’s neighbor’s leader:

Here’s Lauren Witzke, the GOP’s 2020 Senate candidate in Delaware, heaping praise on Putin for taking care of his people.

“I identify more with Putin’s Christian values than I do with Joe Biden.” pic.twitter.com/6ldCD2vukm

— Ed Greenberger (@EdGreenberger) February 24, 2022

And if you think that she showed a certain ugly bias, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Here’s Ukrainian politician David Sakvarelidze on the crisis:

In the interview, he called the current crisis very emotional because it involves…

“…European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed…”

Quick aside on Europe as a continent

The idea of Europe as a continent is a social construction, not a geophysical reality. Just so you know.

It’s been noticed

This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the folks at Gravitas, a news show presented by WION, a New Delhi-based English language news channel whose name is short for “World Is One Network”:

Rebel HQ (part of TYT) has these observations:

One of my favorite journalists, Medhi Hasan, had a conversation with Ayman Mohyeldin about this matter:

This is a civilized city!
They’re blue-eyed and blond-haired!
This is Europe, not the Third World!

Tonight on @MSNBC, @AymanM and I discussed some of the awful and, frankly, racist coverage of the Ukraine war & Ukrainian refugees compared to the MidEast:pic.twitter.com/ir6qWHBNE6

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 28, 2022

…and let’s not forget The Daily Show, whose host Trevor Noah grew up in South Africa and knows a thing or two about how some people see that more melanin means less value as a human being:

First Coast News have also noticed the difference in treatment when the refugees are white:

We can chew gum and walk at the same time

Because there’s always someone who will counter these observations with the rebuttal that this is not the time to bring up this discussions as there are Ukrainians who may no longer have homes.

I will respond by borrowing a line from the soldiers on Ukraine’s Snake Island…

Privileged person: Go fuck yourself.

We can chew gum and walk at the same time. It is possible to stand with displaced people from Ukraine and stand with displaced people who aren’t blonde-haired and blue-eyed.

The fact that you can’t treat these groups with the same level of dignity speaks volumes.