A report from the Associated Press begins,
The United States on Thursday announced sanctions against 11 Russians and two re-education facilities reportedly involved in the forced transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children, accusing Moscow of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Said the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, “Children are literally being ripped from their homes in the year 2023. Russia and its proxies have detained children fleeing violence. They have forced children out of schools and orphanages.”
And so on.
• Here is a report from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: “Russian Minister’s Wife Involved In Illegal Deportation Of Ukrainian Children.”
• An article by Annika Hansen and Ben Hodges in the Daily Telegraph is headed “Ukrainians can never give up territory to end the war: Putin is stealing their children.”
• RFE/RL interviewed a Ukrainian military doctor, Volodymyr Labuzov, who survived capture and imprisonment by Russian forces. Such testimony is important to hear or know about. Go here.
• Recently, the Heritage Foundation put out a photo of a pleasant scene in Kyiv, suggesting that everything was happy and fine in Ukraine, as compared with Hawaii, ravaged by wildfires. I wrote about this matter here.
The AP has published a report headed “Life in Kyiv may seem normal on the surface, but a closer look reveals the burdens of war.” Here is one sentence:
“Death has become a very routine part of our life,” said Aliona Vyshnytska, 29, who works as a project coordinator.
Another note on life in the capital:
Visited a favorite Kyiv park I haven’t been to in a while.
It’s now full of recovering amputees from the nearby medical institute.
— Dan Peleschuk (@dpeleschuk) August 20, 2023
• Word to the wise: If you dance in Crimea, you better be careful what you dance to:
The girls, aged 19, 20, and 26 were accused of "discrediting" the Russian Army while publicly dancing to the Ukrainian song in an open-air pool in the southern Crimean town of Alushta.https://t.co/k1QCDzVy31
— Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (@RFERL) August 11, 2023
• I remember a time — not that long ago — when statues of Stalin were taken down. In recent times, they have gone back up.
With an Orthodox priest blessing a large newly erected statue of Stalin in the Pskov region of 🇷🇺, history of the country is really taking a tragic turn. Tens of millions of Russian were killed by this brutal dictator, including many thousands of priests. pic.twitter.com/qWEZj4zMyQ
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) August 18, 2023
• The Russian Orthodox Church is full of stooges, agents, and knaves. It also has brave, brave souls. This AP report is headed “Russian Orthodox priests face persecution from state and church for supporting peace in Ukraine.”
• I have noticed that the term “Russophobia” is back. I heard it from the Left, in Cold War days. I hear it from the Right now. Today as before, the answer is this: Anyone truly pro-Russian would want that country to be free of dictatorship. Many of the best and noblest Russians are in prison cells.
On November 16, 2012, the U.S. House passed the Magnitsky Act. This is the law that permits the sanctioning of individual human-rights violators in Russia. Boris Nemtsov was sitting in the House gallery with Vladimir Kara-Murza. Nemtsov remarked, “This is the most pro-Russian law ever passed by a foreign legislature.”
As you know, Nemtsov was murdered in 2015 within sight of the Kremlin. Kara-Murza — who survived two murder attempts, by poison — is in prison.
When Kremlin apologists call you a “Russophobe” — tell them that the real friends of Russia are people who oppose the Kremlin and support its political prisoners.