[FRIAM] human side of the Ukraine crisis

[Merle Lefkoff]

For those of you who don't routinely watch Fareed Zakaria on CNN each
Sunday morning, you might watch this morning.  The 8:00 show is repeated at
11:00.  Interview with Zelensky, plus a short video made by the Ukranians
that they preview on the show.

On Sat, Mar 19, 2022 at 3:45 PM Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com> wrote:

> I was looking through some of the recent purchases from Come Back Alive.  (
> https://www.comebackalive.in.ua)
>
> Purchases include 1500 Mavic 3 Drones and many batches of bulletproof
> vests in groups of 3000.   There are individuals putting down tens as well
> as thousands of USD at a time.   Crowd sourced defense is a thing..
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Steve Smith
> Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2022 10:17 AM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
> Subject: [FRIAM] human side of the Ukraine crisis
>
> Mary's nephew's "charge", Vlada made it to Warsaw most of a week ago from
> a small farm east of Kiev.   She has established a network of support and
> (new) friends among the refugees there. The goFundMe cash they gathered was
> very helpful to this effort and being crowdsourced, the load was shared
> among hundreds of friends/family.  I think the average donation was under
> $30.
>
> Mary's nephew's wife just gave birth (this morning) to their second child
> which is what prevented the nephew (early 30s) from traveling to Poland to
> help Vlada directly over the last few weeks.   In the meantime, the
> upside-down refugee admissions to the US (refugees from Europe capped at
> 10,000 while 30,000 Ukrainians *already* in the US have claimed (and been
> granted by exec order?) refugee status.   According to an immigration
> lawyer they have retained, Vlada can likely still enter the US under a
> student visa.   The family is ready to effectively adopt her (as a young
> adult) but her heart is *in* Ukraine and will likely return.   I understand
> she has no immediate family in Ukraine to rely on (or worry about), but she
> does have a more extended family there.
>
> As someone who has become a "bleeding heart liberal" over decades of (not
> so) hard knocks, I fully support this type of immigration or more likely
> temporary refuge (years?) for anyone around the world.  When anyone is
> willing to "host" someone from another part of the world, including taking
> financial responsibility for them, it seems unconscionable not to allow
> that.   In this case, Europe, especially Poland and the other eastern EU
> countries bounding Ukraine is carrying the load and being able to release
> some of that pressure, even one individual at a time would seem like a boon
> to them as well.
>
> Of course, there is all the (not unfounded) rhetoric about how cold our
> shoulders are to those from other countries where the people don't remind
> us of ourselves as much.  I understand some of both sides.  It seems a
> shame that we treat refugees from violence and poverty in Central America
> as a nasty, dangerous "horde" while we welcome these pink-faced, blonde
> haired people wearing designer label clothing.  And yet, I also understand
> why those who have been infected with fear and mistrust of "the other"
> would have this bias as well.
>
> As I think we have discussed hear in great detail, Xenophobia is an
> organic response in individual/group survival.   But that neurochemical
> response of "it's diffr'nt, killit!" might should be something we can in
> fact overrule consciously and culturally.  The (relative) welcoming that EU
> has given to middle-Eastern and north African refugees is a positive
> example.   I am surrounded by many individual positive examples in my life,
> but the Fox/Trump News message about Caravans of Rapists and Murderers
> still bleeds through and exhibits itself in folks mostly 2 degrees of
> separation from me.   None of those have I heard squealing in horror at
> supporting Ukranian refugees, however.
>
>
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-- 
Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D.
Center for Emergent Diplomacy
emergentdiplomacy.org
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

mobile:  (303) 859-5609
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