There but for the grace of God

This Thursday piece in the Washington Post caught my eye for reasons I’ll explain in a moment, but it is illustrative of how when war is unleashed, the shrapnel goes in all directions.

In a Minnesota classroom, two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, a high school teacher asked her class where they would travel if they could go anywhere in the world. Barrett Buck, 16, who was adopted from Moscow at 15 months old, began replying, “Russia, because —” A scoff cut her off before she could finish the sentence.

Buck continued, saying she’d like to experience more of the country of her birth. Then she added, “I don’t support Russia and what’s going on.”

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has complicated the lives of kids like Buck, one of tens of thousands of children adopted from Russia in the 1990s and early 2000s, and their families, as they navigate layers of feelings about their Russian identity amid the backdrop of an unprovoked war.

Mara Kamen, chair of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA), a volunteer-run organization shepherding a network of about 7,000 member families who have adopted children from the former Soviet bloc, says kids and teens adopted from Russia have felt intense hurt these past few weeks.

My son and daughter are both adopted from Russia, though at different times and from different places. We made a total of four trips to Russia, two for each of them. With our son, our first day with him in the orphanage was 9/11. With our daughter, the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 started the day after we got to Moscow (which, looking at the calendar, within the last week was exactly nineteen years ago.) I might share those stories at some point down the road.


Our kids are among the 60,000 mentioned here, but they will be among the last for awhile. Putin ended foreign adoptions in 2013. A very sad case involving a Russian adopted boy was the purported reason, but it had more to do with politics and Putin’s anger at sanctions for human rights abuses. Also, there was always a bit of wounded pride on the part of the Russian people, to have Americans come in and take care of their children in a way they couldn’t, or wouldn’t.

More than 60,000 Russian children were adopted by American families between 1992 and 2012, according to figures from the U.S. State Department. The Dima Yakovlev Law, signed by Putin in December 2012, took effect in 2013 and banned the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens, meaning most children adopted from Russia and living in the United States are now teens and young adults.

What really resonated with me though was this part of the article, because I’ve been having the same emotions watching the invasion of Ukraine unfold.

As Kary Lawrence of Rockville, Md., speaks of seeing photos of young Russian soldiers in Ukraine, she begins to cry. Several of the soldiers appeared to be about the same age as her own sons, Nicholas Lawrence, 19, and Dmitri Lawrence, 18, whom she and her husband adopted from Russia.

“They’re very young. They’re like my boys,” says Lawrence, 58. “To me, thinking they could’ve been there, it makes me sad that there are other kids born around the same time being thrown into this.”


My son will be 22 this year and he truly could’ve been among the Russian solders told to go into Ukraine. The prospects for orphanage kids in Russia are not always bright once they age out of the system. Substance abuse can afflict both but for girls, it is not uncommon to end up in prostitution or to be trafficked. For boys, often the military is their only option.

There have been reports that the Russian soldiers are demoralized, not told where they were going or why, that they are poorly supplied and poorly fed. It’s easy to dismiss them as “conscripts”, but some of these soldiers are just kids who needed a way to eat and have a roof over their head.

Putin made a grave strategic error by going into Ukraine, and Napoleon told us to never interrupt the enemy while he’s making a mistake. Kevin Williamson wrote this week that Putin should be made to pay dearly for what he’s done, and I want that too.

It’s just that the process of doing so involves killing Russian soldiers, many of whom had a rough start in life already and who didn’t want to be involved in the destruction of Ukraine. Soldiers who could’ve been my son, young men who certainly are quite like my son, and the thought of that saddens me.

139 thoughts on “There but for the grace of God

  1. Say rAT? It sounds like you got this shit all figured out; why are you still here?

    Ukraine needs brilliant military minds like yours, rAT. Zelinsky has been begging for foreign fighters to come help save his child trafficking operation Democracy ™. Why are you not over there leading all those overweight, middle age Freedom Fighters ™ to victory?

    Bubba could stand on the rubble of Mariupol and wave his Putin delenda est flag and inspire the flabby troops with his 6 pack abs and python arms.

    Get to it, Patriots!

  2. Oops, shit. Too late Patriots

    “Mariupol is ‘in the hands’ of Russia, mayor says”

    Russian forces now control the majority of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, CNN reported Monday.

    “[W]e are in the hands of the occupiers today,” said Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko in a televised interview on Monday.

    According to the New York Times, Zelensky told the city’s remaining defenders they may need to flee and said Ukraine’s military cannot muster “a sufficient number of tanks, other armored vehicles, and … aircraft

    #sadtrombone

    Guess the remaining Nazis Freedom Fighters of the Askov Brigade had better goose step their flabby, middle age asses the hell out of there.

  3. Assuming someone takes up your suggestion, I’m curious to know, Bikebubba, who you see replacing Putin as a kinder, gentler Russian President?

    Did anyone seriously ask that question during WWII, or did we simply say, in effect, Hitler delenda est?

    I think you know the answer. Reality is that just as Stalin was succeded by Kruschev, and Schicklgruber by Doenitz, evil dictators today tend to have less psychopathic successors for the same reason that COVID has gotten less virulent. Those dictators also tend not to have assertive underlings, because assertive underlings tend to send the polonium their way. Hence their succession plan is not as nasty as one would think.

  4. Schwoops!

    “US doubts Ukraine poisoning claim – media

    American officials don’t believe symptoms of Ukrainian negotiators and Russian businessman Roman Abramovich look like poisoning, Reuters claims“

    Bad caviar?

    Bubba, it looks like Fox news has let you down buddy. Stand by for new marching orders from head quarters.

  5. Ukrainian (and US) propaganda instructs us Putin has been snatching poor, beleaguered Mariupol citizens and whisking them away to Russia.

    Turns out these people are ethnic Russians being transported to their kin by the Red Cross…What do?

    “The Red Cross is running black bag, grab and snatch ops!!!”

    “Ukraine never agreed to a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Russia. That’s obvious. They are occupiers. They are enemies. Not peacemakers. The Red Cross had no right to help evacuate people there,” she said in an interview with Ukraine’s Strana news outlet.“

    Lmao.

  6. Remember that time on March 9th, when Russian thugs bombed a maternity hospital in Mariupol, killing innocent women and children?

    Transcript from the March 7th meeting of the UN Security Council:

    “Statement and right of reply by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine”

    Mme. President
    Locals report that Ukraine’s Armed Forces [the Askov Battalion -Ed] kicked out personnel of natal hospital #1 of the city of Mariupol and set up a firing site within the facility.

    Using civilians, hospitals and religious buildings as cover for military operations isn’t new. ISIS made wide use if the tactic.

  7. ^!The stages of Kremlin troII gaslighting:
    “It’s just an exercise.”
    “The troops are leaving the border.”
    “There will not be an invasion.”
    “NATO forced Russia to invade.”
    “The East of Ukraine will become part of Russia. The West will have a new pro-Moscow leader.”
    “They should just surrender now to end the suffering.”
    “There’s bound to be some losses early on, but Ukraine will collapse soon.”
    “Why do the West go on about Kyiv? The important fighting is in Kharkiv.”
    “Forget Kharkiv. There’s a huge convoy heading for Kyiv!”
    “They’re pausing to resupply.”
    “Infantry are irrelevant on today’s battlefield. It’s all about artillery and missiles.”
    “The Ukrainians are just claiming hospitals got hit.”
    “If Ukraine doesn’t surrender then it’s nuclear war!”
    “Here come the Syrian volunteers!”
    “Here come the Chechen hard men in black uniforms!”
    “Odessa next, then it’s all over.”
    “Once Mariupol falls, they’ll surround the Ukrainian regular army.”
    “These hypersonic missiles will settle the matter.”
    “Don’t pick on a cornered bear.”
    “They’re not running away they’re luring the Ukrainians into an ambush!”

    Putin, like his acolytes on the American right, know that fear and doubt engages people’s attention. Fear and doubt sells. And when enough people buy what they’re pedaling, authoritarianism flourishes.

  8. Assume Lesko Brandon sends Jason Bourne to Moscow to kill Putin over the weekend. Come Monday morning, what will the world look like?

    Will the Russian people rise up in joy to install a kindly grandfather as Tsar by unanimous acclaimation? Will his first act be to order Russian troops everywhere to surrender? Will every other Russian politician and military leader resign from office to become missionaries spreading The Word of God?

    Second Order Effects, ladies and gentlemen, ponder the Second Order Effects of assasinating the leader of a hostile superpower. And then, Third Order Effects.

  9. “Biden Warns of Food Shortages in Wake of Russia–Ukraine War”
    “It’s going to be real. The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia; it’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well,” Biden said. ”

    “France’s ecological transition minister, Barbara Pompili, announced that public institutions would be asked to “reduce by one degree” their heating in response to the spike in energy prices since the onset of the conflict.”

    “German Agriculture Minister Cem Ozdemir told Spiegel magazine that people should fight Putin by changing their diet. “Despite the fact that I am a vegetarian, I will not preach that everyone should go vegetarian,” he said. “But let’s put it this way: Eating less meat would be a contribution against Putin.”

    Meanwhile, America has been waving their little Ukrainian flags on twitter….

    “Chinese firms look to cash in on Western exodus from Russia”
    “India Ready to Bypass US Dollar in Trade with Russia”
    “Turkey and Russia signed an agreement to increase the use of local currencies, Turkish Lira and Russian Ruble in bilateral trade”
    “Russian government praised Mexico’s decision to ignore sanctions as an indication Mexico’s commitment to its independence.”
    “Brazil to retain existing trade with Moscow”

    It’s going GREAT, Patriots! Cockroaches broiled over dung fires are are the next new hotness…MAGA!

  10. Will the Russian people rise up in joy to install a kindly grandfather as Tsar by unanimous acclamation?

    Russia, Georgia, Belarus and Ukraine are organized crime operations from top to bottom (The US is as well, but our Capo regime is protected by armies of lawyers and lobbyist $).

    Putin is the Don of Russia. If he gets bumped off (lol), they guy with the 2nd largest family will take over without missing a step.

  11. I would say that the US president actually matters less now than before the invasion. Putin misjudged Germany’s willingness to rearm. In reality, Germany has since WWII wanted to become a normal country with proportionate strength, but has been hampered by history and hesitant neighbors. This has given them a good reason to become a military power again. Add to this that Finland (and perhaps also Sweden) will join NATO in response to the war, as well as increased military spending across Europe, and you are looking at a much more muscular posture by Europe itself. And rightly so, the US will want to focus on the pacific.

    What I find quite unbelievable is how Putin, who should have a decent knowledge of Germany at the very least, seemingly failed to understand this obvious European reaction.

  12. Swiftee, regarding the Mariupol maternity hospital, what you’re doing is taking the word of the Russian envoy to the UN at face value. I think it’s safe to assume that testimony is pure, unadulterated bulls**t unless corroborated by a real source.

    And since you took such obvious BS as truth, I think that says a lot about the sources for your other claims.

    And really, if the existence of the supposedly “Nazi” Azov batallion justified an invasion of a nation of many millions, do we apply that consistently? Say if a town in the Carolinas has a resident who routinely makes racist statements against blacks, do we carpet bomb the whole town or send General Sherman’s “bummers” there?

    Really, Swiftee, you’ve got a very strong reason not to favor the logic you’ve been using.

  13. “Russia says it will reduce military action near Kyiv” ~ WSJ

    Translation: The retreat has begun…

  14. BREAKING: Russia says it will ‘drastically’ reduce military offensive near Kyiv ~ CBS News

    Should be read as Ukraine is “radically” reducing Russia’s military offensive near Kyiv and Moscow wants you to think this is all part of the plan. Russia taking the biggest L of the century.

  15. BREAKING: Russia says it will ‘drastically’ reduce military offensive near Kyiv ~ CBS News

    Mariupol: “Super”

    Donbas: “ooooh shit”

    lmao

  16. Yes, Swiftee, I’m sure those troops that couldn’t drive 100 miles from Belarus to Kyiv without losing their tires and running out of fuel are going to have a great time driving the 1000+ miles to get to the eastern provinces and buttress the Russian offensive there. I anticipate it being just as successful as Czar Nicholas II sending the Baltic Sea fleet to fight the Japanese.

    Really, though, it’s probably worse, as the Russian army traditionally relies on rail for transport, and the main lines all seem to go through Moscow. Thankfully for their logistics problems, the Ukrainian Javelin Team and surrenders/captures are reducing the number of vehicles they’ll need to transport. Ukraine has more tanks now than they started with.

    And the Ukrainians have just “doxxed” 600 FSB agents throughout Europe. Russia is retreating in shame from Kyiv, and people are getting ready to dismantle a good portion of Putin’s FSB apparatus. Looking more and more like a repeat of 1905 or 1914 for Moscow.

  17. BREAKING: Russia says it will ‘radically’ reduce military offensive near Kyiv ~ The Spectator Index

    That’s an interesting way to say retreat.

    If you’ve been following Swift who has been insisting that Ukrainian victories were made up and everything was going according to plan for Russia — they were encircling Kyiv, you may want to reconsider who you get information from.

  18. “Russia says”

    I thought Russians always lie (even when they claim to be lying, they’re lying, so we never believe anything any Russian says, ever, because they’re lying liars who lie).

    Except this time?

    Not saying the report is false, saying you seem inconsistent about which sources are reliable. How did you determine this Russian statement is truthful but the other Russian statements were not?

  19. It’s of course not truthful, Joe, but you have to parse it out. Time will tell whether they are retreating from Kyiv (I’m guessing yes), and the stated reason is certainly a lie. They can’t admit they’re getting their butts kicked and are starting to become enveloped a la Tannenberg, can they? But reality is that in western Ukraine, they’re getting their butts kicked.

    Putin Delenda Est!

  20. It’s perfectly possible Putin is a fool, believing the glowing readiness reports from his underlings which caused him to launch a war for which he was woefully under-prepared with rotting tires, insufficient fuel and cowardly troops.

    It’s also possible Putin has been around long enough to know an ass-kisser when he sees one, and to know the proper way to ‘drain the swamp’ is not talk but action, a luxury Trump never had. And what better time to find out the truth than a minor incursion which already has been green-lighted by Lesko Brandon, instead of learning the truth while facing NATO tanks in battle?

    “Okay General Yershov, you report the Army is in tip-top shape and ready to conquer Europe, I’m taking your word for it. Launch the invasion.”

    “Uh, about that, Mr. President . . . ”

    “No, no. For years, you’ve been telling me how great your troops are, how motivated and eager they are, how brilliant your invasions plans are. I’m giving you the green light. Run with it. Go.”

    “General, why are we bogged down in stinking Kiev? This was supposed to be a cake-walk. Were the troops not as eager as you reported, the equipment not as well-maintained as you said?”

    “Uh, well, you see . . . ”

    “Colonel Badenov, you are second-in-command?”

    “Yes, Mr. President.”

    “Are you ready to continue the peace action?”

    “No, Mr. President. The General’s reports were lies. We need to purge the following officers and acquire the following equipment . . . .”

    “Fine, withdraw from Kiev, regroup and rearm, give me your recommendations to redeploy troops where they can do the most good.”

    At least, that’s how I’d do it.

  21. Trump was America’s gift to Putin. All Biden did is make sure Putin knows he’s no Trump. Until last week the right wing were whining Biden is too soft on Putin. Now the very same people are whining Biden is too hard on Putin. It’s an election year — I get it.

  22. Joe, could be, but best estimates at this point are that if that was Putin’s plan, he’s thrown away two or three divisions, 500 tanks and 1000 other armored vehicles, dozens of planes…and the Russian economy and any goodwill he had with the civilized world.

    Really, if you shared your idea with anyone who’s done planning in our armed forces, the response would be “Have you ever considered doing some training and seeing if these soldiers and vehicles are fit for service?” I think you’d also get “We do NOT needlessly trash the lives of civilians and foreign militaries, along with those of our men, for your little ego trips.”

    More or less, the plan you lay out are the ravings of an insane megalomaniac who deserves to die a slow, painful death and then spend eternity in Hell. And per that,

    Putin delenda est!

  23. Another thought; the army took a couple of weeks to get that infamous column to the outskirts of Kyiv, and they’ve just ceded Irpin to the Ukrainians. So unless they’ve seriously upped their game in terms of supply chain in the past couple of weeks, which is extremely doubtful, their retreat is not going to include a lot of their vehicles, and their soldiers are going to leave a lot of equipment behind and return to Russia on foot.

    We are talking the second half of Napoleon’s invasion here.

    Putin Delenda Est

  24. Ukraine has more tanks now than they started with.

    Some folks are a little slow on comprehension…some are even slower…I’ll turn up the volume a little, this time.

    According to the New York Times, Zelensky told the city’s remaining defenders they may need to flee and said Ukraine’s military cannot muster “a sufficient number of tanks, other armored vehicles, and … aircraft

  25. If your analysis is correct, this could be the greatest opportunity since Patton was restrained.

    Russia is defeated. Europe should attack. America should lead the way. End the Red Menace forever.

    That’s probably what Lesko Brandon was talking about when he told the airborne troops they were in for a surprise.

  26. Really, if you shared your idea with anyone who’s done planning in our armed forces, the response would be “Have you ever considered doing some training and seeing if these soldiers and vehicles are fit for service?”

    We here at SiTD are blessed to have so many experienced military tacticians among the commentariat to tell us what’s what.

    That’s not to cast shadows on the brilliant political insights we receive, though.

    Until last week the right wing were whining Biden is too soft on Putin. Now the very same people are whining Biden is too hard on Putin.

    Putin isn’t telling his population they need to get with the program and start coming up with delicious recipes for bugs…he’s also not telling them that bread is over rated, empty shelves in supermarkets are signs of strength and to turn their furnaces off.

    But I’m sure there’s some amazing insight I’m missing here, but it looks to me the only person Biden is hard on is the poor slob in charge of wiping his butt and changing his diapers.

  27. But bike, Pudin did run exercises in January and February, with Belarus, if I recall.

    Do you think the Commander’s running those exercises told him “We’re screwed, give up?” Certainly not. They told him everything was glorious. Thats what ass kissers do.

    So he gave the order to invade. Either in ignorance of the true state of his forces, or as a live-fire exercise to justify purges and strengthening his forces, or a combination of both.

    I’m not saying what Putin has done is correct, or morally Justified, I’m saying i wont rely on American Media to shape my analysis. It’s hard to reconcile the caricature of Putin as an evil genius and a complete moron. I’m looking for an explanation that makes sense.

  28. Low IQ prognosticators are focused on the changing geographical boundaries being carved in Eastern Europe; that’s to be expected from nitwits.

    But people smarter than I are suggesting it’s the shift in economic boundaries we should worry about. I’m smart enough to listen.

    We’ve seen that sanctions hurt the deliverers almost as hard as the receivers, and we’re just getting started. But “french fried cockroaches… it’s what’s for dinner ™” is not the real problem. The real problem is the budding economic alliance between Russia, China, India the Middle East and Latin America.

    China’s already crippled our automotive industry, and they’re not even trying. Russia provides 40% of the grain that feeds all those hungry mouths in third world shitholes, and 40% of the fuel the EU will need to fry their cockroaches.

    But hey, don’t worry Patriots…we’re making the world a safe place for chicks with dicks and consensual sex between adult men children.

    MAGA

  29. Yo, Swiftee, “more than what we started with” is not inconsistent with “not enough to mount a full scale assault on Russian positions around Mariupol”. In the same way, yes, a bit of basic training–say a Sunday drive of about 100 miles to make sure the bugs are worked out of the equipment–would have figured out a bunch of things that the Russians learned the hard way in Ukraine.

    One does not need a military engineering degree from West Point to figure that one out. But apparently one does need to be smarter than SITD’s resident Soviet apologist.

  30. In the same way, yes, a bit of basic training–say a Sunday drive of about 100 miles to make sure the bugs are worked out of the equipment–would have, figured out a bunch of things that the Russians learned the hard way in Ukraine.,/i>

    And what makes you think you know s single, fucking thing Russians have learned, easy or hard, Delenda? Because the same media you’ve been calling “fake news” for the past 10 years told you?

    LMMFAO…no kidding; you poor old, neo-cons are beyond help…MAGA on to VICTORY!

  31. Swiftee — It’s not an ‘economic war on Russia’, it’s a ‘special financial operation‘.

    Russia is trying to get the EU to support the RUB as the Russian Central Bank can no longer spare use of foreign hard FX to undertake currency interventions.

  32. You know, Swiftee, if you’d actually been reading my comments here, you’d know that I don’t tend to refer to the news as “fake news” for starters, and going further, Russian troops learned that hard way about their lack of preparation and training as their tires popped and their fuel tanks emptied.

    Now perhaps it is true that all of those poor SOBs are as dumb as a rock and they didn’t clue in to the fact that their tanks and trucks have an ordinary range of 300 miles plus, and that decently made and maintained tires can go far longer than a few hundred miles without disintegrating. And if that’s true, then my point about the Russian army being FUBAR is even more true. It’s not my experience with the Russian immigrants I’ve known, but they could have PhDs from Swiftee U, I guess.

    And along those lines, whatever is true in this regard, it follows that Putin delenda est. Not only for the sake of Ukraine, but also for the sake of Russia.

  33. Russian troops learned that hard way about their lack of preparation and training as their tires popped and their fuel tanks emptied.

    And, how the fuck do you know *this* happened, Delenda? You got a friend with a keyhole satellite? Got a drone? You really don’t think Russians know how far a tank of gas lasts in their armor? And wait, what…their *tires popped*??

    LMMFAO!

    The Delenda and rAT show is the very best!

  34. CNN: “General, how did you lose?”
    General Zikov: “Failure to rotate our tires…put our trucks out of warranty”

    Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahaha!!! 🤣

  35. January 25, 1945 — Germany announces a drastic reduction in offensive military operations around Bastogne…

    Does “we’ll drastically reduce military operations around Kyiv” = “we’re getting our ass kicked, transitioned to a hasty defense”?

    The problem for Russia is the longer this is drawn out, the more financial issues become a problem.

  36. Regarding “how do I know?”, dullee, there are these people called “reporters” who go places, take pictures, interview people, and collect other evidence like satellite images and write things called “stories” which can be read by “subscribers” to papers and “visitors” to websites. You should try reading their work instead of just taking verbatim the statements made by Russian diplomats.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.