"I went outside to buy something to eat, but everything was closed. I went to Western Union to get money, and they didn’t have cash… just like in Kabul on the day of the fall."
Said Masouma Tajik, 23, quoted in "Afghan Refugees in Ukraine Are Reliving a Nightmare/Hundreds of people who escaped the Taliban now found themselves fleeing another war."
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11 comments:
It's a "They suffer still more!" story. Lautreamont had a parody of the genre.
oh, she's not going to fight for her new country. Fighting is somebody else's job. Doesn't it become clear why Taliban toppled Afghanistan's government in 2wks?
once she flees to Poland, will she fight for That country? or flee? (rhetorical)
once she flees to Sweden, will she fight for THAT country? or flee? (rhetorical)
When she runs out of countries to flee to, will she consider herself to be The Real Victim? (rhetorical)
I know it's a cheap shot, but if there is no way to get food to these people, perhaps there can be an air drop of shirts reading "I'm With Biden," or "Don't Worry: Next Year We're Going to Beat Cancer."
Life on this small planet is surprisingly dangerous and tough in many of it's neighborhoods. We forget that most of human history is misery followed by death and destruction. We've lived in a wonderful, beautiful cocoon here in the US over the last century or two. Even with World Wars, we've not had them in our streets.
But now I look at videos and photos of the streets of Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Baltimore, Chicago, Minneapolis and others and I see the destruction disease has finally arrived at our own shore.
So where do those fleeing the human proclivities run to when they need to run in the coming years? It was once Europe. It was then then the US or Canada. But that is changing. Afghans seeking safe haven in Eastern Europe didn't work out. I'm not shocked. What shocks me in my lifetime is that we've accepted the lowered standards here in the US and even in Canada. The authoritarians, the throngs of homeless, shitters in the streets, drug users, while we slam down the individual rights of the citizens here in the West in favor of the collectivism that has destroyed much of humanity throughout it's history.
There may be no safe havens any longer. I remember when my wife used to point to New Zealand as the last safe place. Yeah? Seen how that authoritarian runs her home these days? Anyway...I am told we are all one global family. And we may be in this respect: you can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your family. We're stuck with the global family we have. And while some places are more hospitable than others, it can be quick to turn.
Maybe the moral of this story is you should probably stay and fight for your home. I'd dearly love to see fewer refugee camps in the west, and more militia training camps. Less "you're welcome to squat here indefinitely" and more "you're welcome to regroup and re-arm here, and then we're sending you right back home so you can do what needs doing."
Just another facet of why war is hell and those who promote it are evil.
Seriously, you want to be considered a Ukrainian? Grab a rifle, and head to the front
Terribly bad situation - frying pan/fire. But not quite as bad as those that fled Hiroshima to seek safety in Nagasaki. (There were some that survived both blasts.)
I dunno. Why woudn't you be more concerned with all the Ukrainians being killed, maimed, and forced to flee? I guess that's the only way the Nation readers can be brought to care: Focus on Afghans and do a novelty take.
I suppose anti-war Nigerians in Moscow being oppressed by Putin is next up.
If you are a refugee, don't stop until you are in the US or Norway. Otherwise your pleas are in jeopardy.
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