WAR SO CLOSE TO MY HOME

Dragobete day is celebrated in Romania as Lovers Day, and it symbolizes the beginning of Spring. Yes, it’s the Romanian equivalent to Valentine’s Day but has deeper, older meanings. It is connected to old Romanian traditions inherited from our ancestors – the Dacians, and nature. It’s also the day Putin decided to invade Ukraine, at 5:00am EET.

I was a 6 month old baby when the coup d’etat in December 1989(which they like to call Revolution instead) took Romanians by surprise. As a millennial, I thought that I haven’t seen many wars but it’s because we didn’t have a huge media influence, my father listened to the news on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty through his days in the army in 1980 and at home until 1989, because tv programming was only occupied by communist propaganda. We didn’t have the technologies, upgraded satellites, social media like nowadays…Lots of other conflicts in our area(Kosovo) made the news but life carried on.

Political mishaps always happened throughout history because men took the lead instead of women, I don’t see men accepting or following the advice from qualified women, especially in high matters like the military and politics. Do you see women leading armies anywhere nowadays? It was always a matter of who’s got the biggest muscle, the biggest flex which always led to worse situations with men ever the experts. War was always about personal and political interests of men in charge, never about us as societies. Thirst for power will never be quenched.

The Ukrainian president wanted his country included in NATO then the European Union, when it doesn’t work like that. To enter NATO, my father told me Ukraine would have to sign treaties with his neighboring countries and all neighbors have to have peace between them to avoid NATO embarrassment in case of war. Then the EU would accept them, but they aren’t at peace with Russia. A trade agreement with the EU isn’t the same with a full membership either so President Zelenskiy now struggles to do what his predecessors didn’t.

President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine made more sense seeing a list of resources they have which made them a valuable target and how dare they want NATO or EU membership! In recent days, Anonymous who is a collective of hackers, declared cyberwar on Russia and took down government websites,  intercepted military communications as well as tv stations, as reported on by The Guardian. I wonder what will happen next if the situation will escalate further, especially with Russian currency headed into the ground. What will happen to Russian civilians? Imagine trying to buy groceries now in Russia.

The Romanian government ignored, but I have never noticed more solidarity than now, from companies, NGOs and associations, who gathered medical and domestic supplies, civilians even organized shelter for mothers and their children who fled the grenades and smoke. Happy to see UK’s mobile service carriers stepping up, from BT who offered free mobile and landline calls to and from Ukraine, then Ireland waived visa fees for those who want to join their families in UK. I just hope we will strengthen unity and connection without needing war to force us. But a war so close to my home is still a growing worry. I hope everything will turn out allright for everyone involved.