Solomon’s Judgment / Sophie’s Choice / Zaporizhzhia
Two women were fighting over a child, each claiming to be the mother. Not able to discern who was the true mother, King Solomon proposed he cut the child in two, giving a half to each. One woman, horrified, relinquished the child immediately to avoid such a fate.
On the night that Sophie arrived at Auschwitz, a camp doctor made Sophie choose which of her two children would die immediately by gassing and which would continue to live, albeit in the camp.
New York Times, Sept. 5, 2022, 5:50 p.m. ET:
Ukraine Nuclear Plant Pulled Off Line After Shelling Kindles Blaze. KYIV, Ukraine — A fire caused by renewed shelling near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant led to its disconnection from the national power grid on Monday, Ukrainian officials said, raising fears that despite the presence of U.N. inspectors, conditions at the Russian-occupied facility could deteriorate quickly and threaten a catastrophe. The fire forced the staff to sever the plant’s last connection to a reserve line that was providing its only source of outside power, once again placing critical cooling systems at risk of relying solely on emergency backup power, Herman Galushchenko, Ukraine’s energy minister, said Monday. … Shelling, explosions and fires around the facility, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, have raised fears for months about a possible disaster…. Two members of a United Nations team, sent last week to inspect the facility, have remained at the plant in the hopes of ensuring its safety and perhaps reducing the fighting in the area.
What is at work as both sides continue to battle for control, risking nuclear disaster? Obviously, we hope for a demilitarized zone around the plant, but if both sides don’t agree? Will this continue to its unthinkable conclusion or will one party withdraw to save the world from the worst possible catastrophe? Is there wisdom in yielding one’s own interest so as not to lose the world?
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These are the thoughts I am wrestling with in these maddening times.
Thank you for writing this, dear Deena. To me the nature of imperialism is to fight to forward the agenda committed to no matter what. Thus death camps, atom bombs, horrors unimaginable yet real, ecocide - and endless propaganda to ensure people see all this as necessary, or unavoidable, at least (I understand this as weitiko). I don't hold out any hope of the US ending its proxy war willingly - not the path its committed to globally, which is hegemony. Russia has been backed into a corner so that is unlikely also. We need diplomacy. The third thing that allows space to open and people to save face and walk away. Who or what is it? Something in the hearts of those who can act. I don't have much more of an answer.
I was very upset to see Bernie and the Squad getting on the pro-war bandwagon. Whatever happened to the peace movement?