‘In Check’ – that’s a chess phrase, as far as I am aware. I’m not an aficionado – never developed an interest. I found an alternate interest in actual table-top war-gaming, with proper rules (I mainly wrote my own, following sufficient research) for quite a few years. But that was mainly before the age of home computing.
A simple definition for ‘In Check’ would be – “You are in a dangerous position. There may not be a way out of your predicament (in which case it is ‘Game Over’) but, if there is one, you will have to work damn hard to find and execute your escape. The only other alternative being ‘Capitulation’ – also known in the game of Chess as ‘Checkmate’.
I think it is inarguable that, within the next week (give or take a day or two), the western nations (you know who you are) aligned against Russia and the few allied regions it is supporting and/or has liberated from tyranny in the European eastern borderlands. Those western nations (let’s call them NATO, or OTAN, as a convenience) will find themselves at that time, in the undesirable position of being ‘In Check’. At least that is the case for what remains of the NATO/OTAN illegally acquired ‘Border Post’ – temporarily named ‘Ukraine’. NATO/OTAN itself could perhaps attempt to slip quietly out through the back door ‘Emergency Exit’ and pretend the whole game never happened, but leaving behind multitudes of incriminating ‘assets’ as evidence of their misadventure – perhaps to be used later in their prosecutions for fully documented war crimes.
To what am I referring when I make such statements? Well, if you are not already aware, the peoples of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, the newly liberated Zaporozhe Region and also the Kherson Region, have all opted to decide by referendum whether or not they will immediately become each a part (separate regions) of the Russian Federation. Those referenda are to be coordinated to occur simultaneously between 23-27 September (a few days from now). On a suitable result from these referenda, in respect of those regions which affirm their desire to become part of Russia (which is fully anticipated to be all of them), it is expected that the Russian Government will swiftly move to legalise and ratify that decision. If all those things occur as expected, then that will mean a lot of changes, the most immediate of which will be that any cross-border attack on those lands from the Ukraine side of the border, will be construed as an attack on Russia – no matter any alternative views or even the level of external acceptance of the new border arrangements.
This puts a whole new overlay to the Ukraine conflict zone from early next week. Others have called this ‘Checkmate’ (and it may well be that) but, without attempting to criticise or contradict that end-point scenario, I can see that there are still options remaining for the west (whose leaders are not the brightest lights in the circus tent) to cause trouble for a while. Russia will need to exert herself, perhaps to the extreme (allies, where are you?), in order to enforce her strong stand for a free and just world. A world where tyranny (and nazism and aggressive militarism) has no place to hide.
Since he has much of value to add to this, I want to recommend you read William Schryver’s essay…
‘Checkmate – We’ve arrived at a watershed moment in history’ – imetatronink
I’m sure you will find many views to the contrary of what is said here, but a little patience is all that is required of readers/observers now. Perhaps just a little over a week.
It is not easy to sense from far away the discomfort and distress of others, and I am not asking you to imagine having your legs unexpectedly blown off, but by placing your feet in their shoes/boots for a while, have a little thought or care for those more intimately involved in this piece of history in the making. They, after all, are you. They are me. They are all of us. Simply being born in a different place at a different time. In a different body. All of us taught throughout life to be an individual person – which is a contradiction of all we know of life. An impossibility. Recognition of the links between us may have faded as each goes their own separate way. But those links are never broken, no matter what the person becomes. There is a web of life on this planet. We are all part of that web, which invisibly connects all living things. All life is part of that web, whether or not we have so dulled our senses as to be unable to feel any more those connections. But surely, if you still retain any form of humanity, you can at times of deep inner quiet, feel the truth of that. It is not an easy thing to consider, I know. Perhaps that is why we tend to block our senses with constant idiotic sound. That’s such a shame, and perhaps we would not see so many conflicts as we see going on in Ukraine if more people got in touch with who they are, rather than what they are expected to be.
Well, for many of us, rude awakenings are on the horizon. Accompanied by realisation, forced by circumstance, as to exactly who we are. ‘Watershed moments in history’ are good times for such cathartic (purging) events to take place. The ultimate catharsis of course is when the whole body is purged, and life is, at last, released (to be absorbed again into the web?*).
I will leave this there, having probably already said too much and also having considered removing it as an addendum to my piece. I’m not asking you to accept it. It is what it is – just some, perhaps out of place, thoughts. But then, you know, perhaps not so out of place.
* That of course is a question to which I simply do not know the answer. And I doubt anyone else does either – no matter what they may claim.
Not Something Else 
Reblogged this on Calculus of Decay .