On Good Friday, a Haunting Song for Dead Ukrainian Heroes
Plus: The story of Radical Aid Force
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An ancient chant for those who die for freedom and dignity
and a story of Ukraine’s ‘orderly anarchism’: independence from government, dependence on each other
from Friday 8 April: Joe Lindsley's daily Ukraine report on Chicago's WGN Radio with Bob Sirott
On Good Friday, we listen to the ancient chant sung at all funerals of Ukrainian warriors. And we share the story of the Radical Aid Force, brave and wild Germans, inspired by the Ukrainian hero Nestor Makhno, who, in their beat-up vehicles, have been bringing life-saving supplies to Ukraine for more than a year.
Each week we will feature a different group of volunteers, Ukrainian and foreigners alike, working for victory. We welcome donations to support the work of Radical Aid Force here. You can follow them on Instagram:
Two Sides of War: Music and Destruction in Ukraine
This video shows two sides of life in war: In Lviv, Ukrainians and foreign volunteers gather at the café Facet to sing fierce Ukrainian songs, with the musician Benya Stewart from Ohio ( @Brotherhillmusic ).
Then thanks to Ukrainian Freedom News's brave reporter Witold Newelicz, take a tour of the small town of Chasiv Yar, just about 15 miles from Bakhmut. The Russians, unable to gain ground, shell such villages day and night, turning what once was pleasant into a hells cape. But as the singing shows, the spirit of Ukrainians remains strong.
War Analysis
Shooting with Diamonds: Western Strategy in Ukraine
Running from responsibilities or prolonging the misery of innocent people to achieve a strategic objective is not the course any decent nation should choose.
BY BRENNAN PHILLIPS
Thirteen months of Russia's war have inflicted hundreds of thousands of casualties and razed almost every city that once dotted Ukraine's fertile steppes. Russia proved it did not need a nuclear bomb to achieve nuclear-level destruction.
Besides Putin's claim to have invaded Ukraine to protect civilians being contradicted by the hundreds of thousands of civilians his forces have murdered or displaced, his acceptance of losing costly-gained territory further contradicts his claim to have invaded out of fear of NATO expansion. Putin knew he was lying but may have revealed more than he intended. Russia's invasion was driven by fear, but not of NATO; rather, it was fear of their own future.
There has been little emphasis on the demographic crises that will explode following a protracted war in Ukraine. This burden is not unique to the region but is most pronounced in Russia and China, the latter being more involved in this conflict than most leaders feel comfortable admitting. This problem also belies China's expansion through its Belt and Road Initiative and its collaboration and support of Russia. Understanding and appreciating these factors will help make sense of Russia's decision to invade, how and why China is involved, and the best way for the West to help end the war.
Russia has been haunted by its demography, at least since the fall of the Soviet Union, at which point they saw their birth rate halve as their death rate doubled. Since 1992, Russian deaths have exceeded births, and through 2002, their population lost about 1 million people annually. There was intermittent marginal growth, but the precipitous decline resumed in 2019. Now Russia has the same population size it did in 1986, but with far more dependents than producers. That is a demographic crisis.
China's demographic problems began with its "Great Leap Forward," which imposed a human-made famine murdering an estimated thirty million people. Implementing its Malthusian one-child policy in 1980 further decreased its population growth and disastrously skewed its male-female ratio. As of last year, for the first time in its modern history, just like Russia now and at the outset of the fall of the Soviet Union, Chinese deaths have surpassed births. Given the lopsided distribution of males to females, China's depopulation will be rapid and more economically devastating than Russia's. They are officially in a demographic crisis.
It is a well-documented and studied fact that China and Russia are both staring down the barrel of demographic ruin. As their dependency ratios become prohibitively high – with baby busts and aging populations of dependents outstripping the producers needed to sustain their economic infrastructure – Russia and China seem destined for economic failure. Unfortunately, they also have nuclear weapons.
But this is not news to them. To mitigate this disaster and advance their national security interests, both countries have proactively extended their influence and boundaries through what is essentially colonization. If successful, they will create empires similar to mercantilist Britain but with Russian and Han peerage who extract wealth from their respective colonies. This is precisely what their predecessors have done for centuries, why Putin seeks to restore the Russian Empire, and why Xi Jinping has invested aggressively in the Belt and Road Initiative. As Empress Catherine II of Russia remarked, "I have no way to defend my borders but to extend them."
The recent visit of Xi to Moscow has raised questions about the state of Russian military operations in Ukraine. With geopolitical implications shrouding Xi's visit, many analysts believe this may indicate that the Russian occupation is on the verge of disintegration. This does not bode well for them, considering Ukraine, rejuvenated by an injection of new Western armor, is expected to launch a new counteroffensive soon. Yet, there is still time to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory …
Read the full story here.
Regular Resources:
Air-Raid Alert Map
State of the War Map: shows Russian positions and what Ukrainians have taken back; updated daily
“[It's something rare in our world of corporate and automated radio regular, real humanity.”
—Neil Steinberg, in the Chicago Sun-Times, on Joe Lindsley’s daily Ukraine reports with Bob Sirott of Chicago’s WGN Radio. We invite you to follow on YouTube.
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ABOUT US: Ukrainian Freedom News: The wild story—so far—of free people standing for democracy, faith, dignity
"Joseph Lindsley's reports are enlightening, frightening, heart-wrenchingly and poetically descriptive." —a regular listener to the daily report from Ukraine on Chicago's WGN Radio with Bob Sirott
“I just returned from three months in Ukraine. Not my first time there, and certainly not my last; a powerful experience for me personally, but I must say that JOE’s REPORTING, HIS INSIGHTS, and, OBVIOUSLY, HIS HEART, ARE SPOT-ON.” —Jim, a Telegram follower of Ukrainian Freedom News
American journalist Joe Lindsley, in Ukraine since 2020, leads the Ukrainian Freedom News team of Ukrainians and foreigners on a mission to share real talk and real life in war-time with the world. Every weekday since late February 2022, he has reported live from Ukraine on Chicago’s WGN Radio with host Bob Sirott. You can listen to all episodes at UkrainianFreedomNews.com or via our YouTube channel.
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UKRAINIAN FREEDOM NEWS
Truth to the World | Supplies to Ukraine
Joe Lindsley, Editor-in-chief
Vitalii Gulden, Creative Producer
Beata Szrom, Operations Director
Pavlo Vitenko, Chief Reporter
Anton Hutyriak, Associate Editor
Luka Oleschyuk, Video Editor
Jean-Baptiste Besson, Field Editor
Brennan Phillips, War Columnist