The Exploding Head Blog & Podcast
independent political commentary by Justina Poskeviciute
Can we talk about the war in Ukraine and its complexities without being shut down or accused of minimising its horrors?
I think that is possible indeed – yet not that easy.
In my first episode, I talk about (1) NATO expansion, (2) the extreme right in Ukraine, and (3) what we have to know about how sanctions work.
No matter how you saw the situation in Eastern Ukraine before, it is clear now that a full-scale war in Ukraine has started. Putin did something that might have seemed incredible – just too massive – even for him.
If we are anti-war, we have to condemn this aggression, call for a ceasefire, and ask how people in Ukraine – in all of its regions – can be truly protected, under what arrangement.
The military escalations between NATO (well, the U.S., really) and Russia over Ukraine are no joke.
The price of war between two nuclear superpowers is as terrifying as it is clear. So what is it that can get in the way of saying NO to military escalations?
It is not an exaggeration that the West, in particular the United States, is escalating a new Cold War, or hybrid war, with China. In fact, it is quite the opposite: to not acknowledge or warn against it would be taking a completely ahistorical position.
Although my articles didn’t stop, my podcast did take a needed break.
Now, I’m back for the second season of The Exploded Head. In its intro episode, I review what I’ve talked about already and give you some ideas of what I’ll be covering in the near future.
Dehumanisation is a prerequisite for some of the darkest things we’ve witnessed in our history. Slavery, genocides, torture, mass killings – just to name a few, and it’s one heavy list already. That’s why, we have to learn to notice it and to call it out.
Gaza might not be bombed anymore yet so much remains. The blockade, the occupation with all of its mechanism, apartheid, and so many questions.
One of these questions sounds simple but it so important to ask:
Who can hold Israel accountable?
Instead of appeasing those who are promoting the mainstream narrative, we have to say it as it: Gaza is under a brutal attack. The last time Israel invaded it, it killed 500 children. Let’s not wait to see such numbers again.
Can we turn something as exclusive as an independence day into something else?
And why should we want that anyway?
The dance between democracy and authoritarianism: that has been the main topic of my articles and my podcast. That dance can take different forms. And Brazil presents to us yet another one.
The Exploding Head Blog & Podcast