— Musings —09.28.2023 02:55 PM
— Musings —09.28.2023 02:55 PM
I was hoping that in my lifetime a deserving Canadian hero would receive the Victoria Cross for their selfless act of heroism………but I guess Canadians will have to be satisfied with a standing Ovation in Parliament.
i’m sure this has been said in the comments before but I can’t believe the Speaker’s staff didn’t have basic knowledge enough of WWII to know that if anyone was fighting for Ukranian independence in WWII they’d obviously be on Germany’s side. That is now a nuance (!) of history and it makes me sad and mad.
To repeat: the Speaker’s staff does not know history enough to know what the USSR was and its relationship to the war. Nor the constituent parts of the USSR and how they were forced to become part of it in the first place.
Not that I don’t want Russia to lose this illegal genocidal war, Putin must be taken out. The elite of that gangster state will only put up with somkuch.n
Not that I don’t want Russia to lose this illegal genocidal war, Putin must be taken out. The elite of that gangster state will only put up with so much.
That would be the kiddies in the short pants? The product of our current educational system? That is actually funny. And it will get worse.
Martin,
Sure but we had plenty of kiddies in short pants in our last PMO but it was thanks to Harper’s command and control style that it didn’t go in the dumper. That is at least UNTIL 2015.
The USSR ceased to exist around 1990, or about 33 years ago. For many of those who were born after 1980, the USSR is at most a historical artefact.
Constituency offices are often populated by possibly one middle aged political hack and one or more individuals with a poli-sci, communications or victimology BA. In other words, a demographic who hasn’t a clue about ancient history, like WWII. What they do “know” is Ukraine is good and Russia is bad, with all of the lack of depth and understanding of context and nuance that implies.
In short, what happened was the most likely outcome. Due diligence based on current virtue signal priorities.
Ron,
Let’s face it, most MPs are relatively close to dimwits on a sliding scale. That certainly doesn’t help either. There ain’t a lot of MENSA there and boy does it show…at least most aren’t quite as stupid as this Prime Minister. (Thank God for small favors.)
The extent of their brainpower: smart enough to not rock the boat, and hang in there for six full years to collect the MP pension.
As for the well being of the country … don’t be silly.
“We are at war with Eurasia, we have always been at war with Eurasia.” <- George Orwell wrote this as a parody of war propaganda. I think the aphorism is quite apt in this situation.
There is no room for nuance in politics. If you have to explain in politics, you are losing.
Here is an interesting fact: Hitler and Stalin were allies and they made a deal to carve up Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe for themselves. During that time, Stalin directed the communist activists abroad to take a pacifist stance towards the war. Pete Seeger famously released a music record admonishing the "war-monger" FDR for being so aggressive towards Germany and then did a 180 after Hitler turned against Stalin.
This entire incident made me want to him out more about this Hunka individual. I found photos of him online carrying Ukraine flags to show support for his native country's ongoing war with Russia. It's evident that he joined the Waffen Galicia SS unit because he was a Ukrainian nationalist fighting against the USSR and then saw Germany as being the enemy of his enemy.
My take: he wanted to be in the HOC when Zelensky was there. I'm not sure if it was planned that he would get recognized by the Speaker or not. But because he was, it took only a few seconds to figure out that he fought on the side of the Nazis. In the current war, the Azov battalion in the Ukraine is considered to be far-right and neo-Nazi that operates with the approval of the Ukrainian government (headed by Zelensky). I have no doubt that Zelensky knew which unit Hunka had fought in during WW2.
The country of Finland was also allied with Germany because it was fighting for its very survival against the USSR. They aligned themselves with the only viable power that could help them. But for many years, Finland was condemned (rather dishonestly, without giving credence for context) for being a Nazi Ally.
Let's just say that Stalin and by extension, the leaders of the USSR were quite cynical in their conduct during WW2. They liked to play both sides in order to benefit themselves the most. And at the end, they got to turn half of Europe into vassal states under their control. This does not deter or take away from the adversity and the courage shown by the citizens of the USSR who were patriotically defending their country against Hitler's aggression.
Anyway, I think the Speaker and his staff should have done a little bit of research on this individual and the military unit that he was part of. I mean, should he be deported to Russia at this point? Russia/Putin is asking for his extradition right now.
SR,
Works for me but Putin should go to The Hague first. That should be a worldwide priority. You know, helping Putin get there.
It’s embarrassing that the speaker of the house didn’t know how to pronounce Mr. Hunka’s last name. The “u” is not pronounced like the “u” in “up” but like the “u” in “suit”. I can’t think of any language in which the orthographic “u” is pronounced with the sound of “up” other than in English. Perhaps it’s completely fine that he mispronounced his name, but it made him look completely unprepared and very ignorant.
Gilbert,
As someone whose last name is regularly mispronounced in both official languages, I tend to notice those types of things. It goes back quite a ways: Roosevelt, Mulroney, Johnston, Poilièvre, etc. Most people simply wing it. I’ve learned to live with it.
Ronald, Please educate me. How should your last name be pronounced?
Gilbert,
Good one. You had me laughing right off the bat! I needed that. Today was a sad Saturday.
Of course this is a black and white issue.
What were the choices facing Ukranians … Germany or Soviet Union? How about Finland’s struggle?
That being said, Waffen SS is another story.
BTW – the USSR did not bother to declare war on Japan until 2 weeks before Japan surrendered.