Chess Not Checkers.

The world is celebrating as millions suffer in Ukraine and Russia. These countries are chess boards for world leaders. We are the pawns.

Wars and human suffering are forever linked, hand in hand. Over ten million people have left their homes since Russia invaded Ukraine a little over one month ago. In 30 days one-quarter of the entire country of Ukraine has fled. 

Millions have traveled to other countries. Others have been sleeping in subway stations conjuring up comparisons to World War II. Thousands are dead. Ukrainians. Russians. Civilians. Soldiers. Civilians turned soldiers.

Food is in short supply for those who have remained. Missiles hit buildings, including shelters and hospitals, indiscriminately all across Ukrainian cities. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin intends to crush Ukraine’s spirit by killing whoever he has to even as it appears Ukraine has now attacked inside Russia.

Putin is willingly causing human suffering and death, forcing migration of Ukranians around the world. The same White House that left thousands of Americans and Afghani’s who helped American forces during the past two decades behind, proudly boasted that the United States would accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

I wondered, ‘what if they don’t want to come here, what if they preferred to live in Ukraine?’ 

Try to imagine facing that choice. What if I was essentially forced to move to another country, even if I didn’t really want to? How would I feel about that, moving to a foreign land I’ve never been to, don’t know much about, if anything, and don’t speak the native language. I love my country. I love what it stands for. I don’t want to leave her. 

This is the power of some world leaders. Ultimate power over you. Russian dictator Putin plays chess with human lives. But, so does the rest of the world. #StandWithUkraine has become a symbol. Saying it and meaning it. Maybe even donating to the Red Cross. Standing with Ukraine allows the American government and the governments of several European nations to declare war on the Russian economy. 

Interest rates there are 20%. The Russian currency, the rouble, has gained some ground back after taking a tremendous hit in value. One consequence of this is watching the Russian people’s purchasing power decrease. Less purchasing power means more people struggle just to get by. In other words, the economic sanctions levied at Russia have only increased the amount of human suffering.

Because of war. And the worldwide response. 

Photo by noah eleazar on Unsplash

American companies parroted, shutting down stores sending hundreds of thousands of Russians into unemployment. 

We cheered. Because we ‘Stand With Ukraine.’ 

We cheer while people suffer. That’s what happens when war drums beat. So do further restrictions on free speech, questioning the patriotism of anyone who dare not accept the propagandized ‘official’ version of the war story.

After all, we have struck back against Russia without going to war. Maybe. But, that doesn’t mean people aren’t suffering. Suffering isn’t something we should cheer for, no matter the circumstances or how righteous we feel about making Putin pay. It’s us against them. Then it becomes all Americans versus all Russians. 

So we continue to cheer, rallying around the American Flag. We have the right to do that. 

Most Russians do not, victims of an authoritarian government. If you don’t rally around the Flag there, you may end up in jail or worse. Most Russians already suffer because of Putin’s authority. We’ve only added to the misery, cutting off their economy from the world in hopes they’ll stand up and overthrow Putin.

Is that really a good idea? Overthrows haven’t gone so well in the past. ‘Can It All Be So Simple,’ is how Wu-Tang would ask. Unfortunately not. Hashtags don’t change the world even as we can watch war unfold almost minute by minute on social media. 

The night Russia invaded Ukraine I opened Twitter, scrolling through feeds of people in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine. I stayed up late, 2AM or so, hoping to get a better sense of what was really happening.

The technological age has interrupted the flow of information. Everything is rushed. Rewards come to those who are first, not right. As a broadcaster I’ve been burned a few times. I’ve rushed some information that turned out to be incorrect. So, I’m cautious now. 

But how can you be when you can watch war unfold on your phone in real time?

Journalist Glenn Greenwald, relatedly, quotes economist Adam Smith in his excellent piece on President Biden’s verbal stumbles potentially leading America into war:

In great empires the people who live in the capital, and in the provinces remote from the scene of action, feel, many of them scarce any inconveniency from the war; but enjoy, at their ease, the amusement of reading in the newspapers the exploits of their own fleets and armies.

War is even more of a show than watching the war on terror on CNN. It’s a macabre form of entertainment contained in a hashtag. #StandwithUkraine, signaling to the world that you are on the correct side of this war, purportedly anyways.

There’s no doubt Russia is wrong. It’s Self-Evident. 

Correction. It’s Self-Evident that Putin is wrong. The dictator dictated this war. Those under his command, who carry out the war, will die if they don’t obey. Those who protest against his war will be arrested. Political opponents will be jailed if they get too loud. A life in Russia is a life of repressed human expression. The Russian people, vastly, don’t have a say. They can’t vote them out of office. The consequences of a dictatorship. 

Unlike in America where we #StandwithUkraine, we are free to express ourselves 24 hours per day, seven days per week. I can only discern from the amount of content uploaded on social media and YouTube that we love our right to self expression.

However, in times of war in particular, our love of self expression only extends to people we agree with. In 1798, only 8 years after freedom of speech was formalized as a God-given right, the United States government passed the Alien and Sedition act, making it a crime to say ‘false statements’ about that very government. A revised version of that law is still used by presidents now. 

It also applies on social media. As Greenwald points out, anyone who dares question the propagandized official narrative will be labeled unpatriotic, therefore silencing their opinions from public debate.

Rally around the Flag. 

It’s easier to silence opposition than face it, hence why questioning the narrative is labeled unpatriotic. Facing opposition forces you to respond. Silencing allows you to hide so as to not challenge your line of thinking. However, peeking behind the blinds on the sanctions imposed in the Iron Curtain, while celebrated by world leaders, will reveal the complex truth created by those sanctions, which is more human suffering. 

Ukraine is a chess board for world leaders. Whoever wins will have more control over Ukraine. Russia lined up their pieces and started making their moves by invading Ukraine and bombarding it with weapons of death. Human life is only a factor in a death count way in this game, much like pawns in chess. Pawns are useful, but sacrificable. 

Anyone else find it odd we measure military wins and loses by counting those killed? To me it shows how those in power look at the value of human life. True, it’s not possible for everyone to care about every cause, but generally we are very accepting of suffering, so long as it is not ours. 

I’m not immune to ignoring suffering. 

But, I’m not ignoring it here. 

Greenwald also points out something more sinister, revealing what may be the reason the U.S. Government wants you to cheer for more human suffering: a weaker Putin. On paper that sounds right. But, Biden’s argument is: a weaker Putin is worth causing millions to suffer in Russia.

With this justification, Biden is prolonging the war in Ukraine, providing firepower to help Ukrainian fighters defend their country. More will die because of this decision, right or wrong, justified or not, agree or disagree. And as the war continues to drag on more and more Ukrainians will be displaced, forced from their homes, maybe to never return again.

War rubble, destroyed buildings, cars, and tanks will remain for years, frozen in time, to remind us all of the costs of war. Some are as powerless as the Russian people are. Some even less so. There are enough war scarred landscapes dotted across the world to teach us the true lessons of war. We are always the pawns of power, the most easily disposable piece in their game. 

We give them, or they take, powers to prolong war — as a strategy. We give them power to propagandize human suffering, hoping to boost their approval ratings. Ask pollsters. For some reason we do rally around the Flag in times of war. Exactly what struggling politicians need, an opportunity to sound like a tough warhawk. 

Biden, though, continues to botch these moments, at one point suggesting to American troops they will get to see the courage of the Ukrainian people in person and at another point saying Putin “cannot remain in power.” That’s a potential diplomatic issue. Maybe worse. On purpose, or not, the president of the United States, put regime change in Russia on the table officially.

Even if it was a mistake and Biden ‘slipped up,’ Biden is dealing with a man willing to kill thousands, innocent civilians and soldiers, in Vladimir Putin. Mistakes of this magnitude could be very costly in terms of more human suffering. 

The more this gets ratched up, the more suffering there is. Poland has taken in millions of refugees. That stresses resources. Gas prices are still high. Biden has already warned of food shortages because of the war and follow-up sanctions. Food shortage will lead to a further increase in costs. Biden, conveniently, left that fact out of his speech, as he attempted to sound righteous suggesting paying more for a gallon of gas was worth it to #StandWithUkraine.

Ukranians are fighting for their homeland, for their right of self-determination. Putin is making decisions designed to control Ukraine as he tries to recreate the Soviet empire. The United States, through Biden, is making decisions designed to use Ukraine to weaken Putin. It may even work. But, at what cost when both world leaders are choosing human suffering as part of this game.

Biden’s stumbles in his most important moments — including calling Putin a ‘war criminal’ off the cuff — are making the situation more volatile than it already is. 

Remember, a president’s job is to make the toughest decisions known to man, decisions that impact millions, maybe billions of lives. And the decisions he and European leaders are making are increasing human suffering and death. Death mostly in Ukraine. Human suffering worldwide after we’ve already suffered two years of COVID policy decisions, the consequences of which — suicides, overdoses, increased alcohol-related deaths, millions of children missing out on two important years of instruction — we seem intent on ignoring. Prices continue to go up as goods are harder to come by. Less goods could mean less profits which could lead to investment losses. You get the picture. 

I’m no chess expert, but I do know it’s helpful to have a short-term strategy and a long-term strategy. And there are consequences to short-term moves. The consequences grow more severe if you don’t have a long-term strategy. Just when you think you pulled a brilliant move, your queen is gone, victim of not watching the other side’s strategy. You fell into their trap. 

Biden is a short-term thinker. He’s been trained that way, essentially always running for re-election. As a Senator, Biden’s short-term thinking revolved around his political fame. He’d take positions like being tough on crime that would maximize his exposure, especially since he was from a small state. He’d get great committee assignments to get his face on national television like he did during the Supreme Court hearing for Clarence Thomas. While constantly running for re-election, figuring out how to get national exposure, Biden never really had to worry about long-term strategy.

Had he, he might have realized all the crime bills he sponsored and supported would only cause more Black and Brown, mostly male, Americans to wind up in prison, as the American government attempted to turn as many people into criminals as possible. Then, politicians like Biden, preyed on the weak, calling them ‘thugs,’ criminalizing crack rocks differently than cocaine. Governments pick on the weak for wins. For politicians it means re-election. For law enforcement agencies it means larger budgets. The weak are the pawns in this game. Often resourceless and reliant on overwhelmed public defenders — side note, public defenders are amongst our underappreciated heroes. That’s part of the game. Arrest and charge so many people public defenders can’t keep up. That means more plea deals, more time in jail. More plea deals and more time in jail looks good for politicians like Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Crime is at least partially responsible for Harris’ meteoric rise. Bluntly, Harris put a lot of Black and Brown people in jail and it helped her career. It looks good when a District Attorney puts people in prison, especially one with larger political ambitions. While putting people in jail, Harris’ got connected to the right people that helped her level up as California’s Attorney General. After six years there, she was elected Senator. After five in the Senate, no doubt all of them rigorous, she became the first female Vice President in history.

On the back of crime. On the back of short-term decision making. Her shining moment as a Senator, ironically, was also during a Supreme Court nominee hearing. Harris went after Brett Kavanaugh with the flare of a prosecutor, scoring massive points in Democratic circles. It was this prosecutorial tactic she used against her eventual running mate that was her shining moment during the presidential campaign. In that moment Harris didn’t flat out call Biden a racist, but the intent was there and she said she believed a woman who accused Biden of sexual assault in the Senate hallways.

Harris spiked in the polls, at one point becoming front runner for a moment or two, only to bow out of the race before voting began in Iowa. Biden, too, built his career on putting Black and Brown people in jail. There’s irony here too. They are the two most powerful Democrats in America, but aren’t aligned with their party’s defund the police, more lenient on crime wing.

Now, Biden and Harris are making decisions that impact the entire world with short-term thinking. So far the result has just been more human suffering. But, then again, they are both well-versed in human suffering. Human suffering has been part of both of their careers. Using pawns in the game of politics, deploying the overwhelming bullying force of city, state, and the federal government upon the easiest targets.

This is how power works. 

However, we must look at those war-torn reminders and remember these tales of human suffering instead of celebrating it. We must remember the horrors dictators impose upon their subjects, creating human misery on purpose. We must remember the power we cede to politicians when we vote because that power could cause more human suffering or war.  

We must remember, like in chess, pawns have power too. Pawns can win the game. Pawns can get promoted by reaching the other side of the board, turning into a knight, a bishop, rook, or queen. And there’s a lot more of us than there are of them. 

Fight the power.