Warrior Women of the Ukraine

Fighting females, warrior women, words mean nothing.

Worst Locktober joke ever:

"A woman yelling at a heavily armed Russian soldier atop his tank in Konotop, “Don’t you know where you are? You’re in Konotop. Every other woman here is a witch. You’ll never get an erection, starting tomorrow.”

Nope, they're not witches, these are wonderful women.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko was born in 1916 in Balaya Tserkov, then a Soviet town, now a Ukrainian one just outside of Kiev. She killed 308 Nazis in 1941, most at the Siege of Odessa, with a sniper rifle. Her nick name was Lady Death. "The higher the number of Pavlichenko’s confirmed kills rose, the more dangerous her mission assignments became. This included counter sniping, or engaging in duels with enemy snipers. Pavlichenko won every duel she fought, including one duel that lasted three days. In the end, Pavlichenko stated the enemy made “one move too many,” and became one of the 36 enemy snipers she took down."

"In June 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, and the Wehrmacht began its invasion of the Soviet Union. At the time, Pavlichenko was 24 years old and in her fourth year of study. Once she learned of the invasion, Pavlichenko quickly made her way to the Odessa recruiting office to enlist. Registrars pushed Pavlichenko to become a nurse, but her mind was set on joining the Soviet infantry. After proving her skills by taking out two Romanian collaborators from a Soviet-defended hill, Pavlichenko was enrolled into the Red Army’s 25th Rifle Division as a sniper. She became one of the 2,000 female Soviet snipers to serve, of which only 500 survived the war."

Mrs. Pavlichenko died in 1974.

Fast forward some 80 years and Ukrainian women are now fighting Russia. Today's post is 99 percent copy paste. I've written before how we should listen to those who've lived under the brutal Soviet regime and act upon their warnings. If we don't, next on Putin's list are the Baltics or perhaps Poland. [1] Belarus looks like it is about to crack despite the fact there's no upside for dictator Lukashenko to join Putin's war on Ukraine.

Photographer David Tesinsky compiled several portaits of women warriors for the Story Institute.

Yulia (22 years old) is a citizen of Russia, who volunteered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces but also is a mother who raises a daughter. Also the FSB (Russian secret service, successor to the KGB) wants her badly. Of course they do.

Nana (30 years old) is a professional soldier since 2008, currently serving in the Georgian National Legion. She is also married with three children.

"Since the beginning of the military conflict in the East of Ukraine, the Georgian National Legion has been rendering active assistance to Ukraine." "Nana defends the integrity of Ukraine along with men: performs combat missions, renders the first medical aid to the wounded."

Ukrainian, soldier, Mrs. Yulia Mykytenko - the reconnaissance platoon commander is married - is 22 years old. By education Yulia is a philologist, a scientist who studies languages. "She volunteered to the Ukrainian army. During the execution of one of the combat missions, Yulia met her future husband. After marriage, she continued her military service to protect her homeland next to her husband in one battalion. Due to her personal qualities, courage and professionalism, Yulia became the platoon commander of the reconnaissance platoon when she was just 21 years old."

A couple of months ago the Washington Post ran an opinion article on women in the army in Ukraine.

"In 2016, Ukraine expanded the list of positions for servicewomen. Ukrainian women can now hold 63 more positions, including as marksmen and snipers. The changes were the result of military experience: When Russia attacked Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas two years earlier, many servicewomen working, for example, as cooks or liaison officers were actually performing military duties in combat positions. But their payments and titles did not reflect the fact they were risking their lives. The rules were changed to adapt to this new reality."

"As soon as Ukrainian women were allowed to fight, Kateryna — a divorced mother of two — joined the army. For her, the issue was personal: The Russians were attacking her native Donbas."

"Kateryna is a champion in kickboxing and has worked as a trainer for different forms of martial arts, including combat Hopak, a Ukrainian national dance that preserved certain combat elements, she explains. She quit the army after a year to care for her children. But when Russia invaded this year, she returned to the front line — first as part of a self-formed military defense unit and later officially as a member of the marine unit. She told me that now “it is okay to be a woman warrior in Ukraine.”

Don't know who Adam Kaufman is, but I definitely don't trust him. And it's not just that larger than life picture of him at the beginning of "Fe-MAN-ist Voices: Women Warriors of Ukraine II." Just hire a ghost writer if you wanna score browny points Mr. Kaufman. Why I bring up his post is that it introduced me to Lesya Vorotnyk, the ballerina who goes to war. [3]

"Her husband, with whom she had a son, was killed three years ago in the rumbling conflict in the east of Ukraine that followed the Russian-backed insurgency of 2014. When the new war began in February, she knew she had to do something, but wasn’t sure what. “I could shoot, though,” she says. “It’s my hobby. I knew that if there was a full-on invasion I wouldn’t go abroad. I would fight.”' Follow the link to another excellent story you should definitely read. Also without the self-serving femanist voice of Adam Kaufman. Who are you anyway dude?

Noticed how there are a lot of mothers fighting? This is how Mrs. Vorotnyk puts it: "“we want our children to grow up with a strong, confident Ukraine, not the lies that were sold to us during the Soviet Union.”"

There's a reason why I opened this post with "the worst Locktober joke, ever." Had to get it out of my system. Just like Medium, the Conversation is a somewhat odd, semi-highbrow, aspirational publication that reeks of academia. Or more accurately it smells of it. And it's not a pleasant scent. If you want a crash course into how to high jack the support for Ukraine and use it to advance your irrelevant career in academia, just read the whole thing. Mia Bloom is a professor and Fellow at Evidence Based Cyber Security Program at Georgia State University. Her co-author is Sophia Moskalenko, a research fellow in social psychology, also at Georgia State University. What a load of drivel. But hey, it has the word feminism in it. And I write a lot about women. Which is better?

"Ukraine’s women fighters reflect a cultural tradition of feminist independence" was published on March 21 of this year. Feels a lot like the early bird who gets the worm or something. Let's continue but first take a deep breath.

"As experts on women and extremism, we believe Ukraine offers a unique insight into the roles that women can play in defending the nation and as leaders in their own right."

It gets worse.

"Ukrainian women have historically enjoyed independence not common in other parts of the globe."

Not even the Home of the Free? Back in a sec but first a word from our sponsers. Don't miss season five of the Handmaid's Tale. Bigger, better, more brutal and above anything more factual facts per minute. Whatever. Watch it now! Back to you Academia.

"Ukrainian women have historically enjoyed independence not common in other parts of the globe."

Ukraine as an independent state only exists since 1991, so please be more specific. And no, the fact that Kyiv was a thriving city long before Moscow, doesn't unify Ukraine. Details do matter. Like forgetting to lock his chastity device this month. In case you're wondering how lame this actually is, look up when serfdom was abolished in what is now Ukraine.

Apart from some jolly stories - internet tourism anyone?  - there's literally nothing to support the Georgian couple's argument about the historical uber-independence of Ukrainian women. In fact, they are not even making an argument. Just incoherent rambling grouped in a single post. As if you cobble something together slightly related to the colour red and call it lettuce. Or not.

Clearly feminism these days is a business model. So what does an academic do? Follow the leader and publish garbage, in the hope of advancing your scientific career. You know what this reminds me of? That self serving PhD mumbo jumbo about Locktober I read in From Mundane to Mistress. Only this is written by an actual professor - in collaboration with a research associate of course.

As for mundane women, there are none. Perhaps naming your blog "from mundane to mistress" was not the best choice. Then again hindsight is always 20/20. Just ask the guy who regrets invading Ukraine. The word mundane suggests that women who are into femdom are superior to vanilla goddesses. Feel free to believe if you're that desperate. Also don't read today's post. Oops, I should've started with a spoiler alert? Guess that's why I'm no professor. Nor is Elon Musk.

Scientifically speaking, these days Elon Musk is Vladimir Putin's bitch. So much for being uber wealthy. What Mr. Musk certainly is not, is a genius. Nobody who claims to be one, is actually one. Starlink is begging for money now for some time. It provides essential communications services to Ukraine. Elon Musk claims his company is doing it for free and if he doesn't get some, he's gonna cancel the whole operation. 

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
 - Maya Angelou

Initially he demanded cash from the Pentagon or else he'd cancel the service. Then he changed his mind and announced he'd pay for it out of his own pocket. Sounds familiar? For a genius he surely seems to have a change of heart at regular intervals. It's also silly because most of Starlink's Ukraine business connections are actually paid for. People's savings and so on. Too lazy to look up the numbers but its around 70 to 80 percent. Business analysts agree that terminating the service in the beleaguered former Soviet Republic means Starlink would incur a loss.

And did you know Starlink's satellites do not cover Crimea? Disputed territory and so on, complicates stuff, just leave it to the lawyers. Makes sense given his latest tweets. Must be because he decided to buy Twitter after all. Clarity clears the mind and your tweeting schedule. So on October 03 Musk launched a Twitter poll - didn't know that was an option - to end the Ukraine - Russian 'conflict'. Here we go.

Ukraine-Russia Peace:

- Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.
- Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake).
- Water supply to Crimea assured.
- Ukraine remains neutral.

To sum it all up, Musk is an expert on social media, global peace, Russian history and ugly monster trucks built by Tesla. Is there anything this guy cannot do? He even knows how to spell the word pedophile. Mostly because his inner toddler threw a tantrum when a grown-up, actual, experienced diver pointed out the flaws in his plan to rescue a group of Thai kids from an underwater cave using a Tesla U-turn, I mean boat. Luckily Elon Musk is not the kind of person to harbour a grudge. [OK, not true, but how else am I'm gonna get that 44 billion? Sucking up for charity, someone has to do it.]

"The Kremlin said it was a “positive step” that Musk was outlining a possible peace deal."

Is that the same Kremlin that keeps on repeating their minor military operation is going according to plan? Probably.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda subtly reminded Mr. Musk that stealing the steering wheel of one his Teslas doesn't make you its owner. [4]

Undeterred Elon Musk renewed his application for the asylum by following up with "“This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end – just a question of how many die before then,”"

"“Also worth noting that a possible, albeit unlikely, outcome from this conflict is nuclear war,”"

So glad Elon Musk is not a general in the army of Antarctica [which is where Dutch lives. No, not Holland, that 's too easy.], lucky penguins. So, let's just hand Ukraine to Russia. What's next? Poland, the Baltic states, London perhaps. OK, my bad, right now London draped in red makes a lot of sense. All I'm waiting for is one final tweet from Mr. Musk.

"Liz Truss is the illegitimate child of Mr. Putin."

Don't say you didn't see that one coming. Glaring obvious.

Time to ignore Mr. Musk and listen to Dutch. Because I'm a genius but you already knew. My plan has two parts (1+1). First Ukraine reconquers Crimea, after which NATO returns Kaliningrad to the West. Until the end of WWII, the city was known as Königsberg. These days its a Russian semi-exclave between Lithuania and Poland. Why? If you start a war and you loose, you have to pay the price, which brings me back to today's topic. Imagine the price these women warriors pay if they become prisoners of war. Their fate will be infinitely worse than that of the men.

Don't fret about what Elon Musk thinks. Listen to Finnish PM Sanna Marin instead. Here's what she says: "The way out of this conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine. That is the way out of the conflict. The exit from the conflict is when Russia leaves the territory of Ukraine." [6] That's all folks.

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Face the music

"American anti-fascist folk musician Woody Guthrie recorded a song in 1946 entitled "Miss Pavlichenko" as a tribute to Russian sniper Ludmila Pavlichenko."

Woody Guthrie - Miss Pavlichenko [click to listen]

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[1] Ever asked yourself how many Russians living abroad, in, say Londonograd, are fluent in Russian? Even billionaires abroad need protection. Not my words but those of Vladimir Putin. Just be careful to say that Ukraine doesn't matter to us.

[2] In 1942 Eleanor Roosevelt welcomed Lyudmila Pavlichenko to the White House where she graciously fielded questions from reporters. "One wanted to know if Russian women could wear makeup at the front. Pavlichenko paused; just months before, she’d survived fighting on the front line during the Siege of Sevastopol, where Soviet forces suffered considerable casualties and were forced to surrender after eight months of fighting. “There is no rule against it,” Pavlichenko said, “but who has time to think of her shiny nose when a battle is going on?”.

Seriously dude, it's WWII and all you care about is her makeup? But it gets worse.

"But as the tour progressed, Pavlichenko began to bristle at the questions, and her clear, dark eyes found focus. One reporter seemed to criticize the long length of her uniform skirt, implying that it made her look fat. In Boston, another reporter observed that Pavlichenko “attacked her five-course New England breakfast yesterday. American food, she thinks, is O.K.”"

"Soon, the Soviet sniper had had enough of the press’s sniping. “I wear my uniform with honor,” she told Time magazine. “It has the Order of Lenin on it. It has been covered with blood in battle. It is plain to see that with American women what is important is whether they wear silk underwear under their uniforms. What the uniform stands for, they have yet to learn.”"

"Malvina Lindsey, “The Gentler Sex” columnist for the Washington Post, wondered why Pavlichenko couldn’t make more of an effort with regard to her style. “Isn’t it a part of military philosophy that an efficient warrior takes pride in his appearance?” Lindsey wrote. “Isn’t Joan of Arc always pictured in beautiful and shining armor?”"

Really Ma'am? Are you that hell-bent on loosing WWII?

[3]Do you know who else trained as a ballerina? Michelle Yeoh. To me that means something. And nope, still have to propose to her. Any day now, any day.

[4] Who wants a Tesla anyway these days? They're all rigged. The only thing their autopilot knows is the shortest way to Moscow.

[6] "Her [Finnish PM Sanna Marin]simple comments came after Joe Biden questioned what Vladimir Putin’s “off-ramp” is, posing a question as to how the Russian president can avoid losing face and significant power within his nation."