Today, we commemorate 78 years since the May 18, 1944 mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their homeland in Crimea, Ukraine.
It was the ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide of at least 191,044 Crimean Tatars on 18–20 May 1944 carried out by the Soviet government.
Can you even imagine it? They did it just in three days.
Nearly 8,000 Crimean Tatars died during the deportation, while tens of thousands died because of the harsh exile conditions. The Crimean Tatar exile resulted in the abandonment of 80,000 households and 360,000 acres of land.
A lot of Crimean Tatars have returned home after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today Crimea is occupied again by Russia. A lot of Crimean Tatars are imprisoned and repressed. Again.
There is so much pain in the history of this brave nation.
Ukraine will win and Crimea will return to Crimean Tatars.
Men’s showers at dormitory number 3 of the National Technical University of Ukraine - Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in Kiev, Ukraine.
This type of shower room is typical in older (built pre-2000) student dormitories in the former Soviet Union. The shower rooms, like this one, are shared by everyone of that gender in the dorm.
Obviously, I hope that everyone in Ukraine stays safe and Ukrainians deserve all of our support right now but I also wanted to say that my heart goes out to all people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia who have been living with the fear of Russian intervention for years and now see their worst fears come true. I see so many posts about how “we shouldn’t worry as Westerners because the war will not affect us directly” and while this is absolutely true, I wanted to take a second to acknowledge those who do have to live with the fear that it might affect them directly. I don’t have anything more to offer than words and it’s not worth much but if you are from Poland, Estonia, Kazakhstan or any other country close to Russia or Ukraine and you are afraid because you don’t know what the current events means for the future of your country, I am with you in thought and sending you a warm hug with this post.
russia is bombing us they are shooting us on sight they are tiyng our hands and executing us they are torturing and raping us they make us starve to death they deport us they are lying about us
One very tired man, one night in a train station, point blank asking me “I don’t know where to go. I don’t know what to do anymore. Where would you advise me to go?” Sir, it’s almost midnight. Right now you’re not going anywhere. We are transferring you to a place where you can sleep. Tomorrow you’ll decide.
Olena, who exchanged phone numbers with me. She jokingly told me to register her number under “Olena the refugee”. That was how she introduced herself. The next day when she called me she said “Olena from Ukraine”. The Ibis hotel wouldn’t unfreeze the 100 euros deposit she had to make. I had to call them two days in a row for them to give back the money they owed. They blocked my phone number. Joke’s on them, I had another one for work.
Vitaliy’s mother who told me her two years old son kinda looked like Khrushchev.
One Nigerian and his very pregnant wife who wasn’t feeling well. We called an ambulance for her and while we were waiting the man was asking the Red Cross volunteers “so if my wife were to give birth in France would the child receive french citizenship?”
Galya, 8 years old shouting “Mom, that man is called Olivier like the salad”
A woman with a big bandage on her finger telling how her cat escaped from his cage during their transfer in Berlin, how she grabbed him by the tail because the train was about the depart and how the train and how the scared cat scratched her so strongly she basically had no skin left on her middle finger. And she what caused her distress wasn’t the pain but the fact that she mistreated her cat.
That very sweet old woman in a wheelchair. She told me her name and I forgot it. She also told me that when she read the Gospel when she was young she used to cry thinking about all the suffering Jesus endured. “But God saved me and led me here to safety”.
Sasha who was going to Barcelona, who just finished school and did not know what to study at the university, and who asked me “Why are there so many Asians in Paris? Did you get invaded? Are those migrants?”
Svitlana and Karina, from Kharkiv, desperate and so very very tired. They had spent ten days on the roads of Europe, gone all the way to Madrid only to discover that there was nothing prepared for welcoming refugees, and now wanted to go back to Germany, because they needed a country with a strong social security system. “I don’t understand, Svita said, why everyone in Germany is so much kinder toward refugees than our own countrymen. You wouldn’t believe how badly the people in Lviv treat the refugees from Eastern Ukraine”.
Rita, 14, who wanted to know how to make friends with French teens. “It’s easier to make friends when you have a house where you can invite them. Mine got bombed last week. There’s nothing left.”
A professor of nuclear physics headed to Bordeaux. “I’ve always dreamed of working in France, and my French colleagues have managed to arrange that”
That refugee who met Zemfira in a train station in Paris.
One mixed race couple who were absolutely unfazed by all the chaos of Gare de Lyon and were looking for a good restaurant because they had some time before their train.
That very old couple who absolutely refused to be sent to the Red Cross’s dormitory. “We went yesterday, they said they would drive us in the morning to the train station, that we would be able to get on the train in time. They didn’t, we missed the train, and now we’re not going anywhere. The train leaves at 6 am, we’re gonna sleep in the station and if they close the station at night, we’re just going to walk around until they open it.
Anna from Kyiv. I told her that was the name of one of the Queens of France. She spent a month in Paris but ultimately decided to go back to Kyiv. While she was in France, she visited a friend who found a home in Toulouse, then went to Biarritz because she’d never seen the Atlantic Ocean, and had the perfect occasion.
A couple and their two years old daughter, Zlata, who found an accommodation in the middle of bumfuck nowhere near Brive la Gaillarde. They sent us lots of photography. They spent their first month sightseeing, as there are loads of medieval castles around.
The woman with blue and yellow ribbons in her braids, who was trying to find something like kefir in French supermarkets.
Another Anna, who tried croissants and éclairs for the first time. The croissants were heavenly but the éclairs were way too sweet and honestly she found them overrated. Croissants did deserve the hype.
A therapist from Kyiv who found a place to stay in Rouen, but is considering moving because her daughter is in highschool and she wants her to go to a reputable one. And she is shocked by how bad French students’ maths level is.
More than 500,000 people have already left Ukraine due to the invasion by the Russian Federation. The European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management estimates that roughly 18 million Ukrainians will be affected by the conflict in humanitarian terms, with 7 million internally displaced and 4 million seeking refuge elsewhere. To help those still in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian refugees, we’ve compiled this list of resources.
HelpUkraineWin.org has a collection of vetted and trusted resources, charities, and organizations to help Ukraine.
Misinformation spreads fast on social media. It is more important than ever to share accurate, verifiable news and information. Here are some resources to learn how to identify misinformation:
This linkfrom the nonprofit WITNESS shares tips for identifying authentic video sources (available in English, Spanish, Ukranian, Russian, and Arabic).
These visual verification tips, also from WITNESS, provide information on verifying images and videos (available in English and Spanish).
When I first heard this news last week I thought that it was a mistaken press release. It’s inconceivable that Djakarta would give up their primary export and source of foreign exchange. But it may not be as dire as portrayed. The export ban apparently does not apply to crude palm oil but only to processed. And CNBC analysts believe that the ban will be short lived.
And the midwest is anxiously watching the futures on both corn and soybeans as spring planting takes place.
Of course, this also encourages Brazil to burn more of Amazonia to covert to soy.
