Invasion Day +37 There are no adjectives left to describe Putin's barbarism. Not content with staring defeat in the face in the north of Ukraine, his troops on the ground callously leave mines in people's homes and under the corpses of the dead as they retreat, even their own war dead. How desperate must they be? China comes further into the war despite denials, allegedly doing business with Russia and risking a western trade war. Putin's world disaster disintegrates further as he sends ballistic missiles off target towards Odessa suggesting his command and control facilities are being badly affected. The attack on the oil faculties inside Russia may be the start of a wider conflict but is just as likely to be a stage managed false flag operation by Russia itself to camouflage the withdrawal and regrouping in the north. Truth continues to be a casualty of war, not that Putin or many of his duped-dead Russians understand the meaning of the word, but the slaughter of the innocent continues in many places. How the west can stand by and witness all his without a serious and defining response is beyond belief. The world needs to sort out war once and for all and bring peace to bear. Again.
At Hoggy, we are looking to highlight individual and collective commitments to peace in Ukraine or anywhere where the initiative might help to run along side our 'Hogswards.' If you know of any such initiatives that might help to end this war please can you write in and let us know? We would be humbled to highlight them here. We ask that we all continue to stand with Ukraine and stand with peace, truth and justice.
Also: we are told the book 'Sunflowers for Ukraine' mentioned here in a previous letter to Hoggy from Bryn Stowe Publications of Scarborough in the north of the UK is due for publication on the 14th April 2022.
To obtain a copy the publishers have asked that you please send your name and address to them direct at: davidlewis@brynstowe.co.uk or if preferred, we are happy to pass your details on from here by mailing Hoggy: hoggytheyimp@gmail.com and we will forward them on to them. The publishers are kindly asking for a donation to our 'Hoggys Fund for Ukrainian Writers and Artists' in exchange for a copy and we have suggested a minimum of £10 would be brilliant where people can afford it. Further details will follow from the publishers on the 14th April but please feel able to mail in advance for copies if so wished. Copies are limited and all the donations entire (less postage) will be given to 'Hoggy's Fund' as the book itself has been sponsored by a collective of worthy citizens.
Today's Letters:
From Bianca Rueben, Romanian.
Dear Hoggy,
'Putna Monastery, Romania'
(Hogsward No 9).
I would like to nominate a refugee support group of the Orthodox Church in Romania for a 'Hogsward.' I know they are not directly laying down their lives but they are doing everything they can to help and I feel that countries such as mine, Romania and Moldova too, are sometimes overlooked as the main bodies of refugees have gone to Poland.
The group in Romania are based with the monks of the Putna Monastery in the north-east of Romania but they have a permanent hospitality tent now at the Siret Crossing with Ukraine where many refugees are fleeing to first and where many helpers and firefighters from Romania have gone to help. Many Ukrainians have been welcomed and looked after by this group who are bringing great comfort to them all.
Maybe this is not so amazing as some of your nominees who are giving their lives for freedom but I think all those who are helping the refugees are also making a big contribution?
I attach some photos and also one from a twitterfeed that you might find brings a sense of hope and determination, a lady escaping with her pets.
Photos courtesy of Guardian Newspapers
Thank you Hoggy,
Bianca Rueben
from Romania.
Dear Bianca,
Thank you for your continued correspondence and for nominating this refugee support group in Romania. We certainly think they should receive an award and are, as you say, representative and symbolic of the many who are helping around the world right now.
Please can you sow some sunflowers seeds somewhere you feel appropriate for the refugees on the group's behalf?
We send our greetings and acknowledgements to them all through you and a huge thanks to all who are supporting refugees around Ukraine.
We are continuing to demand a faster response from the UK and hope that this will soon be forthcoming.
And yes the photo of the lady saving her pets brough a much needed smile to all at lips at Hoggy's office. Thank you for sending it and to the original tweeter.
Thank you Bianca.
Best wishes,
Hoggy
From 'Concerned' of the Hospice Movement
Dear Hoggy,
'Why 'Eating Salad' Might Not Be So Easy.'
I refer to your recent post suggesting the west could eat salad for a while to ease away from the purchase of Russian oil and gas? I agree we must do all we can not to support the Russian war machine right now. But the situation is not as straight forward as it seems.
Is it ever?
We are a hospice relying in part on public donations to maintain our services for end of life care. Well before the war started, we signed a deal with 'Gaz-Prom', the Russian owned but wholly British run company trading on the open gas market, for our gas supplies which we have secured at a fixed price for three years.
Our average annual gas bill, as for most similarly sized hospices I imagine, is around £43,000. We are told that to pull out of this deal would mean not only paying severance fees but an increased supply cost ten times that of which we are now paying. That is £430,000. Totally beyond our capability of ever paying ourselves.
So, whilst we might well be able to eat salad for a while we cannot easily not buy from a Russian connected company however hard we might want to. We are investigating solar powered alternatives for some of our needs but at present we are mainly reliant on gas.
If we come up with any short term solutions in this crisis we will let you know!
With very best wishes for your work for peace.
Concerned of the hospice.
(Name and address supplied)
Dear Concerned,
Thank you for writing in and I agree this is not an easy situation, a situation which will be replicated across Europe.
What it does highlight is our over-dependence on fossil fuels across the world and the pressing need to seek carbon free and alternative sources of power.
We are entering, or have entered according to some academics, an era of 'perma-crisis' where we now have a series of permanent and potentially catastrophic crisis situations in constant play, global warning being the highest amongst them.
We are also at war not only in Ukraine, but in Yemen, in Myanmar, in the Congo, in Uganda, in Syria, in Columbia, in Israel, and we are suffering from war still in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The need for collective, determined and concerted action is pressing ever more highly and this is the most terrible of all the indictments on Putin and his blinded Russia, that he has blindsided us, once again, to the most pressing dangers for the world.
We hope too a solution to the power crisis can be found and quickly.
With very best wishes to all in the hospice movement.
Hoggy
Please continue to write in with your views, 'Hogsward' nominations and any peace initiatives you come across? Thank you all. Hoggy
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