Thanks for your work on Safe Skies and on documenting Ukrainian history. It’s important to have respected historians publicizing the truth to a broad audience. It’s unfortunate that so many Americans, including political leaders, are so woefully ignorant of the world around them that they are easily swayed by demagogues and their Russian influencers (or handlers, to use a term of art:)).
It seems we live on an island far away from other countries right next door. Do this simple test: ask random people what the capital of Canada is, and see what if anything they say (probably Toronto or Quebec or some other place). Or ask where the Yucatan is. Or if you're a NYC wise-ass like me, ask them on a map which one is on top, Oregon or Washington. Well, that's a tough one for most people. Worse is which is on top, Nebraska or Kansas. That neighbor of yours who is a real dummy, ask them which is on top, North Dakota or South Dakota, or perhaps which one is next to New York State, New Hampshire or Vermont.
Geographic education in our country is pitiful, worse even than our public school education in history (sorry Professor, but you undoubtedly know that already). But civics is way down there as well. I am convinced that glomming these three disciplines into something called "social studies" stupided-up a hundred years of American kids. And now we suffer the results.
Dr. Snyder, a brief word: I have watched a number of your lectures on Eastern Europe (fascinating) but what you did with Safe Skies might just make you a legend in that part of the world (if it hasn't already), and to other historians and to those few who ardently want peace in our world as well as everyone having the right to live free, and safe. Thank you!
Geographical illiteracy in the US goes far beyond not knowing about our own country. A very significant portion of people who chant ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” cannot identify which river or which sea is being referred to. And it goes without saying that they have no idea what the associated Arabic chant their “allies” are yelling means. If they asked, they would discover it’s pretty clear: “from the water to the water, Palestine is Arab.”
It’s not by chance that those who oppose assisting Ukraine and Israel join hands politically. They reject the nationhood of both states, consider them Illegitimate and without any history and seek their destruction.
Please speak only for yourself. The Netanyahu government has engaged in provocation against the Palestinian people for its entire tenure - fifteen years now, and supported Hamas as part of its strategy to divide and weaken the Palestinians. Only last week Bibi proclaimed his previously hidden agenda: an Israeli state, "From the river to the sea" were his exact words. The Palestinians are caught between two brutal and implacable enemies: the extreme right Israeli government and Hamas.
Ukraine, on the other hand, did nothing whatsoever to provoke the Russian acts of aggression. The Ukrainians are fighting for their national identity, their freedom and their lives.
As an American Jew of Ukrainian Jewish descent, I continue to be totally outraged by Putin's ruthless and brutal continuing acts on Ukraine.
And as an American Jew who has studied in Jerusalem and has a large family that took refuge in Israel, and I should add, a lifelong Zionist, I believe in there existing a Jewish state in Palestine as a refuge for Jews suffering terrible bigotry and persecution in much of the world.
Even more, the Jewish people, in my view, deserve a free state in Palestine. Consider it as reparations not only for Stalin's atrocities and the Holocaust, but for 2,000 years of Christian-fostered lies and bigotry, torture, rape and murder directed at the Jewish people.
That said, when I studied in Israel for much of 1963, the country had a Labour government, an ethos of freedom, a sense of building new, free lives and communities where Jews could create a country beyond their dreams. I traveled Israel extensively, met some of the leading politicians, and saw survivors of the war in Europe, Hitler's war, who carried their physical and emotional scars, too heavy to hide successfully due to the brutality, torture, murder and misery they suffered in and out of Hitler's concentration camps.
Bringing all this forward to today, I am a secular Jew who is against the existence of ultra-orthodox Jewish settlements in the West Bank - non-Jewish Palestine, that is - and as an American I am outraged by Netanyahu and the far right-wing government of dangerous lunatics that currently runs Israel and engages in transforming it into an apartheid, militaristic country.
I don't believe that with Netanyahu and Likud running the country there will ever be peace. Israel must somehow do the impossible and transform itself from a right-wing, racist society to something closer to what the Founders sought to create back in the beginning, when the new/old country had a sense of hope and pride. Can this happen? Not with Netanyahu still in power with his cast of ultra right-wing nutcases supporting his every atrocity. America needs to wake up and stop supporting this criminal who is the head of government primarily, I believe, to avoid jail for his crimes.
I think that after this war is over, a commission similar to the Agranat Commission after the Yom Kippur War will be established. At its conclusion, if not before, Netanyahu will resign having declared himself the savior of Israel having defeated Hamas and brought Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords. If he tries to hand on, the electorate will punish Likud and he loses the narrative war.
As to peace, Israel has made peace with those Arab states that seek peaceful relations with it. Unfortunately, the Palestinians are not in that group yet. The reordering that will come after Hamas is removed from Gaza will provide an interesting opportunity if they seize it.
Having been pawns in higher Arab politics, the sad reality is that once they were to be the point of the spear against Israel - hence the deliberate creation of a perpetual refugee population. With the rise of Iran after the 1979 Revolution and abetted by concerns of U.S. reliability as a protector thanks mostly to President Obama’s strategy, the Sunni Arab states see their future with a strong Israel - both militarily and economically - on their side. In other words, the narrative has changed and the Palestinians no longer fit the new reality.
If the will to survive and maintain your right to self-determination is a provocation to those who seek your destruction, then so be it. As Golda Meir observed, “I prefer your condemnations to your condolences.”
It should be evident to anyone who listens that the Palestinians, whether the PA or Hamas, are not and have never been interested in establishing a state of their own, living peacefully next to Israel. They both seek Israel’s destruction, differing only on timing and tactics. There’s a reason the PA logo image of their “state” has no carve out for Israel.
Looked at from today, the result of the post-WWI territorial dispensation (via a system of three Mandates) was to give 99.75% of the former Ottoman lands over to Arab rule. Israel including the territories once held by Egypt and Jordan until 1967 constitute the remaining 0.25%. Yet the Arabs demand it all, mostly for mystical reasons having to do with the view that once lands are conquered by Islam, they remain so even if temporarily (in its view) lost.
Similarly, today’s Ukraine gained its independence in 1991. Yet the Russians demand it back and have gnawed off and occupied pieces since 2014. The Russians mystical conception is that Ukraine is an essential and indivisible part of Russia and remains so even if temporarily (in its view) lost.
It is interesting how empty the intersection of our understandings of the history of the Middle East is! I had the impression that it was the British and the French, via the Sykes-Picot Agreement (with consultations with the Saudis and Americans) that carved up the Ottoman empire at the end of World War I, that it was the Balfour Memorandum that enabled the establishment of what was supposed to be a secular state with Jews and Muslims enjoying equal rights in the piece of the former Ottoman pie called "Palestine", and that a key result of the Camp David Accords was the formal recognition of Israel's right to exist by the Palestinian Authority.
It is true above all that, aside from the Saudis, nobody actually living in the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI was consulted, which is a major reason for the continuing strife and the unspeakable injustices that went far afield from Palestine; to the Kurds, for instance, among others. It is also true that the residents were not asked their opinions when the UN mandated the establishment of Israel in 1947.
I suppose we must disagree on the degree to which the situations in Israel and the Ukraine are parallel, and on the relative wisdom of the US providing arms. I suppose we must also disagree on the validity of the concept of collective guilt, which I reject out of hand.
I sincerely regret having taken the bait offered by your initial post. The conversation was supposed to be about Ukraine.
Not empty at all, just starting at different points. First, Sykes-Picot was originally the Sykes-Picot-Sazanov Agreement. It was a secret set of negotiations to create a post-war division of Ottoman lands. I have never read about U.S. being consulted in any way. And it would have been unlikely for several reasons. First, the U.S. had not yet entered the war at the time and when we did it was only against Germany, not Austria-Hungary and not against the Ottomans. That is why the U.S. came in as an Associated Power and not an Allied Power.
Second, Wilson made it clear that U.S. intervention was not for the purpose of expanding the British or French Empires.
Third, the Sykes-Picot Agreement became public knowledge after it was leaked by the Bolsheviks who wanted out of the war and sought to expose imperial hypocrisy to foment worker unrest back in Europe.
At the time, there was only Arabia. It became Saudi Arabia in the early ‘20s after Ibn Saud kicked out the Hashemites who were rewarded by the British with the thrones of Iraq and Transjordan. In any event, the Hashemites played no part in the negotiations of which I’m aware.
The Balfour Declaration (about which the U.S., France, Italy, the Vatican and perhaps others had been consulted and gave their approval) expressed UK policy to establish a national home for the Jews, allow for their immigration and close settlement throughout Palestine (a Western coinage, the Ottomans had an entirely different administrative set up). Critically, only the Jewish people were afforded national rights, everyone was to be given equal civil and religious rights. This policy and the rights afforded were later enshrined in international law through the League of Nations creation of the Mandate for Palestine in 1922, which created for the first time a demarcated territory called Palestine. The UK was assigned to administer it as the Mandatory Power. In 1923, the UK closed off over 3/4 of the land to the Jews and created the Emirate of Transjordan for one of the fleeing Hashemites mentioned above. I suspect you know the history going forward, it was one of additional partition offers the Jews accepted and the Arabs rejected.
I do agree with your point about the Kurds and other indigenous people who, unlike the Jewish people, were not offered the exercise of their own right to self-determination in any part of their historical homeland. It might have been the result of Europe’s romanticization of the Arabs or a view that they could best control the area.
From our 21st century concern with dogmas such as settler-colonialism, it does seem strange that taking lands from an imperial conqueror only to give it to the prior imperial conqueror was doing Justice to the indigenous peoples of the region. It’s a good question.
As a final point, the Palestinians have made it clear, in spite of what you may believe, that they do not recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. They recognize an entity currently called Israel but whose name will change with a Muslim majority after the return of millions of refugees. This issue resurfaced a few years ago when Netanyahu asked for this admission and Abbas turned it down flat.
And the PLO never did get around to changing its Charter as promised either.
Anyway, what one chooses to make of all this is a matter of conscience and we may just disagree, but there’s no harm in that.
Netanyahu is Israel’s Trump. It’s not the Israeli people that I’m against funding, it’s the government led by Netanyahu. We’ve become complicit in his war crimes.
Thanks for the update. It has been enormously frustrating to have MAGA Mike hold up the funding bill for Ukraine and is good to feel I can do something as an individual to support our allies. I will continue to do so as I can. I am also writing to members of Congress regularly urging them to pass aid to Ukraine. Please let your friends in Ukraine know how much it means to all of us to see them stand up to Putin. Their courage should inspire all of us.
I, too, felt this way when I read Dr. Snyder’s newsletter today. We can make a difference even when the House chooses not to support Ukraine for political purposes.
I did just that at Christmas and badgered friends to do the same. I’m so glad you have achieved your target and have told us what is needed to extend this protection, Dr, Snyder. Another thought: if you live in an area where there are Ukrainian refugees, there’s also a very small thing you can do for them. Here in Frome (UK) in 2022 I persuaded many independent shops to put Ukrainian flags in their windows. I’ve since discovered just how much this lifted people’s spirits as they settled in our small town. Time passes and the flags have largely disappeared and not been replaced. My Ukrainian friends told me this week how much they miss them and fear we are losing interest. So next thing is to get the shops to put up fresh flags and extend it to neighbours and friends in their front windows. Our dear Ukrainian friends need the help we can give in sustaining their spirits in deeply worrying.times.
Ukraine is emerging from a winter with few power outages and much less destruction of infrastructure than last year. At least we can be thankful for that.
A million thanks, Professor Snyder, for informing and inspiring us! I intend to keep giving to United24, RAZOM and The Ukraine House Foundation DC for as long as it takes.
As a bit of news, I am happy to report that several thousand of us rallied at the Lincoln Memorial in DC on the 2nd anniversary of the Russian invasion, then marched to the residence of the Russian ambassador at 1125 16th Street, NW, Washington DC 20036, to give him a piece of our mind.
You are doing great work with the utmost grace. I listened to the entire lecture series on The Making of Modern Ukraine, and - even if I had not already given my home to some Ukrainian refugees - I would have given to Safe Skies just from the inspiration you have shared.
They also need lifesaving medpacks that aid in keeping battlefield injuries just that. An injury instead of a fatality. I’m sure there are all sorts of ways we can help if there is a secure way to do so. Maybe you could provide a list?
Yes, I've donated medpacks to individual units, but would love to have a place to go to donate on a larger scale, specifically for medpacks that contain tourniquets--and anything and everything that both keeps the wounded alive, and in a relatively pain-free state, until they reach a hospital. Some of those wounds are horrific, and keeping the pain to a minimal level is important for their psychological well-being.
🩵💛Every time I read of Ukraine shooting down drones & missiles, I am happy to think our contributions are helping to keep Ukrainian people safer. We can feel helpless as individuals living far away, but this collective effort gives us a way to do some good. Thank YOU for bringing attention to these opportunities ...
You are a truly extraordinary person: professor at an outstanding university, polyglot, philanthropist, and enormously successful fundraiser. I know of no other person who has achieved what you have achieved, and are continuing to achieve. Thank you for using your one precious life in such a fruitful and powerful way.
I and others have repeatedly tried to donate to Safe Skies II, but without success. But I had no trouble donating to U24 Sea Baby and U24 Safe Skies I. A few minutes ago it occurred to me to try a different browser for Safe Skies II, and this time it went through without any trouble. I have no idea why donations to SSI in 2022 and SB drones in 2024 worked just fine with Mozilla but not with SSII. 🤷🏻♀️
Great news! Thank you for putting this together, honchoing it, and pushing it so effectively. Krok za krokom! We hope to make another contribution soon!
Professor Snyder, Thank you for the update and thank you for spearheading this effort and providing us a chance to contribute in a small way to Ukraine’s defense!
Professor Snyder,
Thanks for your work on Safe Skies and on documenting Ukrainian history. It’s important to have respected historians publicizing the truth to a broad audience. It’s unfortunate that so many Americans, including political leaders, are so woefully ignorant of the world around them that they are easily swayed by demagogues and their Russian influencers (or handlers, to use a term of art:)).
Andrew P. Cap, COL, USA, retired
It seems we live on an island far away from other countries right next door. Do this simple test: ask random people what the capital of Canada is, and see what if anything they say (probably Toronto or Quebec or some other place). Or ask where the Yucatan is. Or if you're a NYC wise-ass like me, ask them on a map which one is on top, Oregon or Washington. Well, that's a tough one for most people. Worse is which is on top, Nebraska or Kansas. That neighbor of yours who is a real dummy, ask them which is on top, North Dakota or South Dakota, or perhaps which one is next to New York State, New Hampshire or Vermont.
Geographic education in our country is pitiful, worse even than our public school education in history (sorry Professor, but you undoubtedly know that already). But civics is way down there as well. I am convinced that glomming these three disciplines into something called "social studies" stupided-up a hundred years of American kids. And now we suffer the results.
Dr. Snyder, a brief word: I have watched a number of your lectures on Eastern Europe (fascinating) but what you did with Safe Skies might just make you a legend in that part of the world (if it hasn't already), and to other historians and to those few who ardently want peace in our world as well as everyone having the right to live free, and safe. Thank you!
Geographical illiteracy in the US goes far beyond not knowing about our own country. A very significant portion of people who chant ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” cannot identify which river or which sea is being referred to. And it goes without saying that they have no idea what the associated Arabic chant their “allies” are yelling means. If they asked, they would discover it’s pretty clear: “from the water to the water, Palestine is Arab.”
It’s not by chance that those who oppose assisting Ukraine and Israel join hands politically. They reject the nationhood of both states, consider them Illegitimate and without any history and seek their destruction.
Please speak only for yourself. The Netanyahu government has engaged in provocation against the Palestinian people for its entire tenure - fifteen years now, and supported Hamas as part of its strategy to divide and weaken the Palestinians. Only last week Bibi proclaimed his previously hidden agenda: an Israeli state, "From the river to the sea" were his exact words. The Palestinians are caught between two brutal and implacable enemies: the extreme right Israeli government and Hamas.
Ukraine, on the other hand, did nothing whatsoever to provoke the Russian acts of aggression. The Ukrainians are fighting for their national identity, their freedom and their lives.
As an American Jew of Ukrainian Jewish descent, I continue to be totally outraged by Putin's ruthless and brutal continuing acts on Ukraine.
And as an American Jew who has studied in Jerusalem and has a large family that took refuge in Israel, and I should add, a lifelong Zionist, I believe in there existing a Jewish state in Palestine as a refuge for Jews suffering terrible bigotry and persecution in much of the world.
Even more, the Jewish people, in my view, deserve a free state in Palestine. Consider it as reparations not only for Stalin's atrocities and the Holocaust, but for 2,000 years of Christian-fostered lies and bigotry, torture, rape and murder directed at the Jewish people.
That said, when I studied in Israel for much of 1963, the country had a Labour government, an ethos of freedom, a sense of building new, free lives and communities where Jews could create a country beyond their dreams. I traveled Israel extensively, met some of the leading politicians, and saw survivors of the war in Europe, Hitler's war, who carried their physical and emotional scars, too heavy to hide successfully due to the brutality, torture, murder and misery they suffered in and out of Hitler's concentration camps.
Bringing all this forward to today, I am a secular Jew who is against the existence of ultra-orthodox Jewish settlements in the West Bank - non-Jewish Palestine, that is - and as an American I am outraged by Netanyahu and the far right-wing government of dangerous lunatics that currently runs Israel and engages in transforming it into an apartheid, militaristic country.
I don't believe that with Netanyahu and Likud running the country there will ever be peace. Israel must somehow do the impossible and transform itself from a right-wing, racist society to something closer to what the Founders sought to create back in the beginning, when the new/old country had a sense of hope and pride. Can this happen? Not with Netanyahu still in power with his cast of ultra right-wing nutcases supporting his every atrocity. America needs to wake up and stop supporting this criminal who is the head of government primarily, I believe, to avoid jail for his crimes.
I think that after this war is over, a commission similar to the Agranat Commission after the Yom Kippur War will be established. At its conclusion, if not before, Netanyahu will resign having declared himself the savior of Israel having defeated Hamas and brought Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords. If he tries to hand on, the electorate will punish Likud and he loses the narrative war.
As to peace, Israel has made peace with those Arab states that seek peaceful relations with it. Unfortunately, the Palestinians are not in that group yet. The reordering that will come after Hamas is removed from Gaza will provide an interesting opportunity if they seize it.
Having been pawns in higher Arab politics, the sad reality is that once they were to be the point of the spear against Israel - hence the deliberate creation of a perpetual refugee population. With the rise of Iran after the 1979 Revolution and abetted by concerns of U.S. reliability as a protector thanks mostly to President Obama’s strategy, the Sunni Arab states see their future with a strong Israel - both militarily and economically - on their side. In other words, the narrative has changed and the Palestinians no longer fit the new reality.
If the will to survive and maintain your right to self-determination is a provocation to those who seek your destruction, then so be it. As Golda Meir observed, “I prefer your condemnations to your condolences.”
It should be evident to anyone who listens that the Palestinians, whether the PA or Hamas, are not and have never been interested in establishing a state of their own, living peacefully next to Israel. They both seek Israel’s destruction, differing only on timing and tactics. There’s a reason the PA logo image of their “state” has no carve out for Israel.
Looked at from today, the result of the post-WWI territorial dispensation (via a system of three Mandates) was to give 99.75% of the former Ottoman lands over to Arab rule. Israel including the territories once held by Egypt and Jordan until 1967 constitute the remaining 0.25%. Yet the Arabs demand it all, mostly for mystical reasons having to do with the view that once lands are conquered by Islam, they remain so even if temporarily (in its view) lost.
Similarly, today’s Ukraine gained its independence in 1991. Yet the Russians demand it back and have gnawed off and occupied pieces since 2014. The Russians mystical conception is that Ukraine is an essential and indivisible part of Russia and remains so even if temporarily (in its view) lost.
Hence the similarities I identified.
It is interesting how empty the intersection of our understandings of the history of the Middle East is! I had the impression that it was the British and the French, via the Sykes-Picot Agreement (with consultations with the Saudis and Americans) that carved up the Ottoman empire at the end of World War I, that it was the Balfour Memorandum that enabled the establishment of what was supposed to be a secular state with Jews and Muslims enjoying equal rights in the piece of the former Ottoman pie called "Palestine", and that a key result of the Camp David Accords was the formal recognition of Israel's right to exist by the Palestinian Authority.
It is true above all that, aside from the Saudis, nobody actually living in the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI was consulted, which is a major reason for the continuing strife and the unspeakable injustices that went far afield from Palestine; to the Kurds, for instance, among others. It is also true that the residents were not asked their opinions when the UN mandated the establishment of Israel in 1947.
I suppose we must disagree on the degree to which the situations in Israel and the Ukraine are parallel, and on the relative wisdom of the US providing arms. I suppose we must also disagree on the validity of the concept of collective guilt, which I reject out of hand.
I sincerely regret having taken the bait offered by your initial post. The conversation was supposed to be about Ukraine.
Not empty at all, just starting at different points. First, Sykes-Picot was originally the Sykes-Picot-Sazanov Agreement. It was a secret set of negotiations to create a post-war division of Ottoman lands. I have never read about U.S. being consulted in any way. And it would have been unlikely for several reasons. First, the U.S. had not yet entered the war at the time and when we did it was only against Germany, not Austria-Hungary and not against the Ottomans. That is why the U.S. came in as an Associated Power and not an Allied Power.
Second, Wilson made it clear that U.S. intervention was not for the purpose of expanding the British or French Empires.
Third, the Sykes-Picot Agreement became public knowledge after it was leaked by the Bolsheviks who wanted out of the war and sought to expose imperial hypocrisy to foment worker unrest back in Europe.
At the time, there was only Arabia. It became Saudi Arabia in the early ‘20s after Ibn Saud kicked out the Hashemites who were rewarded by the British with the thrones of Iraq and Transjordan. In any event, the Hashemites played no part in the negotiations of which I’m aware.
The Balfour Declaration (about which the U.S., France, Italy, the Vatican and perhaps others had been consulted and gave their approval) expressed UK policy to establish a national home for the Jews, allow for their immigration and close settlement throughout Palestine (a Western coinage, the Ottomans had an entirely different administrative set up). Critically, only the Jewish people were afforded national rights, everyone was to be given equal civil and religious rights. This policy and the rights afforded were later enshrined in international law through the League of Nations creation of the Mandate for Palestine in 1922, which created for the first time a demarcated territory called Palestine. The UK was assigned to administer it as the Mandatory Power. In 1923, the UK closed off over 3/4 of the land to the Jews and created the Emirate of Transjordan for one of the fleeing Hashemites mentioned above. I suspect you know the history going forward, it was one of additional partition offers the Jews accepted and the Arabs rejected.
I do agree with your point about the Kurds and other indigenous people who, unlike the Jewish people, were not offered the exercise of their own right to self-determination in any part of their historical homeland. It might have been the result of Europe’s romanticization of the Arabs or a view that they could best control the area.
From our 21st century concern with dogmas such as settler-colonialism, it does seem strange that taking lands from an imperial conqueror only to give it to the prior imperial conqueror was doing Justice to the indigenous peoples of the region. It’s a good question.
As a final point, the Palestinians have made it clear, in spite of what you may believe, that they do not recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. They recognize an entity currently called Israel but whose name will change with a Muslim majority after the return of millions of refugees. This issue resurfaced a few years ago when Netanyahu asked for this admission and Abbas turned it down flat.
And the PLO never did get around to changing its Charter as promised either.
Anyway, what one chooses to make of all this is a matter of conscience and we may just disagree, but there’s no harm in that.
Netanyahu is Israel’s Trump. It’s not the Israeli people that I’m against funding, it’s the government led by Netanyahu. We’ve become complicit in his war crimes.
The Republicans have been starving the public schools for many years - they know that an uneducated population is easier to Rule.
Thanks for the update. It has been enormously frustrating to have MAGA Mike hold up the funding bill for Ukraine and is good to feel I can do something as an individual to support our allies. I will continue to do so as I can. I am also writing to members of Congress regularly urging them to pass aid to Ukraine. Please let your friends in Ukraine know how much it means to all of us to see them stand up to Putin. Their courage should inspire all of us.
Thanks for the thanks, Professor! I am heartened by your message that our effort has made inroads for our Ukrainian friends.
I, too, felt this way when I read Dr. Snyder’s newsletter today. We can make a difference even when the House chooses not to support Ukraine for political purposes.
Donate and tell your friends and family that's the present you give on their birthday.
Thank you for all you do, Dr Snyder. That's a gift to us all.
I did just that at Christmas and badgered friends to do the same. I’m so glad you have achieved your target and have told us what is needed to extend this protection, Dr, Snyder. Another thought: if you live in an area where there are Ukrainian refugees, there’s also a very small thing you can do for them. Here in Frome (UK) in 2022 I persuaded many independent shops to put Ukrainian flags in their windows. I’ve since discovered just how much this lifted people’s spirits as they settled in our small town. Time passes and the flags have largely disappeared and not been replaced. My Ukrainian friends told me this week how much they miss them and fear we are losing interest. So next thing is to get the shops to put up fresh flags and extend it to neighbours and friends in their front windows. Our dear Ukrainian friends need the help we can give in sustaining their spirits in deeply worrying.times.
Ruth Windle
Sorry! I was so intent on writing, I forgot to say who I am,
Brilliant. I have my flag out front, but stores need to do this. Hello Ikea...
Do watch (free on UTube) Prof. Snyder’s recent speech ‘Wonder Woman and the Orcs’ at the Kyiv Biennial in Berlin.
Ukraine is emerging from a winter with few power outages and much less destruction of infrastructure than last year. At least we can be thankful for that.
Maybe I spoke too soon. Russia has stepped up attacks on infrastructure lately
A million thanks, Professor Snyder, for informing and inspiring us! I intend to keep giving to United24, RAZOM and The Ukraine House Foundation DC for as long as it takes.
As a bit of news, I am happy to report that several thousand of us rallied at the Lincoln Memorial in DC on the 2nd anniversary of the Russian invasion, then marched to the residence of the Russian ambassador at 1125 16th Street, NW, Washington DC 20036, to give him a piece of our mind.
You are doing great work with the utmost grace. I listened to the entire lecture series on The Making of Modern Ukraine, and - even if I had not already given my home to some Ukrainian refugees - I would have given to Safe Skies just from the inspiration you have shared.
They also need lifesaving medpacks that aid in keeping battlefield injuries just that. An injury instead of a fatality. I’m sure there are all sorts of ways we can help if there is a secure way to do so. Maybe you could provide a list?
Yes, I've donated medpacks to individual units, but would love to have a place to go to donate on a larger scale, specifically for medpacks that contain tourniquets--and anything and everything that both keeps the wounded alive, and in a relatively pain-free state, until they reach a hospital. Some of those wounds are horrific, and keeping the pain to a minimal level is important for their psychological well-being.
Zelenskyy's preferred destination for donations is United 24. I've donated to them numerous times, and they're easy to find online.
Thanks, Porter. That's helpful to know.
🩵💛Every time I read of Ukraine shooting down drones & missiles, I am happy to think our contributions are helping to keep Ukrainian people safer. We can feel helpless as individuals living far away, but this collective effort gives us a way to do some good. Thank YOU for bringing attention to these opportunities ...
You are a truly extraordinary person: professor at an outstanding university, polyglot, philanthropist, and enormously successful fundraiser. I know of no other person who has achieved what you have achieved, and are continuing to achieve. Thank you for using your one precious life in such a fruitful and powerful way.
Thank you Professor Snyder.
I and others have repeatedly tried to donate to Safe Skies II, but without success. But I had no trouble donating to U24 Sea Baby and U24 Safe Skies I. A few minutes ago it occurred to me to try a different browser for Safe Skies II, and this time it went through without any trouble. I have no idea why donations to SSI in 2022 and SB drones in 2024 worked just fine with Mozilla but not with SSII. 🤷🏻♀️
Great news! Thank you for putting this together, honchoing it, and pushing it so effectively. Krok za krokom! We hope to make another contribution soon!
Professor Snyder, thank you for posting the various modes of donation for Ukraine.
Professor Snyder, Thank you for the update and thank you for spearheading this effort and providing us a chance to contribute in a small way to Ukraine’s defense!