Hiding in the Basement Wearing Flip Flops and Shorts

On Wednesday The Saker posted a partial translation of an interview with Nikolai Starikov. Starikov is a Russian author and political activist. The segment of the interview that caught my attention is the part where Starikov discusses the relatively small numbers of Donbass citizens who have joined the armed struggle against the Kiev junta:

It’s easy for us here in Russia to discuss these topics, but over there [Novorossia] there are shootings, bombings and killings taking place. The situation is such that the civil war has begun and there are two ways to end it. Either the country of Nazis/fascists side of the illegitimate Kiev junta wins or those who do not want to live under fascist rule win. There is no other way to end this civil war. Because Americans would never agree to negotiations, which would result in separation of a part of Ukraine and they will continue the military operation. Therefore, for the people who live there in the Ukraine there is a choice. A person always has a choice –but a very limited choice. You either continue living your average civilian life, and that’s understandable, we understand why people make that choice, they just want to continue living, no person really wants to go to war, a normal person would never want to kill others. The Right Sector would inevitably start shooting at someone, they go into Mariupol, and they go to Odessa and kill. A normal person does not want to kill anyone, but there won’t be any life in the future if you remain on the sidelines of the conflict, allowing Americans to continue doing what they want. This is the point where you have to choose, dear citizens of Ukraine. Unfortunately the reason why we are separated by state borders, is because of the traitor Gorbachov. Today it is a reality. But I am convinced that sooner or later we will be together as part of a supranational entity. Russia can only provide limited aid today. We cannot do this for Ukraine, that is the paradox. When the reader asked this question, he never even considered to take up arms and defend his native Donetsk. He goes to work, he wants to feed his family, the maximum he would do is leave Donetsk, maybe move to somewhere in Russia. But if everyone leaves Donetsk, who is going to defend it? Volunteers from Russia? The Russian Army? That cannot be. The Russian Army cannot be a part of this conflict, Russia should not be dragged into this. This is exactly what the West wants. Things were done quite elegantly in Crimea. The Russian Army was already stationed there, but did not really take part in the conflict. Everything was done by the Self-Defense Forces. This was done beautifully and it is very difficult to dispute that. In Donetsk today, there are Self-Defense Forces, but they cannot deal with the tasks at hand in their current numbers of men.   They have weapons in Ukraine, with supplies of Artyomovsky warehouse you can arm all Ukraine twice. Not enough people who understand that they have no other choice, but to take up weapons to protect their families and freedom. Look at Slavyansk, so frequently women and children are shown to be leaving, but so often you can see young man leaving. They stand by their ladies in shorts and flip flops telling how they hide in basement. They will continue hiding until victory of state of Ukraine. If they want to see end of shelling they have to go and help militias. There is no other option. 

I think Starikov is right. You have to be willing to fight. Something we have lost sight of here in the belly of the beast. We had the chance at the end of autumn 2011 when most of the Occupy encampments were rolled up by means of police force. The response was largely nonexistent. We decided instead to hide in the basement in shorts and flip flops and consume the televised theatrics of a presidential campaign. And that's the way it usually goes in the United States.

But apparently not so in Iraq. There, reporting from Baghdad, old Afghan hands Alissa Rubin and Rod Nordland, say that "Seeing Their Gains at Risk, Shiites Flock to Join Militias":

Ali, another Shiite militia leader, described the militias more as a recruiting mechanism, and said the members would work full time for the army. “Now we have more than 14,000 volunteers in Muthanna Airport,” he said. “They came from all the provinces, but most of them from Baghdad. What we want is building a companion army from the volunteers, and this army will be supervised, equipped and run by the government. It’s similar to a public army. 

“All Shiite factions have pushed their disagreements away and decided to join this army to protect Baghdad,” he said, adding a note of urgency: “The militants are just outside Baghdad, and even the main road between Baghdad and Diyala is partially under their control.”

The Shia have their holy places, What do we have here in the U.S.? We, as in Cairo and in Odessa, have our football teams. That's about it. We also have our comicbook heroes. But both the stars of gridiron and the comic shop have largely been politically neutered. In the case of comics though there is plenty of subversiveness just below the surface. And occasionally in football reality peeks out, as in the Richard Sherman NFC Championship Game brouhaha.

All in all we are a quiescent mass, attired in flip flops and boxer shorts, preferring the comfort of the basement hideout to the struggle that real as opposed to merely formal democracy demands.