NO SILLY SEASON FOR NEWS WHEN WAR RAGES ON
Posted on 12th August 2023
August can be a wicked month, partly attributable to the fact that in the slow news cycle sensational stories can emerge from nowhere, for example the massive data breach in the North. For me, Horse Show week brings memories of my childhood flooding back. My mother was a Master of Foxhounds and attendance at the show was obligatory, watching the Aga Khan Trophy treated with reverence, the sighting of the President’s car behind the stand a special treat. When I headed into my teenage years and beyond my horizons widened and in those days Hunt Balls were very much part of the social scene. The Louth Hunt Ball was usually the wildest and most fun, although I can still recall giving the Meath Hunt Ball a bit of a lash. I can still to this day remember the severe differences of opinion I had with my mother over whom I should dance with. Those, as they say, were very different days and ultimately I was going to be dancing to another tune.
So in the dog days of August, where are we with the great issue of our time, the war in Ukraine? I think it was overly optimistic to expect a sudden breakthrough by the Ukrainians. The Russians have had months to dig in and they have a formidable defensive infrastructure. It is going to be difficult to dislodge them even with the aid of the dreadful cluster bombs that the Americans have now introduced into the equation. The problem with this state of affairs is the anxieties and nervousness that may be growing amongst the Allies, particularly in the United States, the closer they get to the next Presidential Election in 2024. Still, there have been some interesting developments. Last week Ukrainian sea drones attacked a major Russian naval base incapacitating an amphibious landing ship. This raid was carried out hundreds of miles from Ukrainian territory. They also hit a Russian oil tanker called the SIG. It now shows Novorossiysk, the base for the Russian Black Sea fleet, is vulnerable to attack. Andriy Yusof called the attack, “…a serious slap in the face for the Kremlin.” Sergey Mardan, a Russian journalist and television personality said it, “…is simply a quantitative leap in the geography of the conflict. It is much larger than even drones attacking the offices of Russian government ministries.” In his address last Sunday, President Zelensky said: “Ukraine is getting stronger, and the war is gradually returning to Russia’s territory, to its symbolic centres and military bases. This is inevitable, natural and absolutely fair.” Encouraging words indeed and Ukraine as ever is spurred on by the courage of its people, the latest act of bravery being an elite group of Ukrainians crossing the 800-metre-wide Dnipro river in small boats and in the darkness then capturing or killing a group of up to 50 Russian soldiers including a Major Tomax. Dramatic stuff but not yet sufficient to bring the war any nearer a conclusion. Let us hope the Allies, and in particular the Americans, keep their nerve.
