A few days ago Ukrainian President Zelensky gave an address before the United States Congress and I think it's worth taking the opportunity to talk about Ukraine again because we so often don't except for the far-right politicians who advocate kowtowing to Russia.

The war going on in Ukraine right now is far larger than just a spat between Ukraine and Russia, it's a war that could determine the future of freedom and democracy in the world. This is not an exaggeration, Russia and other totalitarian/authoritarian countries are not just dictatorships within their own borders, they are fundamentally incapable of tolerating freedom and democracy anywhere in the world.

When people are free, it is obvious that their lives are better. People are simply happier and more prosperous under liberal democratic governments that respect individual liberties. With the rise of the internet and the growing interconnectedness of the world it is no longer possible for dictators to prevent their people from coming into contact with people from other places and the simple act of that contact, especially when sustained over time, will show their people the fundamental nature of the lies their own propaganda seeks to sow.

For this reason, authoritarian countries, Russia and China being the largest and most powerful among them, will always seek to undermine and destroy freedom and democracy around the globe.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a test, a test of whether the free world will allow a brutal dictatorship to crush a nascent liberal democracy by force. If Russia is allowed to succeed in crushing Ukraine it will increase the threat on other small democracies that border large autocracies such as Taiwan, South Korea, and Poland among others.

This is not a war the United States can fight directly, unfortunately the risk of escalation to nuclear war is too great, but it is not a war we should walk away from either. Ukrainians are fighting not just for their own land and freedom but for the freedom of all of us and we should provide them whatever tools and weapons they need for as long as they need them.

Already the Ukrainians have scored a dramatic victory, holding their own and revealing the Russian military to be a paper tiger, but there is still far more to do. Until Russia is forced to abandon its brutal attempt to weaken freedom and democracy in the world both by crushing it in a neighboring state and by attempting to divide and undermine those countries that practice it then our own liberties will remain insecure.

In all of this we can be thankful both that President Zelensky has turned out to be such an inspiring leader and that Ukrainians of all situations have shown such admirable courage and resilience in the face of a relentless assault. It is mostly through their efforts that we are in a position where victory is possible at all.

Given all of this, I would argue that the United States and other liberal democracies should commit to providing as much aid and equipment as is possible to Ukraine. This war is being waged as much against us as against them, as Putin's repeated declarations have made crystal clear, and we should count ourselves lucky that we are asked only to sacrifice a few of our tax dollars and not the lives of our friends, children, and fellow citizens.

This war will likely continue for some time, though the Ukrainians have proven extremely effective at fighting the Russian war machine it is clear that the Russian leadership believes that we in the US and the West in general do not have the resolve to continue a conflict if we are even the slightest bit inconvenienced by it. Even worse, there are those within our society and even in our government that are committed to proving him right.

Do not let them win. It is time for us to show that the same country that endured years of hardship and loss in order to win the second world war still has at least enough resolve to continue to spend some of its abundant resources in another war to defend our values. If we don't, it is certain that Ukraine will not be the last war we fight for those values and the next one will cost us far more dearly.

What Zelensky's and his wife's photoshoot for a famous magazine has proved, is what me and a lot of other people have been saying all along: That the media keep on potraying him as a hero, but, at the end of the day, he will be fine. Unlike the people who are actually fighting in this war but you rarely hear about.

Have you done, or can do, a portrait of Ukraine's presidential couple Vlodimir and Olena Zelensky? Id really love it as I am a big fan of your art,

Hi!

The challenge with that is that Midjourney rarely gets actual people right... usually they will look somewhat "similar", but also strange, and sometimes it's just not right at all. I did give it a go, but sadly, as a couple they were completely wrong (Midjourney struggles when you have two characters instead of just one, I suppose it is twice as complex). Just asking for President Zelensky alone was slightly better, but I think if you look at this you can see what I mean about the weirdness and "not quite right" depiction.

I think Midjourney has increasing moved towards avoiding images of real people to help cut back on "deep fakes", and I'm guessing that political figures would be especially targeted. I was surprised that it took the names at all rather than banning the prompt entirely (which I was expecting). Anyways, this is what Midjourney thinks President Zelensky looks like. Best wishes, Robert

PM मोदी ने यूक्रेनी राष्ट्रपति जेलेंस्की से की बात, कहा- यूक्रेन संकट का सैन्य समाधान नहीं हो सकता

PM मोदी ने यूक्रेनी राष्ट्रपति जेलेंस्की से की बात, कहा- यूक्रेन संकट का सैन्य समाधान नहीं हो सकता

छवि स्रोत: फ़ाइल फोटो मोदी-जेलेंस्की वार्ता हाइलाइट मोदी ने मतदान किया बातचीत करने के लिए सेट करें हल से निपटने के लिए- कोटनीतिति हे मोदी-जेलेंस्की वार्ता: प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने प्रेस वार्ता के लिए प्रेसीडेंट वोलोदिमीर ज़ेलेंस्की (Vlodimir Zelensky) हो पर वार्ता की स्थिति में “स्वयं” की स्थिति का समाधान करें। . पीएम मोदी ने एक बार फिर से कार्यक्रम जारी किया और ऐसा करने की कोशिश की गई और…

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Snage Vladimira Putina su "potpuno uništile" grad Volnovakhu na istoku Ukrajine nakon višednevne kampanje bombardovanja - ali se nastavljaju borbe za teritoriju kako bi se spriječilo rusko opkoljenje jer građani odbijaju da prihvate vlast Moskve.   Guverner Donjecka Pavlo Kirilenko potvrdio je da je grad uništen kasno u nedjelju, rekavši da Volnovakha "više ne postoji" nakon moskovskog "rata uništenja" koji je ostavio tinjajuće ostatke grada "u rukama separatista koje podržava Rusija". Slike i video snimci objavljeni na društvenim mrežama prikazuju ruske snage, zajedno sa oznakama Z na svojim vozilima, kako ulaze u spaljeni grad koji se sada uglavnom sastoji od ruševina. Moskovske trupe nastavljaju da koriste neselektivno granatiranje kako bi opkolile ključne ukrajinske gradove i kako se navodi da će u narednim danima  jurišati na Kijev zbog 'potpunog napada'. Satelitski snimci snimljeni u subotu ujutro pokazali su veliku štetu na civilnoj infrastrukturi i stambenim zgradama u gradu Mariupolju na jugu Ukrajine, saopštila je privatna američka kompanija. Maxar Technologies navodi da su požari viđeni u zapadnom dijelu crnomorskog lučkog grada i da je na desetine visokih stambenih zgrada teško oštećeno. To dolazi nakon što je ukrajinski predsjednik Vlodymyr Zelensky optužio Rusiju za pucanje u djecu i rekao da će Putinove snage zauzeti Kijev samo ako 'sruše grad sa zemljom', dok se trupe Kremlja približavaju glavnom gradu, a sukob bjesni u blizini u subotu, ugrožavajući pokušaje evakuacije.   A Vlodimir Zelenski je kritikovao Zapad zbog njegove neaktivnosti, rekavši u subotu da "ne vidi nikakvu hrabrost od NATO-a" dok je zagovarao veće učešće saveznika u mirovnim pregovorima i nudio da plati za više antiraketnih sistema. Kao odgovor, SAD su dale mlaka obećanja da će preduzeti 'diplomatske korake' da pomognu ukrajinskoj vladi. Zelenski, koji je tvrdio da je do sada ubijeno 1.300 ukrajinskih vojnika i da se juče predalo 500 Rusa, dodao je: „Ako odluče da prekriju bombu (Kijev) i jednostavno izbrišu istoriju ovog regiona, istoriju Kijevske Rusije, istoriju Evropo, i uništite sve nas, onda će oni ući u Kijev. Ako im je to cilj, neka uđu, ali morat će sami živjeti na ovoj zemlji.' Ali čini se da postoje znakovi blagog napretka u pregovorima, a Zelenski je rekao da su zaraćene zemlje počele razgovarati o 'konkretnim' prijedlozima, a ne samo o 'razmjeni ultimatuma', iako je rekao da svi pregovori moraju početi prekidom vatre.