Monthly Archives: July 2022

Kyiv July 29th You have to love the drone, even more than your girlfriend, more than yourself. It will save lives—your own, the people in your unit, and much further than that. They are changing the course of the war. … Continue reading →

Kyiv July 22nd Volodymyr Zeleneksy’s unconventional path from comic actor to the presidency in Ukraine is well known, but much of the rest of his government is also fresh and new. I am at my first press conference in Kyiv … Continue reading →

Kyiv July 21st The first step when adjusting to a foreign country or posting is to stop thinking of yourself of being “over there”, you just are there. Kyiv’s Soviet history, Cyrillic alphabet and war time vibe don’t make that … Continue reading →

Kyiv, July 19th 2022 When Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev contributed an essay to the prominent American journal Foreign Affairs in 1959 calling for “peaceful coexistence” between the super powers in order to reduce Cold War tensions, there was someone quick … Continue reading →

Douglas Mason

July 15th Kyiv The wail of air raid sirens is associated with grainy, black and white movies from WWII, something from my parent’s generation. I am on a rooftop in Kyiv when this haunting, unmistakeable, sound begins rolling across the … Continue reading →

Kyiv July 15th I saw President  Volodymyr Zelensky on the street in Kyiv today, ambling along, small in stature, unshaven, wearing his trademark military fatigues and olive green t-shirt, surrounded by a group of men in uniform. Except it was … Continue reading →

Przemyśl—Sheh-mo-schull; the un-phonetic pronunciation of this Polish border town could easily be a metaphor for the Slavic experience that at this moment could not feel more alien. The Poland-Ukraine border is where the east of eastern Europe really begins. Przemyśl‘s … Continue reading →

The airline flight you are  on tells you something about the destination you are heading to and this one, from Warsaw to Rzeszów, in the south-east of Poland near to the Ukraine border, says something. More than just the Poles … Continue reading →

Johannesburg July 11th 2022 Nine point seven kilograms, that is the amount of luggage checked in at Johannesburg airport at the start of a journey that will probably lead in directions not anticipated. It is the unchecked, even unacknowledged, baggage … Continue reading →