Everyone dreads the thought of some low-life hacker getting hold of the sort of personal information that would allow them to assume our identities, steal our money, destroy our credit ratings, and generally create total havoc that might take months or years to straighten out.

But what if someone were to rob an entire nation of its identity by wiping out its history, its culture, and even its language?

Unthinkable? Really?

Well, think again. Because that is precisely what Vladimir Putin is doing to Ukraine, piece by piece, as his forces occupy one region after another and take control of the local governments, the media, and the schools.

In Crimea, it’s been happening since 2014. And now, in the four additional regions claimed by Russia — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhziya — a new directive has been issued by the Russian Education Ministry under which the study of the Ukrainian language is to be removed from the curriculum of all elementary and secondary schools, to be replaced by the study of Russian when the new school year begins on September 1st.

According to the directive, the revision is necessitated by “changes in the geopolitical situation in the world.” [Natalya Nedyelko and Donbas.Realities, RFE/RL, July 7, 2025.]

Right. That would be in Putin’s world.

But it is clear to Ukrainian officials, and to the rest of the free world as well, that it is all part of Putin’s ultimate goal of gaining complete control of Ukraine, which he continues to insist rightfully belongs to Russia.

And if you intend to brainwash an entire nation of people, what better place to start than with the most innocent and vulnerable of its citizens: the children? Hundreds have already been kidnapped and sent to “foster” homes in Russia, or to “re-education camps” within Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. But that is a small percentage of the country’s youths; changing the curriculum in the schools will take care of the rest.

How successful his program will be depends largely upon how long the war lasts, and how it finally ends. And right now, Putin is in it for the long haul, hoping that his country’s massive manpower and firepower will win it for him.

As Josef Stalin is quoted as having said:

“Quantity has a quality all its own.”

Was he right? Well, just think about Nazi Germany . . . Poland . . . Czechoslovakia . . . Hungary . . .

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/11/25