June 9, 2026
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Tepid Ukraine Response Shames San Francisco
by Doniphan Blair
Ukrainian with a quad-7.62mm Maxim to protect the people of Kyiv—who are fantastic and whom I hung with for an incredible week in October 2025—from swarms of Russian drones. photo: J. Richardson PLEASE support our GoFundMe campaign to cover research expenses for our articles and rebuilding the cineSOURCE site.
SAN FRANCISCO HAS LONG BEEN A
liberal stronghold, from the Gold Rush Era’s tolerance of eccentrics, prostitutes and Jews to the welcoming of beatniks, hippies and gays, during each succeeding decade following World War Two.
Heading any progressive achievement list, however, should be the Bay Areans who fought fascism in Spain from 1936 to ’39 in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, originally organized by the Communist International. Many came from places like New York City and Cleveland, the latter including my father, but the majority were Californians. Mostly students, union organizers and medical professionals, they had the foresight to see fascism’s threat and the gumption to actually do something meaningful.
Article in Cleveland Plain Dealer about the involvement of Vachel Blair (the author's father, age 22) in the Spanish Civil War, see his story. photo: Wide World The most notable was Robert Hale Merriman, a child of the Santa Cruz mountains, who became a labor activist and Marxist while getting a graduate degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He led the Lincoln Brigade through its trial by fire in the critical battles of Jarama and then Brunete Drive, in June 1937, which was where my father first endured the Ur-masculine but highly humbling experience of combat (see his story). Used as shock troops, the Brigade took heavy casualties, and my father lost four friends the first day of the Brunete Drive. Almost a quarter of the 2,800 volunteers were eventually killed (US losses in WWII were one-tenth that), which is why they were dismissed before the end of the war with a full-honors parade through Barcelona. Merriman, thought to be the model for the hero of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway, who was also in Spain but as a journalist, died in the Battle of Gandesa in 1938. He was 29.
Many of the other Bay Area Brigaders were almost as impressive. There was Milton Wolff, a Berkeley Jew and the Brigade’s last commander; Delmer Berg, an Oakland-based farm worker and activist, also Jewish (he died at 102 in 2016); Hilda Roberts, a nurse from Berkeley, also Jewish; and Archie Brown, a labor leader who became the Brigade’s commissar (political officer) and happened to be—you guessed it, a Hebe.
The Lincoln Brigade's Tom Mooney Company (named after a San Franciscan activist jailed on trumped-up charges he bombed a parade in 1916, which killed ten) at the Battle of Jarama, 1937. photo: Public RecordsSan Francisco does have a fairly substantial memorial for the Lincoln Brigade, facing the Embarcadero at the end of Clay Street, installed by then Mayor now Governor Gavin Newsom in 2008. But the square structure covered with photos and text was never elegant and is not aging well.
Nor is the Bay Area’s antifascist traditions. While the protests continue and “End Colonialism and Fascism” are popular statements, on placards or elsewhere, many Bay Area leftists, from Global Exchange co-founder Medea Benjamin to some of my friends, did not denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite obvious parallels with Spain. They did come out en masse, however, for the 100s of anti-Zionist protests, which made that the biggest protest movement in history. But their signs or statements almost never rejected the Islamo-fascism of Hamas or Hezbollah (I saw one “Fuck Hamas” sign at a protest in Nevada City).
In fact, after Russia invaded the second time in 2022, there were only a couple of small demos against that obviously illegitimate, colonialist and actually genocidal attack, which I learned about firsthand visiting Bucha, just north of Kyiv, in September 2022 (see my article). In February 2023, I attended an anti-Russia protest on the first anniversary of the invasion, held across the street from the Lincoln Brigade Memorial. As the Brigaders watched in spirit, only about 400 people showed up, and many were Iranian-Americans protesting fascism in their home country (Iran’s murder of Mahsa Amini triggered the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in September 2022).
Tucked away on a deluxe row of house boats in the paradisiacal California town of Sausalito, a strong supporter of democracy hung a Ukrainian flag. photo: D. BlairNevertheless, many Bay Areans would like to help Ukraine, and they assume, given our traditions, we are big supporters. Holly Kernan, previously the news director at the San Francisco’s public radio station, KQED (she recently moved to Nashville’s NPR), told me in 2023 that there were many Ukrainian flags around the Bay Area, a comment I also heard from other progressive friends. Alas, such is the power of wishful thinking. I have been searching for four years and found only two—mine, in my window overlooking West Oakland, and one on a fence in front of a house boat in Sausalito.
Nevertheless, “We don’t run from change, we drive it,” claimed Governor Newsom in his latest and last State of the State Address (1/6/2026, he term-limits-out this year). “We are proving that inclusive democracy works.” While Mayor Zoran Mamdani of New York is famous for his anti-Zionism, Newsom didn’t mention anything overseas related except for his attendance of COP 30, the November 2025 climate conference in Brazil.
“The US was nowhere to be found,” he said, while “China sent close to 800 delegates… China manufactures 70% of the world’s electric vehicles… This is not about green power; it’s about economic power. They are dominating this space. They’re locking in markets... They’re cleaning our clock.”
California’s democratic values put us in opposition to authoritarian China, which is brutally oppressing its Muslim citizens as well as supporting Russia’s four-year fascist rampage. Given Trump's abdication of America as a democratic world leader, flawed as it may have been, California is well positioned to put our money where our mouth is. In fact, we would be wise to support the frontline states fighting fascism and for democracy, notably Ukraine, and not just for ethical reasons. If they win, they will also be worth partnering with in drone technology, rare minerals and more.
Ukrainians of all stripes are defending democracy but foreigners are also fighting in Ukraine. One new opportunity to do so is the International Air Defenders of Kyiv, which was started in 2025 by a Brit, John Richardson. On May 14th, Kyiv experienced the biggest Russian bombing of the war, despite Putin’s supposed cease fire and Zelensky “graciously” giving him permission to hold a scaled-down Victory Day Parade in Moscow on May 9th. That was in honor of the Russian's victory in World War Two when they were fighting fascism not perpetrating it. The International Air Defenders and Kyiv’s many other air units shot down an amazing 94% of the drones on the 14th, but 60 of the 1500 got through, toppling a nine-story building. As of this writing, they’re still digging out the rubble for survivors (ultimate death toll: 24, including 3 children).
All you need to join the International Air Defenders is to have a temporary resident permit for over five years or, if less time, also be a veteran of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After a two-week intensive training course for those without military experience—because each gun has thermal imaging sights, tracking and aiming computers or individual gun radars—you will be required to serve no more than two 24-hour shifts per month, although many volunteers do more.
The service is unpaid, meaning they are not mercenaries and don't have the restrictions on travel or resignation that apply to Ukraine's domestic defenders. It is simply an opportunity to help defend the skies above the capital city of a critical democratic state, protecting friends, family and neighbors as well as 3.5 million others. To join, message John Richardson on the Signal App: +380639598839.
Simon Woodiwiss has a cup of tea on duty with the International Air Defenders, prepared to protect Kyiv from the massive Russian drone swarms. photo: S. WoodiwissI heard about the IAD from Simon Woodiwiss, a friendly but determined former British soldier, who moved to Ukraine weeks after the full-scale invasion of ‘22 to start a small company, Objective Ukraine. It helps foreign businesses get set up in Kyiv. Simon served his first watch around April 1st and on May 10th an Iranian-designed drone blew up 30 yards from his position, although he wasn't on duty at the time.
“Please remind voters and their governments in the home nations that a lot—A LOT—more support is needed to counter the increasing air attacks here in Ukraine,” Simon told me (see more of Simon here).
In a similar vein, I have proposed that my hometown of Oakland, California, establish, as a healthy outlet for some of our delinquent young men, the Malcolm Vance Brigade. Modeled on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, it would assist Californians and others get to and serve in the Ukrainian Army. Malcolm Vance is an African-American intelligence officer and Arab speaker, who volunteered in Ukraine shortly after the ’22 invasion for a year.
The IAD also welcomes women, as does the Ukrainian Army. Although there is no female draft, “The posters in various cities of Ukraine are a recruiting and information campaign for this component of the defense forces,” noted Andriy Podik, the army’s communications director, on the Telegram channel Trukha Ukraine, adding “Joining the army is a voluntary desire of women.” Indeed, billboards featuring “Defense of Ukraine is a Women's Cause” have already appeared, probably to prep the public for expanded mobilization.
There is already a mostly female mobile air defense unit called the Witches of Bucha, in honor of the Kyiv suburb that experience the genocidal Russian occupation in the first weeks of the war (in a few months 400 civilians were killed, about 1.5% of the population). The Witches of Bucha include teachers, accountants and doctors who spend their nights hunting fascist drones.
It's easy to be a democrat, progressive or radical in California, which has never experienced war, save a few skirmishes 200 years ago, and is incredibly rich. “The world’s fourth-largest economy, $4-plus trillion,” according to Governor Newsom. Defending democracy is algebraically harder on the front lines, where Ukrainians have lived for the last century: World War One, the Russian Civil War, the Red Terror, the Holodomor, the Great Terror, World War Two, the Holocaust, and now this barbarism, which have, in total, killed well over 20 million Ukrainians.
Despite Trump’s slight increases in support for Ukraine, like sanctioning some Russian oil companies and finally selling the full American kit to the Europeans, who donate it to Ukraine (Biden gave it, but not top of the line), Trump is a Putin fan boy, who worships his wealth and conspiracy theories and opposes democracy and Ukrainians. Trump’s first campaign manager was Paul Manfordt, who did a decade working for the corrupt, pro-Russian Ukrainian President Yanakovich. Trump tried to blackmail Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden's son but failed (leading to his first impeachment), while his supposed peace negotiations are led by a naive non-diplomat who often doesn’t have his own translator and repeats Kremlin talking points.
Trump is so determined to get Ukraine to surrender the heavily fortified Donbas region—an absurd proposal on the face of it, since Russian agreements aren’t worth the paper they are printed on and the Donbas would become the launching pad for their next invasion—he’s spouting some of the most insane of his many conspiracy theories: Ukraine started the war.
Governor Newsom at his (imagined) announcement he's making Ukraine a sister state of California. photo-illo: D. Blair Given this, Governor Newsom could win an incredible two-fer by attacking Trump's position on Ukraine while announcing that he was adopting it as a sister state, a partner in democracy, which would make good on his State of the State claims. This wouldn’t even cost that much, politically, since he’s at the limit of his two four-year terms. Not to mention, Newsom talks the talk of a super pro-Ukrainian.
“The people of California will not stand idly by while an autocratic thug attacks the innocent people of Ukraine,” he said on March 4, 2022. “We'll do everything in our power to usher in debilitating economic consequences on Russia for this horrific war," a threat he did make good on by issuing Executive Order N-6-22. It ordered California state agencies to stop doing business with Russian institutions, divest pension funds and restrict Russian access to state capital.
Indeed, Governor Newsom frequently condemned the invasion, criticized appeasement and advocated for a strong military response. Alas, he made no mention of Ukraine in his State of the State, probably fearing that the many Democrats who are closeted Russophiles, left over from their adolescent romance with socialism and revived by Wokism, would object, even if only subconsciously, while they consciously virtue signal support for Ukraine.
Alas, we’ll have to confront this problem sooner or later, to save the Democratic Party as well as democracy in general not to mention pursue profitable but good-for-democracy business, which is infinitely better with Ukraine than with China. If Ukrainians are able to defeat the Russians, they will be the leaders in drone technology and the standing army of Europe as well as great democrats, baptized by fire. Although Californians simply should be honored, Ukraine would also the perfect partner on military equipment, AI—they have many talented programmers (I attended the wedding of one while in Ukraine, lovely and romantic)—and advanced manufacturing and agriculture, both of which they are famous for. Ukraine—if it wins—will not only support other democracies or anti-fascists, as they did by racing their drone technology to the liberalizing Gulf Arab states under attack by Islamo-fascist Iran, but could teach others about creating functional on-line government, socialist-capitalist hybrids and anti-corruption courts and initiatives.
In fact, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky created the “Grain from Ukraine” program in 2022, in the first year of the war, which has provided 1000s of tons of free flour and grain to countries such as Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen and Kenya and the territory of Gaza. On April 14th, it opened a wheat processing plant in Ghana, West Africa, and this is just one of about 20 positive or outright amazing reports from Ukraine in the last two months.
Despite no heat and ballistic missiles, the kids of Kyiv keep playing music and goofing around, as this musician proved one night in front of the bar where he just gigged, late October 2025. photo: D. Blair After a punishing winter, which many Ukrainians endured without heat, abandoned by Trump, and under intense bombardment—which I experienced during my week in Kyiv last October, and can tell you, “Ballistic missiles are no joke, they hit you in the gut even at ten miles away”—Ukraine has been rocking win after win.
“So far this year, 2026, this is the lowest Russia has been refining oil,” Jake Broe, the respected YouTuber on the subject of the Russo-Ukraine war, said on May 3rd. “Ukraine’s strategy is working. Ukraine’s long-range strikes cost Russia seven billion according to President Zelensky.” Although Putin had dozens of additional anti-aircraft units installed around his palaces, there is no way he can defend the immensity of Russia as Ukraine perfects the fine art of modern drone warfare. Indeed, it is attacking at will refineries, drone factories and other vital installations, some over a 1000 miles into Russia, often using specially-designed graphite bombs to start massive fires and other cutting-edge tech.
“What’s happening on the battlefield has turned into utter bleakness," admitted the Russian military blogger Rybar, while even the head of Russia’s Communist Party said, “Revolution is coming.”
Some kids from Lviv, including a 21-year-old soldier (2nd fr left), the author met in 2022. photo-illo: D. Blair Plus dozens of other triumphs. Perhaps most importantly, the pro-Putin prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, who based his political campaign on the conspiratorial claim that Zelensky was completely corrupt and evil, was defeated in a landslide on April 12th. This simple flipping of Hungary, from illiberals leaning toward fascism back to democracy, freed up the European Union to provide Ukraine the 100 billion dollar grant Orban was blocking. Two weeks later, Moldova declared Russian troops persona non grata, ending the viability of its pro-Russian breakaway region, Transnistria, which borders Ukraine near the critical port of Odesa.
By then, the brilliant new program by the new Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, which started with the new year but only just got rocking, “gamified” the war with a “points for kills” procurement system. This has inspired video-game-loving young men to increase their shifts, competing with each other, sometimes up to 16 hours a day, with 95% of the drone units participating. It has already delivered 181,000 items, from drones, guns and trucks to perks. Indeed, Ukraine is now shooting down virtually all of Russia’s long-range drones with their assassin drones, which cost a tenth of the Russian attackers, rendering the war economically unfeasible.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk cut Russia off from Starlink on February 1st, because it was using 1000s of illegally imported or captured “grey-market” terminals to help their drones bypass Ukraine’s expert GPS jamming. Putin, for his part, terminated Russia’s own main social media platform, Telegraph, due to fears of a coup, and shut off the internet entirely in Moscow for 19 days in April, making that online city unlivable, given public toilets as well as everything else is paid online.
Putin can’t recruit enough to replace the 1000 Russians killed daily, as Ukrainian drone dominance pushes the “kill zone” 20-30 miles from the front. In March, 35,361 Russians were killed, making the Russian “meat wave” strategy unworkable, even as they use motorcycles and donkeys or costumes and cloaking to attempt to evade detection and sneak to the front. Ukraine started taking territory for the first time since the fall of 2022. Although only some 200 square miles thus far, that included capturing some Russian soldiers with land drones, equipped with wheels and machine guns.
The author at the small February 2023 protest against the Russian invasion, held on San Francisco's Embarcadero, across from the Lincoln Brigade Memorial. photo illo: D. Blair England continues to do its part, sending 120,000 drones in 2026, although that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the seven million drones Ukraine plans to produce this year. Sweden signed a security agreement with Ukraine on April 14th which included its excellent missiles and setting up a co-production factory. Indeed, the “peaceful” Scandinavians are Ukraine’s biggest supporters in Europe with tiny Denmark providing the most per capita.
Californians are currently dealing with various threats to democracy at home, from ICE in our streets to the Trump administration’s violation of norms and laws and cancellation of funding, not to mention problems with homelessness, addiction, crime and housing. California sued the first Trump administration 123 times, winning almost two-thirds of the cases, and recently opened 54 new suits.
“Hardship does not merely wound us,” opined Governor Newsom, in his State of the State, “It reveals us. The story of California has never been the story of ease. It has been the story of effort, strengthened by trial and enlarged by the people who refuse to give up on one another.” Indeed, he concluded his speech with, “California has never been about perfection. It’s about persistence. The courage of our convictions and the strength to embody them. That’s the California Way. And it lights the path for the rest of the world.”
A small Ukrainian flag on San Francisco's Lincoln Brigade Memorial suggests what Brigaders would do. photo illo: D. Blair So true. I only wish Gavin Newsom, a talented politician and probable presidential candidate in 2028, had included the words “like our partners in Ukraine” a few times. If Ukraine goes down, it will be a dark decade or three for democracy, no matter how much California “lights the path.”
Conversely, if Californians were to awake to the Kremlin’s massive fascist threat, as the Lincoln Brigaders did to Franco’s in 1936, if California became a sea of Ukrainian flags—to enact this dream, I would be happy to send you a small 6”x4” one free or a large 5’x3’ flag at my cost ($25)—we could unhypocritically say we are standing strong for democracy, as the Brigaders did 90 years ago.
Posted on May 15, 2026 - 06:57 PM
by Doniphan Blair
Ukrainian with a quad-7.62mm Maxim to protect the people of Kyiv—who are fantastic and whom I hung with for an incredible week in October 2025—from swarms of Russian drones. photo: J. Richardson SAN FRANCISCO HAS LONG BEEN A
liberal stronghold, from the Gold Rush Era’s tolerance of eccentrics, prostitutes and Jews to the welcoming of beatniks, hippies and gays, during each succeeding decade following World War Two.
Heading any progressive achievement list, however, should be the Bay Areans who fought fascism in Spain from 1936 to ’39 in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, originally organized by the Communist International. Many came from places like New York City and Cleveland, the latter including my father, but the majority were Californians. Mostly students, union organizers and medical professionals, they had the foresight to see fascism’s threat and the gumption to actually do something meaningful.
Article in Cleveland Plain Dealer about the involvement of Vachel Blair (the author's father, age 22) in the Spanish Civil War, see his story. photo: Wide World Many of the other Bay Area Brigaders were almost as impressive. There was Milton Wolff, a Berkeley Jew and the Brigade’s last commander; Delmer Berg, an Oakland-based farm worker and activist, also Jewish (he died at 102 in 2016); Hilda Roberts, a nurse from Berkeley, also Jewish; and Archie Brown, a labor leader who became the Brigade’s commissar (political officer) and happened to be—you guessed it, a Hebe.
The Lincoln Brigade's Tom Mooney Company (named after a San Franciscan activist jailed on trumped-up charges he bombed a parade in 1916, which killed ten) at the Battle of Jarama, 1937. photo: Public RecordsNor is the Bay Area’s antifascist traditions. While the protests continue and “End Colonialism and Fascism” are popular statements, on placards or elsewhere, many Bay Area leftists, from Global Exchange co-founder Medea Benjamin to some of my friends, did not denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite obvious parallels with Spain. They did come out en masse, however, for the 100s of anti-Zionist protests, which made that the biggest protest movement in history. But their signs or statements almost never rejected the Islamo-fascism of Hamas or Hezbollah (I saw one “Fuck Hamas” sign at a protest in Nevada City).
In fact, after Russia invaded the second time in 2022, there were only a couple of small demos against that obviously illegitimate, colonialist and actually genocidal attack, which I learned about firsthand visiting Bucha, just north of Kyiv, in September 2022 (see my article). In February 2023, I attended an anti-Russia protest on the first anniversary of the invasion, held across the street from the Lincoln Brigade Memorial. As the Brigaders watched in spirit, only about 400 people showed up, and many were Iranian-Americans protesting fascism in their home country (Iran’s murder of Mahsa Amini triggered the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in September 2022).
Tucked away on a deluxe row of house boats in the paradisiacal California town of Sausalito, a strong supporter of democracy hung a Ukrainian flag. photo: D. BlairNevertheless, “We don’t run from change, we drive it,” claimed Governor Newsom in his latest and last State of the State Address (1/6/2026, he term-limits-out this year). “We are proving that inclusive democracy works.” While Mayor Zoran Mamdani of New York is famous for his anti-Zionism, Newsom didn’t mention anything overseas related except for his attendance of COP 30, the November 2025 climate conference in Brazil.
“The US was nowhere to be found,” he said, while “China sent close to 800 delegates… China manufactures 70% of the world’s electric vehicles… This is not about green power; it’s about economic power. They are dominating this space. They’re locking in markets... They’re cleaning our clock.”
California’s democratic values put us in opposition to authoritarian China, which is brutally oppressing its Muslim citizens as well as supporting Russia’s four-year fascist rampage. Given Trump's abdication of America as a democratic world leader, flawed as it may have been, California is well positioned to put our money where our mouth is. In fact, we would be wise to support the frontline states fighting fascism and for democracy, notably Ukraine, and not just for ethical reasons. If they win, they will also be worth partnering with in drone technology, rare minerals and more.
Ukrainians of all stripes are defending democracy but foreigners are also fighting in Ukraine. One new opportunity to do so is the International Air Defenders of Kyiv, which was started in 2025 by a Brit, John Richardson. On May 14th, Kyiv experienced the biggest Russian bombing of the war, despite Putin’s supposed cease fire and Zelensky “graciously” giving him permission to hold a scaled-down Victory Day Parade in Moscow on May 9th. That was in honor of the Russian's victory in World War Two when they were fighting fascism not perpetrating it. The International Air Defenders and Kyiv’s many other air units shot down an amazing 94% of the drones on the 14th, but 60 of the 1500 got through, toppling a nine-story building. As of this writing, they’re still digging out the rubble for survivors (ultimate death toll: 24, including 3 children).
All you need to join the International Air Defenders is to have a temporary resident permit for over five years or, if less time, also be a veteran of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After a two-week intensive training course for those without military experience—because each gun has thermal imaging sights, tracking and aiming computers or individual gun radars—you will be required to serve no more than two 24-hour shifts per month, although many volunteers do more.
The service is unpaid, meaning they are not mercenaries and don't have the restrictions on travel or resignation that apply to Ukraine's domestic defenders. It is simply an opportunity to help defend the skies above the capital city of a critical democratic state, protecting friends, family and neighbors as well as 3.5 million others. To join, message John Richardson on the Signal App: +380639598839.
Simon Woodiwiss has a cup of tea on duty with the International Air Defenders, prepared to protect Kyiv from the massive Russian drone swarms. photo: S. Woodiwiss“Please remind voters and their governments in the home nations that a lot—A LOT—more support is needed to counter the increasing air attacks here in Ukraine,” Simon told me (see more of Simon here).
In a similar vein, I have proposed that my hometown of Oakland, California, establish, as a healthy outlet for some of our delinquent young men, the Malcolm Vance Brigade. Modeled on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, it would assist Californians and others get to and serve in the Ukrainian Army. Malcolm Vance is an African-American intelligence officer and Arab speaker, who volunteered in Ukraine shortly after the ’22 invasion for a year.
The IAD also welcomes women, as does the Ukrainian Army. Although there is no female draft, “The posters in various cities of Ukraine are a recruiting and information campaign for this component of the defense forces,” noted Andriy Podik, the army’s communications director, on the Telegram channel Trukha Ukraine, adding “Joining the army is a voluntary desire of women.” Indeed, billboards featuring “Defense of Ukraine is a Women's Cause” have already appeared, probably to prep the public for expanded mobilization.
There is already a mostly female mobile air defense unit called the Witches of Bucha, in honor of the Kyiv suburb that experience the genocidal Russian occupation in the first weeks of the war (in a few months 400 civilians were killed, about 1.5% of the population). The Witches of Bucha include teachers, accountants and doctors who spend their nights hunting fascist drones.
It's easy to be a democrat, progressive or radical in California, which has never experienced war, save a few skirmishes 200 years ago, and is incredibly rich. “The world’s fourth-largest economy, $4-plus trillion,” according to Governor Newsom. Defending democracy is algebraically harder on the front lines, where Ukrainians have lived for the last century: World War One, the Russian Civil War, the Red Terror, the Holodomor, the Great Terror, World War Two, the Holocaust, and now this barbarism, which have, in total, killed well over 20 million Ukrainians.
Despite Trump’s slight increases in support for Ukraine, like sanctioning some Russian oil companies and finally selling the full American kit to the Europeans, who donate it to Ukraine (Biden gave it, but not top of the line), Trump is a Putin fan boy, who worships his wealth and conspiracy theories and opposes democracy and Ukrainians. Trump’s first campaign manager was Paul Manfordt, who did a decade working for the corrupt, pro-Russian Ukrainian President Yanakovich. Trump tried to blackmail Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden's son but failed (leading to his first impeachment), while his supposed peace negotiations are led by a naive non-diplomat who often doesn’t have his own translator and repeats Kremlin talking points.
Trump is so determined to get Ukraine to surrender the heavily fortified Donbas region—an absurd proposal on the face of it, since Russian agreements aren’t worth the paper they are printed on and the Donbas would become the launching pad for their next invasion—he’s spouting some of the most insane of his many conspiracy theories: Ukraine started the war.
Governor Newsom at his (imagined) announcement he's making Ukraine a sister state of California. photo-illo: D. Blair “The people of California will not stand idly by while an autocratic thug attacks the innocent people of Ukraine,” he said on March 4, 2022. “We'll do everything in our power to usher in debilitating economic consequences on Russia for this horrific war," a threat he did make good on by issuing Executive Order N-6-22. It ordered California state agencies to stop doing business with Russian institutions, divest pension funds and restrict Russian access to state capital.
Indeed, Governor Newsom frequently condemned the invasion, criticized appeasement and advocated for a strong military response. Alas, he made no mention of Ukraine in his State of the State, probably fearing that the many Democrats who are closeted Russophiles, left over from their adolescent romance with socialism and revived by Wokism, would object, even if only subconsciously, while they consciously virtue signal support for Ukraine.
Alas, we’ll have to confront this problem sooner or later, to save the Democratic Party as well as democracy in general not to mention pursue profitable but good-for-democracy business, which is infinitely better with Ukraine than with China. If Ukrainians are able to defeat the Russians, they will be the leaders in drone technology and the standing army of Europe as well as great democrats, baptized by fire. Although Californians simply should be honored, Ukraine would also the perfect partner on military equipment, AI—they have many talented programmers (I attended the wedding of one while in Ukraine, lovely and romantic)—and advanced manufacturing and agriculture, both of which they are famous for. Ukraine—if it wins—will not only support other democracies or anti-fascists, as they did by racing their drone technology to the liberalizing Gulf Arab states under attack by Islamo-fascist Iran, but could teach others about creating functional on-line government, socialist-capitalist hybrids and anti-corruption courts and initiatives.
In fact, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky created the “Grain from Ukraine” program in 2022, in the first year of the war, which has provided 1000s of tons of free flour and grain to countries such as Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen and Kenya and the territory of Gaza. On April 14th, it opened a wheat processing plant in Ghana, West Africa, and this is just one of about 20 positive or outright amazing reports from Ukraine in the last two months.
Despite no heat and ballistic missiles, the kids of Kyiv keep playing music and goofing around, as this musician proved one night in front of the bar where he just gigged, late October 2025. photo: D. Blair “So far this year, 2026, this is the lowest Russia has been refining oil,” Jake Broe, the respected YouTuber on the subject of the Russo-Ukraine war, said on May 3rd. “Ukraine’s strategy is working. Ukraine’s long-range strikes cost Russia seven billion according to President Zelensky.” Although Putin had dozens of additional anti-aircraft units installed around his palaces, there is no way he can defend the immensity of Russia as Ukraine perfects the fine art of modern drone warfare. Indeed, it is attacking at will refineries, drone factories and other vital installations, some over a 1000 miles into Russia, often using specially-designed graphite bombs to start massive fires and other cutting-edge tech.
“What’s happening on the battlefield has turned into utter bleakness," admitted the Russian military blogger Rybar, while even the head of Russia’s Communist Party said, “Revolution is coming.”
Some kids from Lviv, including a 21-year-old soldier (2nd fr left), the author met in 2022. photo-illo: D. Blair By then, the brilliant new program by the new Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, which started with the new year but only just got rocking, “gamified” the war with a “points for kills” procurement system. This has inspired video-game-loving young men to increase their shifts, competing with each other, sometimes up to 16 hours a day, with 95% of the drone units participating. It has already delivered 181,000 items, from drones, guns and trucks to perks. Indeed, Ukraine is now shooting down virtually all of Russia’s long-range drones with their assassin drones, which cost a tenth of the Russian attackers, rendering the war economically unfeasible.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk cut Russia off from Starlink on February 1st, because it was using 1000s of illegally imported or captured “grey-market” terminals to help their drones bypass Ukraine’s expert GPS jamming. Putin, for his part, terminated Russia’s own main social media platform, Telegraph, due to fears of a coup, and shut off the internet entirely in Moscow for 19 days in April, making that online city unlivable, given public toilets as well as everything else is paid online.
Putin can’t recruit enough to replace the 1000 Russians killed daily, as Ukrainian drone dominance pushes the “kill zone” 20-30 miles from the front. In March, 35,361 Russians were killed, making the Russian “meat wave” strategy unworkable, even as they use motorcycles and donkeys or costumes and cloaking to attempt to evade detection and sneak to the front. Ukraine started taking territory for the first time since the fall of 2022. Although only some 200 square miles thus far, that included capturing some Russian soldiers with land drones, equipped with wheels and machine guns.
The author at the small February 2023 protest against the Russian invasion, held on San Francisco's Embarcadero, across from the Lincoln Brigade Memorial. photo illo: D. Blair Californians are currently dealing with various threats to democracy at home, from ICE in our streets to the Trump administration’s violation of norms and laws and cancellation of funding, not to mention problems with homelessness, addiction, crime and housing. California sued the first Trump administration 123 times, winning almost two-thirds of the cases, and recently opened 54 new suits.
“Hardship does not merely wound us,” opined Governor Newsom, in his State of the State, “It reveals us. The story of California has never been the story of ease. It has been the story of effort, strengthened by trial and enlarged by the people who refuse to give up on one another.” Indeed, he concluded his speech with, “California has never been about perfection. It’s about persistence. The courage of our convictions and the strength to embody them. That’s the California Way. And it lights the path for the rest of the world.”
A small Ukrainian flag on San Francisco's Lincoln Brigade Memorial suggests what Brigaders would do. photo illo: D. Blair Conversely, if Californians were to awake to the Kremlin’s massive fascist threat, as the Lincoln Brigaders did to Franco’s in 1936, if California became a sea of Ukrainian flags—to enact this dream, I would be happy to send you a small 6”x4” one free or a large 5’x3’ flag at my cost ($25)—we could unhypocritically say we are standing strong for democracy, as the Brigaders did 90 years ago.
Posted on May 15, 2026 - 06:57 PM
