I’m going to keep this one short because I’ve been known to yawn on in my writing, and this message is super simple.
This editorial was going to be an expansion on a column that MSDN/MHN Columnist TR Kerth wrote in the February 24 edition about the possibility of censorship in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (and I will write about that the next time around), but I’m putting that on hold because as bad as I think censorship is (call me biased on this count, I don’t care; I’ve always been vocal about, well, being vocal) it’s not so bad as filtration camps, and I won’t keep my mouth shut any longer.
I read in an article last night in Reuters that allegedly Russians are capturing civilians in Mariupol, mostly women and children, processing them through filtration camps, and deporting them to Russia against their will. According to reports in The Guardian, Russian officials are calling these people refugees (which is a slanted way of acknowledging their arrival in Russian territory), but Mariupol officials claim they’ve been taken forcibly.
Do I need to say it? Do I need to say EXACTLY what this is like? Do I need to remind anyone on this planet that this has been done before?
I didn’t think so.
For now, it’s only alleged. And I hope that’s all it remains. Of all the things that Putin or Russia denies or fudges about this ugly war in the Ukraine, I hope he’s telling the truth on this one.
Because if he is not, it needs to stop now. Right now.
