SOTT FOCUS: Traumatizing an entire generation - The voice and suffering of children in the war on Donbass

© Dni.ru

While the children dream of peace, war is what they experience and suffer under.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article about some courageous women who dared to speak up against the fascism in Ukraine. There is, however, another group of people there who cannot speak up for themselves, and who are even less equipped to deal with life in a war zone: the children.

The relatively peaceful world that the children of East Ukraine knew before the 'Maidan' is long gone. Living under constant bombardment, in bomb-shelters, sometimes without one or both parents and witnessing horrific scenes is scarring these children in a way that, even with proper attention and care, will take a long time to heal. My own mother-in-law was 6 years of age when the German army quickly overran Paris in WWII. Although the attack was short, the trauma of the bombings, sirens and bomb-shelters left her scarred for life with chronic nervousness and anxiety attacks. Now think of the children in Donbass and the ongoing terror campaign that the Kiev junta is waging there - for close to a year now, and with little respite in view.

President Poroshenko is fully aware that he is making the children in Donbass suffer. This was made very clear in a hate-filled speech he gave in the Rada (Ukraine's parliament) last year:

...we [in Ukraine] will have work - they [in the Donbass] won't. We will have pensions - they won't. We will care for our children and pensioners - they won't. Our children will go to school, to kindergartens - their children will sit in cellars. They don't know how to organize or do anything. This, ultimately, is how we will win this war.

A recent report by the United Nations says the continuous fighting and shelling in eastern Ukraine has affected the lives of 1.7 million children, many of whom have been forced to live underground:

[embedded content]

According to this video, UNICEF says it will need an extra $32 million to meet children's basic needs - their material needs, which does not take into account psychological needs. Again there is plenty of money for weapons of war, but not for the victims of war:

[embedded content]

The adult's voice and perspective is one thing, but how does a child make sense of the madness they are experiencing? The following videos give the children a voice:

[embedded content]

Here are some other children, a little older:

[embedded content]

When children are exposed to such violent events it almost invariably leads to trauma and psychological problems. The following video is a mix of interviews with children and adults, including a psychologist who explains what she is noticing and doing with the problems she encounters:

[embedded content]

Some children end up physically debilitated for life, like the following video shows.

[embedded content]

This tragedy thundered into Russia a month and a half ago. 9 years old Vanya was delivered to the hospital in January. During the Donetsk bombardment, one of the shells exploded in the courtyard of Vanya's apartment building. The boy was playing on the porch with his younger brother, who died. Vanya lost his legs, right arm and vision. Now he is being treated in the Russian capital, Moscow.

Many Russian social networks have been created to collect money, toys and books for the injured children. Their parents are allowed to live in the chambers. Doctors believe that parents' care and affection will become the best for further healing.

Doctors - the best experts - have done everything at their disposal to help Vanya and other kids lead an active life. Hopes are rising every single day: Vanya began to smile, his appetite returned.

Children are the most vulnerable victims of war. Although this article has only focused on Eastern Ukraine, the same is true for all the countries that have been subject to wars. Most happen to be victims of Western aggression (under the guise of 'bringing freedom and democracy', etc.), such as during the 13 years of war in Afghanistan (population 31 million), 11 years of war in Iraq (pop. 36 million), 4 years of war and mayhem in Libya (pop. 6 million), 4 years in Syria (pop. 18 million). To this list, which is in no way complete, should also be added the Palestinian people, who have been subject to repeated war and terror for several generations.

The plight of the children in all the above cases has not been deemed worthy of Western media attention. The only time the Western media is interested in the plight of children in these countries is when Western audiences' sympathies are needed in order to sell them another war. Two examples come to mind: the Saddam Hussein incubator baby story and the Houla massacre in Syria, both of which turned out to be completely contrived (non-existent in the first case, a false-flag in the second) events designed to 'channel emotional impact' to raise popular passion for war.

What kind of leaders and journalists do we have that they care so little bout children, or human life in general? This is the question that people in the 'free West' ought to ask themselves. The answer to that question will help to redirect the appropriate outrage where it is really needed i.e. not at the scapegoats named by the warmongering elites, be they Greeks or Muslims or Jews or Slavs or Russians. Only by understanding the nature of this disease will we able to cure the illness that is ravaging mankind. It is also the only way to truly help and protect the children of the past, present and future.

Aeneas Georg

I work in the international transport sector in Europe. I've been reading SOTT since 2003 and first joined the editorial team in 2007 after realizing I had to do something about the deteriorating state of our world. Especially as I saw how our mainstream media has let us down. I'm particularly interested in 'following the money' to track the machinations of the deceptive ones in high places. I suppose you could say I've taken my chosen profession to a new level, and now with SOTT I'm "inspecting the flows" of people and money in more ways than one.