Dear Simon,
Thank you for your intellectually outstanding and brave commentaries over the last several years. Your columns have challenged the mainstream media’s (and The Guardian’s) embrace of jingoistic militarism and ideologically rooted antipathy to Russia.
That said, your commentary (August 13, 2026) on wars “erasing human history” is deeply flawed owing to its inaccurate characterization of the destruction in Ukraine, and inappropriate comparison to the destruction in Gaza and Iran.
First, much civilian damage in Ukraine may have been caused by Ukraine’s success in shooting down Russian drones and missiles. Rather than Russia targeting civilian and cultural sites (like Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra complex and the Dormition cathedral), such sites may have been hit by missiles and drones intercepted by Ukraine’s air defenses. In that regard, Ukraine is completely different from what has happened in Gaza and Iran. Mainstream Western media has almost completely failed to report that explanation of civilian infrastructure damage in Ukraine.
Second, your claim that Mariupol’s theater was destroyed by Russia as part of erasing Ukrainian culture, is totally false. Russia has painstakingly re-built and restored the theater, which makes no sense if it was trying to erase it. That is a very important piece of evidence as it goes to the heart of the issue.
(more…)