Hawaii and Ukraine
One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, the Queen of the Kingdom of Hawaii had to make a decision that would determine the future of her nation and people. All the diverse cultural and ethnic citizens that made up the kingdom were aware of the political mechanisms that were in motion at the time: the United States of America, a rising great power in the world of global politics, was determined to control the destiny of the idyllic islands that had welcomed foreigners from the far corners of the earth to her shores.
It was, America insisted, her manifest destiny to possess the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippine Islands as well as Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.
Three short years prior to the seizure of Hawaii, the U.S. Army had massacred 300 native peoples of North America at Wounded Knee. There can be little doubt that Queen Liliu‘okalani knew what would befall the Hawaiians should they decide to resist through armed struggle the treasonous conspirators as many of her loyal followers suggested.
For reasons political, pragmatic, religious and perhaps naive, the queen abdicated her throne on conditions that the U.S. government would reinstate her hegemony upon understanding the circumstances of her overthrow. This never came to pass. In her wisdom she wisely left it to the citizens of Hawaii to stand firm — onipa‘a — and right would undo the wrong a mighty nation had inflicted upon a righteous, small, friendly island kingdom. How many lives have been spared because of the queen’s wisdom, love and faith in her people and their love for the Hawaiian Islands?
Of course, I could be talking here about Ukraine and Russia today involved in a war that was totally avoidable from what numerous knowledgeable persons and this writer have been able to grasp through common-sense and historic research.
The commonalities between the two rivals should be enough to dismiss reasons for the absolute catastrophe that has befallen the civilization of both these Slavic Christian nations. Being one baptized into the Eastern Orthodox Church, by circumstances beyond my control, I see no way other than to condemn both and all the now-splintered Eastern Orthodox gangs and their leaders, that even today, amidst the hell on Earth they have helped create, continue to bless combatants of all ages as they prepare to kill their Slavic Christian brothers and sisters.
There is nary a Christian amongst them. Their nefarious institutions perpetuating war under the name of the Christ, should be ignored and prayers redirected to the Great Spirit and Creator through the pono offices of Aloha ‘Aina whose mana can save our tortured souls.
The righteous queen knew that the day of the Huliamahi would come, and indeed it has.
Tomas Belsky
Hilo