Irish Examiner view: The weight of history falls on Putin

Vladimir Putin: Tactically any Russian land that Ukraine can hold represents a better bargaining position. Picture: Valeriy Sharifulin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

In terms of scale, there is little to compare the events that have taken place in Kursk with those that preceded them in the same week 81 years earlier.

On August 3, 1943, the Red Army launched the second phase of an offensive against Nazi Germany which eventually became the largest single battle in the history of warfare.

The Germans deployed around 777,000 men, 2,451 tanks, and 7,417 guns and mortars. Against them, the Soviets massed 1.3m troops, 3,600 tanks, and 20,000 artillery pieces. It was a conflict that decided the war, and the fate of Europe.

Last week’s Ukrainian advance by just a few hundred mechanised troops supported by a dozen tanks represented the first foreign invasion of Russia since the Second World War. It has forced the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people, angered Vladimir Putin, and embarrassed the Russian military into transferring conscripts from Siberia to hold the line.

Strategically the move across the border is of limited value. But psychologically it is an important demonstration of the determination of President Zelenskyy and his government to fight on. The equipment used included armoured vehicles supplied by the United States and Germany, while the reinforcements moved forward by the Kremlin were targeted by Himars missile systems provided by Nato.

Tactically any Russian land that Ukraine can hold also represents a better bargaining position.

Given the changes in the US political climate, and that Democrat support is recovering following the replacement of Joe Biden by Kamala Harris, it is important for Kyiv to rally international support. This has been distracted by the grievous events and horror in Gaza including Saturday’s devastating attack which killed around 100 at a school.

This weekend’s surveys show Harris, who is identified with US support for Ukraine, leading Donald Trump among likely voters by four points in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. This is a major change in sentiment which could potentially increase support from both parties during the race for the White House.

For both Republicans and Democrats, it might appear that it is better at present to be a friend of Ukraine than a friend of Israel.

Television's female villains

While we can celebrate the decade of success enjoyed by Irish actors, writers, and directors since RTÉ’s Love/Hate gangland saga reached its crescendo on our screens in 2014, there’s another phenomenon that deserves some comment.

Many characters who helmed the criminal enterprises in Stuart Caralon’s groundbreaking series were men — Nidge Delaney, John Boy, Fran Cooney, Hughie Power — calling and making the shots. But since its gripping finale, there have been subtle, and not-so-subtle changes in the balance of power. Now it is women who are cast to strike terror and maximise the profits and the ill-gotten gains.

Clare Dunne as Amanda in 'Kin'. 

Memorably in Kin, the successor to Love/Hate, Clare Dunne’s portrayal of mob boss Amanda Kinsella manages to combine empathy, a head for figures, and total ruthlessness. She was preceded by Derry’s Amanda Burton who provided a merciless presence as Katherine Maguire, head of a Belfast crime family, in the third series of Marcella.

In the hugely popular Jamie Dornan drama, The Tourist, the highly accomplished Irish stage actor Olwen Fouéré plays Niamh Cassidy, chilling matriarch of an extended family keen to protect their honour and with limited patience for people who don’t see things her way.

Even, quite remarkably, Pauline McLynn, best known for playing Mrs Doyle in Father Ted, gets in on the act in the popular West Cork-based black comedy Bodkin where she plays the sawn-off shotgun-wielding Bronagh, head of the McArdle crime family, in a series which was funded by the production company owned by Barack and Michelle Obama.

And we’re not finished yet. Ruth Negga, one of the veterans from Love/Hate who has achieved a stellar movie career, is to appear as the muse to Mossie Hearne and Charlie Redmond, drug runners from Cork in the film adaptation of Kevin Barry’s mordantly funny novel Night Boat to Tangier. Barry is writing the screenplay and the gangsters who have been overtaken by time will be played by Michael Fassbender and Domhnall Gleeson, but the brains, and the person linking and influencing them both, is Cynthia, played by Negga.

It’s unlikely that many of these TV and movie parts, with a large component of violence, would have gone to women 25 years ago. In the week that we said a formal farewell to Edna O’Brien, creator of The Country Girls in 1960, we might observe that the quest for equality in all things has included the right to be a principal villain rather than a victim.

Cruising along

It’s been a summer where nations, principally European, have turned against tourists and put up signs saying: “You’re not welcome.” Sometimes that has been backed with harassment and unpleasantness.

And at the heart of these protests have been complaints about global cruising which is held accountable for bringing many thousands of people to historic streets while simultaneously being a giant carbon-emitting machine.

While the European head of its largest trade body acknowledges that companies may need to avoid some of the world’s most famous destinations, the industry expects to carry 10% more passengers by 2028 than the 31.7m last year.

The industry has ordered 57 more cruise ships in addition to the 300 now in operation. And in an eye-popping forecast, some experts are predicting that vessels eight times the size of the Titanic and carrying up to 11,000 people per trip, will be navigating the world’s oceans before 2050.

The largest cruise ship in the world is The Icon of the Seas. It features 20 decks, 40 restaurants and seven swimming pools, and can carry 7,600 passengers. It made its maiden voyage from Miami in January and is five times the size of the Titanic which weighed in at 46,000 tons and transported a modest 2,500 souls.

When the Titanic hit an iceberg after leaving Cobh, the band played on, and champagne was served to first-class passengers. It was, said one survivor, “like a very stupid picnic.” A little like, you might think, the one that humankind is taking part in now.