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Phrase: Comedy of errors
If it weren’t such a serious event in history, we would be laughing, but we can say that from one point of view, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a comedy of errors.
I’m not saying it was funny or some extremely violent slapstick comedy show.
A comedy of errors is an event or series of events that seem ridiculous by the number of errors made.
When it comes to the Russo-Ukraine war, mistakes were made even before this invasion began.
Winston Churchill said, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
When Russia first invaded and annexed Crimea, the West should have stepped in due to the loud echos from the Nazi German annexation of the Sudentenland (northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia).
Standing by was an error in 1939 and again in 2014.
In January 2022, the US said Russia was preparing for an invasion, but everyone poo-pooed it.
Then when Russia did invade, their tank drivers had no idea where they were, where they were going or how they would get there.
Of course, it wasn’t easy for the Ukrainians, but the Russians showed how ill-prepared they were for their own invasion.
For the Ukrainians, it was almost like shooting fish in a barrel.
This is why the Russo-Ukraine war is a comedy of errors.
First, we fail to learn from history.
Then we fail to believe our own eyes when Putin telegraphs I-N-V-A-S-I-O-N.
Next, the previously much-feared Russian army proves to be no match for Western weapons.
Yes, nobody is laughing, and no one should laugh.
But the whole situation is a textbook example of a comedy of errors.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 66.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.