After warning so many White House admins blundering with Putin, I don't care if they listen to me as long as they are listening to reason. If you make the same mistake twice you are either a fool or it's not a mistake at all, it's collusion & corruption.
I blasted W Bush for treating Putin like an ally after 9/11, but they were both new on the job in a crisis. By 2008, Putin wasn't a mystery, but Obama gifted him the Reset. Trump was Putin's fan and beneficiary. Biden talked tough, but is repeating the reactive pattern.
As I just said on CNN, I *hear* Scholz, Macron and Biden talking, but I don't see anything new. Putin was "a pariah" in 2008 when he invaded Georgia, invaded Ukraine & shot down MH-17 in 2014, etc. And? He hosted the World Cup in 2018 and Nord Stream 2 went ahead. Pariah?
I'm not in the mood to be charitable when thousands more innocent people may about to be murdered by a man I was told repeatedly I was overreacting to call a dictator and threat.
Once again, dictators don't ask why, they only ask why not. If you don't act to stop them, they assume you are fine with what they are doing, but must say that you aren't for show. It's up to the leaders of the free world to prove Putin wrong. I'm not sure he is.
Just one example of the thinking that got us here, the dismissive tone of a so-called Russia expert in a review of my 2015 book Winter Is Coming. He had already invaded Ukraine & annexed Crimea, but I was overreacting! washingtonpost.com/opinions/chess…
Many lives are at stake, but so is the global order based on the rule of law. Putin's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea shook its foundation. Now he wants to shatter it. If the free world is worth defending, it must be defended now. video.snapstream.net/Play/79yBSXy8o…
Words matter. It's a Putin crisis, not a Ukraine crisis. There are no separatists; they are Russian occupation forces. There is no Russian president; there is a dictator with nukes who wants the world to dance to his tune. Words matter, but they have never stopped a dictator.
For predicting Putin's moves, just see what he sees. He looks around and doesn't see forces coming to defend Ukraine. He hears leaders of mighty nations only talking instead of acting to stop him. He sees promises, not action, and he knows promises are made to be broken.
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