Applebaum: Trump admires unchecked power — no courts, no journalists. He’s positively disposed to Russia and personally impressed by Putin.
As a trained KGB officer, Putin would know how to exploit weaknesses. Trump believes Putin is his friend. 1/
Applebaum: Trump shows no empathy. He calls opponents vermin and says immigrants poison the nation's blood — language used by Hitler.
He’s immune to cruelty, unmoved by civilian deaths. 2/
Applebaum: Putin's goals
— rebuild the Russian Empire with himself as its leader, erasing Ukraine’s identity and incorporating it by force or control
— destroy the pro-European, anti-corruption ideals of Ukraine’s 2014 revolution, which he deeply fears. 3/
Applebaum: “Polar” means nothing. In Putin’s usage, it implies a world where might makes right. Where strong countries dominate weaker ones, free from rules, the UN, or U.S. influence.
This is the global order he seeks — personal and political. 4/
Applebaum: Russia helped build up Germany’s AfD and tried to influence elections in Britain and France. The Brexit campaign was mostly British, but Russia supported it.
They invested money, effort, and strategy — actively campaigned for Trump in 2016. 5/
Applebaum: In 1994, Estonia’s president warned of rising Russian imperialism. Putin, then deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, walked out.
His imperial ambitions date back decades, as do his criminal ties. Cynicism and greed have defined his actions from the start. 6/
Applebaum: If you truly want peace, you must arm Ukraine until Putin accepts the war is over. West often miss this.
Putin, from the start, underestimated Ukraine — its elected government, real national identity, and will to fight, even through guerrilla war if needed. 7/
Applebaum: If I led NATO or the EU, I’d have suspended Hungary’s voting rights. Hungary no longer acts as an ally or in good faith. But you don’t expel them — many Hungarians, perhaps a majority, want Orban gone. 8/
Applebaum: Many now understand the threat Russia poses — not just to Ukraine, but to Europe itself.
France, Germany, the UK, Poland, Scandinavia, the Baltics, and others are rethinking defense: not just spending more, but spending smarter in this new high-tech drone war. 9/
Applebaum: China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela lack a shared ideology, but they see Western democratic values as threats: rule of law, free media, independent courts.
That’s what unites them. They aim to undermine these principles at home and abroad to preserve their power. 10X
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