Trump has trashed American global leadership to side with dictators, but is the free world alliance still wanted and needed? Now more than ever, yes. My long new piece @dallasnews: dallasnews.com/opinion/commen…
Trump's attacks on US institutions have destroyed American credibility as a symbol and defender of the values on which the nation was founded. Leading the world by example requires cleaning house. Nov 3 is the beginning, not the end.
Other democratic powers have been unable and unwilling to step up after being carried by the US for so long. Putin's assassination campaigns and China's brutal actions against the Uyghurs and in Hong Kong illustrate what a world order in their image would look like.
The Trumpian isolationist movement says “America First,” a transparently selfish and short-sighted nationalism. The American left has been saying much the same for decades, more subtly framed as “anti-imperialism.” They both end in "Yankee go home," and they are both wrong.
It's nonsense to talk about a multipolar utopia as Russia and China commits atrocities in the vacuum left by US leadership. It's “Never again,” not “Never again, pretty please.” My @dallasnews op-ed: dallasnews.com/opinion/commen…
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With many of these college protests, I wonder how much they are drawing attention to the plight of Gazans versus to themselves, and distracting from those with real struggles in a real war zone to advocate anti-Israel, anti-Semitic platforms.
Ask for humanitarian aid for civilians, for Hamas to release the hostages, not the surrender of the side that was first attacked in this war, let alone its extermination. Protests for Gaza that don’t address Hamas aggression aren’t anti-war, they are pro-war. The real one.
Like many people from authoritarian regimes, I support dissidents and lawful protest reflexively because it was stifled and persecuted in the USSR and Putin’s Russia. This is true even when I scarcely sympathize with the cause, or see it as manipulated and toxic.
One of the elements that put the lie to pro-Kremlin advocates like Vance and Musk and their "Ukraine can never defeat Russia!" BS. Ukraine doesn't have to conquer Moscow. It only has to make the Russian invasion & occupation unsustainable and unprofitable for Putin.
So tighter sanctions, esp secondary ones on middlemen, are as important as battlefield gains. Putin's oligarchs and Russian society more broadly must feel the pressure. When Putin sees that continuing the war is a greater threat to his power than ending it, it will end.
Defeating Russian forces is critical to save Ukrainian lives and to make Putin look like a loser, something no dictator can afford. Also why only defending against missiles & drones isn't enough. Destroying the launch facilities wherever they may be is the only way.
When I bash the Trump-led GOP for blocking Ukraine aid I get criticized for not bashing the Biden admin enough for withholding weapons. When I bash the Biden admin, I get attacked for not blaming Trump & Johnson. I get it, but this is the partisan BS that Putin is exploiting.
When casting your vote, yes, "who is better" is a relevant question. But in advocacy, you should speak the truth about all sides. It doesn't "help Trump" to point out the Biden DoD should be doing much more to help Ukraine and US security.
Johnson, Trump, and the GOP treason caucus should be blasted for spouting Russian propaganda & harming US interests, Ukraine in particular. But their agenda is clear and you cannot shame the shameless, only defeat them. But Biden is talking the talk and not walking the walk.
Stop waiting for the history books, I'm happy to blame him now! But the President of the United States cannot blame a feeble Congressman from Louisiana for failing to defend US security & the entire democratic world order against a hostile dictatorship. The buck stops with him.
Turning Ukrainian lives & global security into a domestic football is immoral and idiotic. Trump and his GOP are doing the Kremlin's bidding for election help and cash. Biden feigns helplessness to score points against them as Ukraine burns. Inexcusable.
You cannot shame the shameless. Johnson & MAGA happy to do Trump/Putin's will to destroy Ukraine aren't worried about voters. It's up to the commander in chief to do what is necessary despite the GOP, not whine & blame. Drawdown $, surplus weapons, arms from allies, etc.
My WSJ op-ed on the Crocus terror attack, how Putin will exploit it in his total war in Ukraine, and how the Biden admin must take immediate action instead of blaming the American betrayal of Ukraine on the GOP. wsj.com/articles/mosco…
Putin will escalate, as he always does when he senses opportunity and weakness. Ukraine cannot become a political football. Instead of telling allies like Ukraine what they can't do, give them the support they need to do what must be done.
Putin needs perpetual war to hold on to power. He is creating the conditions to radicalize the Russian population further and to fulfill his new mobilization orders. Ukraine can’t survive unless America’s leaders do what is right, not what they think is politically expedient.
A new loyalty test has arrived from the Kremlin: blaming Ukraine for the Crocus terror attack despite no credible evidence or time yet to make up the usual fakes. Let's see who parrots this homicidal garbage for no reason other than that their master in Moscow says it.
The deep historical connections between Russian intelligence and Islamic terror groups are well documented. There are also many shades of complicity, from collaboration and cover-up to ignoring warnings and delaying response.
Going forward, what matters is that Putin will exploit the attack to further radicalize Russian society to embrace his perpetual war against Ukraine and against the free world. That is the only algorithm now, and it will continue until he is defeated and gone.