It's not over. The election, the inauguration, even impeachment, will not end the battle to save democracy from extremism. Never sacrifice justice for the false promise of unity. My new op-ed: cnn.com/2021/01/12/opi…
Had fewer than 45,000 votes in 3 key states gone the other way on Election Day, we'd be plunging toward authoritarian rule, and discussing which of Trump's children would take over in 2024. But dodging that bullet won't save us from real bullets.
After the USSR fell in 1991, Russia chose to bury the crimes of the security services in the name of national harmony. The KGB changed its name, but not its nature. Just 9 years later, a KGB man became president and it was our last meaningful election.
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Putin is being helpful indeed. According to accumulating intelligence reports, he’s helping Iran kill US forces. But Trump and Witkoff say that Putin told them he’s not, and it would be too humiliating for them to admit the truth. Congress? Anybody?
Iran and Russia have both confirmed that Russia is continuing to support its longtime close ally in this war. The only people who don’t believe this are Trump and buffoons like Witkoff who depend on Trump and Putin for their livelihoods.
Btw, two days before this war started, I wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the number two most advanced nation in the world for drone tech and tactics was now Russia, and that NATO nations were not prepared because they weren’t learning and buying from number one, Ukraine.
Adding to my thread on why authoritarians like chaos to include Iran itself. Firing on its neighbors is a way of raising the stakes, of trying to show the cautious Gulf states & Western democracies that it is willing to burn everything down. Part bluff, part desperation.
Putin has demonstrated the effectiveness of simply showing the will to use force, to kill and be killed, while the strongest military alliance in history has no such will. This is the legacy of 35 post-Cold War years and a generation of rich and complacent leaders & citizens.
If you aren't willing to fight for your values, even for your own security, you will be bullied by those who are, even if their values are abhorrent. *Especially* if they are, in fact. As true in domestic politics as in geopolitics and war.
I’ve written on this dynamic, and although Iran is Russia’s ally, this attack being "bad for Putin" is not clear unless there are real consequences—military or economic. Chaos usually favors dictators & strongmen who can exploit opportunities quickly and dominate the headlines.
It’s humiliating for another of Putin's thug allies to be taken out like this, and it reduces Russia’s malign influence network significantly for the moment. But dictators don’t care about intangibles, only about being in power tomorrow and the next day.
Without strategic follow-up, a new Iranian leadership equally aligned with Russia may arise. And the price of oil, which Putin actually cares about because it funds his wars and his corruption, almost always goes up during war and uncertainty. Iran attacking so widely does both.
Childish insults only reinforce the fact that Trump hates Zelenskyy on a petty, personal level because Zelenskyy is everything he is not—a man of courage who represents his nation not himself—and refuses to cave into Trump's demands to surrender to Russia.
Blasting aid to Ukraine as a waste also further exposes the lack of strategy in Trump’s chaotic foreign policy and military interventions. Standing with allies & defending the US-led global order by defeating Russian aggression in Europe is in clear US national security interest.
Also note that Zelenskyy immediately offered aid and anti-drone expertise in Trump's war with Iran, a shared enemy responsible for thousands of Ukrainian deaths. No doubt it would’ve saved American lives to consult with Ukrainians earlier. Instead, more insults.
This a fundamental misconception. The business plans between Putin and his oligarchs and Trump and his family and cronies aren't side deals, they are the entire point. Putin wants Ukraine to surrender and Trump does as he's told to help, but the negotiations are a coverup.
It's one of the failures of imagination that democratic leaders and citizens make when dealing with mafia states, terrorists, and autocrats of all stripes. They don't think incrementally. They aren't constrained by laws and norms. They are only afraid of punishment.
This same mistake is visible regarding WH election interference for midterms. Redistricting and laws to disenfranchise millions to prevent non-existent fraud threats are underway. But people who think they have more to lose by losing than by violence will choose violence.
It's bittersweet when my dire predictions and analysis regarding Russia are adopted by world leaders, even if years late. Does it matter that they acknowledge reality if they still refuse to act to change it?
Russia is a terrorist state waging war on Europe and the Western world order with Ukraine the current front line. Putin will not stop until he is stopped because he needs war to survive. If Merz recognizes these things as true, as he says, why keep delaying necessary action?
Why wait until German troops are required to fight under NATO requirements, if indeed they would? Why wait as Russia murders more Ukrainian civilians? The cost of stopping a dictator always goes up. 12 years ago was much better. 4 years ago, too. Today is better than tomorrow.