Category: Russia

Putin’s Russia – Repression, Brutalism, Terrorism, and All That

June 22, 2025

An old Russia thrives in the here and now. Several undesirable features of past centuries of authoritarian rule prevail as standard practice in the current Russia. The repression of tsarist autocracy with its early institutionalized secret police became more pervasive in 20th century Soviet society. The latter gave way to Stalinist terror of which some of the worst elements are reflected in Vladimir Putin’s 21st century Russia. And now, Russian chauvinism has found new expression in a regime composed of self-dealing, servile functionaries whose devotion to their resident despot remains a top priority. … More Putin’s Russia – Repression, Brutalism, Terrorism, and All That

European Solidarity and Purpose in the Face of the Russian Threat

June 10, 2025

If there is a truth to be learned from the history of global conflict, it must be that appeasement rarely brings a lasting peace when it is seen to result preferentially in concessions to the aggressor. Revanchist grievances arise and fester for generations and wounds are not forgiven. Even worse, the aggressor remains unsated when the original goal was not achieved. This was the lesson of the last world war and the one that most seem intent on forgetting, particularly those foolishly convinced of somehow being isolated from harm or those simply wanting to get on with the business of making money under more controlled circumstances. The failure to face the hard reality of ending a war by stopping an overt aggression in its tracks invites a future of recidivism acted out by the same aggressor or simply another of the same ilk. … More European Solidarity and Purpose in the Face of the Russian Threat

Canada and Ukraine’s Defense Against Russian Aggression – A Shared Hatred of Authoritarianism

May 2, 2025

Canadians hate being told they shouldn’t be a country especially by an increasingly authoritarian-leaning American regime much like Ukrainians hate the idea of being told the same by a Russian dictator who actually invaded their country. Both the U.S. and Canada are awakening to the grotesque political reality that an illiberal government has come to power in “the shining city upon a hill” as Ronald Reagan once pictured Washington DC. … More Canada and Ukraine’s Defense Against Russian Aggression – A Shared Hatred of Authoritarianism

The Argument for a Reconstituted Ukraine as it was Before Putin

April 27, 2025

A nation’s viability as an autonomous, self-sustaining, and prospering entity depends upon the ongoing welfare of its people, its natural resources, a balanced governance, the ability to defend itself and its neighbors from foreign threat, a shared intelligence with its allies, and fair-minded reciprocal trade relations. For Ukraine, the road has been not just difficult but treacherous, the latter to do with Russia and, specifically, Vladimir Putin. Of all the justifications given for Russia’s invasion, none measure up for anyone but those who either perversely peddle Kremlin propaganda or who lack understanding of the historical background of the region and the detail of the events that actually transpired during the several years before the conflict. I would leave all these latter arguments that itemize the relevant issues to previously published material in order to focus on why Ukraine must remain whole rather than be disassembled by an ill-advised peace treaty. … More The Argument for a Reconstituted Ukraine as it was Before Putin

Putin’s Deceit: Ukraine, Belarus and the Road to Eastern Europe

April 14, 2025

Europe’s moment has come and action is called for in the face of Russia’s continued aggression in Ukraine as U.S. commitment predictably gives ground to its longstanding adversary. Vladimir Putin’s imperialist designs are committed first to bringing both Ukraine and Belarus back into Russia’s fold before considering the options of returning the nations of the Baltic region and Eastern Europe under Russian hegemony. That doesn’t mean to say Putin is not meddling elsewhere to cause instability within Europe as in the Western Balkan nations, Germany, Romania, Poland, France, the United Kingdom and still other nations. … More Putin’s Deceit: Ukraine, Belarus and the Road to Eastern Europe

So, Who Wants to be Part of Russia?

February 27, 2025

Three years ago when Russia made its imperialist intentions clear with the invasion of Ukraine, it was with the belief that the Ukrainian people really had no country of their own. As it turned out, to Russia’s dismay, the Ukrainians thought otherwise, enough for them to have withstood over a thousand days of brutal warfare with the sort of national will that would challenge any nation to have done the same. In the process, they have inflicted heavy losses upon Russia’s military, enough so that it is now struggling to maintain an effective offensive while its war economy is threatened with collapse should it continue on its present course. … More So, Who Wants to be Part of Russia?

The Ongoing Underperformance of American Foreign Policy in Ukraine

January 31, 2025

Current indications from within the Trump administration show an intent to end a decade-long failure to adequately confront Russian aggression in Ukraine to what by now can be considered an impending capitulation to Vladimir Putin’s intransigence. This as he heaps praise on the U.S. President for his reelection. Putin has gone on to regard Donald Trump as a “clever and pragmatic man” and to suggest that “if his victory had not been stolen in 2020,” then there may not have been a crisis. In return, the latter remarkably has blamed Volodymyr Zelensky for the war when he chose not to surrender Ukraine in the face of the February, 2022 Russian invasion, suggesting a serious lack of understanding of the situation by an ill-informed president. The current state of ignorance follows several years of U.S. leadership that has not confronted the depth of Putin’s intentions in Eastern Europe and Ukraine in particular. … More The Ongoing Underperformance of American Foreign Policy in Ukraine

Negotiating with a War Criminal – A History of Deceit

January 1, 2025

In 1938, Chancellor Adolph Hitler of Germany positioned troops along Czechoslovakia’s border with the apparent intention of invading its Sudetenland region on the false pretense that its predominant resident German population was under threat. In hopes of averting another world war after a number of provocative actions had already been undertaken in recent years by Germany, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler, Italy’s Benito Mussolini and France’s Édouard Daladier, with Czechoslovakia’s President Edvard Beneš notably absent. … More Negotiating with a War Criminal – A History of Deceit

The Shrinking State of Putin’s World

December 14, 2024

The foregoing sentiment, ostensibly of biblical origin, fits well with recent events in Syria and the toppling of its tyrannical and generational Assad regime. The collapse occurred over what seemed only a matter of days for a regime dating back to 1971 when Hafez al-Assad gained the presidency of Syria in a coup, passing it on to his son Bashar in 2000. The latter continued Syria’s decades-long ties with Iran and its regional militant proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, and went on to institute a reign of terror of outright killings and incarcerations, bringing on the condemnation of the West. It would all come to an end in a catastrophic dismantling of the regime and the abandonment of its leader. Thus far, it highlights Vladimir Putin’s questionable place in global opinion. … More The Shrinking State of Putin’s World

The Naysayer Pundits and the Future of Ukraine

November 14, 2024

It is common in a protracted conflict to witness approaches attempting to bring about what is thought to be a reasonable compromise. The intent is to forego further suffering but too often the conflict in question has been unjustifiably executed as part of an agenda by a clear aggressor. Some pundits will declare the inevitability of a particular outcome of a conflict based upon straightforward metrics having to do with population size, military reserve and production capacity. These typically argue in favor of the aggressor. In the process, they lay aside the consequences for the victim of the aggression and its future precarious state of affairs. They allow the world order to proceed without acknowledging that the root of the problem remains much as it was from the start. … More The Naysayer Pundits and the Future of Ukraine