Tag: #warcrimes

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 Global Russian Pox

August 28, 2024

Vladimir Putin’s malevolence spreads well beyond the borders of Ukraine. Russia’s immediate neighbors in the European Union (EU) can attest to the various means by which they are threatened – engineered mass migration that attempts to destabilize social order, cyberattacks upon financial and governmental institutions, disinformation campaigns focused upon societal grievances, sabotage, assassinations and other devices to be elaborated upon here. Territorial proximity, however, is not a prerequisite for Russian intrusion. Similar approaches have been applied to other nations throughout the world and particularly in the West which Putin regards as his archetypal enemy in the manner typical of his Soviet upbringing. … More The Global Russian Pox

Populism’s Path toward Authoritarianism: The Weirdness of the West

July 15, 2024

Before we become too enamored with the notion that the Russian state and its governance represents the sort of model for us to emulate and the kind of partnership we must seek in a world increasingly in need of security against the global threats of war, economic collapse, climate change and disease, a timely review of the example set by Russia is in order. Russia’s fate has been so intertwined with the sole aspirations of its resident dictator that it now faces the prospect of not simply military defeat in a poorly conceived attempt to overtake a neighboring sovereign nation but the ignominy of ultimate economic collapse. Rather than avoiding such “foibles” of authoritarian rule, some European and other western nations have been engaged in the idea of following suit with their own versions of populist ideals. Ahead of most other nations in its wild pursuit toward similar autocracy is Viktor Orban’s Hungary, well along in its decline into authoritarian rule, and therefore equally suited for similar scrutiny. … More Populism’s Path toward Authoritarianism: The Weirdness of the West

Putin, an Anachronism

May 6, 2024

While several leaders in the West and elsewhere, whatever their age, are intent on remaining current with awareness both of their own place in history and the aspirations of their respective nations, an aging Vladimir Putin seems never to have left his past behind nor even those of his predecessors. He is a resurrection from another era, intent on regaining a past glory of Russia which he believes once existed. … More Putin, an Anachronism

Misjudgments About the War in Europe

April 12, 2024

A recent troubling development has come to public attention regarding pressure placed upon Ukraine by the United States (U.S.) to end its targeting of Russian oil refineries, storage depots and port facilities in response to Russia’s invasion and its unceasing attacks on civilian infrastructure. Global oil prices have trended upward to 15% currently and may effect U.S. gasoline prices in the course of the year, escalating inflation concerns as yet another consequence of Russian malfeasance. In the end, protracting this conflict with decision-making in the West that falls short of the mark does little to bring Ukraine or the world some promise of a decisive conclusion with restoration of a sovereign nation. … More Misjudgments About the War in Europe

Putin’s Odds (Part 3) – Hopes of a Dictator

February 18, 2024

Like-minded authoritarian leaders seem inclined to form alliances to provide some assurance that their conduct, however corrupt and brutal, at least finds approval by their colleagues. These leaders tend to find their own justification in the role they have played in advancing some national purpose. It is actually more the case that they have elevated themselves to a place that allows them to adopt any form of aberrant conduct necessary to achieve goals more suitable for themselves than their nations. When such goals are threatened, as inevitably occurs, the desperate dictator will reach out to his authoritarian colleagues for support hoping it to be available for the duration of his troubles. … More Putin’s Odds (Part 3) – Hopes of a Dictator

Putin’s Odds (Part 1) – The Dissonance of War and Economy

January 30, 2024

Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is beset by a confluence of several factors, some apparent and others not so much, each with their own dynamic and shifting significance. The thing about chaos is its relative unpredictability in acute circumstances. The consequent unpredictability makes it difficult to foresee where and when a point of criticality is reached that will dictate an end to the conflict or determine a clear and inevitable path to that end. … More Putin’s Odds (Part 1) – The Dissonance of War and Economy

Funding a War of Resistance 2022-2024

November 26, 2023

Several members of the United States (U.S.) House of Representatives are opposed to the notion that Ukraine requires their support in its war of resistance against Russia arguing, ostensibly, that enough has been provided to-date, that budget priorities should be directed elsewhere while repeating a narrative, without justification, that the distribution of aid to Ukraine has been mismanaged and much has been wasted in the process. The arguments are disingenuous, no more than contrived political statements that demonstrate a profound ignorance of the global consequences of their proposed inaction. … More Funding a War of Resistance 2022-2024

Putin, Latin America, Hybrid Warfare and the U.S. Border

October 21, 2023

For those who think that Vladimir Putin’s Russia and his war in Ukraine have little to do with the domestic situation in the United States (U.S.) and who likewise pay little attention to the influence his regime exerts in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America because it seems of little consequence for themselves or the world at large, it is more than time to reconsider. Since the end of World War II, Russia has been in a state of conflict with the U.S., vying for global advantage both militarily and geopolitically. The dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991 brought this to a temporary halt until Putin came to power in 2000. What followed was the reestablishment of an authoritarian regime with the intention of recreating some facsimile of a Russian empire of the past. In the process, Putin has gained for himself the reputation of an indicted international criminal and demonstrated to the world his disregard for the rule of law and human welfare. Putin’s conduct on the world stage has amounted to a series of atrocities committed within his own Russia, the Republic of Chechnya and the nations of Georgia, Syria, and now Ukraine. … More Putin, Latin America, Hybrid Warfare and the U.S. Border