Foreign Digest: Russia and Bolivia

Russia: Russian Federation tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, bullies and threatens neighboring former Soviet Republics because he laments the breakup of the Soviet Union. When these neighboring States then seek defense from the West, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he then defines their seeking of defense as a threat, which the Russian strongman then uses it to justify his aggression. Putin invaded Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. In the former, he created two puppet states out of breakaway regions, and in the latter, he seized the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea and backs separatists who have gained control of part of eastern Ukraine, despite a treaty recognizing Ukrainian independence, sovereignty and in territorial integrity. Currently, tens of thousands of Russian troops are massed at its border as the Russian dictator issues threats. In addition to opposing the expansion of NATO, a defensive alliance, Putin has similarly objected to the placement of defensive anti-missile weapons. He obviously hopes to reconstitute as much of the Soviet Empire as he can and wants to be able to continue to intimidate neighbors and prevent the West from defending them. Bolivia: the former center-right President who took power after the former leftist President fled after a popular uprising has been charged and incarcerated for fulfilling her constitutional role. The former leftist President had served three terms, despite a constitutional limit of two terms, and then sought a fourth before mass demonstrations forced the increasingly authoritarian anti-American leader from power and out of the country. His leftist party later won elections and allowed him back into Bolivia. The international community should demand the release of the former President and her absolution and use its diplomatic and economic leverage to defend the rule of law and the liberty of the Bolivian people.