Lessons of the Russian Aggression Against Ukraine that Left, Right and Center Failed to Understand, Except for True Conservatives

Post-Cold War Lack of Caution: After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, there was general jubilation in the West that the Cold War had ended in a victory for the Free World over International Communism, with the exception of several remaining Communist States. Except for some of us true conservative Cold Warriors, including leading security, political, diplomatic and academic experts and especially center-right Russians, the excessive exuberance led to too much general support for post-Soviet Russian governments and for laying down our guard without any cauthion because of a lack of appreciation at least for the potential threat from Russia and a return of the Communists. But we conservatives never regarded the victory as complete because there had never been a de-Communization of Russia and some of the other former Soviet Republics like the de-Nazification of Germany after the Second World War, especially after the rise of ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin in the late 1990s and Russia retained thousands of nuclear missiles. I have warned since I started this blog that Russia is again effectively a Communist/fascist superpower hostile to the United States and the Free World. But many ignored the warnings, preferring to trade and spend money on other priorities or citing other threats, as if it meant that Russia was not a threat at all. The Far Left’s and Center-Left’s Errors: The Far Left was even sympathetic to Putin because of his anti-Americanism, while the center-left naïvely believed that there was no threat and that trade and diplomacy would be enough to counter any potential threat and mocked those of us who cited Putin’s increasing authoritarianism and Russian machinations while Putin lamented the breakup of the Soviet Union. It took Russian interference on behalf of their political opponents finally to admit their error. The Far Right and Unprincipled Conservatives’ Errors: Like those on the Far Left, the so-called “America First” isolationists on the Far Right have long turned a blind eye to every foreign threat and blamed America for every wrong in the world. But it has been especially disappointing to us true conservatives that many others on the right side of the political spectrum foolishly came to see the tyrannical Putin as an ally versus Islamists and for traditional values. It was outrageous that they then excused Russian interference in American politics, including winning Putin’s favored candidate, Donald Trump, both the Republican nomination and the presidential election, claiming variously that it showed Putin had done us a favor, or minimizing the “sweeping and systematic” Russian interference on Trump’s behalf the Republican Special Counsel found, or blaming the Democrats or the Ukrainians. They failed to understand that Putin backed Trump for Putin’s interest, which was to weaken, not to help, America, as Trump’s policy toward Putin proved, as did Trumpism’s, isolationism, protectionism, authoritarianism, corruption and deception. As with some on the Far Right in Europe, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused some of these unprincipled conservatives finally to recognize Putin for what he is, but, of course, they have to put the blame on the incumbent liberal Democratic President who has been tougher on Russia than Trump, in order to try to save face. And they have yet to repudiate their support for Putin’s candidate both in 2016 and 2020 and excusal of his intereference and think that all Trump’s appointments and policies should remain in place, even though they were the fruit of interference from a hostile foreign power, among other election fraud (deception, intimidation and illegal campaign activity). Acceptance of foreign interference only encourages more, which is why Russia interfered again in 2020, as Communist China, Islamist Iran and others do because of how successful Russian interference is, just like paying ransom to kidnappers or hackers encourages more kidnapping and hacking. General Lessons: In addition to understanding better the threat from Putin and a Russia and other former Soviet Republics, like Belarus, that were never de-Communized, there are a number of general lessons that all these erroneous people across the political spectrum ought to learn from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Among them are that trade alone does not liberate the people who live under the dictatorship that is being traded with, that diplomacy with an aggressive tyrant is not only futile, but it legitimizes him and gives him more time to gain strength and develop his plans, that weakness invites more aggression, and that, despite Western weakness, the North Atlantic Treaty organization is an effective alliance, as Putin’s fear of it suggests.

Tyrants Fear Freedom

Tyrants fear freedom. Just as ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin is afraid of Ukrainians’ liberty, Communist China is afraid of the liberty of the citizens of the Republic of China on Taiwan, as they did that of Hong Kong residents. They cannot tolerate the people having a real choice, and of being able to hold their rulers accountable for their oppression and corruption. Dictators might think free countries are weak militarily and politically, but it is these despots who only prove their insecurity in lashing out against liberty.

Measures to Counter Russian Aggression

There are many ways that the United States and its allies should counter Russian aggression against Ukraine and other States, as well as the various Russian rogue behavior that I have enumerated in recent months, as the world is awakening to what I have been trying to warn for years through this blog and elsewhere, that Russia under tyrant Vladimir Putin is the most malign influence in the world. The international community should take the following steps: Provide more aid of very kind to Ukraine, more military support to NATO allies and humanitarian aid to States that take in refugees; conduct cyberattacks against Russia while increasing the diffusion of accurate information to Russians and defending against Russia cyberattacks; the professional media should stop quoting Russian misinformation and there should be limits placed on state-run Russian media; downgrade diplomatic ties to the Russian Federation, limiting contacts only to the bare minimum necessary and stop negotiating with the Putin regime; eject Russia from international bodies, including Interpol; counter Russian mercenaries in Africa and elsewhere; implement harsh economic sanctions and seize the ill-gotten assets of Russian oligarchs while banning Russian acquisition of additional assets; impose travel bans on Russian government officials and oligarchs; close airspace to Russian flights; end cultural exchanges and boycott Russian athletics; Those politicians in the West who had been Pro-Putin should be disgraced and those who were disloyal banned from public life and voting; those politicians whom Putin helped get elected should be permanently barred from public service; ban political parties that receive Russian funding; and pray for the conversion of Russia. Countermeasures should include Belarus, whose pro-Putin tyrant is complicit in Russian aggression.

The Liberal and Far Right Isolationist False Moral Equivalence Between the Russian Aggression against Ukraine and the Liberation of Iraq

Liberals and isolationists on the Far Right are making a false moral equivalence between the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the Liberation of Iraq in 2003. However, the differences are extreme. The Liberation of Iraq, led by the United States and a large international coalition, was against a brutal tyrant, Saddam Hussein, who was a serial aggressor violating a cease-fire and violating United Nations resolutions, in addition to harboring and financing terrorists. The U.N. Security Council had voted unanimously that Baathist Iraq was in violation of its resolutions requiring it to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction and that it should, therefore, face material consequences (i.e. military action). Furthermore, overthrowing Hussein had been official U.S. policy under liberal Democratic President Bill Clinton. Overthrowing the dictator allowed Iraqis to exercise self-determination and to have a government that represented all major ethnic and religious groups. Iraq has become a U.S. ally in the War on Terrorism. By contrast, the aggression by the Russian Federation, led by tyrannical ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, was against a representative and free republic that did not sponsor terrorism and that had never been of any threat to Russia or any other State. Putin used as an excuse the separatism by Russian-speakers that he had fomented to invade eastern Ukraine, even though they enjoy more freedoms in Ukraine than Russians or anyone else does in Russia, after already invading Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, much as German tyrant Adolph Hitler had demanded the German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia be annexed to Germany. Just as Hitler then invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia, so now has Putin, himself a serial aggressor, invaded the rest of Ukraine. Russia thus violated its 1994 agreement with Ukraine respecting the latter’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, including over Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Ukraine made the agreement in exchange for giving up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons. In other words, Ukraine is being invaded because it gave up its nuclear deterrence, while Iraq, which had a history of using weapons of mass destruction both against foreigners and Iraqis, was invaded, in part, because it had not given up its WMDs. In fact, thousands of Iraqi chemical weapons and the banned chemicals to make more were discovered and destroyed. Ukraine innocently wanted to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to defend itself against Russia, which the bully Putin uses as an excuse to claim Russia is somehow threatened by a strictly defensive organization. Moreover, whereas the U.S. and its allies did not seize any Iraqi territory, Russia has already annexed Ukrainian territory and likely will seize more. Drawing a false moral equivalency is itself immoral because it equates good with evil. The only similarity between the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the Liberation of Iraq in the context of American foreign policy, in addition to the similar erroneous conclusions reached by isolationists on both the Far Left and the Far Right, is how too many Americans toward the opposite poles of the political spectrum continue to view foreign policy strictly through the lens of extreme partisanship instead of rationally determining what is true or false, what is moral or immoral, what is legal or not, or what is effective or not. The exercise of such excessive partisanship, instead of patriotically defending America and its interests against hostile foreign actors, has been exacerbated by Putin’s interference in American politics because he recognized excessive partisanship as a weakness he could exploit. Whereas in the past, Soviet or Putin propaganda and misinformation was effective only with the Far Left, Americans on the nativist or isolationist Far Right have made themselves equally vulnerable to this danger.

Russian Aggression Against Ukraine

The Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine, which started in 2014, has now been extended to all of Ukraine. Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer, has lamented the breakup of the Soviet Union. He is a serial aggressor, has interfered in foreign elections through misinformation, commits cyber crimes, and kills exiles abroad using chemical weapons, among other machinations. I have been warning of the threat from Russia, a state with thousands of nuclear missiles that never purged the Communists and has become increasingly authoritarian, since I started this blog. Putin has particularly attempted to reconstitute the Soviet Union through exercising control over former Soviet Republics, including through aggression. Russia maintains troops in the separatist part of Moldova inhabited by ethnic Russians without Moldovan permission. It has paid no price for this violation of Moldovan sovereignty. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 to back breakaway parts it then recognized as independent and set up puppet states in. It since broke the peace agreement it signed to withdraw and made further incursions into Georgian territory. It paid little price and only briefly. Russia then invaded Ukraine in 2014 and seized the Crimean Peninsula, despite its treaty recognizing Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Crimea. It since invaded eastern Ukraine to back ethnic Russian separatists. Russia did finally face some serious economic sanctions and the United States did provide aid, including military aid to Ukraine, but it was not enough to deter further Russian aggression. Meanwhile, Russia backs the tyrant of Belarus, a former Soviet Republic that is joining forces with the Russian Federation. Russian troops invaded Ukraine from Belarus, with the latter’s permission. Russia also keeps troops in former Soviet Republics in Central Asia. Putin’s invalid excuse for invading Ukraine is the latter’s long-term goal of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which there is no near-term prospect. But NATO is a defensive military pact that is of no threat to Russia. Putin simply wants no resistance to his goal of reconstituting the Soviet Empire. He was especially upset when Ukrainians forced out of power their corrupt pro-Russian leader so they could reach a trade deal with the European Union instead of with Russia. Ukraine has the right to join NATO once it completes the necessary reforms. Putin objects to the previous expansion of NATO. The organization will not send troops to defend Ukraine, but supports Ukrainian sovereignty. Members have been providing various types of support. There have been protests in dozens of Russian cities against Putin’s aggression. There have already been over 1,400 arrests, as the tyrant does not permit the freedom of peaceful assembly. There have also been protests in front of Russian embassies and consulates across Western Europe and in Israel. There has been strong condemnation from around the world. There has not been this much negative reaction against Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Comparable only was the outrage against the Soviets for shooting down a South Korean civilian airliner in 1982. Harsh sanctions are being imposed by the U.S., the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Australia. The United States has had a policy of opposing military aggression since the Second World War, whereby one state tries to conquer another. It thus defends Israel against Muslim Arab States, Taiwan against Communist China, and South Korea against Communist North Korea, just as it defended Kuwait against Baathist Iraq. By defending the principles of independence, sovereignty and self-determination, as well as the peaceful resolution of disputes, the U.S. defends its own independence, sovereignty and self-determination.

Washington Crossing the Delaware Quarter Dollar: A Return to Unifying and Inspirational Coin Design

The United States Mint issued a new reverse for the Washington Quarter Dollar in late 2021, the Washington Crossing the Delaware Quarter. It is the regular issue quarter after the completion of the America the Beautiful Series in which every State or territory’s national parks were featured on the reverse, and before the 2022 American Women Series that I posted about last year. This striking and inspiring design appropriately honors a significant historical event, and the men who took part in it: the night crossing of the icy Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey on Christmas 1776 to surprise the Hessian mercenaries of the British at Trenton, a victory that turned the tide of the war and provided a much-needed morale boost to the struggling American forces and the American people during the Revolutionary War. After the American Women Series, a similar patriotic series will follow for the 250th anniversary of Independence, together with a new obverse image of Washington. Such designs are more unitive than divisive than ones honoring individuals. As I have repeatedly noted, the Founders did not want the images of individuals on coins for this reason and instead put images of the personification of “Liberty,” based on the homologous Roman goddess. Designs that educate, inspire and unite are needed more than usual nowadays. I hope this type of design will be more effective than politically controversial ones.

Washington’s Birthday, Not Presidents’ Day: Let Us Unite to Honor Our Founder, Not Argue About Which Presidents Were the Worst

Today is the federal holiday of Washington’s Birthday. Every year, I call for the restoration of this holiday which is known in most States and more commonly as “Presidents’ Day” or some iteration thereof, with or without the necessary apostrophe or written in the wrong place. And the federal observation is never on February 22, George Washington’s birthday. The treatment of this day, which was intended to honor George Washington greatness as a military leader and Founding Father, not only for his presidency, instead as a day for all the Presidents, dilutes is meaning and is divisive, instead of unitive. The professional media and others tend to argue about which Presidents were the worst or bring up controversial presidential decisions. It certainly was not intended to be about whoever is the current holder of the office. Such discussions are hardly as inspiring as learning about and contemplating the life of public service by Washington. Furthermore, they contribute to the modern cult of the presidency that the Founders would not have appreciated, especially as there is no corresponding popular celebration for the other two co-equal branches of government. There was one consolation this year, as today I noticed a Quarter Dollar with the reverse of Washington Crossing the Delaware that I shall discuss in my next post.

Foreign Digest: Russia, Hungary, Poland and Afghanistan

Russia: The Russian Federation Parliament called for the recognition of the independence of the breakaway parts of Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists. Recognition by Russia, like its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula after invading it in 2014, would violate its 1994 treaty with the former Soviet Republic, in which it recognized the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Russia similarly recognized breakaway parts of Georgia after invading that former Soviet Republic in 2008, setting up puppet governments not widely recognized internationally. Also, the professional media keeps referring to a “conflict” or “tensions” between Ukraine and Russia, but the crisis is only because of Russia’s threats to invade Ukraine because Russian tyrant and ex-Soviet intelligence officer Valdimir Putin wishes to restore the Soviet Union, not some dispute between the States. Hungary and Poland: The European Union’s Court upheld the suspension of funds from Hungary and Poland because the two far right-led EU members have violated the adhesion treaty. Hungary violates human rights and Poland the independence of the judiciary. Afghanistan: Even though winter is not the fighting season in Afghanistan, there have already been clashes between the National Resistance Front and the Taliban regime that took over nearly all of Afghanistan last year after the Trump-Biden withdrawal of American and allied forces. The NRF, based in the Panjshir Valley and led by the Caretaker President and the son of the greatest commander in the war against the Soviets, is made up of ethnic Tajiks and former Afghan military and intelligence officers. The Taliban met with the NRF commander to try to persuade him to accept their rule with some autonomy, but the NRF insists on national elections and representation for all minorities in Afghanistan. The Taliban had harbored the al-Qaeda Islamist Terrorists responsible for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. In the Taliban leadership are those listed by the United Nations as terrorists.

Foreign Digest: Russia and China

Russia: The Russian Federation threats to invade Ukraine are among the ways Russia’s machinations have been causing economic harm. Russia is already harming Ukraine particularly through economic intimidation, cyberattacks, and false bomb scares, among the many types of rogue behavior Russia engages in under ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin. Russia has already invaded Ukraine, not only in Crimea in 2014, but additionally, as Russians forces have been aiding ethnic Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The tyrant Putin’s modus operandi is to threaten or attack foreign States, and then claim that the threatened States’ interest in pursuing alliances with the West to defend themselves thereby constitutes some kind of a threat to Russia. However, Ukraine’s goal of joining NATO is no threat, as the alliance is strictly defensive. Putin simply fears not being able effectively to re-constitute the Soviet Union, his long-term project. China: Argentina agreed to join Communist China’s “Belt and Road” initiative that seeks economic and infrastructural influence around the world. In exchange, China expressed support for the false Argentine claim to the Falkland Islands. The British territory, which was never settled by Argentines or their Spanish forbears, voted overwhelmingly to remain British. The United Kingdom successfully defended its sovereignty over the Falklands in 1982, after an Argentine invasion. Communist China, whose Belt and Road initiative would be labelled as “imperialism” by Marxists were it conducted by free Western States, criticizes the British for “imperialism,” but supports Russia’s threats to invade more Ukrainian territory.