Cleaning up after the Republicans… again
Once again, Democrats are obliged to clean up another Republican mess. Putin’s current aggression in Ukraine is an attempt to restore control of Russia’s own back yard that it had during the Soviet Era. Some experts argue that Putin and many Russians hold 30 years of pent-up anger over the humiliation of West’s “triumphalism” after the 1990s fall of the Soviet Union under pressure from Republican paladin Ronald Reagan.
That is not to say that Russia and Putin have not always been feudal and prone to aggression. Russia expanded to a world power by refusing to compromise, invasion, and cheating. Putin, a former KGB officer, uses that underhanded playbook strategically to sow chaos and maintain control. Now, he is reasserting himself with the objective to destabilize NATO and Europe, not unlike he did by weaponizing the Syrian migrant crisis in 2016.
Putin has used an aggressive misinformation campaign to buttress his new incursion into Ukraine, falsely depicting Ukraine as “not even a country.” On the contrary, Ukraine is the largest country in Europe, and it PREDATES Russia. The former country called “Muscovy” was renamed Russia in the late 16th century when early tsars appropriated the “Rus” name from the people of Kyiv to enhance their ancestry.
Putin’s current goal is to reverse the treaties of 1990s, while NATO’s goal is to rebuild and strengthen those security arrangements. Following the 1994 Budapest Memorandum to respect Ukraine sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons, the U.S. has a duty to defend Ukraine. Putin may be continuing the Russian tradition of refusing to compromise. But that doesn’t mean Biden has to.
Biden is playing Putin beautifully, using his own truth campaign, releasing Intel to gain public support against Russian aggression in Ukraine. For example, we now know that Russia has created lists of Ukrainian residents identified for “targeted killings, kidnappings/forced disappearances, unjust detentions, and the use of torture.” Biden has also responded with swift sanctions including cutting correspondent banking ties.
Biden continues to apply pressure to force Putin back to the negotiating table. We should be thankful that we have such an experienced and savvy POTUS during this truly scary time. It will be tricky, but we can count on Biden to do the right thing.
Chicago native Lorraine Evanoff earned her degree in French from DePaul University then became a Certified Financial Manager. She worked as a finance exec in film production for seven years in Paris, then in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era, and later for various Hollywood production companies, notably as CFO of National Lampoon. She is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband.