The latest bombshell in this crazy campaign season just dropped as I write this: Joe Biden is not running and has endorsed Kamala Harris. I am not too upset about this decision, frankly, because I think it provides the necessary counter to the extreme misogyny of the Republican candidates. But more on that maybe as events play out.
I am writing about Ukraine today, because I don’t think Americans are thinking about the wider picture, and they need to do so.
It is a lot like a “Don’t look up” moment right now in America.
Trump wants us to forget that we are interconnected globally, even as he runs businesses across the globe.
The interconnection of things pertains to our fuel prices and inflation problems, not to mention the pandemic that we are still recovering from financially.
Having grown up in the UK, I don't have much respect for the navel-gazing of the American people, when even who we vote for will affect others' freedoms elsewhere.
The reality is, Russia chose to go into Ukraine at a moment that would make the West look weak. They chose to make Trump look peaceful, when in reality he stoked the fires of rebellion against law and order at home. They chose to attack a neighbor without provocation, and they chose to run influence campaigns on stupid Americans who would believe the disjointed, illogical lies about Russian colonization rights and minimize the value of Ukrainian lives.
There is a well of trauma revealed in our world right now, also seen in the aftermath of the horrific October 7th attacks by Hamas terrorists, which have provoked an overwhelmingly cruel response towards people in Gaza, by the current Israeli leadership.
We are “led” by a lot of evil men, and President Biden has done the best of a bad mess. I have no regrets for my support of him, and I blame those who are trying to undermine wise leaders like him who understand how everything works and connects together.
Putin is not a wise leader, he is a criminal mob boss, running an economy of crooks and liars. The Russian people are not unintelligent; they are simply not at all free and perhaps rarely if ever have been.
And Ukrainian freedom endangers the control of the corrupt. The more free Ukraine gets of corruption and Russian influence, the more likely Russians will too. Conversely, the war clouds all things and traumatizes a generation or more.
And yes war can spread.
Putin may be an ignorant chauvinist, but he can also be calculating, and his Kremlin is shrewd; they know that freedom spreads too. They know they can’t keep their own people down forever, without attacking freedom narratives that spread on the internet.
So they have run multiple documented influence campaigns online and target outspoken individuals for harassment campaigns.
The Russian's war on freedom has spread online.
It is why Americans can change character entirely to embrace MAGA. Not everything that MAGA or Russians believe is compatible, but certainly, there is enough overlap and ability to subvert American society via MAGA “values", that Russian campaigns have seen fit to promote and endorse Trump as their guy.
So I said this piece would be about Ukraine. It is, in the sense that we are all connected.
Ukraine is the only land mass standing between Putin and Europe.
Do Americans understand that if NATO falls and Europe is overrun, or more likely subverted, Russia won’t care what they destroy there? If you’ve taken a vacation to Europe or dream of so doing, don’t expect Russia to care about keeping it beautiful or free there. Don't expect to be able to come home if you take a trip to a Russian-occupied or influenced location. And we are in danger of being so influenced here, even in the land of the free. Corruption destroys lives and can kill freedom.
Putin may have cleaned up the streets, but you should ask where the corruption went.
A lot of the stupid fascists rising in Europe right now won’t be too happy if they actually do free up Russian influence to permeate their culture; they will miss their freedoms when they are gone. There is nothing but corruption and poverty to look forward to in fascism, not peace or justice and definitely not freedom of speech. You can’t offend the right wing authoritarian leader and keep your normal life. Just look at Navalny.
I don’t know if Putin's Russia would be so stupid as to bomb Europe someday, but they might. They only care about Russia. Conversely, check out how Russians live sometime. We are facing a new dark ages in Europe, and it will absolutely spread globally if enabled there.
That is why we have NATO and why we lead the way in NATO. They had our backs on 9/11. Yes we fund it the most. But that gives us clout in decision-making. It seems to me that MAGA are easily influenced by foreign campaigns and domestic terrorists simply because they do not have logic skills. MAGA's lack of morals, decency and any sense of duty make them Russian a$$hats.
All of this said, I invite you to check it out for yourself. Read a variety of sources, not just American. Be aware of influence campaigns and lies spread by sources such as RT and the Epoch Times. Read and listen to the thoughts of the BBC, France 24, Deutsche Welle in English. Their perspectives may be different from American perspectives, but they lend context. Americans need to understand exactly what it meant from Trump to treat NATO like a country club requiring dues, that if a country can't pay as much as the biggest country demands, should be shook down by the mob.
His exact words were: "in fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want."
I know rape isn't a deal-breaker for MAGA, but to vote for such an evil man like that says a lot about American character. There is no other conclusion for reasonable people of good faith.
And even such horrors aside:
Ukraine is important, not simply because it is a free country that deserves to exist like any other, but because it is strategically relevant to our future as a free world.
Will we support freedom now and stand up to abuse, or will we allow a backwards, unfree, antidemocratic, abusive, raping, imperialistic Russia to come up to our borders, to fight forever wars with our descendants? Cowardice and selfishness will not save US.
Those trying to get us to stop supporting Ukraine are fools who will take us backwards, into a worse place than the Cold War.
Cowards want us to submit to fear of nukes and Putin. Putin is a weak man, and like Trump, he is only a man. He is old, not wise. He is callous and misogynistic. Let us not be like him. There are no perfect leaders right now, but you cannot deny Zelenskyy’s courage and commitment to the cause of freedom.
It took a comedian to lead in serious times. You never know the measure of a person until they face adversity. And we have evil, unserious alternatives, in Putin and Trump and others.
I stand with Ukraine. Those who think we should stop sending them support are setting us up to send our kids to stop a crazy and evil regime.
Make wise choices, Americans. And please, for the love of freedom, read more widely and think more deeply. Our elders know.
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