The problem that is Russia—and ours

 

 

Like most of my generation andthose ten, even twenty years younger, I have vivid memories of the Cold War,that period of deep tension between Russia and the United States that never,thank goodness, blossomed into a hot war—it remained a standoff for too manytension-filled years. If it began in 1947, as is generally accepted, I was nineyears old. I remember (or is it just that I’ve heard it so often?) WilliamFaulkner’s acceptance speech for the 1949 award in literature, with its classicline, “I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal … because he has a soul, a spirit capableof compassion and sacrifice and endurance.” I remember Joseph McCarthy andthe lives he ruined searching for communists in every woodpile (one might thinkof today’s desperate effort to impeach Biden). I remember the Cuban MissileCrisis of 1962 when we were sure that Russian nuclear weapons were about todescend on major American cities. I was in a small town in Missouri, and Iurged my parents to leave Chicago and travel to Missouri. I was sure, bystaying, they would die. I do not remember hiding under my school desk to avoidan atomic bomb—how futile that seems to us with our knowledge today—but I thinkthat came along after I had completed my early schooling. What I do rememberand will never forget was that Russia was the archenemy of the United States.It was a giant, evil bear lurking over our lives. Eventually into the sixties,the tensions lessened. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics broke up, Russiaseemed less a threat, and life went on. But I never ever forgot our historywith Russia, the stories we heard about the KBG and work camps in Siberia, and otherhorror tales. Russia was always the enemy. Today, Vladimir Putin, with a KGBbackground, has brought those days back with a vengeance—not only by invadingUkraine but by his handling of dissent—prominent people poisoned, falling outof skyscraper windows, dying in prison. And his plan to infiltrate Americanpolitics and social media and influence the direction of our country has been wildlysuccessful.

It boggles mymind today to read that some Republican members of the House will admit thatRussian propaganda has infiltrated some members of the Republican Party, andsometimes the Russian line appears on the floor of the U. S. House ofRepresentatives. (Heather Cox Richardon has an explosive column about how theRussian propaganda machine has been effective in America since trump’selection: (61) April 8,2024 - by Heather Cox Richardson (substack.com) MAGArepresentatives oppose aid to Ukraine, saying that we need to spend thosedollars at home to help the poor—disregard that they are the party who isdesperate to cut social security, Medicaid and Medicare and continually votesto close school lunch prograns and anything designed to help low income familiesget a grip. Disregard also that stopping Russia now ensure the security ofAmerica in the future, and also that economists point out that helping beleagueredcountries boosts our trade partners in the future—when that war is over and Ukrainestabilized, that country’s grain supplies will again become crucial to theworld—and to America.

The presumptive MAGAleader, one former president of our country, has a plan to end the war inUkraine: he will simply give Ukraine to the Russians, and then fighting willcease. (He has apparently not consulted Zelensky about this). MAGA followershave no idea that stopping the Russian incursion into Ukraine is vital to ourcountry’s security. If Russia is allowed to swallow Ukraine, it will have beenrewarded for breaking international law in an unprovoked attack on anothercountry. Russia will then be free to march across Europe, swallowing countries.America will be left without major allies—in addition to defense, that wouldweaken our trade with other countries, our sales, our whole economy. People whoadvocate isolationism simply don’t realize what a small world we live intoday—America would not survive without its allies.

Have these MAGAfolks not studied their history? Do they not know about the Cold War, the CubanMissile Crisis? Do they not know a bit of earlier history about Germany doingjust what Russia is now trying to do—march across Europe subjugating countries.In the late 1930s British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain agreed to letGermany annex Sudetenland, a German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia, becauseHitler promised not to take any more land. We know how that worked out. Chamberlain’sdisastrous policy of appeasement led to WWII.

Does MarjorieTaylor Greene not know any of this history? Matt Goetz? Mike Johnson? It isappalling to me that we have elected so-called leaders who are so blind to thebasics of democracy and to our history. I don’t know whether to blame oureducation system for not teaching them history or to place the blame squarelyon their shoulders for being seduced by power and notoriety. Either way, weneed leaders with a grasp of history and diplomacy and internationalrelationships. Trump and his minions are not that.

Rant over.