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Several important developments occurred last month that underscore Russia’s ongoing threat to democracy, peace and American national security:
◗ Russian dictator Vladimir Putin finally succeeded in killing his most vocal critic, democracy advocate Alexei Navalny, who died at age 47 in a remote Russian prison in the Arctic Circle (after being sent to a “punishment cell” for the 27th time). Hundreds of Russians have since been arrested throughout the country for having the temerity to lay flowers in Navalny’s memory.
◗ The U.S. Intelligence Community confirmed that Russia is attempting to develop space weapons to take out our satellites.
◗ The key informant behind the House Republicans’ impeachment investigation of President Biden was indicted for lying to the FBI, then he declared that the sources for his “dirt” on Biden were Russian intelligence operatives.
◗ Feb. 24 marked the second anniversary of Russia’s illegal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. American and European support, combined with the moxie of the Ukrainians, has so far prevented the Russian superpower from winning despite its numerous war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.
Putin is a murderous dictator who believes the greatest tragedy of the 20th century was the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since coming to power in 1999, his dream and ultimate goal has been to reconstitute the geographic footprint and global influence and prestige of the Soviet empire.
Erasing Ukraine from the map and folding it into Russia—Putin’s ultimate war aim—will not satiate his appetite for territorial aggrandizement. It will be the appetizer. If he is allowed to take Ukraine and destroy its democracy and sovereign independence, other former Soviet republics will be next on Putin’s menu: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, then perhaps former Soviet-bloc countries like Poland and Romania—all of which are members of both the EU and NATO. It is no wonder that Finland and Sweden abandoned their long-standing neutrality to join the Atlantic alliance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
NATO was founded in 1949 as a military alliance to hold off Soviet aggression and to keep Europe free and democratic. Article 5 of its charter establishes the principle of collective security: An attack on one member will be considered an attack on all members.
Article 5 has been invoked only once—not in response to Russian aggression in Europe, but after the United States was attacked on 9/11. NATO forces fought alongside our troops in Afghanistan, with thousands being killed or wounded in action. NATO members are America’s truest allies.
I’m a former Republican who proudly served in the Army under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Every Republican president (and GOP nominee for president) since the first post-war election in 1948 has been committed to American global leadership and support for our allies inside and outside of NATO, and each had a healthy wariness of Russia. Until Donald Trump.
At a campaign rally last month, Trump suggested that if a NATO member wasn’t fully meeting its defense-spending obligations, he would welcome Russia’s invasion of that country. “No, I would not protect you,” Trump said. “In fact, I would encourage [the Russians] to do whatever the hell they want.”
There is strong bipartisan support for aiding Ukraine and holding Russia to account. But Trump and many of his followers, including some members of Congress and the media, bizarrely seem to be siding with Putin.
At this critical juncture, the goal of American leadership must be to strengthen NATO and support our allies, including Ukraine, not undermine NATO and abandon our allies. Our own national security depends on it.•
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Atlas, a political scientist, is a senior lecturer at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and
Environmental Affairs at IUPUI. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Indiana University. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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This is spot on. The parallel to Hitlerian machinations on Putin’s part, including his consolidation of power in Russia, is apparent. We dare not repeat the mistakes of 1938.
Well now isn’t this a nice little press release from Raytheon? The Russian invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked,” huh? Right. No mention of the CIA-backed coup in 2014 that took out Ukraine’s democratically elected government. No mention of the U.S. arming and funding Nazis to kill thousands of Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the Donbass. Good boy, Professor Atlas! Good boy!
The Ukraine War has proved how truly weak Russia is, except for its nuclear capabilities. It is no longer communist. There is no need for the ideological fight that was the Cold War. It is a dictatorship, but we have always been able to coexist with dictatorships in the past.
Russia has terrible demographics. No motivating belief system. I would ignore them almost completely were it not for their nuclear arsenal.