America’s political leaders are shrugging at Putin’s evil

The ongoing stalemate in Washington over aid to Ukraine is a tragedy. As Ukrainians fight for their survival as a nation, and as Putin’s hordes overwhelm their country and enter Europe, with untold consequences for the rest of the world, U.S. policymakers believe that 4,000 They prioritize their own personal ambitions over everyone’s physical survival and Putin’s chances. Start World War III.

At the very least, the narcissistic behavior of these leaders, from President Joe Biden to House Speaker Mike Johnson to Republican powerhouse Donald Trump, shows that a neorealist interpretation of foreign policy that ignores domestic factors is completely wrong. This proves that At best, the trio flirts dangerously with indifference and complicity in Russia’s genocide of Ukrainians.

Because that is the choice before these three people. Either do the right thing and help Ukraine survive and suffer political headwinds that may or may not affect their careers, or focus solely on their own political careers and avoid Russia’s annihilation of Ukrainians. Either it will happen quickly or Ukraine will collapse. His history as a willful collaborator of the Russian genocide.

The second choice would not only be indifferent, it would forever brand them evil. Unlike British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who truly believed that appeasement would stop Hitler, Biden, Johnson, and Trump have no such illusions about President Putin. They believe that he is evil, that he is intentionally killing Ukrainians, and that all he needs to do to be on the right side of morality and history is to overcome his personal ambitions and help Ukraine protect its own country. I know full well that all I can do is help save. All it takes is $60 billion to side with the angels against Satan. That is a decrease in the US government budget.

Ironically, all three claim to be Christians, and even Mr. Trump claims to be a Christian. claim The Bible is his favorite book. Christians should not see their neighbors massacred. They must love their neighbor as themselves. While it may be difficult to consistently translate this principle into policy, there are certainly clear cases where morality and self-interest coincide, such as Russia’s pursuit of a genocidal war in Ukraine.

Destruction of Ukraine would destroy the European Union and NATO, force the US to become even more interventionist than it is now, and perhaps push as many as 40 million Ukrainians into Europe. And, ironically, the majority will go to Hungary and Slovakia, whose prime ministers have taken openly anti-Ukrainian, pro-Putin stances in hopes of staying on the sidelines of the war. .

Failure to provide timely assistance to Ukraine also undermines confidence in democracy. Winston Churchill was right, but To tell, “No one pretends that democracies are perfect or that everything is wise,” and that today’s democracies are reasonably imperfect and simply incapable of making wise choices. This naturally leads many to ignore Churchill’s statement: “Democracy is, in fact, said to be the worst form of government.” ” and simply concludes that democracy cannot function in a complex world that requires rapid response to never-ending challenges such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Hemming and hemming in the West is not just shameful. That’s criminal.

1956 poem “Thanksgiving” Written in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s violent crackdown on the Hungarian Revolution, E. Cummings’ book gets its point across with terrifying precision. In the face of “monstrous terror,” “the voice of democracy smiles/Declares night and day/’All you poor little peoples who want to be free/Just believe in us.'”

Hungary takes these words seriously and “utters a terrible cry/’No slave’s life will kill me/For I will die free.'”

In response, the United Nations has called on Hungary to refrain from offending the “kind bear” while “Uncle Sam shrugs his pretty pink shoulders.”

The last verse is worth quoting in its entirety.

So la la la la democracy
Let’s all be grateful to death
and bury the statue of liberty
(Because it starts to smell)

Fortunately, the Statue of Liberty is still alive and well. Alas, more can be said about Hungary, which chose to euthanize its slaves, or about the American democracy, which wears pretty pink shrugs.

Alexander J. Motil He is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. He is an expert on Ukraine, Russia, the Soviet Union, and nationalism, revolution, empire, and theory, and is the author of ten nonfiction books.imperial end“The Decline, Collapse, and Resurrection of Empires” and “Why the Empire is rising again: Compare the collapse of an empire and the revival of an empire. ”