AMERICA VERSUS RUSSIA
(And Other Bullies)
On May 3, 2022, the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman took issue with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for saying in public that “We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine”. Mr. Friedman complains that that was talking too much. He also cautions the U.S. to be careful in allying with “a country you could not find on a map with 10 tries a year ago”.
Few people would disagree with Mr. Friedman that talking too much is not good. Speech is silver, silence is gold. So, talking less falls somewhere in between silver and gold, or even moves closer to gold if the talking is not done publicly.
But, in the case of Russia invading Ukraine, I dare venture a different opinion.
Russia’s attacking Ukraine was unthinkable to the world because there was no justification. It should now realize that it is bullying on a large scale pure and simple, and worse blackmail, when Mr. Putin introduced the element of nuclear weapons into his threat.
For a country 600,000 square miles BIGGER than Europe, 28 times the size of Ukraine to talk about gaining more land to preserve its security is pervert and fake, hiding in plain sight its prehistoric insatiable desire of gobbling more land. That desire was hidden after the unraveling of the Soviet Union, but not controlled or abated, until oil and gas money started pouring into its treasury. For a time, the world thought of Mr. Vladimir Putin as someone reasonable and enlightened. He turned out to have come from the same Russian cookie cutter having tried to talk the civilized language without being transformed, or he probably succumbed to the Russian collective greediness.
Self-conscious with the false pretext of national security, Russia stopped talking about it and invented a new and strange excuse: denazification. The president of Russia declared that the goal of invading Ukraine was “to protect the people that are subjected to abuse, genocide from the Kiev regime” and to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.” Then, it started accusing the U.S. of working with Ukrainian laboratories to develop biological weapons. Such lame excuses show clearly Russia’s true desire and intention: when it sees weakness, the bully pounces, right or wrong, and the world, be damned.
The U.S. must consider its own interest in acting in the international theater. It is true as Mr. Friedman points out, that the U.S., in backing small countries, should not raise their expectations too high lest they get intoxicated. But even if they should not tie their fate to small countries, it is imperative that big powerful countries must strive toward the goal of standing on the side of small countries and defend them against big bullies. Fighting bullies of the world to let smaller people live their full life without being bullied or suffering should always be the same mission as fighting for Democracy.
It is always good advice that you don’t lose your strength while helping others. But if a bully is historically incorrigible, it must be weakened, and the club must be taken off its hand. It is not just a small country being attacked and the U.S. should not take a public stand. The Domino Theory is applicable here as well. If the U.S. and the West let Ukraine go today, tomorrow another small country and another after that, would be subsumed into Russia on some absurd pretext.
That is no longer a theory. With the invasion of Ukraine, it is a reality. Therefore, Russia needs to be weakened and the time is now to trim its claws.
And do it publicly. It is time to tell the bullies of the world that the U.S. is not retreating but re-strategizing, re-organizing, and leading the international community to fight them. The time is perfect to declare a variant of the Monroe Doctrine to warn the bullies to keep their hands in their pockets and never touch another country.
The Biden Administration’s message is also addressed to the rest of the world, countries such as India, which have for decades pursued a non-aligned policy to reap the benefits from both sides and at the same time conveniently sit on the sideline when the world needs to choose between right and wrong. Now that the U.S. and Western Europe have thrown down the gauntlet, they must come down from their illusionary high road and make their choice.
The Biden Administration’s message is also not just a declaration of a new strategy in a new world order but an assertion of leadership. By going public, the U.S. shows its willingness to commit itself to what it declares, to correct the zig zag approach of the past. In doing so, it will restore the prestige and trustworthiness of American policies and strategies, and the reliability of its leadership.
