A debt that cannot be repaid

I haven’t posted in a while.   We seem to be hurtling towards world-changing events faster than history usually moves, and my blog entries from just a few months ago already look hopelessly outdated.  Whatever endgame Putin (or anybody else) envisioned in Ukraine, it is clearly not happening according to plan.  Instead, it looks increasingly likely that this will be the end of the Putin regime.   There will be no soft landing for Russia; the most likely scenario is a coup by one faction or another, but one cannot discount a full-blown civil war, with pieces of the Russian federation falling away like rotten fruit as the center ceases to hold.  Already, erstwhile “allies” of Putin are stepping away warily, and even North Korea has denied providing weapons to Russia. 

What happened?  Ukraine happened.  A fledgling democracy, embattled for years, with parts of its territory occupied by Putin’s forces, decided to fight back.  Yes, NATO has provided weapons, intelligence and material support, but the blood shed, grief endured and courage exhibited against seemingly impossible odds is solely from and by the Ukrainian people.   Thousands of Ukrainians have already died in defense of their country, and the massacres at Bucha and Izyum, separated by months and hundreds of miles, are not anomalies.  The horrors perpetrated by the Putin regime on Ukraine are of a pattern, with evidence of brutality over the years in Syria, Chechnya and anywhere else where the Russian boot has trod.

Yes, the Ukrainians are fighting for their country, and their lives.  But make no mistake; they are fighting our battle as well.  In an era where autocracy and dictatorship seemed in ascendance, Ukraine has torn the mask off the decay and ineptitude that lie at the heart of any dictatorship.  Cronies of Putin have profited by their association with him, with dachas, yachts and French villas their reward.  In return, Russia has been left with a decrepit and corrupt military, shoddy infrastructure, and an opaque value system that, whatever it is, sure isn’t a meritocracy.  John McCain’s description of Russia as “a gas station run by the Mafia, masquerading as a country” was spot on. 

Yet here in our own country, we still have fools and villains who hope to profit from a parallel regime here.  Trump’s erstwhile cabinet of sycophants, hangers-on and relatives, with Proud Boy storm troopers, cheerleading from Tucker Carlson and other propagandists, and a brain-dead army of worshippers, suckled on lies and hate, ape the Putin regime in everything except power. 

We cannot repay Ukraine for their sacrifices.  The scars from this invasion will last for decades.  But we can honor their courage by making sure that the forces of lies and deception do not succeed here.   The United States remains the single most important bulwark against autocracy in the world, and we dare not take that for granted. If nothing else, the events of the last six years tell us that democracy is fragile, and we cannot afford complacency.  Vote.  Vote in every election, no matter how small or local.  Find out who is running, and what they stand for.  Vote like it matters, because it does.