Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is, unfortunately, a development of historically menacing proportions. The most powerful global force of imperialism and autocracy is now being unleashed with the goal of redefining the norms of the world we have inhabited since the end of WWII. Such developments are not to be wished for. The approximately half century era of relative peace between global superpowers is ending quickly, right here, before our eyes. Putin’s actions promise a substantial period, or even era, of renewed overt conflict, both “kinetic” and political, and both at home and abroad. It’s likely to get rough.
This will literally call for unprecedented rethinking of not just US and European foreign policy, but also for a fundamental cognitive re-calibration for all of us.
Putin has been studying, infiltrating, and taking advantage of vulnerabilities in Western democracy for decades. Having taken what he thinks of as “our measure,” he now feels confident about laying down militarily in Europe an existential challenge to the dominance of what we think of as “The West” and of democracy. He has already laid-down the gauntlet on cyber warfare and other forms of subterfuge over the last couple of decades to the point where he found himself able to take not insignificant credit for the cultivation and then election of a US president who admires him and effectively viewed him as an ally. And that TFG then further catalyzed and empowered millions of Americans — and one of our two major political parties — into becoming sympathetic, if not allied with, the authoritarian agenda and even Putin and other authoritarian leaders, domestically and globally.
There are a lot of very complex dynamics at work here and huge stakes involved for the world as we know it. More on all of that in coming posts (and everywhere in the press and commentatariot). In the meantime, this much needs to be said:
Democratic forces worldwide, but especially here in the US, are going to have to push back much harder than they have — or even have contemplated — for decades. Ours is now, quite literally, a world in flux. The forces of authoritarianism have grown so strong that they are today, right now, openly threatening the power, and indeed the very existence, of sovereign European nations and democracy.
Democratic-aligned forces will need to pivot immediately to assert all of their power financially, legally, in law enforcement, and militarily. The US and allies have extraordinary resources to deploy in this regard and they hopefully will do so in ways that gets everyone’s undivided attention. And then they hopefully, again, will move to assert and enforce a critical threshold of order — and then be able to lead the way into some revised and new forms of freedom-protecting local and global socio-political norms and practices.
But this is gonna get rough and tough, not just over there, but over here as well. This is where the challenge of cognitive re-calibration comes in. We are now forced to realize that we, the democratically-aligned, are being forced by the authoritarians to adopt a new and uncomfortable frame of mind and point of view. They have been preparing for and in many ways engaged in a war against the democratically-aligned for some time. We have only recently become aware and even alarmed enough about this to barely defeat the reprehensible and seditious TFG. We are now going to have to adopt the outright frame of mind that we are now “at war” with autocracy.
By no means do I mean to imply a kinetic “real” war here at home. But it’s definitely “war by other means” for our future that will require us to be “all-in,” short of physical violence, to beat back the authoritarians and to preserve our freedoms. This is going to be uncomfortable for so many of us who have lived in a relatively comfortable era.
But as of today, pro-democracy forces are going to have to take and maintain an extremely firm, unyielding, and, where necessary, pain-inducing grip on forces that threaten us, both internally and externally: Firm and unyielding in deploying and strengthening guarantees of liberty, equality, and justice that address key democratic shortcomings and stir the hearts of The People to maintain and demand comity. But also, as in all wars, whether kinetic or political, there must almost inevitably be pain inflicted in deterring or stopping forces of mayhem and autocracy. We already know well from so much of human history that, once organized and unleashed, these forces can only be defeated through some threshold of confrontation and the anticipation or infliction of unavoidable, painful consequences for their actions.
After years of being blindered to and in many ways complicit in (or at minimum complacent about) the rise of anti-democratic forces, we, the democratically-aligned, are now charged with, and are responsible for, resisting and then defeating these forces. This is not a mandate that any of us wished for or expected, but here we are.
We must get our heads around, prepare for, and then do what’s necessary to defend and to support democracy. We must be tough and we must get going.