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<p>Hi Allen</p>
<p>this is quite a different take on the Ukraine war than what I
have been reading. I was just reading about how false narratives
are created by building large falsehoods out of fragments of
truths. The Truth here is that the west has aided and abetted the
kleptocracy of the Russian oligarchs. The rest of the story
following from this truth is a fantasy, "We should look to
Ukraine to learn how to defend democracy." <br>
</p>
<p>There is no talk about <br>
</p>
<ol>
<li>the Nazi Azov battalion. <br>
</li>
<li> how the war was instigated by the West by sending Arms to the
Ukraine and refusing to negotiate with Russia.</li>
<li>about Nord Stream 2 pipeline being finished against the will
of the USA</li>
<li>nor talk about the 14000 mostly ethnic Russian lives lost in
the Ukraine before the Russian invasion. <br>
</li>
<li>no mention of the 2014 coup that brought Zelenski into power.</li>
</ol>
<p>No major political figure in the west with the exception perhaps
of Trump are promoting a negotiated settlement and peaceful
intervention. The west seems to want this war and will fight it
to the last Ukrainian. <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCC_KtRZO98&t=15s">
The Wall Street Journal is even arguing for nuclear war. </a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Peace Art<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<ol>
<br>
</ol>
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<p class="ArticleParagraph_dropcap__Xra23
ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing: inherit;
max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;
line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">I<span
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normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal;">n february 1994</span>,
in the grand ballroom of the town hall in Hamburg, Germany,
the president of Estonia gave <a
href="https://vp1992-2001.president.ee/eng/k6ned/K6ne.asp?ID=9401"
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before an audience in evening dress, Lennart Meri praised
the values of the democratic world that Estonia then aspired
to join. “The freedom of every individual, the freedom of
the economy and trade, as well as the freedom of the mind,
of culture and science, are inseparably interconnected,” he
told the burghers of Hamburg. “They form the prerequisite of
a viable democracy.” His country, having regained its
independence from the Soviet Union three years earlier,
believed in these values: “The Estonian people never
abandoned their faith in this freedom during the decades of
totalitarian oppression.”</p>
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Europe, could soon be under threat. Russian President Boris
Yeltsin and the circles around him were returning to the
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aggression, and imperial nostalgia; the Russian state was
developing an illiberal vision of the world, and even then
was preparing to enforce it. Meri called on the democratic
world to push back: The West should “make it emphatically
clear to the Russian leadership that another imperialist
expansion will not stand a chance.”</p>
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0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">Meri’s fears
were at that time shared in all of the formerly captive
nations of Central and Eastern Europe, and they were strong
enough to persuade governments in Estonia, Poland, and
elsewhere to campaign for admission to NATO. They succeeded
because nobody in Washington, London, or Berlin believed
that the new members mattered. The Soviet Union was gone,
the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg was not an important
person, and Estonia would never need to be defended. That
was why neither Bill Clinton nor George W. Bush made much
attempt to arm or reinforce the new NATO members. Only in
2014 did the Obama administration finally place a small
number of American troops in the region, largely in an
effort to reassure allies after the first Russian invasion
of Ukraine.</p>
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inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">Nobody else
anywhere in the Western world felt any threat at all. For 30
years, Western oil and gas companies piled into Russia,
partnering with Russian oligarchs who had openly stolen the
assets they controlled. Western financial institutions did
lucrative business in Russia too, <a
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those same Russian kleptocrats to export their stolen money
and keep it parked, anonymously, in Western property and
banks. We convinced ourselves that there was no harm in
enriching dictators and their cronies. Trade, we imagined,
would transform our trading partners. Wealth would bring
liberalism. Capitalism would bring democracy—and democracy
would bring peace.</p>
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srcset="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/5Ap-RJIU5wqewC2__ocinTL_UWs=/438x0:1563x1125/90x90/media/img/mt/2021/07/TimeTax3-1/original.jpg
90w,
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180w" style="box-sizing: inherit;"
class=""><img alt="Artwork of the hands of
a clock spinning on the back side of a
quarter coin." loading="lazy"
class="Image_loaded__9ZaHQ
Image_root__d3aBr
ArticleRelatedContentList_image__QZqNk
Image_lazy__tutlP"
srcset="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/5Ap-RJIU5wqewC2__ocinTL_UWs=/438x0:1563x1125/90x90/media/img/mt/2021/07/TimeTax3-1/original.jpg
90w,
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180w"
src="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/5Ap-RJIU5wqewC2__ocinTL_UWs=/438x0:1563x1125/90x90/media/img/mt/2021/07/TimeTax3-1/original.jpg"
style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style:
none; width: 90px; height: auto; display:
block; opacity: 1; transition: opacity
0.3s ease 0s; left: 0px; position:
absolute; top: 0px; object-fit: cover;
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width="90" height="90"></picture></a></figure>
<div
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_textWrapper__wNfJT"
style="box-sizing: inherit; flex-grow: 1;">
<h3
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_title__hndDt"
style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;
font-size: 18px; font-feature-settings:
"lnum"; font-variant-numeric:
lining-nums; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px
6px;"><a
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_link___tOJm"
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/07/how-government-learned-waste-your-time-tax/619568/"
data-action="click link - recommended
reading - title 1"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/07/how-government-learned-waste-your-time-tax/619568/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;"
moz-do-not-send="true">The Time Tax</a></h3>
<address
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_byline__3tmCH"
style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style:
normal; font-family: Goldwyn, monospace;
font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.06em;
text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 14px;"><a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/annie-lowrey/"
data-action="click link - recommended
reading - author 1"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/annie-lowrey/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">ANNIE
LOWREY</span></a></address>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li class="ArticleRelatedContentList_listItem__QXcFJ"
style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 0.95em;
position: relative; border-top-width: 0.25px;
border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgba(0,
0, 0, 0.15);">
<div
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_content__qe_fY"
data-view-action="view link - recommended reading
1 - item 2"
data-view-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/theres-no-such-thing-luxury-housing/618548/"
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-31117857_217="21827"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-31117857_217="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-31117857_217="1"
style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;
justify-content: space-between; padding: 28px 0px;
position: relative; width: auto;">
<figure
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_figure__gAk6T"
style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color:
rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 18px 0px 0px;
overflow: hidden; position: relative;
flex-basis: 90px; flex-shrink: 0;"><a
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_link___tOJm"
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/theres-no-such-thing-luxury-housing/618548/"
title="Read More: America Needs More Luxury
Housing, Not Less" data-action="click link -
recommended reading - image 2"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/theres-no-such-thing-luxury-housing/618548/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;"
moz-do-not-send="true"><picture
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_picture__zoPfx"
style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block;
padding-bottom: 90px;"><source
media="(prefers-reduced-motion)"
srcset="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/ylT1qG2TQQqE1IYG6rXlZmnUKTw=/448x0:1024x576/90x90/media/img/mt/2021/04/C6BE5608_8AEC_41C7_A3E1_3F72DFCAAA7A/original.jpg
90w,
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/yg5R7n7mhhR0DFJZdWBIvUB9oPA=/448x0:1024x576/180x180/media/img/mt/2021/04/C6BE5608_8AEC_41C7_A3E1_3F72DFCAAA7A/original.jpg
180w" style="box-sizing: inherit;"
class=""><img alt="A reflection of a crane
constructing new buildings" loading="lazy"
class="Image_loaded__9ZaHQ
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ArticleRelatedContentList_image__QZqNk
Image_lazy__tutlP"
srcset="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/ylT1qG2TQQqE1IYG6rXlZmnUKTw=/448x0:1024x576/90x90/media/img/mt/2021/04/C6BE5608_8AEC_41C7_A3E1_3F72DFCAAA7A/original.jpg
90w,
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/yg5R7n7mhhR0DFJZdWBIvUB9oPA=/448x0:1024x576/180x180/media/img/mt/2021/04/C6BE5608_8AEC_41C7_A3E1_3F72DFCAAA7A/original.jpg
180w"
src="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/ylT1qG2TQQqE1IYG6rXlZmnUKTw=/448x0:1024x576/90x90/media/img/mt/2021/04/C6BE5608_8AEC_41C7_A3E1_3F72DFCAAA7A/original.jpg"
style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style:
none; width: 90px; height: auto; display:
block; opacity: 1; transition: opacity
0.3s ease 0s; left: 0px; position:
absolute; top: 0px; object-fit: cover;
max-width: 100%;" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="90" height="90"></picture></a></figure>
<div
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_textWrapper__wNfJT"
style="box-sizing: inherit; flex-grow: 1;">
<h3
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_title__hndDt"
style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;
font-size: 18px; font-feature-settings:
"lnum"; font-variant-numeric:
lining-nums; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px
6px;"><a
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_link___tOJm"
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/theres-no-such-thing-luxury-housing/618548/"
data-action="click link - recommended
reading - title 2"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/theres-no-such-thing-luxury-housing/618548/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;"
moz-do-not-send="true">America Needs More
Luxury Housing, Not Less</a></h3>
<address
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_byline__3tmCH"
style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style:
normal; font-family: Goldwyn, monospace;
font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.06em;
text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 14px;"><a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/nolan-gray/" data-action="click
link - recommended reading - author 2"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/nolan-gray/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">M.
NOLAN GRAY</span></a></address>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li class="ArticleRelatedContentList_listItem__QXcFJ"
style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-left: 0.95em;
position: relative; border-top-width: 0.25px;
border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgba(0,
0, 0, 0.15); border-bottom-style: none;">
<div
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_content__qe_fY"
data-view-action="view link - recommended reading
1 - item 3"
data-view-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/531405/why-are-humans-awkward/"
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-31117857_217="22001"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-31117857_217="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-31117857_217="1"
style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex;
justify-content: space-between; padding: 28px 0px;
position: relative; width: auto;">
<figure
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_figure__gAk6T"
style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color:
rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 18px 0px 0px;
overflow: hidden; position: relative;
flex-basis: 90px; flex-shrink: 0;"><a
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_link___tOJm"
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/531405/why-are-humans-awkward/"
title="Read More: Why Are Humans Awkward?"
data-action="click link - recommended reading
- image 3"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/531405/why-are-humans-awkward/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;"
moz-do-not-send="true"><picture
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_picture__zoPfx"
style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block;
padding-bottom: 90px;"><source
media="(prefers-reduced-motion)"
srcset="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/XkaGvARiyQLapFoqAyWySROYQBs=/420x0:1500x1080/90x90/media/video/img/2017/06/YAH_thumb1a/original.jpg
90w,
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/5LeRy28s3ThO8YZQYDhvqnF2e3g=/420x0:1500x1080/180x180/media/video/img/2017/06/YAH_thumb1a/original.jpg
180w" style="box-sizing: inherit;"
class=""><img alt="" loading="lazy"
class="Image_loaded__9ZaHQ
Image_root__d3aBr
ArticleRelatedContentList_image__QZqNk
Image_lazy__tutlP"
srcset="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/XkaGvARiyQLapFoqAyWySROYQBs=/420x0:1500x1080/90x90/media/video/img/2017/06/YAH_thumb1a/original.jpg
90w,
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/5LeRy28s3ThO8YZQYDhvqnF2e3g=/420x0:1500x1080/180x180/media/video/img/2017/06/YAH_thumb1a/original.jpg
180w"
src="https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/XkaGvARiyQLapFoqAyWySROYQBs=/420x0:1500x1080/90x90/media/video/img/2017/06/YAH_thumb1a/original.jpg"
style="box-sizing: inherit; border-style:
none; width: 90px; height: auto; display:
block; opacity: 1; transition: opacity
0.3s ease 0s; left: 0px; position:
absolute; top: 0px; object-fit: cover;
max-width: 100%;" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="90" height="90"></picture></a></figure>
<div
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_textWrapper__wNfJT"
style="box-sizing: inherit; flex-grow: 1;">
<h3
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_title__hndDt"
style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;
font-size: 18px; font-feature-settings:
"lnum"; font-variant-numeric:
lining-nums; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px
6px;"><a
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_link___tOJm"
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/531405/why-are-humans-awkward/"
data-action="click link - recommended
reading - title 3"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/531405/why-are-humans-awkward/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;"
moz-do-not-send="true">Why Are Humans
Awkward?</a></h3>
<address
class="ArticleRelatedContentList_byline__3tmCH"
style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style:
normal; font-family: Goldwyn, monospace;
font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.06em;
text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 14px;"><a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/alice-roth/" data-action="click
link - recommended reading - author 3"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/alice-roth/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">ALICE
ROTH</span></a>, <a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/olga-khazan/"
data-action="click link - recommended
reading - author 3"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/olga-khazan/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">OLGA
KHAZAN</span></a>, <a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jackie-lay/"
data-action="click link - recommended
reading - author 3"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jackie-lay/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">JACKIE
LAY</span></a>, AND <a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jeremy-raff/"
data-action="click link - recommended
reading - author 3"
data-label="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jeremy-raff/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0,
0); text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">JEREMY
RAFF</span></a></address>
</div>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</section>
</div>
</div>
<p id="injected-recirculation-link-0"
class="ArticleRelatedContentLink_root__v6EBD"
data-view-action="view link - injected link - item 1"
data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-31117857_217="21526"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-31117857_217="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-31117857_217="1" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; margin: 0px auto 40px; font-family: Goldwyn, monospace;
font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;"><a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/american-kleptocracy-kleptopia-united-states-dirty-money/620852/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">From the January/February 2022
issue: Anne Applebaum on kleptocrats and the United
States’ dirty-money problem</a></p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">After all, it
had happened before. Following the cataclysm of 1939–45,
Europeans had indeed collectively abandoned wars of
imperial, territorial conquest. They stopped dreaming of
eliminating one another. Instead, the continent that had
been the source of the two worst wars the world had ever
known created the European Union, an organization designed
to find negotiated solutions to conflicts and promote
cooperation, commerce, and trade. Because of Europe’s
metamorphosis—and especially because of the extraordinary
transformation of Germany from a Nazi dictatorship into the
engine of the continent’s integration and
prosperity—Europeans and Americans alike believed that they
had created a set of rules that would preserve peace not
only on their own continents, but eventually in the whole
world.</p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">This liberal
world order relied on the mantra of “Never again.” Never
again would there be genocide. Never again would large
nations erase smaller nations from the map. Never again
would we be taken in by dictators who used the language of
mass murder. At least in Europe, we would know how to react
when we heard it.</p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">But while we
were happily living under the illusion that “Never again”
meant something real, the leaders of Russia, owners of the
world’s largest nuclear arsenal, were reconstructing an army
and a propaganda machine designed to facilitate mass murder,
as well as a mafia state controlled by a tiny number of men
and bearing no resemblance to Western capitalism. For a long
time—too long—the custodians of the liberal world order
refused to understand these changes. They looked away when
Russia “pacified” Chechnya by murdering tens of thousands of
people. When Russia bombed schools and hospitals in Syria,
Western leaders decided that that wasn’t their problem. When
Russia invaded Ukraine the first time, they found reasons
not to worry. Surely Putin would be satisfied by the
annexation of Crimea. When Russia invaded Ukraine the second
time, occupying part of the Donbas, they were sure he would
be sensible enough to stop.</p>
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<div
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<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">Even when the
Russians, having grown rich on the kleptocracy we
facilitated, bought Western politicians, funded far-right
extremist movements, and ran disinformation campaigns during
American and European democratic elections, the leaders of
America and Europe still refused to take them seriously. It
was just some posts on Facebook; so what? We didn’t believe
that we were at war with Russia. We believed, instead, that
we were safe and free, protected by treaties, by border
guarantees, and by the norms and rules of the liberal world
order.</p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_dropcap__Xra23
ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing: inherit;
max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;
line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><span
class="smallcaps" style="box-sizing: inherit;
letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: lowercase;
font-feature-settings: "c2sc";
font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric:
normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps;
font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position:
normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal;">With the third, </span>more
brutal invasion of Ukraine, the vacuity of those beliefs was
revealed. The Russian president <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/07/putins-ukraine-rhetoric-driven-by-distorted-view-of-neighbour"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">openly denied the existence of a
legitimate Ukrainian state</a>: “Russians and Ukrainians,”
he said, “were one people—a single whole.” His army targeted
civilians, hospitals, and schools. His policies aimed to
create refugees so as to destabilize Western Europe. “Never
again” was exposed as an empty slogan while a genocidal plan
took shape in front of our eyes, right along the European
Union’s eastern border. Other autocracies watched to see
what we would do about it, for Russia is not the only nation
in the world that covets its neighbors’ territory, that
seeks to destroy entire populations, that has no qualms
about the use of mass violence. North Korea can attack South
Korea at any time, and has nuclear weapons that can hit
Japan. China seeks to eliminate the Uyghurs as a distinct
ethnic group, and has imperial designs on Taiwan.</p>
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data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-31117857_217="24445"
data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-31117857_217="100"
data-gtm-vis-has-fired-31117857_217="1" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; margin: 0px auto 40px; font-family: Goldwyn, monospace;
font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;"><a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/12/the-autocrats-are-winning/620526/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">From the December 2021 issue: Anne
Applebaum on how the autocrats are winning</a></p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">We can’t turn
the clock back to 1994, to see what would have happened had
we heeded Lennart Meri’s warning. But we can face the future
with honesty. We can name the challenges and prepare to meet
them.</p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><i
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">There is no natural
liberal world order, and there are no rules without
someone to enforce them.</i> Unless democracies defend
themselves together, <a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/12/the-autocrats-are-winning/620526/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">the forces of autocracy will
destroy them</a>. I am using the word <i
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">forces</i>, in the
plural, deliberately. Many American politicians would
understandably prefer to focus on the long-term competition
with China. But as long as Russia is ruled by Putin, then
Russia is at war with us too. So are Belarus, North Korea,
Venezuela, Iran, Nicaragua, Hungary, and <a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/putins-war-dispelled-the-worlds-illusions/623335/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">potentially many others</a>. We
might not want to compete with them, or even care very much
about them. But they care about us. They understand that the
language of democracy, anti-corruption, and justice is
dangerous to their form of autocratic power—and they know
that that language originates in the democratic world, our
world.</p>
<aside class="ArticlePullquote_root__YtnHv" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 835px; margin-left: auto; margin-right:
auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; clear: both;
color: rgb(94, 106, 116); font-size: 44px; text-align:
center; line-height: 56px;">Perhaps we can learn something
from the Ukrainians. They are showing us how to have both
patriotism and liberal values.</aside>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">This fight is
not theoretical. It requires armies, strategies, weapons,
and long-term plans. It requires much closer allied
cooperation, not only in Europe but in the Pacific, Africa,
and Latin America. NATO can no longer operate as if it might
someday be required to defend itself; it needs to start
operating as it did during the Cold War, on the assumption
that an invasion could happen at any time. Germany’s
decision to <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/world/europe/germany-military-budget-russia-ukraine.html"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">raise defense spending by 100
billion euros</a> is a good start; so is <a
href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/denmark-vote-joining-eus-defence-policy-this-year-danish-media-2022-03-06/"
style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration-thickness: 0.05em;" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">Denmark’s declaration</a> that it
too will boost defense spending. But deeper military and
intelligence coordination might require new
institutions—perhaps a voluntary European Legion, connected
to the European Union, or a Baltic alliance that includes
Sweden and Finland—and different thinking about where and
how we invest in European and Pacific defense.</p>
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tabindex="-1" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block;
clear: both; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); padding:
10px 0px 30px; margin-bottom: 30px;">
<div
id="google_ads_iframe_/4624/theatlantic.web/ideas/article_twocol/injector_4__container__"
style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0pt none; margin:
auto; text-align: center;" class=""><iframe
id="google_ads_iframe_/4624/theatlantic.web/ideas/article_twocol/injector_4"
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title="3rd party ad content" scrolling="no"
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<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><i
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">If we don’t have any
means to deliver our messages to the autocratic world,
then no one will hear them.</i> Much as we assembled the
Department of Homeland Security out of disparate agencies
after 9/11, we now need to pull together the disparate parts
of the U.S. government that think about communication, not
to do propaganda but to reach more people around the world
with better information and to stop autocracies from
distorting that knowledge. Why haven’t we built a
Russian-language television station to compete with Putin’s
propaganda? Why can’t we produce more programming in
Mandarin—or Uyghur? Our foreign-language broadcasters—Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio Martí in
Cuba—need not only money for programming but a major
investment in research. We know very little about Russian
audiences—what they read, what they might be eager to learn.</p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">Funding for
education and culture needs rethinking too. Shouldn’t there
be a Russian-language university, in Vilnius or Warsaw, to
house all the intellectuals and thinkers who have just left
Moscow? Don’t we need to spend more on education in Arabic,
Hindi, Persian? So much of what passes for cultural
diplomacy runs on autopilot. Programs should be recast for a
different era, one in which, though the world is more
knowable than ever before, dictatorships seek to hide that
knowledge from their citizens.</p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><i
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">Trading with
autocrats promotes autocracy, not democracy.</i> Congress
has made some progress in recent months in the fight against
global kleptocracy, and the Biden administration was right
to put the fight against corruption at the heart of its
political strategy. But we can go much further, because
there is no reason for any company, property, or trust ever
to be held anonymously. Every U.S. state, and every
democratic country, should immediately make all ownership
transparent. Tax havens should be illegal. The only people
who need to keep their houses, businesses, and income secret
are crooks and tax cheats.</p>
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id="google_ads_iframe_/4624/theatlantic.web/ideas/article_twocol/injector_5__container__"
style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0pt none; margin:
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<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><i
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">We need a dramatic
and profound shift in our energy consumption, and not only
because of climate change.</i> The billions of dollars we
have sent to Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia have
promoted some of the worst and most corrupt dictators in the
world. The transition from oil and gas to other energy
sources needs to happen with far greater speed and
decisiveness. Every dollar spent on Russian oil helps fund
the artillery that fires on Ukrainian civilians.</p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><i
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">Take democracy
seriously. Teach it, debate it, improve it, defend it.</i> Maybe
there is no natural liberal world order, but there <i
style="box-sizing: inherit;" class="">are</i> liberal
societies, open and free countries that offer a better
chance for people to live useful lives than closed
dictatorships do. They are hardly perfect; our own has deep
flaws, profound divisions, terrible historical scars. But
that’s all the more reason to defend and protect them. Few
of them have existed across human history; many have existed
for a time and then failed. They can be destroyed from the
outside, but from the inside, too, by divisions and
demagogues.</p>
<p class="ArticleParagraph_root__wy3UI" style="box-sizing:
inherit; max-width: 665px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right:
0px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 30px;">Perhaps, in
the aftermath of this crisis, we can learn something from
the Ukrainians. For decades now, we’ve been fighting a
culture war between liberal values on the one hand and
muscular forms of patriotism on the other. The Ukrainians
are showing us a way to have both. As soon as the attacks
began, they overcame their many political divisions, which
are no less bitter than ours, and they picked up weapons to
fight for their sovereignty and their democracy. They
demonstrated that it is possible to be a patriot and a
believer in an open society, that a democracy can be
stronger and fiercer than its opponents. Precisely because
there is no liberal world order, no norms and no rules, we
must fight ferociously for the values and the hopes of
liberalism if we want our open societies to continue to
exist.</p>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
</section>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
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