THE WALL STREET JOURNAL May 16, 2022, 5:58 PM EDT |Opinion|Commentary|”This Is No Time to Go Wobbly on Russia” “Appeasing Putin has cost the free world dearly. We have the opportunity to rediscover our values.” By Garry Kasparov
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Summary by 2244
Image from Kasparov.com
An interesting opinion piece that essentially advocates maintaining the pressure on Russia while justifying that by laying blame on the Obama administration for giving Putin a free pass way back 14 years ago in 2008 when Putin invaded Georgia. This, Kasparov reminds the reader, was followed by Putin removing any resemblance of democracy in Russia in 2014 and then invading Ukraine in 2016. Subsequently he then interfered with American and British elections and German Chancellor Angela Merket “pushed ahead with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, increasing dependence on Russian energy when the opposite was needed.” This Kasparov claims are “the eternal lesson[s] of appeasement.”
Key arguments
The US and most allies have currently done what’s right in supporting Ukraine and now Putin is scaling back.
The conflict has “global ripples affecting everything from Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas to the food supply of several African nations.”
Kasparov said Macron’s wishes to negotiate with Putin and the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins’ call…[for]...a cease fire is the wrong tack as “Mr Putin loves [such a position] because he simply ignores restrictions while consolidating and rearming.”
Putin, argues Kasparov, is “shaking for the first time.”
He follows, that if the goal is to save Ukrainian lives then “the only way to do it is to arm Ukraine with every weapon President Volodymyr Zelensky wants as quickly as possible.”
Those still taking Putin’s side are wrong including Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Senator Rand Paul.
On May 9, “President Biden signed the first lend-lease bill since World War II to speed aid and armaments to Ukraine.”
Meanwhile Putin claims that those who oppose him are “facist” but “the real facism is in the mirror of hundreds of thousands of Russians fleeing for the exits realize.”
Concluding Points
“The free world that won the Cold War is remembering how to fight and rediscovering the values that give meaning to fight.” Let us “partner” and not be a “proxy.”
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