Shameless deceit, intimidation, vandalism, plunder, slaughter and genocide are not new instruments of Russian foreign policy, rather, they are constants in Russian imperial history, in the czarist empire, communist empire, and oligarchic empire, so much so that one has to ask whether Russia can ever behave otherwise. The recent suppression of Chechnya, invasion of Georgia, and invasion of Ukraine have shown that the Russian Confederation aims to be in fact a revived Russian Empire with its old Cold War borders. 

So, after Ukraine, Putin will go after Moldova, and then parts of Rumania, half of Poland (at least), Hungary (he’s already got it), Finland, the Caucasus nations, and central Asia and will then try to turn any adjacent nations that remain independent into “imperial spheres of influence.” Putin’s program is to bring back the Iron Curtain.

I cannot imagine what could curb Russian rapacity. But we must thwart its aggression with every kind of resource we can bring to bear. China is little better than Russia, and is waiting to see how much Putin can get away with. If we fail now, most of the world will be made up of authoritarian slave states.

Anyone who in any way supports Russia now, even by keeping silent, is complicit in Putin’s drive for a new world of slavery and is a traitor to the United States and to humanity.