Powerful positive signals shine amid scary news about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As Fareed Zakaria argues in the Washington Post, the liberal international order has more defenders than many thought. “The people of Ukraine show us that the values – of an open society and a free world – can be worth fighting for and even dying for.” An early indication was the response from border guards on Ukraine’s Snake Island. When a Russian naval officer called for them to surrender or be shot, they replied, “Go f**k yourself.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demonstrates a similar…
Powerful positive signals shine amid scary news about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As Fareed Zakaria argues in the Washington Post, the liberal international order has more defenders than many thought.
“The people of Ukraine show us that the values – of an open society and a free world – can be worth fighting for and even dying for.”
An early indication was the response from border guards on Ukraine’s Snake Island. When a Russian naval officer called for them to surrender or be shot, they replied, “Go f**k yourself.”
On a daily basis, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shows a similar spirit of resistance in defense of freedom, which has been battered all over the world, including in Russia. Even in the United Nations General Assembly, where Vlad the Invader expected more support, loud anti-Putin voices can be heard.
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Putin miscalculated. The Associated Press reports that anti-war activists have taken to the streets across Russia. Al Jazeera says protesters have been arrested in 54 Russian cities.
Anti-Putin protests have been reported in the US, UK, Switzerland, Finland, Austria, Italy, Israel, France, Greece, Argentina, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Mexico and Taiwan, among others. There have also been protests in South Africa, contrary to the position of our government.
Although there were conflicting official statements, our defense minister sent a clear signal by attending a cocktail function at the Russian ambassador’s residence in Pretoria in honor of the Russian Defense Forces – after the invasion of Ukraine had begun.
No surprise there. Under the ANC, South Africa has a history of siding with oppressive regimes, including Zimbabwe, Cuba, North Korea, Myanmar and Sudan. Bowing to China over a Dalai Lama visa is another example.
All of the above governments share with the ANC a command and control mentality that limits freedom. With the invasion of Ukraine, we are witnessing a pivotal moment for the course of civilization. In rough terms, open society versus repressive control. We don’t have to be on the wrong side.
As Yuval Noah Harari writes in The Guardian, “The war in Ukraine will determine the future of the entire world. “If tyranny and aggression are allowed to win, we will all suffer the consequences.”
Will tyranny and oppression be allowed to win? Is the liberal approach too soft to defeat an aggressor like Putin?
History students may recall Joseph Stalin’s sardonic response to the suggestion that Pope Pius XII be involved in decisions about post-World War II Europe.
He asked, “How many departments does the Pope have?”
That was the Man of Steel’s disdain for soft power. But in the end, it was the power of ideas—of freedom—that in 1989 tore down the wall that Stalin’s successors built to keep East and West Berlin apart. Putin, longing for the period before the fall of the Berlin Wall, tries to give an impression of the influence Moscow once had.
But those days are over. The Iron Curtain cannot rise again. The genie of freedom is out of the bottle and you can’t put it back.
Also stuck in a Soviet-era mindset, the ANC needs to realize that the game over signs are flashing.