When Russia launched an unprovoked attack upon Ukraine, they apparently expected an easy victory. It’s clear now that despite the atrocities and cruelty of the conflict, Ukrainians won’t give up the fight, and most in the West back their struggle for freedom.
The only place where Russia seems to have had any success in their operations is the propaganda war.
If you asked any red-blooded American who their least favorite countries are, it’s likely that North Korea, Syria, Iran, and China, as well as those run by former Communists are likely to top the list. And those are exactly the countries supporting Russia in this war, showing the power of Russian propaganda to blind MAGA supporters.
As Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to invade the sovereign country of Ukraine, the United Nations took a vote among its members. Nearly 150 countries voted for Russia to withdraw its forces and peace to be restored. Only six sided with Russia: North Korea, Syria, Belarus, Eritrea, Mali, and Nicaragua, ruled by former Marxist leader Daniel Ortega.
What’s more is that North Korea is offering all kinds of aid to Russia to help the invader replace the weapons of war destroyed by the Ukrainians defending their country. Iran is providing military support too. And China has provided more than ample evidence of a political alliance with Vladimir Putin on the matter of Ukraine.
You can’t legitimately call for “Making America Great Again,” and then side with those who opposed the United States.
I am aware of those on the left calling for peace. Some of these groups genuinely want peace, while others seem duped by Putin’s propaganda, perhaps unaware of who the real aggressor is, as well as the gory fate that awaits Ukrainians if external support is yanked away from them. It’s actually not that hard to see, given what’s happened to those who have already fallen into the clutches of Russian soldiers or Wagner mercenaries.
Some of this isn’t necessarily the fault of these groups on the extremes. Many working in the media, hype the heroic struggle of the Ukrainians without revealing the war crimes abuses. It’s hard to watch ‘The Sound of Freedom’ and not wonder what’s happening to the Ukrainian children nabbed from their homeland, dragged off to an uncertain future in Russia, as an international court has found.
Would such peace groups still back solutions allowing Putin to triumph and then impose his cruelty on people who don’t deserve it? Others in the American press hype any poll showing rising weariness with the war, without also providing information about how our enemies are backing the war effort by Russia. Lacking such facts, it’s easy to see why people are making choices they wouldn’t ever consider — enabling Putin’s foreign policy — if they thought about it a little more.
Though CNN touted a poll showing decreasing support for America’s aid to Ukraine, surveys from the Reagan Foundation tell a much different story, showing bipartisan support to help the Ukrainians. I understand the frustration and desire for the conflict to end, but that is what those who waged this war in the first place are counting upon.
Often, support for the conflict has been painted as yet another exercise in partisanship, perhaps yet another outcome of propaganda. Yet during the Cold War, both of our dominant political parties were able to largely put aside their differences to oppose the Soviet Union, with a spirit scholars called “The Cold War Consensus.”
A return to this bipartisan cooperation is needed so we don’t fall for the arguments of a 15-year KGB Agent, Putin, who called the destruction of the USSR as a great tragedy.
John A. Tures is Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of the Political Science Program at LaGrange College, in LaGrange, Georgia.