I don't buy the argument that Americans are fatigued by the war in Ukraine and a ready to toss in the towel. I think the American people are in perhaps 4 camps. 1) Pure pacifists who oppose all wars. A very small group. 2) Americans who have never heard of Ukraine and couldn't care less one way or the other. Probably more of these than we care to admit. 3) MAGA Republicans controlled by Trump who is controlled by Putin. Trump's cult plus the House Majority plus a half dozen or so Senators. Not a large group, but very influential for obvious reasons. 4) The majority of the American people who recognize the heroism of the Ukrainian people and want to support their efforts any way we can. Maybe pollsters and politicians should start listening to us, instead of obsessing about the pro-Putin Republicans.
AND the war in Ukraine has now taken a backseat on the news, to the average American, and in influential minds due to horrors of Hamas and Israel. People love horrors more than an eminent danger to democracy. They will follow with apolitical interest like a rubber-necker. The support of Israel is powerful and longstanding. It is a political game and marketing ploy, but show them, visually infect them with the horrors of the war in Ukraine and students with protest.
From the Atlantic Council introducing its discussion of Russia's weaponization of food: "Russia’s cynical grain blackmail is a component of its war effort as it seeks to subjugate Ukraine and its people. This policy carries echoes of Russia’s Soviet past and Stalin’s man-made famine in Ukraine between 1932 and 1933: the Holodomor, which caused millions of deaths." Now, the world is threatened. Moscow shows clearly that it has no limits in its quest for power. All are at risk by ignoring these actions or by seeking to appease Putin.
So much ignorance of the past. The horrors of WWII seem to have dimmed. To appease a monster like Putin is absolutely wrong. People in America need to wake up. Having ignorant people like MTG and Co. leading the clown show doesn't help. These are people with no interest in or knowledge of history. They need to be defeated.
But I suspect this constant bombardment of violence and horror is the way autocrats and dictators keep smokescreens in order to keep getting their way. I hope that more and more people don't allow themselves to be distracted by the tactics of right-wingers and bomb throwers. We have to keep focused, active, and in communication with one another.
I can't but agree and would like to illustrate with a little story (considering your second group) I live in Sweden - the country of Wikings, German ancestors, right? Some time ago, during the summer hollydays I met with a retired American couple on their tourist tour of Europe. We took a nice walk through Uppsala, an ancient, major University town, where I live. Suddenly the man asked me, if the Sweds originated from Marocco, from Africa? I've got so surprised that, not trusting my ears, I asked him to repeat the question. But yes, he has been seeing in the streets meny, more or less dark skinned people and it was his conclusion. And yes, the "Swedish" families and the students have left town for the usual summer vacations on the coutryside, so mostly the immigrants, refugees from all over the World were left in town, working.
My apologies for my fellow citizens. My H and I travel a lot, spending about 2-3 months a year abroad, mostly Europe and South America. Our son lives and works in Spain. I’m fluent in French and have spent a month at a time in France on and off. We make it a point to learn as much as we can about the countries we visit, the history, the politics, the people, the culture. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans don’t do that. When they do travel, they are often completely ignorant of the background or details of what they’re seeing. It’s embarrassing. Even my SIL and her H do this. They always take fully escorted tours like those European river cruises and never research anything and never go anywhere unescorted, and always with other Americans. They went to Spain with us once (only once) and they got really fed up with the way we travel and said a bunch of really stupid stuff. Even when they do travel outside the US, most Americans are still inside the US.
I'm sorry to hear about your experience with your fellow citizens! It must feel heavy. But I'm convinced that otherwise it is a very widespread, very human problem! So, maybe, we should all apologise for not doing enaugh to reduce it? For me the danger of the American variant is the extreme international power of the USA. Exactly as it is in the case of Putin's Russia. It's very easy to manipulate us if we don't make an effort to NOT stay comfortably ignorant.
Americans were very much disliked in Europe in the 1970s, to the point that students would paste Canadian flags on their backpacks. I think it's changed quite a bit since then.
It's hard to believe that is true, but it is. Why anyone would want to visit another country without wanting to learn about it and meet its people beats me. You might just as well stay home.
That is quite a story indeed. I cannot stomach the ignorance of so many American people. It is almost as if they never opened a book on world history. Very sad. So very sad.
Thank you for the story. I remember as a student in Paris in 1958 our bemusement that two apparently smitten Senegalese were following my friend everywhere. It would be hardly noticeable now, but to an American tourist of a certain turn of mind in Sweden... .
About the success of the campaign so far. I am copying the text here for you: founding
Elizabeth Bekes
49 mins ago
Dear Community, here is the first announcement on the donation campaign from United24:
This is the second fundraiser by the famous historian. Just like before, it is moving quickly: we have already raised more than half of the target amount!*
*Perhaps this is the reason why some of us could not donate in the first couple of days: the system was overloaded with processing the donations.
If more than 115 people like this post, it will show up at the top. I know of no other means of moving it to and keeping it at the top. Most people set the posts according to "Top First" rather than "New first". Maybe, Peter could edit his post and put it at the top of his message? I am assuming that it would not change the number of his 'likes'. Another option would be for Professor Snyder to reiterate the donation request and provide the related link on United24 in his next piece.
Tim, this is so eloquently written and passionately presented that any person with a heart or conscience would be moved by it. In my corner of the world, I do not see support for Ukraine wavering. I see more Ukrainian flags in places I would not expect. The media is creating a false narrative based on those sympathetic ideologically with Putin or actively being paid by him. They all belong to the authoritarian party aka the GOP. Please keep up your advocacy!
I cannot 'like' your remark but am so glad to see someone say this -- what is keeping the media on their relentless attack against democratic values? When the NBC reporter asked Zelenskyy about what to say to Americans who experience high prices for stuff, I thought he would lose his cool. What does the American life style have to do with Ukraine fighting an existential war against Russia, a country with a historically resolutely anti-Democracy, anti-Capitalist, anti-Freedom bias? Americans have the option of stopping their purchases of things they consider too expensive and, thus, driving the prices down. Ukraine has no options. None. They will not exist as a people, not just as a nation. The questions about Crimea and the other occupied territories are oblivious to the awful lives and gruesome deaths of the people there, historically and presently. Of course the war will take time. Russia started the Vietnam war and the war in Afghanistan -- it works to their advantage to either conquer someone or to dispose of 'bad meat'. Such is the nature of bullies. The only real question to answer is how to stop or prevent Russia from making war.
Roxanna, what matters is we are seeing a similar pattern in the media narrative and in how utterly clueless the media in this country are to conditions around the world. Unfortunately it is an old ingrained characteristic for the US to be so self absorbed. Having traveled and worked extensively in Latin America, Caribbean, Southern Africa, and SE Asia it is so glaring how sheltered we are. Ukraine and for that matter, the world is in an existential fight for how we will live in the future. We owe Ukraine a great debt for the sacrifice they make for all of us.
Yes. I've noticed the same tendencies not to know much about the rest of the world -- where it is, how it is, what's going on. Information that startles them gets their attention briefly but shallowly. It does seem like some of the rest of the world is a bit more connected and has a broader perspective.
Not to make excuses but the USA is a big country...most (90%) Americans never leave their homegrown, and 10% of those who do leave, return after college. They have no use for a foreign language, and how many schools teach much besides Spanish? Plus, our history begins in 1776: everything else is tainted with monarchy and not relevant to modern life, as far as most Americans are concerned. It's unreasonable to ask people who lost their homes to fire, hurricanes, flooding, the subsequent breakup of the family, and are struggling with inflation, to even know where Ukraine is, let alone understand it's history and culture. That is why it's so important to get Dr. Snyder's letter out to decidion-makers, schools and the media.
Yes. I absolutely agree. Why President Biden does not get credit from the media for doing a good job, relentlessly demonstrating courage, and building up allies and NATO is frustrating in the extreme. No talk about policies, only about his age. I think you are right about the media being paid off by Putin and his cronies. Americans have been taught to worship money to an excessive degree and equate it with ability, including intelligence. The media's preoccupation with the right wing is suspect. I am grateful there is a Substack where we can get a clearer, more intelligent handle on the news.
Roxanna, I agree with your feelings about both Paul's comment and about the existential nature, for the Ukrainian nation and people, of the war they are in because of Russian agressionover the past decade, at least! However, I must take exception to your southeast Asia comments. Russia did NOT start the Vietnam war. It may have educated many of the native leaders of what started as a revolt against French colonialism. Because of the mid-century US policy of containment of communism, the US tried to aid the failing French effort to continue its colonial rule. When the French gave up, the US tried to encourage the southern part of the country to renege on the peace treaty arrangements. Vietnam was not one of this country's wisest decisions. As to Afghanistan, the USSR did invade the country. The US provided aid to the rebels opposing that invasion and the USSR withdrew in defeat. After 9/11, this country's political establishment, almost unanimously, decided war in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the graveyard of Empires, was in our national interest. We all know how that turned out. The Ukraine situation, as Professor Snyder so eloquently argues, is a wonderful opportunity for the US to continue supporting the democratic people attacked by an autocratic regional power wishing to eliminate them.
What I was trying to say was said better by the adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, Mykhailo Podolyak" in Ukrinform today:
"“The Russian Federation is completely incapable of making a deal and will try to deceive in any case. The Russian Federation in this form will only scale risks and try to realize its aggression. Only large-scale ‘military/technological aid’ to Ukraine will solve the problem of European security and guarantee a return to stable global rules....” the adviser concluded."
I think it's important also for people to know who among the GOP are truly tainted. For instance, Boebert represents Pueblo CO whose main employer is Evraz, a russian-owned steelmaker that also manufactures other things. Is it any surprise she won't say anything against russia and is undermining support for Ukraine? Unfortunately, there are probably quite a few more like that and Americans need to start paying attention to who has conflicts of interest and supports US adversaries. And ownership in sensitive business sectors probably needs to be vetted more carefully.
I share Professor Snyder’s concern that the overriding concern for Ukraine’s survival after Putin’s brutal and sustained invasion is ebbing in the US and elsewhere. Nineteen months after Putin’s ‘special military operation,’ many people are being killed in a battle for survival where no clear victory currently is apparent.
Ukraine, except for the Republican House circus freak show, is not a major media focus. Israel/
Palestinians have captured the headlines, and a possible mid-November government shutdown is pending.
I am reminded of President Roosevelt’s desperate efforts to gain public and congressional support, when he saw that the future of Western civilization was threatened by Hitler with England hanging on by a thin thread.
As a former Foreign Service Officer, I fervently believe that Ukraine is of equally vital importance. What’s at stake is the integrity of a sovereign state that a rapacious Putin seeks to destroy in the process of expanding his fantasy of a Greater Russia.
As former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in the current Foreign Affairs, the US and its allies are aligned against Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi. If we permit Putin to get away with his brutal savagery, Xi will interpret this as weakness that could facilitate his envelopment of Taiwan.
In the Foreign Service and subsequently, I was aware of what I characterize as CREEP, CREEP, CREEP, CRAP! In retrospect, this is what Obama did when Putin seized portions of Ukraine in 2014.
We and the allies that President Biden has mustered globally must resolutely support Ukraine during the difficult months ahead. Failure to support Ukraine and oppose Putin’s nefarious ambition would likely trigger a CCCC string of dominos.
I am pleased that Senator McConnell (not one of my favorites) has clearly stated that support for Ukraine is an American imperative. This is a moment for bipartisan support for a vital American global priority.
What do you think? Of course he did! The timing is no coincidence. I saw in a news blurb somewhere that a Hamas spokesman said that they executed the Oct 7 attack because they were afraid the “Palestinian Cause” was being neglected and no one was talking about it anymore. Now, do you think Hamas just woke up one morning and came up with that idea? No! Russia talked to Iran and perhaps directly or through innuendo got Iran thinking, who got Hamas thinking, who got to planning and training and boom! Oct 7th
October 7 was putin's birthday. He loves to have things happen on dates important to him. Then Hamas leaders met him in Moscow several days later. The dots seem pretty obvious for connecting.
This was my thought right after I heard about the Hamas attack. We poor distracted, bored Americans are victims of our individualism thinking we are separate from the events impacting so many others in this world. I think we must hear from Biden, himself. We all must understand this is a crisis. He should ask the question to America, "What would you do to save your family, to keep America safe from a tyrant?"
I never did understand the "exceptionalism" bit. We don't seem particularly exceptional now as we face the possibility of a government shutdown and inability to promote people in the military because of right-wing zealots who appear to believe a tyrant would give them more freedom. It doesn't make sense and we have to defeat all of this.
Agreed. There is a really good piece in the NYTimes by Nicholas Kristof today on American medicine that encapsulates the whole “exceptional” myth very well.
An important question is related to Netanyahu visiting Putin not long ago and not knowing about the Hamas preparations, despite the much vaunted Israeli intelligence services.
I suspect he did. The Vice Chancellor of Germany made that claim the week before last. That America seems not to have figured that one out is as shameful as it is dangerous.
Yours are among the factual perspectives and experiences that give us needed evidence for changes in American foreign relations and policies design and implementation
Bob As a 90-year old ex-Foreign Service Officer, fiscal executive, and history professor (from age 58-to-80), I have witnessed much history and have been involved in making some history.
I voluntarily put my life on the line for my country. Today I believe that the soul of the country that I love is deeply threatened. I shall continue to fight for the country that I hope that my grand kids will inherit—liberty and justice for all.
I kinda miss the days when people would carry signs around gas stations for the egregious prices serving only their gluttony and others' cruelty. The continued presence of international business contributing to Russia's coffers is pretty much blatant evil.
Thank you for your insight and wisdom and service. My mother who's 96 has also witnessed much. She can't believe that she has lived this long only to see such a downturn in this country.
I'll be right there with you. The threat to America is real and it is past time for everyone to take it seriously. But first we have to stop giving away the store to the MAGA bunch.
Agreed. This is a moment for bipartisan support. The Freedom Caucus has no clue what freedom means and how easily it can be squashed by a greedy and ruthless dictator. They are like two-year-olds demanding that all their wants to met no matter what the consequences to themselves or anyone else. This is as dangerous as it is selfish. The media continues to play to the angry and self-righteous fringe. How do we change that? How can we change that? I believe it starts with everyone who clearly sees the existential dangers facing us becoming better educated about what is at stake and then being able to articulate that simply and clearly both to ourselves and others. We have got to get smarter and stronger and better organized unless we want to find ourselves "governed" by useful idiots who play into Putin's hands.
Professor Snyder is not just an eminent academic but a great orator, too! This latest piece moved me to tears. I would like to put here the link for the new donation effort that was posted last week. Some people had difficulty donating, hopefully, it is because too many of us lined up to contribute. Please persist. It is truly a matter of life and death. https://u24.gov.ua/safeskies
The House Republicans and their god chosen leader MAGA Mike are allies of Putin and the American billionaires that are paying billions to support his aggression. This is not an exaggeration. Look no further than the $1,400,000,000 tax free money given to Leonard Leo. To what ends are the hundreds of millions of dollars in dark money legalized by the judges and justices paid for with Leonard Leo money being g used?
The alliance of American and Russian Oligarchs is funding the Republican project of increasing the divisions in America that supports the inequality that is dismantling our democracy. And House Republicans led by the christian nationalist Mike Johnson are turning the Constitution on its head to support their true employers.
Again, impossible to 'like' but essential to be said. The worship of money has again demonstrated the destruction of souls. I get the impression that these people would scoff at being called corrupt, claiming the right of the powerful to be whatever is in their temporal interests.
For more than two decades, KKK Grand Wizard and GOP gadfly David Duke has sold America's racist right wing on Vladimir Putin as the Great White Hope for white supremacy. Duke heralded Putin, GW Bush was an apologist for Putin, and Trump anointed Putin. Of course, many Republican elected officials want to stop aid to Ukraine. Speaker Johnson's maiden aid legislation, cutting out Ukraine, is in keeping with former Pres. Trump's threat to blackmail Pres. Zelensky. Both are cynical steps of a Republican party bent on replacing democracy with clerical fascism - at home and abroad.
Thanks for the links. Many of these are older than people care to remember. I've known about the separate reports, but really need to see something that's advertised to attract viewers. Something that ties in GWB and the ex-president and others in a pattern presented as such. I hope someone pulls it together in the next month or so...?
Although important in understanding Republican support for Putin, and the Scalise scandal coming up recently, Duke is a side show.
When it comes to repurposing the American democratic republic as a clerical fascist state, Federalist Society honcho and Charles Koch bagman Leonard Leo is the one to watch. ProPublica has done some excellent work, as has Kenneth Vogel of the NYTimes.
How do we get this well articulated, and passionate discussion into the right hands. The argument is conclusive. I don’t think we’re fatigued, I think it is the trump base/house extremists who want to just hold everybody hostage to demonstrate how “powerful “ they think they are. It’s all BS. Onward March, please.
It is possible to find that there is more than one side in the Gaza conflict, but how is it possible to feel there are two sides in Putin's War. When I used to teach classes on the Shoah, a student might sometimes ask me why I didn't consider the other side. And I would say: sometimes there is only one side. In Ukraine there is only one side!
Of course there's another side in Putin's war: an emperor wannabe feels the noose tighten around his neck and lashes out at too dangerous of an example: the neighbors are implementing democracy in our own language, and you can watch it happen live on the Internet. It's not a side deserving any respect but it is a side.
Similarly in the Gaza conflict I can see two sides: on one hand, you have a rich country with a high tech economy and an extremely capable military and intelligence system, nuclear armed to the teeth. A state that hasn't had its hegemony or existence in the area meaningfully challenged in several decades.
On the other side you have millions of people being systematically and consistently denied a right to democracy and prosperity by brutal occupying forces who are taught dehumanizing lies and have received the full support of the US going back decades. We see officials of the occupying power clearly and proudly stating their genocidal intent, with as much clarity as we see in Russian state TV towards Ukrainians if not more. And we see their soldiers listen, understand, and execute their leaders' policy of extermination, and then broadcast and celebrate it online. Again only one of these sides deserves immediate consideration and backing, but one can certainly think of two sides.
With each moment that America wavers on its support of Ukraine, and each moment that America fails to prevent the Palestinian genocide, it demonstrates enormous weakness and erodes its already faltering leadership position in the world, continuing its transformation from "leader of the free world" to "chief bully".
There is no question of the need for unwavering and effective support for the Ukraine by democracies everywhere. To date, the military support has been reminiscent of the experience of a one-time customer of mine. Given a diagnosis of Stage 1 prostrate cancer, he chose to treat it with herbal and dietary remedies. By the time he became aware that his chosen approach wasn't working the disease had progressed to Stage 4, metastatic, and so he died. What he should have done was to immediately and aggressively treat the disease. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a cancer on the planet and must be resected at once. The West needs to increase military aid to Ukraine both in quantity and quality. There is no excuse for the continuation of half-measures.
"From the point of view of all observers, in other words, defunding Ukraine would demonstrate enormous American weakness." This above all. The Rs in the House Freedom Caucus are thinking only about staying in power, which they do in part by entertaining the R base with show trials of all the people they don't like. They're not the kind of people who are into thinking past their immediate desires. They talk about China endlessly, yet apparently aren't capable of thinking through the consequences of their policy towards Ukraine. They have neither the background nor the mental acuity to to think past whatever they're doing in the present. When the consequences of their own ideas smack them in the face, they will not say, "Oh, NOW I understand," because they can't, not because of an unwillingness to admit mistakes, but because they quite literally cannot. Their minds don't work that way; their thinking is highly compartmentalized, which means they can't make connections. I've been following these people for many, many years. They live in the present. That's all they understand. They can't follow an idea through to its logical conclusions.
Thank God my representative is a solid supporter of Ukraine.
I stopped right here reading, just to reflect. I imagine others of conscious will too. There can be no abandoning Ukraine. Not now. Not ever. I can not imagine what it is like to know other human beings who have suffered this much atrocity. Thank you Dr. Snyder for continuing to be a voice for all humanity.
"I cannot keep on writing about "imagining" when I have seen some of the death pits myself. I cannot say "imagine" when writers I know have been murdered because they represent Ukrainian culture. I cannot stay with my device when I read that the Russian state boasts of having taken 700,000 Ukrainian children to be russified, when every day Russian propagandists make clear that Russian war aims are exterminationist."
A lot of people witnessed horrors during the various wars, and many if not most were unwilling or unable to talk about them. I imagine that there might be a feeling of impotence against the evil they saw, and the only hope in life is to be able to start over and try to do some good somewhere. Now we have videos of the actions as they are occurring -- we know a lot about who was where and did what. We are a community of witnesses rather than isolated helpless individuals. We can be strong and resilient together -- Razom!
The first article I read in my email news feed this morning was the NYT article reporting the censure of Representative Tlaib for her statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
I know that words are important. I recognize that statements can be inflammatory or worse, and I write this neither in support or to condemn Representative Tlaib, but my thoughts after reading the story were; GOP leaders in the House won't support Ukraine and propose aid to Israel conditional on cutting funding for the IRS to "pay the bill", (false accounting but that's another story). Yet the House can take the time, while it isn't doing anything else, to pass a censure resolution.
Fortunately, the second item in my news feed was the link to Professor Snyder's piece "Would you sell them out?". This is what every Representative and Senator should be reading this morning and acting upon with an affirmative vote to pass the Administration's aid initiative. I will be sending Dr. Snyder's message with my own note to my Senators and Representative.
I don't buy the argument that Americans are fatigued by the war in Ukraine and a ready to toss in the towel. I think the American people are in perhaps 4 camps. 1) Pure pacifists who oppose all wars. A very small group. 2) Americans who have never heard of Ukraine and couldn't care less one way or the other. Probably more of these than we care to admit. 3) MAGA Republicans controlled by Trump who is controlled by Putin. Trump's cult plus the House Majority plus a half dozen or so Senators. Not a large group, but very influential for obvious reasons. 4) The majority of the American people who recognize the heroism of the Ukrainian people and want to support their efforts any way we can. Maybe pollsters and politicians should start listening to us, instead of obsessing about the pro-Putin Republicans.
AND the war in Ukraine has now taken a backseat on the news, to the average American, and in influential minds due to horrors of Hamas and Israel. People love horrors more than an eminent danger to democracy. They will follow with apolitical interest like a rubber-necker. The support of Israel is powerful and longstanding. It is a political game and marketing ploy, but show them, visually infect them with the horrors of the war in Ukraine and students with protest.
From the Atlantic Council introducing its discussion of Russia's weaponization of food: "Russia’s cynical grain blackmail is a component of its war effort as it seeks to subjugate Ukraine and its people. This policy carries echoes of Russia’s Soviet past and Stalin’s man-made famine in Ukraine between 1932 and 1933: the Holodomor, which caused millions of deaths." Now, the world is threatened. Moscow shows clearly that it has no limits in its quest for power. All are at risk by ignoring these actions or by seeking to appease Putin.
So much ignorance of the past. The horrors of WWII seem to have dimmed. To appease a monster like Putin is absolutely wrong. People in America need to wake up. Having ignorant people like MTG and Co. leading the clown show doesn't help. These are people with no interest in or knowledge of history. They need to be defeated.
Having the media parrot the clown show is an aberration of the fifth estate's purpose.
But I suspect this constant bombardment of violence and horror is the way autocrats and dictators keep smokescreens in order to keep getting their way. I hope that more and more people don't allow themselves to be distracted by the tactics of right-wingers and bomb throwers. We have to keep focused, active, and in communication with one another.
I can't but agree and would like to illustrate with a little story (considering your second group) I live in Sweden - the country of Wikings, German ancestors, right? Some time ago, during the summer hollydays I met with a retired American couple on their tourist tour of Europe. We took a nice walk through Uppsala, an ancient, major University town, where I live. Suddenly the man asked me, if the Sweds originated from Marocco, from Africa? I've got so surprised that, not trusting my ears, I asked him to repeat the question. But yes, he has been seeing in the streets meny, more or less dark skinned people and it was his conclusion. And yes, the "Swedish" families and the students have left town for the usual summer vacations on the coutryside, so mostly the immigrants, refugees from all over the World were left in town, working.
My apologies for my fellow citizens. My H and I travel a lot, spending about 2-3 months a year abroad, mostly Europe and South America. Our son lives and works in Spain. I’m fluent in French and have spent a month at a time in France on and off. We make it a point to learn as much as we can about the countries we visit, the history, the politics, the people, the culture. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans don’t do that. When they do travel, they are often completely ignorant of the background or details of what they’re seeing. It’s embarrassing. Even my SIL and her H do this. They always take fully escorted tours like those European river cruises and never research anything and never go anywhere unescorted, and always with other Americans. They went to Spain with us once (only once) and they got really fed up with the way we travel and said a bunch of really stupid stuff. Even when they do travel outside the US, most Americans are still inside the US.
I'm sorry to hear about your experience with your fellow citizens! It must feel heavy. But I'm convinced that otherwise it is a very widespread, very human problem! So, maybe, we should all apologise for not doing enaugh to reduce it? For me the danger of the American variant is the extreme international power of the USA. Exactly as it is in the case of Putin's Russia. It's very easy to manipulate us if we don't make an effort to NOT stay comfortably ignorant.
Americans were very much disliked in Europe in the 1970s, to the point that students would paste Canadian flags on their backpacks. I think it's changed quite a bit since then.
It's hard to believe that is true, but it is. Why anyone would want to visit another country without wanting to learn about it and meet its people beats me. You might just as well stay home.
That is quite a story indeed. I cannot stomach the ignorance of so many American people. It is almost as if they never opened a book on world history. Very sad. So very sad.
Thank you for the story. I remember as a student in Paris in 1958 our bemusement that two apparently smitten Senegalese were following my friend everywhere. It would be hardly noticeable now, but to an American tourist of a certain turn of mind in Sweden... .
Boy, Peter, did you nail that one! Thank you. Sounds about right to me.
For sure, I second that.
Dear Peter, could you please read my very latest message? Thanks, Elizabeth
About the link to donate?
About the success of the campaign so far. I am copying the text here for you: founding
Elizabeth Bekes
49 mins ago
Dear Community, here is the first announcement on the donation campaign from United24:
This is the second fundraiser by the famous historian. Just like before, it is moving quickly: we have already raised more than half of the target amount!*
*Perhaps this is the reason why some of us could not donate in the first couple of days: the system was overloaded with processing the donations.
If more than 115 people like this post, it will show up at the top. I know of no other means of moving it to and keeping it at the top. Most people set the posts according to "Top First" rather than "New first". Maybe, Peter could edit his post and put it at the top of his message? I am assuming that it would not change the number of his 'likes'. Another option would be for Professor Snyder to reiterate the donation request and provide the related link on United24 in his next piece.
Tim, this is so eloquently written and passionately presented that any person with a heart or conscience would be moved by it. In my corner of the world, I do not see support for Ukraine wavering. I see more Ukrainian flags in places I would not expect. The media is creating a false narrative based on those sympathetic ideologically with Putin or actively being paid by him. They all belong to the authoritarian party aka the GOP. Please keep up your advocacy!
I cannot 'like' your remark but am so glad to see someone say this -- what is keeping the media on their relentless attack against democratic values? When the NBC reporter asked Zelenskyy about what to say to Americans who experience high prices for stuff, I thought he would lose his cool. What does the American life style have to do with Ukraine fighting an existential war against Russia, a country with a historically resolutely anti-Democracy, anti-Capitalist, anti-Freedom bias? Americans have the option of stopping their purchases of things they consider too expensive and, thus, driving the prices down. Ukraine has no options. None. They will not exist as a people, not just as a nation. The questions about Crimea and the other occupied territories are oblivious to the awful lives and gruesome deaths of the people there, historically and presently. Of course the war will take time. Russia started the Vietnam war and the war in Afghanistan -- it works to their advantage to either conquer someone or to dispose of 'bad meat'. Such is the nature of bullies. The only real question to answer is how to stop or prevent Russia from making war.
Roxanna, what matters is we are seeing a similar pattern in the media narrative and in how utterly clueless the media in this country are to conditions around the world. Unfortunately it is an old ingrained characteristic for the US to be so self absorbed. Having traveled and worked extensively in Latin America, Caribbean, Southern Africa, and SE Asia it is so glaring how sheltered we are. Ukraine and for that matter, the world is in an existential fight for how we will live in the future. We owe Ukraine a great debt for the sacrifice they make for all of us.
Yes. I've noticed the same tendencies not to know much about the rest of the world -- where it is, how it is, what's going on. Information that startles them gets their attention briefly but shallowly. It does seem like some of the rest of the world is a bit more connected and has a broader perspective.
Not to make excuses but the USA is a big country...most (90%) Americans never leave their homegrown, and 10% of those who do leave, return after college. They have no use for a foreign language, and how many schools teach much besides Spanish? Plus, our history begins in 1776: everything else is tainted with monarchy and not relevant to modern life, as far as most Americans are concerned. It's unreasonable to ask people who lost their homes to fire, hurricanes, flooding, the subsequent breakup of the family, and are struggling with inflation, to even know where Ukraine is, let alone understand it's history and culture. That is why it's so important to get Dr. Snyder's letter out to decidion-makers, schools and the media.
Yes. I absolutely agree. Why President Biden does not get credit from the media for doing a good job, relentlessly demonstrating courage, and building up allies and NATO is frustrating in the extreme. No talk about policies, only about his age. I think you are right about the media being paid off by Putin and his cronies. Americans have been taught to worship money to an excessive degree and equate it with ability, including intelligence. The media's preoccupation with the right wing is suspect. I am grateful there is a Substack where we can get a clearer, more intelligent handle on the news.
Roxanna, I agree with your feelings about both Paul's comment and about the existential nature, for the Ukrainian nation and people, of the war they are in because of Russian agressionover the past decade, at least! However, I must take exception to your southeast Asia comments. Russia did NOT start the Vietnam war. It may have educated many of the native leaders of what started as a revolt against French colonialism. Because of the mid-century US policy of containment of communism, the US tried to aid the failing French effort to continue its colonial rule. When the French gave up, the US tried to encourage the southern part of the country to renege on the peace treaty arrangements. Vietnam was not one of this country's wisest decisions. As to Afghanistan, the USSR did invade the country. The US provided aid to the rebels opposing that invasion and the USSR withdrew in defeat. After 9/11, this country's political establishment, almost unanimously, decided war in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the graveyard of Empires, was in our national interest. We all know how that turned out. The Ukraine situation, as Professor Snyder so eloquently argues, is a wonderful opportunity for the US to continue supporting the democratic people attacked by an autocratic regional power wishing to eliminate them.
Thanks for your clarifications, Phil. The military has been an overused tool for too long in so many histories, the US included.
What I was trying to say was said better by the adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, Mykhailo Podolyak" in Ukrinform today:
"“The Russian Federation is completely incapable of making a deal and will try to deceive in any case. The Russian Federation in this form will only scale risks and try to realize its aggression. Only large-scale ‘military/technological aid’ to Ukraine will solve the problem of European security and guarantee a return to stable global rules....” the adviser concluded."
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3785973-idea-of-ukraine-joining-nato-without-russiaheld-areas-provokes-moscow-to-further-escalation-adviser.html
I agree. If Russia gets knocked out of Ukraine, China will hold off on Taiwan.
I think it's important also for people to know who among the GOP are truly tainted. For instance, Boebert represents Pueblo CO whose main employer is Evraz, a russian-owned steelmaker that also manufactures other things. Is it any surprise she won't say anything against russia and is undermining support for Ukraine? Unfortunately, there are probably quite a few more like that and Americans need to start paying attention to who has conflicts of interest and supports US adversaries. And ownership in sensitive business sectors probably needs to be vetted more carefully.
WOW! That's serving 2 masters, as the saying goes!
I share Professor Snyder’s concern that the overriding concern for Ukraine’s survival after Putin’s brutal and sustained invasion is ebbing in the US and elsewhere. Nineteen months after Putin’s ‘special military operation,’ many people are being killed in a battle for survival where no clear victory currently is apparent.
Ukraine, except for the Republican House circus freak show, is not a major media focus. Israel/
Palestinians have captured the headlines, and a possible mid-November government shutdown is pending.
I am reminded of President Roosevelt’s desperate efforts to gain public and congressional support, when he saw that the future of Western civilization was threatened by Hitler with England hanging on by a thin thread.
As a former Foreign Service Officer, I fervently believe that Ukraine is of equally vital importance. What’s at stake is the integrity of a sovereign state that a rapacious Putin seeks to destroy in the process of expanding his fantasy of a Greater Russia.
As former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in the current Foreign Affairs, the US and its allies are aligned against Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi. If we permit Putin to get away with his brutal savagery, Xi will interpret this as weakness that could facilitate his envelopment of Taiwan.
In the Foreign Service and subsequently, I was aware of what I characterize as CREEP, CREEP, CREEP, CRAP! In retrospect, this is what Obama did when Putin seized portions of Ukraine in 2014.
We and the allies that President Biden has mustered globally must resolutely support Ukraine during the difficult months ahead. Failure to support Ukraine and oppose Putin’s nefarious ambition would likely trigger a CCCC string of dominos.
I am pleased that Senator McConnell (not one of my favorites) has clearly stated that support for Ukraine is an American imperative. This is a moment for bipartisan support for a vital American global priority.
I see from the news (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/08/russia-turns-against-israel-by-taking-sides-in-the-war-with-hamas.html) that Putin is aligning with his ally Iran, and also with Hamas, against Israel. Did he possibly use his manipulative techniques to incite the timing of this attack by Hamas, thereby significantly distracting U S attention from the urgent situation of Ukraine?
What do you think? Of course he did! The timing is no coincidence. I saw in a news blurb somewhere that a Hamas spokesman said that they executed the Oct 7 attack because they were afraid the “Palestinian Cause” was being neglected and no one was talking about it anymore. Now, do you think Hamas just woke up one morning and came up with that idea? No! Russia talked to Iran and perhaps directly or through innuendo got Iran thinking, who got Hamas thinking, who got to planning and training and boom! Oct 7th
October 7 was putin's birthday. He loves to have things happen on dates important to him. Then Hamas leaders met him in Moscow several days later. The dots seem pretty obvious for connecting.
Yikes, I didn’t know that. More evidence that none of this is random.
What a narcissistic little bastard. What is it about human beings that we want this kind of leader?
This was my thought right after I heard about the Hamas attack. We poor distracted, bored Americans are victims of our individualism thinking we are separate from the events impacting so many others in this world. I think we must hear from Biden, himself. We all must understand this is a crisis. He should ask the question to America, "What would you do to save your family, to keep America safe from a tyrant?"
“Exceptionalism” as a curse. We must realize that our future is tied to that of Ukraine and let DC know that we know it.
I never did understand the "exceptionalism" bit. We don't seem particularly exceptional now as we face the possibility of a government shutdown and inability to promote people in the military because of right-wing zealots who appear to believe a tyrant would give them more freedom. It doesn't make sense and we have to defeat all of this.
Agreed. There is a really good piece in the NYTimes by Nicholas Kristof today on American medicine that encapsulates the whole “exceptional” myth very well.
Thank you. I will take a look 😊
Secretary of State. Linken and Biden together would be impressive.
An important question is related to Netanyahu visiting Putin not long ago and not knowing about the Hamas preparations, despite the much vaunted Israeli intelligence services.
I suspect he did. The Vice Chancellor of Germany made that claim the week before last. That America seems not to have figured that one out is as shameful as it is dangerous.
Thanks for this, Mr. Wheelock.
Any other professional insights to share?
Yours are among the factual perspectives and experiences that give us needed evidence for changes in American foreign relations and policies design and implementation
Bob As a 90-year old ex-Foreign Service Officer, fiscal executive, and history professor (from age 58-to-80), I have witnessed much history and have been involved in making some history.
I voluntarily put my life on the line for my country. Today I believe that the soul of the country that I love is deeply threatened. I shall continue to fight for the country that I hope that my grand kids will inherit—liberty and justice for all.
I kinda miss the days when people would carry signs around gas stations for the egregious prices serving only their gluttony and others' cruelty. The continued presence of international business contributing to Russia's coffers is pretty much blatant evil.
Thank you for your insight and wisdom and service. My mother who's 96 has also witnessed much. She can't believe that she has lived this long only to see such a downturn in this country.
Kathy Tell your mother that I’m Biden my time. Trump almost makes Huey Long look good—in his pink suits.
Keith, you are making this one-time resident of NOLA laugh (again). Thank you.
I am grateful for your commitments and your work
I'll be right there with you. The threat to America is real and it is past time for everyone to take it seriously. But first we have to stop giving away the store to the MAGA bunch.
Agreed. This is a moment for bipartisan support. The Freedom Caucus has no clue what freedom means and how easily it can be squashed by a greedy and ruthless dictator. They are like two-year-olds demanding that all their wants to met no matter what the consequences to themselves or anyone else. This is as dangerous as it is selfish. The media continues to play to the angry and self-righteous fringe. How do we change that? How can we change that? I believe it starts with everyone who clearly sees the existential dangers facing us becoming better educated about what is at stake and then being able to articulate that simply and clearly both to ourselves and others. We have got to get smarter and stronger and better organized unless we want to find ourselves "governed" by useful idiots who play into Putin's hands.
Professor Snyder is not just an eminent academic but a great orator, too! This latest piece moved me to tears. I would like to put here the link for the new donation effort that was posted last week. Some people had difficulty donating, hopefully, it is because too many of us lined up to contribute. Please persist. It is truly a matter of life and death. https://u24.gov.ua/safeskies
It seems that each time Professor Snyder posts an article, I think this is his best yet and cannot be topped. Then he goes and tops it!
My rep and Senators are strong supporters of Ukraine. I regularly contribute money too. So I posted this article to LinkedIn - hope it helps.
Would the House GOP sell out Ukraine? Indeed they would. They would sell their mother if they had to.
The House Republicans and their god chosen leader MAGA Mike are allies of Putin and the American billionaires that are paying billions to support his aggression. This is not an exaggeration. Look no further than the $1,400,000,000 tax free money given to Leonard Leo. To what ends are the hundreds of millions of dollars in dark money legalized by the judges and justices paid for with Leonard Leo money being g used?
The alliance of American and Russian Oligarchs is funding the Republican project of increasing the divisions in America that supports the inequality that is dismantling our democracy. And House Republicans led by the christian nationalist Mike Johnson are turning the Constitution on its head to support their true employers.
Again, impossible to 'like' but essential to be said. The worship of money has again demonstrated the destruction of souls. I get the impression that these people would scoff at being called corrupt, claiming the right of the powerful to be whatever is in their temporal interests.
For more than two decades, KKK Grand Wizard and GOP gadfly David Duke has sold America's racist right wing on Vladimir Putin as the Great White Hope for white supremacy. Duke heralded Putin, GW Bush was an apologist for Putin, and Trump anointed Putin. Of course, many Republican elected officials want to stop aid to Ukraine. Speaker Johnson's maiden aid legislation, cutting out Ukraine, is in keeping with former Pres. Trump's threat to blackmail Pres. Zelensky. Both are cynical steps of a Republican party bent on replacing democracy with clerical fascism - at home and abroad.
Where's the media on this linkage? It would make a great documentary of sorts, a public education service.
Just for starts ...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-duke-to-russia-with-hate/
https://momentmag.com/david-duke-abroad/
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jan-06-mn-9088-story.html
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2001/02/03/duke-russia-is-key-to-white-survival/
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/397371-david-duke-praises-trump-for-putin-press-conference/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/31/david-duke-former-ku-klux-klan-leader-steve-scalise
Thanks for the links. Many of these are older than people care to remember. I've known about the separate reports, but really need to see something that's advertised to attract viewers. Something that ties in GWB and the ex-president and others in a pattern presented as such. I hope someone pulls it together in the next month or so...?
Although important in understanding Republican support for Putin, and the Scalise scandal coming up recently, Duke is a side show.
When it comes to repurposing the American democratic republic as a clerical fascist state, Federalist Society honcho and Charles Koch bagman Leonard Leo is the one to watch. ProPublica has done some excellent work, as has Kenneth Vogel of the NYTimes.
https://www.propublica.org/article/leonard-leo-teneo-videos-documents
https://www.propublica.org/article/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-leo-supreme-court-supermajority
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/leonard-leo-courts-dark-money.html
How do we get this well articulated, and passionate discussion into the right hands. The argument is conclusive. I don’t think we’re fatigued, I think it is the trump base/house extremists who want to just hold everybody hostage to demonstrate how “powerful “ they think they are. It’s all BS. Onward March, please.
It is possible to find that there is more than one side in the Gaza conflict, but how is it possible to feel there are two sides in Putin's War. When I used to teach classes on the Shoah, a student might sometimes ask me why I didn't consider the other side. And I would say: sometimes there is only one side. In Ukraine there is only one side!
Of course there's another side in Putin's war: an emperor wannabe feels the noose tighten around his neck and lashes out at too dangerous of an example: the neighbors are implementing democracy in our own language, and you can watch it happen live on the Internet. It's not a side deserving any respect but it is a side.
Similarly in the Gaza conflict I can see two sides: on one hand, you have a rich country with a high tech economy and an extremely capable military and intelligence system, nuclear armed to the teeth. A state that hasn't had its hegemony or existence in the area meaningfully challenged in several decades.
On the other side you have millions of people being systematically and consistently denied a right to democracy and prosperity by brutal occupying forces who are taught dehumanizing lies and have received the full support of the US going back decades. We see officials of the occupying power clearly and proudly stating their genocidal intent, with as much clarity as we see in Russian state TV towards Ukrainians if not more. And we see their soldiers listen, understand, and execute their leaders' policy of extermination, and then broadcast and celebrate it online. Again only one of these sides deserves immediate consideration and backing, but one can certainly think of two sides.
With each moment that America wavers on its support of Ukraine, and each moment that America fails to prevent the Palestinian genocide, it demonstrates enormous weakness and erodes its already faltering leadership position in the world, continuing its transformation from "leader of the free world" to "chief bully".
There is no question of the need for unwavering and effective support for the Ukraine by democracies everywhere. To date, the military support has been reminiscent of the experience of a one-time customer of mine. Given a diagnosis of Stage 1 prostrate cancer, he chose to treat it with herbal and dietary remedies. By the time he became aware that his chosen approach wasn't working the disease had progressed to Stage 4, metastatic, and so he died. What he should have done was to immediately and aggressively treat the disease. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a cancer on the planet and must be resected at once. The West needs to increase military aid to Ukraine both in quantity and quality. There is no excuse for the continuation of half-measures.
👏
Cursed spell checker. A good one would flag "prostrate cancer": Did you mean "prostate cancer"?
"From the point of view of all observers, in other words, defunding Ukraine would demonstrate enormous American weakness." This above all. The Rs in the House Freedom Caucus are thinking only about staying in power, which they do in part by entertaining the R base with show trials of all the people they don't like. They're not the kind of people who are into thinking past their immediate desires. They talk about China endlessly, yet apparently aren't capable of thinking through the consequences of their policy towards Ukraine. They have neither the background nor the mental acuity to to think past whatever they're doing in the present. When the consequences of their own ideas smack them in the face, they will not say, "Oh, NOW I understand," because they can't, not because of an unwillingness to admit mistakes, but because they quite literally cannot. Their minds don't work that way; their thinking is highly compartmentalized, which means they can't make connections. I've been following these people for many, many years. They live in the present. That's all they understand. They can't follow an idea through to its logical conclusions.
Thank God my representative is a solid supporter of Ukraine.
Brilliant. When articulated with clarity and purpose, imagining the worst can be a catalyst for realizing the best.
Putin has mastered the psychology of how to make Americans who may oppose him "feel" fatigued. Ugly American entitlement is a bitch.
I stopped right here reading, just to reflect. I imagine others of conscious will too. There can be no abandoning Ukraine. Not now. Not ever. I can not imagine what it is like to know other human beings who have suffered this much atrocity. Thank you Dr. Snyder for continuing to be a voice for all humanity.
"I cannot keep on writing about "imagining" when I have seen some of the death pits myself. I cannot say "imagine" when writers I know have been murdered because they represent Ukrainian culture. I cannot stay with my device when I read that the Russian state boasts of having taken 700,000 Ukrainian children to be russified, when every day Russian propagandists make clear that Russian war aims are exterminationist."
A lot of people witnessed horrors during the various wars, and many if not most were unwilling or unable to talk about them. I imagine that there might be a feeling of impotence against the evil they saw, and the only hope in life is to be able to start over and try to do some good somewhere. Now we have videos of the actions as they are occurring -- we know a lot about who was where and did what. We are a community of witnesses rather than isolated helpless individuals. We can be strong and resilient together -- Razom!
The first article I read in my email news feed this morning was the NYT article reporting the censure of Representative Tlaib for her statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
I know that words are important. I recognize that statements can be inflammatory or worse, and I write this neither in support or to condemn Representative Tlaib, but my thoughts after reading the story were; GOP leaders in the House won't support Ukraine and propose aid to Israel conditional on cutting funding for the IRS to "pay the bill", (false accounting but that's another story). Yet the House can take the time, while it isn't doing anything else, to pass a censure resolution.
Fortunately, the second item in my news feed was the link to Professor Snyder's piece "Would you sell them out?". This is what every Representative and Senator should be reading this morning and acting upon with an affirmative vote to pass the Administration's aid initiative. I will be sending Dr. Snyder's message with my own note to my Senators and Representative.