Putin’s genocide.

April 4, 2022

[Audio edition here]

          In mid-February, Putin ordered his soldiers to conduct a war of attrition on the civilian population of Ukraine. At first, Putin’s soldiers directed missiles and bombs at residential buildings and hospitals from afar—a heartless but remote form of crime against humanity. When Russian soldiers captured Ukrainian cities, they carried Putin’s war against the civilian population to its logical and personal extreme—they committed atrocities against thousands of innocent men, women, and children. Russian soldiers executed Ukrainian men in the street, leaving the bodies where they fell. They raped Ukrainian women. They plundered homes, selling their stolen bounty at impromptu bazaars in Belarus, where Russian soldiers retreated after their ground offensive unraveled.

          Over the weekend, the world learned of the atrocities that Russian soldiers committed in the city of Bucha. President Zelensky condemned the atrocities as genocide—the only apt description of the depravity of the crimes committed by Russian soldiers. As the Ukrainian army liberates more cities from Russian control, the world will likely learn of more atrocities. Each of the Russian soldiers who committed the crimes is responsible and should be prosecuted. But so should every officer in their chain of command up to and including Putin. The Russian soldiers were ordered to commit war crimes, and they complied. But Putin and his commanders unleashed an undisciplined, under-trained, out-of-control invasion force that lacked a unified command or strategic purpose. The fact that the Russian troops acted like marauding bands of terrorists rather than a disciplined military was no accident—it was the point.

          The atrocities committed by Putin’s troops will make achieving a negotiated settlement nearly impossible. In the face of such atrocities, President Zelensky will be under pressure from the Ukrainian people not to make concessions to a war criminal. Zelensky cannot meet with Putin, cannot shake his hand, and cannot sign a peace treaty that includes Putin’s signature. See WaPo, Any Ukrainian peace deal with Russia carries political risks for Zelensky.

          That may have been Putin’s plan all along: make it impossible for Ukraine to settle, ensuring a year’s-long war designed to exhaust and deplete Ukrainian reserves. Whether that is a winning strategy is unclear, but it portends an unsettled world order for decades to come. See Seth Abramson in his Substack blog Proof,  The Ten Hardest Truths About the War in Europe (“Russia can stay in Ukraine long-term—and can weather sanctions long-term.”) As Abramson notes, the world’s autocracies and dictatorships are beginning to line up behind Putin—including Saudi Arabia, UAE, and China.

          These atrocities—and more to be uncovered—will increase calls for direct intervention by the U.S. and NATO. After the disclosure of the atrocities in Bucha, one of the Ukrainian peace negotiators, Mykhailo Podoliak, tweeted at NATO leaders: “The main thing, according to our European partners, is not provoke the Russians, right?” And I received a new round of anguished emails from readers asking some version of the question, “If not now, when?”

That is a serious question that deserves serious discussion—but only if all of the premises underlying the question are acknowledged. The full question is, “If we are not willing to risk a nuclear confrontation now, when?” Acting to avoid a global catastrophe does not indicate callousness toward the suffering of the Ukrainian people. Rather, it is motivated by a concern for the tens or hundreds of millions who would be immediately affected by a “battlefield” nuclear war in Ukraine.

          Putin’s genocide shines a harsh light on the “Putin wing” of the Republican Party and the Kremlin’s propaganda agency in the U.S., Fox News. We cannot forget that the top draw on Fox News, Tucker Carlson, said, “Why shouldn’t I root for Russia? Which by the way I am.” And the Trump wing of the GOP held an “emergency meeting” in D.C. to discuss how they should react to the war in Ukraine given Putin’s increasingly despicable tactics. See, Politico, Trumpian Conservatives Hold an ‘Emergency’ Meeting Over Russia.

          As expected, instead of focusing on Putin’s war crimes, the Trump Republicans attempted to blame American foreign policy. One of the keynote speakers reprised Trump’s “America First” campaign, saying that the real question posed by the war in Ukraine is “Why haven’t we brought our troops home from Europe?” Another defended Putin’s war against Ukraine as a “very reasonable” effort to secure “a decent starting point” for Russian security.

          While we should not reduce genocide to partisan politics, if the Putin wing of the GOP gains control in 2022 or 2024, it is clear they will resurrect Trump’s disastrous effort to withdraw America from the global stage. Indeed, it may have been Trump’s threats to leave NATO that emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine in the face of a disunified NATO alliance.

It is a credit to Joe Biden that he was able to repair the rifts and help unify the Western world against Putin’s aggression. As evidence of more war crimes emerges, the strength of NATO unity—and the resolve of the American people—may be put to even greater tests as the U.S. imposes more debilitating sanctions on Russia.

The gap in the White House communications log may have been planned.

          Trump’s surrogates are busy telling the media that the White House phone log gap on January 6th reflects Trump’s peculiar habit of using aides’ phones. In other words, “Nothing to see here, move along.” But information provided to the January 6th Select Committee suggests that Trump began bypassing the White House communications protocols on January 4th. See Talking Points Memo, Presidential Diarist: Trump ‘Iced Out’ White House Record-Keepers. Per a source familiar with testimony from the White House aide responsible for the presidential diary:

The last day that normal information was sent was the 4th. So, starting the 5th, the diarist didn’t receive the annotated calls and notes. This was a dramatic departure. That is all out of the ordinary.

          Hmm . . . shutting down White House protocols two days in advance of the January 6th insurrection makes it seems like Trump was planning to have illegal conversations on January 5th and 6th. If only the DOJ had interviewed the White House diarist, perhaps the situation would be clearer! Speaking of Merrick Garland’s slow pace in investigating the attempted coup, Biden’s press spokesperson denied a claim by the NYTimes that Biden was growing frustrated with Garland. If he is, it’s about time.

Decision by federal district judge in Florida invalidating S.B. 90.

          Last week I noted that a federal judge invalidated portions of Florida’s voter suppression bill (S.B. 90). See League of Women Voters v. Lee. The opinion is remarkable—and lengthy (300 pages). I confess that I have not read the entire opinion, but if you want a synopsis of this important opinion by Judge Mark E. Walker, check out Talking Points Memo, One Federal Judge’s Primal Scream About The Dramatic Erosion Of Voting Rights.

Judge Walker makes his views clear from the opening line of the opinion: “This case is about our sacred right to vote—won at great cost in blood and treasure.” The remainder of the opinion demonstrates why Florida cannot be permitted to suppress the right to vote. Per Judge Walker,

Even after the federal government forced the state to accept Black residents’ right to vote, Florida did everything it could to prevent those citizens from voting, including instituting proto-identification requirements and de facto literacy tests. 

And it worked: Between 1888 and 1892, the Black voting rate dropped from 62 to 11 percent. In 1920, dozens of Black people were killed in a massacre in Ocoee after a Black man attempted to vote.

          Judge Walker then directed his attention to the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Shelby County v. Holder, saying, ‘[T]here are those who suggest that we live in a post-racial society. But that is simply not so.” Judge Walker then recites proof that Florida has not moved past its racist legacy, writing:

Florida’s history of racism has continued: Over the past 20 years, Florida Republicans have repeatedly suppressed the Black vote, including with voter roll purges, limiting early voting days, and severely restricting a voter-approved ex-felon re-enfranchisement amendment. 

Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. At some point, when the Florida Legislature passes law after law disproportionately burdening Black voters, this Court can no longer accept that the effect is incidental.

          Judge Walker’s opinion is a tour de force that may not survive the gauntlet of conservative judges on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. But his opinion will stand as the judgment of history until such time as Democrats can release the death grip of the reactionary majority on the Supreme Court.

Concluding Thoughts.

          For those of you interested in a peek behind the scenes of how this newsletter unfolds each evening, my wife devoted an episode of her daily blog to last’s Friday’s newsletter. See Behind the Scenes at Today’s Edition (everydaywithjill.com).

          The corrosive effects of Trump’s “post-truth” world are on full display in Putin’s war on the Ukrainian people. On Sunday, the Russian government claimed that the Ukrainian military staged the scenes of mass executions of civilians in Bucha as a “false flag” operation to smear Russia. In a page taken from Trump’s “counter-punching” playbook, Russia is demanding an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to “bring to light the presumptuous Ukrainian provocateurs and their Western patrons.”

          Putin is spreading damnable lies because he knows that state-controlled outlets in Russia will repeat the lies—as will some right-wing media outlets in the U.S. (I won’t link to those right-wing sites spreading Putin’s lies about the massacre at Bucha, but you can find them for yourself with a quick Google search.)

          It is exhausting to be in a fight with those who are unconstrained by the truth. What started as a fringe movement has moved into the mainstream of the Republican Party and threatens the underpinnings of our democracy. Each of us has a responsibility to speak the truth and call out lies. The good news is that there are more of us than there are of them. If we all use our voices to defend the truth, we can overcome the cynical efforts of those who deny the truth for political purposes. Write, post, email, tweet, and call. The democracy you save may be your own.

          Talk to you tomorrow!