The New Stalin
Joseph Staline
As was most likely to happen, Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine. He wants to wipe this country off the democratic map, an unacceptable neighbourhood for a corrupt and criminalized dictator like him who thinks he is a czar, the new Stalin on the world stage.
This is war.
How far will he go? No one knows. But he already holds all the necessary powers in Russia, where he has silenced all opposition. He poisons, he imprisons, he kills all those who dare to stand in his way.
Ukraine is defenceless in front of this large-scale military attack. But they will fight, even if they are alone. They will resist, even if they are alone. And they will be defeated if they are left to their fate. The autocrats' camp would then again expand its territory at the expense of free countries.
This war is the war of states governed by the rule of law against autocracies supported by those whom we must decide to call by their true name: international mobsters. These are organizations without principles or laws, whose only weapon is violence. Their method: exercise absolute power. Their goal: to get rich and settle in indecent luxury and display their power on the world stage.
It seems that these powerful criminals now find it more attractive to seize political power in a country, rather than be attacked by democratic governments that are increasingly prepared to fight them. The case of Ukraine clearly illustrates this strategy. Isn't this heaven on earth for them? The opportunity to add to their ranks: a population without any freedom of expression, nor any freedom of the press, nor any civil liberties, and without an independent justice system.
What should we do? The choice is obvious: we must defend not only the free countries of NATO, but all the free countries of the world. We must organize ourselves so as never to lose a single one of them.
Where to start? It is clear that even President Putin has not yet dared and probably would not dare attack a NATO member at this time, but it could happen in the near future. He himself has said that he will do so as soon as possible. And he will, because he is very predictable: he does what he says. Just as we should have known what Hitler was going to do then. Because he wrote it. The lessons of history must be learned.
Vladimir Putin's next objective should therefore be to “liberate” the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia). This will be the beginning of the war against NATO. Is this pure madness on his part? Yes. Why would he do it then? Because he is mad. As crazy as Stalin. As crazy as Adolph Hitler.
Since its creation, NATO, this defensive military alliance, has not suffered a single attack, because, under Article 5 of their agreement, all members undertake to defend the country under attack against any aggressor. And we are convinced that no one will dare do so. Wrong. The mad czar will dare.
So we must prepare accordingly. The first step would be to urgently integrate those countries whose rules already conform to those of NATO in terms of democratic institutions and who wish to be protected from the mad czar.
This could include Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Moldova. Not all of them will be interested, but they would have been offered the opportunity to do so. Unfortunately, they will have to be left to their fate if Russia attacks them without them having joined NATO.
This first step must be followed immediately by the prompt rearmament of these allies from northern Finland to Turkey, obviously bypassing Belarus and Ukraine.
This rearmament must be accomplished with enough resources to guarantee a balance of power along this new iron curtain. It will probably include, unfortunately, nuclear rearmament, as the mad czar has already begun to threaten its use. And this balance implies that any build-up on the Russian side to gain advantage will have to be offset by a reinforcement of the alliance to counter any imbalance in their favour.
All of this is expensive, but that's the price we pay to be free. It is less expensive than war. And NATO can count on more than 600 million individuals from rich countries, while Russia's population is only 160 million. Russia will not be able to indefinitely stretch its front line.
Of course, the screaming, the disinformation and the theatrics of the mad czar should be ignored. We cannot believe anything he says. And we must not give in to any of his threats.
And then, as soon as possible, we should support those who have been victimized by these autocrats and their efforts to do away with their torturers.
This is not so simple. It was thought that the improvement of communication technologies would help this liberation. But it was not taking into account the grip of these bandits on these same technologies. There will certainly be brave resistance fighters in occupied countries like Ukraine. They will voluntarily put their lives on the line in a war of attrition that will eventually wear down the invaders. Russia has grown weary of Afghanistan. The United States had enough of Vietnam. The Russians will get tired of Ukraine. But after what unbelievable devastation.
As for the population under the grip of their own compatriot autocrats, such as the Russians today, there seems to be no way out. We will have to wait for the windows of opportunity that history may one day provide.
Finally, as a third step, it would be appropriate to consider a worldwide expansion of an organization like NATO, to free countries that are under pressure from the same category of corrupt autocrats, in order to preserve fundamental freedoms for all (civil liberties, political liberties, free press, freedom of expression, economic freedom).
There are practically only three categories of government left in the world: democracies, autocracies and theocracies. We will focus on theocracies at a later date. Our greatest risk at the moment concerns the autocracies which everywhere, more or less directly, are under the control of organized crime.
A famous speaker has already criticized the real disadvantages of the democratic system where everything has to be explained, debated and voted on at length before any action can be taken. These free countries are characterized by their immobility, their procrastination and their political-legislative battles, while the autocrats on their side quickly draw and attack without a word of explanation.
This famous orator was Demosthenes, he lived more than 300 BC in a Greece that was then experimenting a democratic form of government. He criticized Philip, the absolute king of Macedon, a Greek territory north of their peninsula. Today, we would call this king a bloodthirsty autocratic dictator. Demosthenes had to commit suicide to escape the horrible death that this monster had in store for him.
Those who believe that democracies, because their motives are fairer and more humane, should win out in the end, would be well advised to remember this tragic period of history and many others that followed.
After the fall of Athens and other Greek cities, freedom as we understand it disappeared for 2 000 years. And if we want to avoid the same fate for our young modern freedoms, it will be by establishing, without the slightest naivety, a favourable balance of power to effectively fight against these ruthless predators.
Prochaine lettre: Prêt-bail illimité pour l'Ukraine
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