“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction”
Ronald Reagan, 1911 – 2004
I am now cautiously optimistic about President-elect Donald Trump. He was not my first choice among the Republican Primary candidates nor did I even vote for him on November 8th. However he is a change agent and our country badly needs change. A big problem is that he praises Russian President Vladimir Putin and says that NATO is “obsolete.” I have learned not to take Mr. Trump literally but, nevertheless, I am still concerned.
I have long been a fan of the Russian native and former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, who is now the Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation in New York. He is the author recently of “Winter is Coming: why Vladimir Putin and the enemies of the free world must be stopped.”
Here is an outline of Mr. Kasparov’s recommendations for confronting Mr. Putin:
- Isolate dictatorships that exploit engagement to support oppression of their own people.
- Keep human rights and the value of human life as the backbone of foreign policy.
- Defend Ukraine as if it shares a border with every free nation in the world. It is easier to take a stand now over Ukraine than to let it go and then have to worry constantly about our commitment to the Baltics and Poland who are NATO members.
- Europe gets a third of its energy from Russia but Europe buys 80% of Russia’s energy exports. This provides the NATO Allies with great leverage especially considering the export potential for U.S. oil and gas.
- Maintaining a robust American security umbrella is much safer than encouraging military proliferation by shrinking that umbrella.
- Appeasement reflects the overall climate not just the personal weakness of specific leaders.
Conclusion. Russian aggression under Vladimir Putin is now the biggest threat to world peace. It is critical for incoming President Trump to act firmly with Mr. Putin.
It Does Not Add Up 