Since last Fall, I have been teaching classes on the Russian-Ukrainian war and have emphasized to my students that the current international threats that our country and other democracies face are much more serious than they were when I was young. The Cold War which was a rivalry between the United States and NATO vs. the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and the Warsaw Pact is now over. The threats from emerging autocracies, which often are also kleptocracies, which means the rulers steal the wealth of the people they rule, are much more dangerous than the previous decades of competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Anne Applebaum’s article, “The Bad Guys are Winning” (The Atlantic, December 2021), was an important “wake-up call,” a critical reminder that these new autocracies have no unifying ideology. What bonds them together is “a common desire to preserve and enhance their personal power and wealth.” Applebaum describes these dictatorial leaders as linked not by ideals, but by deals which make them personally rich. By partnering together, the members of this network, which she labeled “Autocracy, Inc.,” enhance their ability to accumulate stolen wealth and security, but also to secure impunity from any legal recourse. They are also willing to sacrifice their country and allow it to become a “failed state” by “accepting economic collapse, isolation, and mass poverty if that’s what it takes to stay in power.”
Today’s world is no longer witnessing a conflict between democracy vs. Communism or the free market vs. a centralized economy. Instead, we are confronted with a fundamental and harrowing struggle for power – the power to set the rules for how the world runs. Autocrats want to be the ones to call the shots; they are out to subvert the current international security agreements and rule of law principles hammered out at the end of the Second World War.
Because the threats to freedom and international law are new, the way we face those threats must also be new. One thing that is clear is that challenging and relentlessly breaking down Putin’s lies about this war against Ukraine will be fundamental to any global effort to stop Russian aggression.
Analysts who have studied autocracies make it clear that most autocrats are pathological liars. When they eliminate independent news sources and take over both radio and television stations, often forcing any government critics to flee or face long prison terms, they have few constraints on their public pronouncements. Putin’s decision to call Ukrainians “Nazis” was a mistake and Western news sources need to take advantage of this outrageous charge.
The democratic press, especially in the States and Europe, needs to remind the world that Russia and Nazi Germany became allies in 1939 and, through the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty, agreed to carve up Poland and this decision launched the Second World War. Hitler and Stalin became partners, and the label “Nazi” appropriately describes both leaders and their governing teams. Photos of Stalin and Hitler and their commanders who celebrated this treaty, need to be widely shared to illustrate how the term “Nazi” also appropriately fits the Russians.
This picture shows Stalin smiling as his Foreign Minister signs the pact in the Kremlin in the presence of the Nazi Foreign Minister. By joining Adolf Hitler’s efforts to expand his “Thousand Year Reich” to the east and south, the Soviets were Nazi collaborators.
This non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union also had a secret protocol that divided up Central and Eastern Europe between the two countries. The Soviet Union was given regions in Finland, the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and parts of Romania. The pact ended when Nazi forces launched Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941.
Democracies need to confront Putin’s lies and share with the world his country’s partnership with Adolf Hitler in 1939. Putin must also be challenged to explain how Ukrainian and Soviet soldiers helped to defeat the Nazis in Russia and Ukraine, yet he calls Ukrainians “Nazis,” which makes no sense. In public forums and through the international news media, Putin should be repeatedly asked to explain why the Russians should not be called “Nazis,” rather than allowing Putin to generate these lies about Ukrainians.
Putin’s security forces may control Russia’s media, but the rest of the world should know the full story, and it will eventually become known to the Russians who live outside the Kremlin walls. A country built on lies has little chance of success when its autocrat’s monopoly on propaganda is broken.