Brunswick Beacon, 02.23.23
He walked the streets of Kiev to a hero’s welcome. A year ago, Putin tried to seize Ukraine and recreate the Russian Empire. He failed because of two men: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and America’s President Joe Biden.
Biden answered Putin’s aggression by reassembling the NATO alliance Trump tried to destroy and rallying its support behind Ukraine. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said: “He's managed to unite NATO in ways I didn't think I would ever see again after the end of the Cold War." Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) praised Biden’s “strong American leadership.”
Zelenskyy was an entertainer and a household name in both Ukraine and Russia before being elected President in 2019 with 73% of the vote. In September 2019 Trump pressured Zelenskyy to fabricate dirt on Biden by withholding a $400 million military aid package already approved by Congress. Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton called it a “drug deal” and wanted no part of it. Zelenskyy resisted. Trump got impeached.
When Putin invaded Ukraine, instead of evacuating the capital, Zelenskyy rallied Ukrainians behind him: “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.” He has been called “Ukraine’s Winston Churchill.”
Putin was an officer in Russia’s notorious spy agency and secret police, the KGB. It assassinated world leaders and helped crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring in 1968. Putin said: “The breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.”
If he seizes Ukraine, Putin will continue his bloody aggression until he resurrects the old Soviet empire and threatens America. That’s why McConnell says: “defeating the Russians in Ukraine is the single most important event going on in the world right now.”
This morning Biden and Zelenskyy walked in Kiev as air raid sirens blared. Zelensky tweeted: “Historic. Timely. Brave.” He welcomed Biden and thanked America. Biden did us all proud.
Shelley Allen
Holden Beach