Lessons from Ukraine for the US Putin loving crowd

 Ukraine is a lesson to the US Putin loving crowd: It may dawn on the autocracy lovers that perhaps there is something about democracy worth keeping .and no country is an island. Will this be the eclipse of the MAGA movement? While Ukrainians, regardless of whether they are culturally closer to Russian or Ukrainian ethnic identification, are willing to lay down their lives to oppose the thumb of Putin's governance. In 2014, their population rose up and threw out a corrupt Russian quisling and voted with their feet on the pavement, and later with the ballot box, to turn their country to the West for their economic ties and democracy. They have eight years of making their democracy a more perfect union and enjoying their own way to prosperity. While they are willing to die to continue this course, there are those in the USA who are still beating their drums for Putin. The contrast between the MAGA supporters of autocracy and the Ukrainian resistance civilians willing to die to keep democracy cannot be starker. Those who have lived under both systems, like the Ukrainians, will die to keep their country on track for democracy, even with guns to their heads. The dramatic videos from Ukraine may even have the effect of more in the US realizing how foolish is the US pro-Putin autocratic movement and cherishing more the kind of democracy we have had for 250 years. It is also instructive of how interconnected we have become with the rest of the world, and that isolationism is a fantasy. No country can be insulated against cyberattacks and the threat of a rogue government threatening nuclear war. Both antagonists can assure each other of their mutual self-destruction if they pull the trigger on either nuclear or nation crippling cyber weapons. The use of these weapons can destroy or cripple the lives or the well-being of the survivors in the cycle of retaliation, both of the attackers and of the defenders. A prediction: The blowback from Ukraine: MAGA's appeal will fall out of favor even more.

Here is another lesson from Ukraine:

This USA Today article is well worth your time.

USATODAY.COM

Fact check roundup: What's true and what's false about the Russian invasion of Ukraine

What it does show is that wartime propaganda is a weapon used by both sides in a conflict. That a picture is worth a thousand words is true. The use of those pictures captioned falsely is another truth the captions can be the lie. One final truth: freedom of the press to fact check is a treasure not available to countries governed by dictators and autocrats.