By AlaskaWatchman.com

Recently propagated by Republican members of the Alaska Legislature are two narratives about which they should know better:

• First, that George Soros (Open Society Foundations) helped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy become president of Ukraine through massive propaganda campaign and he now backs the puppet regime he installed.

• Second, that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is tied to Klaus Schwab (World Economic Forum), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and other global elites.

According to the theory, the enemy (President Vladimir Putin) of my enemy (Soros) is my friend. Therefore, apparently, there should be a hesitation to support Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s resistance of the Russian invasion at this pivotal point in history

Conservatives are justified for crucifying President Joe Biden for his weakness inviting the invasion itself while he continues to pander to green energy as prices skyrocket.  Outrage is also warranted as Biden demands defense of Ukraine’s borders while he opens our own to massive illegal immigration. His son Hunter Biden’s sleaze with his suspicious Ukrainian gas company Burisma “no-show job” also is a justifiable cause for outrage.

But in pounding away on these points, things go off the rails when the rhetoric turns to, “There is no U.S. interest in Ukraine”, “Ukraine is a corrupt, undemocratic failed state,” concepts espoused by Fox News and Tucker Carlson.

It will not be possible to keep Ukrainian successes from them, so Putin instead is destroying Ukraine and slaughtering thousands.

That is wrong. The U.S. has an essential national interest in a Russia that stands down from authoritarianism, becomes a functioning democracy and reduced military threat.  We would save trillions of dollars and live in a better world. The future of Ukraine is critical to that much larger objective.

Some opine that the West, and America in particular, is responsible for this invasion because the continued expansion of the NATO military alliance eastward to Russia’s borders threatens Russian national security.  Is Ukraine then doomed to remain in a Russian sphere of influence as some sort of vassal state to Moscow, notwithstanding the desires of Ukrainians themselves to look to the West, the EU for their integration into a free market and democracy?  It’s completely understandable that, feeling threatened by Russia, Ukraine would want to be a part of the NATO defense alliance.

Yes, Russia and Putin have been consistent for over two decades in saying NATO and Ukraine pose an unacceptable threat to Russia and regional security. They use the missiles in Cuba analogy. Maybe the West did push NATO too hard and too far East to the borders of Russia, but these expansions were popular and were wanted by the people in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

Maybe this invasion was avoidable with better, more adroit diplomacy that sought to probe the limits of Russia’s security concerns while not conceding our own principles. Maybe Russia President Putin and his proud countryman in mourning for the loss of the Soviet Empire should not have been insulted and embarrassed by a triumphant West after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

After the Russians are defeated, Zelenskyy can be expected to pivot away from any Soros and global elite forces that are incompatible with values now etched into the souls of Ukrainians.

By no means does any of this excuse what Putin has unleashed. Thousands of innocent people have perished.  All thinking and feeling people around the world are shocked and disgusted by the devastation and carnage being unleashed on that poor country. The sight of rows of apartment buildings, cars, factories, hospitals, schools, bridges, and public buildings being rocketed and bombed is unacceptable for all civilized people.

Regarding NATO on its borders: As frightening to Putin and Russia’s Kremlin powerful elite is the tug and attraction of the West for Ukraine’s 50 million people.

Since the shock of losing Crimea and the Donbas to Russian occupation in 2014, Ukraine has been decisively turning away from Russia. Culturally both the Ukrainian speaking areas in Western Ukraine and the Russian speaking areas in Eastern Ukraine are reorienting from Moscow to the West — the European Union, the United Kingdom, and America. Russian speaking Ukrainians are so repulsed by Putin that they are even making the choice to reduce speaking their native language and switching to Ukrainian.

Russia feels the pain of losing its totalitarian empire and witnessing the success of its former vassals in building democratic and free societies. Putin sees the existential threat building in a thriving Ukraine — the size of Texas with 50 million people — that is increasingly bonded with the West. He will lose all 144 million people in the Russian Federation as they become aware of how much better off Ukrainians are becoming. There are close and intimate ties between Ukrainians across Russia, from St Petersburg to Magadan; these include family, friends, and business partners. It will not be possible to keep Ukrainian successes from them, so Putin instead is destroying Ukraine and slaughtering thousands.

Conservatives who are soft on Zelenskyy and Putin need to get smart, pay attention, and grab this liberty narrative away from the Democrats.

As for President Zelenskyy being elected in 2019 with help from George Soros, that election is generally considered to be a free and fair election. Soros’ help may or may not have been significant. Even if it was, everything is changed after the living hell of the Russian invasion.

Zelenskyy has rallied his people to fight tyranny to the death like no one since Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle in the darkest days of World War II.

After the Russians are defeated, Zelenskyy can be expected to pivot away from any Soros and global elite forces that are incompatible with values now etched into the souls of Ukrainians.

Example: Ukraine’s Parliament last week just granted its citizens the right to bear arms—hours before Putin’s invasion. By now, we are seeing that their citizens slinging Kalashnikovs and AR-15’s are on their way to victory assisting the Ukrainian defense forces. Those citizens are not going to give these guns up and this is a lesson to the world. The Second Amendment means weapons like these. Soros and the one-worlders are not going to make any headway against this. Certainly not with President Zelenskyy.

As for strange bedfellows in war: Remember that in World War II, the West had to ally with mass murderer Joseph Stalin in order to defeat the common enemy, Hitler. Right here in Alaska, 8,000 U.S. planes were turned over to Soviet pilots who flew them on across Siberia as part of Lend-Lease Program. You do what you have to — to survive and win — and then later oppose your allies, if necessary, after the common foe is defeated.

Ukrainians are fighting the greatest battle for liberty the world has seen this century – maybe since World War II. Remember these names:  Irpin, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol, Hostomel, Kherson, Melitopol.

The courage of the Ukrainians (citizens and military) already has ensured that they will go down in history as famous battles for liberty — battles such as Normandy, Iwo Jima, the Alamo, and Yorktown. Ukraine is the front line of freedom in the world today.

We may not be in a “World War” yet.  For now, it is one big bully invading a smaller neighbor. However, if Putin is allowed to take independent Ukraine after the abomination and war crimes he has vested on the world, an emboldened China can be expected to invade Taiwan. Then you do have an axis of Russia, China (and others) against the free world — World War III.

Finally, Ukrainian heroism and Russian miscalculations appear likely to result in failure of Putin’s reckless invasion and the end of his rule.

The media will then help Biden and the Democrats claim credit for defeating Vladimir Putin.

Conservatives who are soft on Zelenskyy and Putin need to get smart, pay attention, and grab this liberty narrative away from the Democrats. At least make sure you are on the stage and not a useful idiot for this new Hitler — Putin. Don’t be on the wrong side of history — it will give President Biden and the Democrats cover to evade their responsibility for the disasters they have brought down on America, Alaska, and the world.

The views expressed here are those of the author.

Click here to support the Alaska Watchman.

OPINION: Conservatives must not excuse what Putin has unleashed on Ukraine

Ray Kreig
Ray Kreig is a civil engineer in Anchorage and former president of Chugach Electric. His Russian experience includes numerous terrain studies for industry and government in Alaska and in Russia for the oil industry and for government. He was in the capital of Anadyr, Chukotka Province (adjoining Alaska, west of Nome) during the August 1991 Soviet coup d’état attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev. He helped the deputy mayor with non-combat tasks opposing the coup. In 1994 Kreig briefed then-Vice President Al Gore at the White House on the Russian Komi Oil Spill and was appointed his representative for the on-site UN field investigation mission.


21 Comments

  • Mboll says:

    Are we 100% sure that 1000s of Ukrainians are dying at the hands of Putin? Maybe its the neo nazi Azov battalion that the US help put in place during the US led cue of 2014? There are literally 100s of Ukrainian vides out there TODAY showing first hand accounts of the Azov Battalian slaughtering and bombing Ukrainian people. Most of what is seen on the main stream media and social media is propped from movies and old footage from 2013 & 14, and yes proven untrue attempting to showing the Russian military bombing and killing Ukrainian civilians. I do not codon any war and or slaughter of civilians but maybe the talking heads should be more worried of our own boarder than that across the pond. If I was Putin I would feel threatened too with the US and UN pushing my boarders back and it wasn’t that long ago when Ukrainians of the east were actually called Russians who is now giving them aid.

  • Tom says:

    Ray – good luck being released into the Frankenstein of what is today’s Republican Party. I look forward to the many comments which up until recently would have been unfathomable.

  • Mboll says:

    Wow. I thought I left a good opinion. But apparently Alaska Watchmen did not! Point taken Joe..

    • Dwight S. says:

      Same here but my post was censored too. Bummer on the website have some kind of censorship.

  • Greg says:

    And who are your sources? Because independent journalists and people close to the situation are not giving the same info as the presstitutes. No, I don’t condone Putin’s actions, but at the end of the day, his justification isn’t near as absurd as the justifications of the U.S. government to invade Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq, just to babe a few. The hypocrisy of the U.S. government, the presstitutes, and people willing to wag their self righteous fingers at Putin, but not the warmongering U.S. government should be quiet. You have nothing worth listening to if you do not identify this hypocrisy. In this article, the author comes close to acknowledging the culpability of the U.S. government in this matter, but then he pivots. No, the sources I read say that the Ukrainian president is a U.S. puppet, and he cares no more about the Ukrainian people than the U.S. government does. Russia could’ve flattened the Ukraine by now. Why haven’t they? Is anyone naive enough to think that they have actually held the Russian forces at bay? Give me a break. And was for weapons of mass destruction, of any kind, only one nation on earth has used immoral atomic bombs on a civilian populace. That’s right. The U.S. Hitler comparisons? Who rounded up the Japanese in their country and placed them in internment camps? Oh but it was the U.S., it’s okay when they commit moral atrocities. It’s only wrong when someone else does it. The list could go on. Give me a break. The free world? You mean the U.S. that will steal your land from you if you don’t pay your taxes in perpetuity? Or kidnaps your children and calls it selective service? Or locks you up because you smoked something? Or kills and destroys but calls it foreign policy? Or causes you to live in an intrusive police state? Today’s Americans know nothing of liberty. We are slaves, and instead of pointing the finger at the rulers of the U.S., both right and left, you point the finger at another statist in another country. The opinion pieces I regularly read on here make me sick.

  • Greg says:

    Sorry for the typos. Swype text got me.

    • Dwight S. says:

      Yeah no thanks jokie. Nato and Eu have encroached past the reasonable buffer zone of neutral states between Russia and the globohomo “civilized world” – jeopardizing the sovereignty of Russa. Also Ukraine has had biolabs and neo nazis that should rightfully be purged.
      Thanks but no thanks on your propaganda, Watchman please stick to internal affairs or atleast post an opposition piece to this.

      • Greg says:

        Agreed. I despise war for the State, any State, and it’s sad that people are dying because of government decisions and orders. However, again, the justifications offered by Putin aren’t near as absurd as the ones the U.S. has used in its warmongering.

  • Dee Cee says:

    The author speaks as if the eastern half of Ukraine doesn’t WANT to be “doomed” be under Russia’s influence forever. Perhaps he doesn’t know they held a referendum and voted to join Russia. The people there are ethnically Russian and speak Russian and see themselves as Russian. Also, perhaps this author doesn’t realize that the Azov forces have conducted continual shelling and bombing on eastern Ukrainian cities since 2014. Maybe we shouldn’t act like history started yesterday. Maybe we shouldn’t be corralled into believing exactly what we are told to believe immediately without further investigation. And here’s another thought: MAYBE (gasp) the US really has no business engaging in yet another pointless and endless foreign conflict.
    My husband did 4 deployments and is 6 years from retirement. We deserve some peace already. Russia isn’t threatening us. Time to just cool it down. That would be heroic, indeed.

  • Jeff says:

    Not sure how to write this and not be taken in the wrong way. I don’t care about Zelensky or how he got elected. I feel bad for the Ukrainians. Putin is a soulless despot.
    Meanwhile we have just pushed control-alt-delete on one of the greatest crimes against humanity this century. Let’s all rally for Ukraine and forget about how our government just killed a few hundred thousand of our own people by purposefully preventing the use of Ivermectin and other early treatment options….because money and control.

  • Neil DeWitt says:

    Please anyone explain to me the DIFFERENCE from Russia leaving Ukraine with blocks of burned out apartments AND when we seen pictures of our own country after BLM/ANTIFA marched on cities and did the same thing? The only difference I see is our new media didn’t show the business and housing that we had after the riots here at home. If you people would pay attention to what is happening under your own noses instead of having them buried in the sand all the time it might be amazing what changes could happen here at home! Thank you got my rant!

  • david Boyle says:

    President Biden set the stage for Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. The Greenies own Biden. His energy policies destroyed our energy independence. And his retreat from Afghanistan gave the green light to Putin. Putin plays RealPolitik. Biden has no clue. Great article.

  • Bricks says:

    The main reason Vladimir Putin is so despised by the Western Powers is because he totally tricked them for the benefit of the Russia people.

  • DoneWithIt says:

    Boy, the NeoCons never met a WAR they didn’t like.
    Instead of attempting to normalize relations with Russia, de-escalate the tension with Russia NATO expanded by 13 countries – all on the Russian border. The US has sponsored and financed 30+ bio-weapons labs.
    Question? Would the US allow the Sino-Axis to pull Mexico and Canada in to their orbit? Would we allow Russia or China to sponsor and finance 30+ bio weapon labs in Mexico and China?
    During the Zellensky administration (and Yes he has attended the WFE forums – please don’t lie about that) he has murdered tens of thousands of Russian nationalists in the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces in Eastern Ukraine. Would America standby if Canada or Mexico started killing tens of thousands of American nationals that reside in Mexico?
    The nations of NATO killed millions of Russians in WWI and WWII – Putin himself had numerous family members killed by the Allied powers – so his distrust of NATO nations relative to Russian security isn’t some paranoid delusional fantasy.
    And lastly – after the immoral, corrupt, and disastrous US performance in the MIddle the last 25 years – up to a million killed, beautiful cities and cultures decimated, secular leaders removed from power so the religious crazies can take over – and treat women as though it is the 6th century – you really think the US Gov’t under SloJOe, Kamala, and Pelosi will make the right decisions in this conflict? Really?

  • Dee Cee says:

    Did my post get censored also? That’s a first! What’s the issue? Didn’t use any bad words…. called for an end to pointless wars. Maybe Watchman is taking a side on this issue? Maybe Watchman wants WW3?

  • Greg says:

    I too called for an end to pointless wars, and pointed to the hypocrisy of the U.S. government. Not sure why it wasn’t posted. Maybe they just haven’t caught up yet.

    • Dee Cee says:

      That can’t be the right answer. You see, someone at watchman approved my, your, all the other comments noted above. And all of us are complaining about the fact that someone censored our original comments. They are caught up on our complaints, but not our originals? That doesn’t make sense to me.

      • Greg says:

        I think if the posts are short enough they are automatically posted. Otherwise they get viewed before being posted.

  • dalton stokes says:

    We all knew that Putin was a “young global leader” also under Klaus Schwab and the WEF, but we had the faint hope that Putin turned on the global Elite perverts in the West. The ones trying to cut your children’s genitals off… That hope is pretty much gone. They all learned the plan in the five-year course under Klaus Schwab and the average Joe is the real target.

  • Greg says:

    Are all of the opinion pieces on Alaska Watchman written by neocons? The neocons are not for liberty. They are for State coercion and foreign interventionism, both of which were despised by the anti-federalists. The left is characterized by lunacy. The modern right loves the warfare state/police-state. Both sides are pathetic. I suggest Lewrockwell.com and the Ron Paul Institute for those who want to read articles by people that despise the warfare state/welfare state/police state that is the U.S. government – and the individual states aren’t beacons of liberty either.

  • PC says:

    Zelenskyy is fighting for liberty….while banning all political parties other than his own. I think we need to open our eyes, and realize that the propaganda is being pushed from both sides, and Zelenskyy is making sure he doesn’t let this crisis go to waste and consolidate as much power as he is able. War is a horrible thing, it’s also lucrative, and as long as Zelenskyy’s hailed as some hero, his power grabs in a ‘democratic’ state are going to get overlooked.
    Putin rarely misses when he wants someone dead, yet the news have covered numerous ‘attempts’ by elite mercenaries. That has to lead people to question things.